Monday 13 May 2013

#12 on 101 tips on house painting and decorating



Exterior house painting

A new coat of paint tells the world that your house is new and valuable. Exterior house painting will improve how your house looks and at the same time it will help to protect your house from the weather. In Auckland, with plenty of water coming down from the sky and with the harsh sunlight, maintaining a solid paint job is important to keep your house in good condition.

Painting the outside of your house is definitely something you can do yourself. You’ll need materials and tools, paint, a bit of elbow grease and of course some knowledge on how to do a great job. I’ve given some info on painting in my previous blogs, and in today’s blog I’d like to give you a few tips on painting tools.

However, first of all, painting your house is not a small task, and if it seems all a bit too daunting, or if you simply don’t have the time, don’t hesitate to give Banks Building a call for a free quote on exterior painting.  
 

Buy the best painting tools you can afford. 

If you have to spend a few dollars more for top quality, it will be worth it in the long run. Quality brushes and rollers make any painting task go more easily and quickly, and will give better results. When well looked after and thoroughly cleaned after each job, good tools will last for many years of home maintenance.

 

What kind of tool to use. 

On flat surfaces using a roller will go a lot faster than using a brush. Most painters use brushes for trim work and around windows and doors, then turn to rollers to fill in the big blank spaces. If the cladding is very smooth, or if you are painting weatherboards, you might want to look into using paint pads, especially 100mm or 180mm sizes, as an alternative to rollers or brushes. 

 

Choosing a roller. 

All rollers they are fiber-covered or urethane-foam-covered cylinders, which soak up paint from a tray and then release it when rolled over a flat surface. The rolling action creates a vacuum that pulls the paint off the roller. Roller covers can be made from different materials, for example wool, acetate or polyurethane foam. The label on the roller will tell you the kind of paint you can best apply with it.

The label on the roller will often also tell you the length of the roller cover's nap, or pile. For rough surfaces, use the long naps; choose short ones for smooth surfaces.

Paint trays are made of aluminium or plastic and come in different sizes. Choose the size that fits the roller you will use. Some trays come with hooks that allow you to attach them directly to a ladder.

What to look for when buying a brush. 

With few exceptions, there are two kinds of paint brushes
  • Natural bristle brushes, made of animal hair;
  • Synthetic bristle brushes, usually made of nylon.
Previously the naturals were considered the best, but today the synthetics are every bit as good.

Tip: Use a synthetic brush when applying waterbase latex paints, because water makes natural bristles limp and more difficult to paint with.

Here are a few tips on how to distinguish between a good brush and a bad one by examining them closely at the store: 
  • Spread the bristles and inspect the tips. The more split ends, the better the brush and its paint-spreading capabilities.
  • Tap the brush on the edge of a counter; a good brush may lose a few bristles, but a bad one will lose many. 
  • Find a brush with long, tapered bristles, especially on narrow brushes. As a general rule, the length of the bristles should be about one-and-a-half times as long as the width of the brush (the exception is with wider brushes, often called wall brushes). Longer bristles will make it easier to paint into corners and around trim. 
  • Finally, choose smooth, well-shaped handles that fit in your hand comfortably.

 

Look after your painting tools, as this will increase the life of them. 

Clean brushes and rollers after you finished painting. Use turpentine if you’ve been working with solvent-based paints, use water if you’ve been using water-based paints.

Brushes
  • Work the brushes in the turpentine cleaner or water until all the paint has come off. 
  • Make sure you get all the paint out of the metal plate that holds the bristles in place. 
  • Always store brushes flat or hanging up. Don’t store them in a jar standing on the bristles.
Rollers  
  • Rinse rollers under running water or remove the paint by working turpentine through the nap. Then wash in warm soapy water and rinse well.
  • Rollers should be set on end or hung up to dry. If you stand the rollers on the nap, the nap will be flattened and will not work well next time when you are painting.

Started your project, but no time to finish it? Give Banks Building a call to get the job done! We've got some great house painters on the books.
Happy painting!
Cheers, Andre

5 comments:

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  2. Quality brushes and rollers make any painting task go more easily and quickly, and will give better results.-exterior house painting-

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  3. Doing a painting job is not an easy task at all. It requires a lot of effort on the part of painter to paint the whole house. The techniques mentioned in the blog definitely make the task bit easier. But if you don't want to do the the task by yourself, opt for a professional house painter.

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