Painting Tips

Painting Tips Volume 1 and 2

We publish a newsletter with simple painting tips, you may find useful. Email us at molto@earthlink.net if you wish to get on the list. Below and on the previous page you will find past painting tips:

Volume 2, Issue 7, November 2004

Happy Thanksgiving. Here are a few holiday paint tips.

Using mud on walls: If you have old textured or flat walls that you aren’t fond of, here’s a fairly inexpensive remedy. Buy drywall topping compound (mud) at Home Depot. (Get the topping mud; it’s easier to work with.) To create a new surface you can either skim the wall flat if it has texture or add mud with a trowel or other implement to create a new wall texture. You could also use things like a whisk broom or comb to create different textures. When it’s dry you can prime and paint or seal and glaze.

Using colorant in varnish: You can change the look of old varnish doors and trim by adding colorant into the varnish. Varnish is usually a semi translucent yellowish amber color, By adding some green, blue, red violet etc, you can alter the shading, much like a glaze, and give the old surfaces a unique look. You can get colorants at any paint store. Try a few drops in a small amount of varnish in a cup, then try some on an old piece of varnished wood and let it dry so you can see the effect.

We are now into the holiday season work sprint. We’d like to get all our bids done over the next week or so, and concentrate flat out on getting work done till the end of the year. There is one possible slot left, so if you want a project done before the holidays,call 408 448 1683 today for an estimate!

Volume 2, Issue 6, April 2004

Here are a few inexpensive tips:

Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2004

Happy New Year! All signs are indicating a busy and prosperous 2004 for home sales, design and remodel. With winter weather upon us, here's a few tips concerning indoor painting:

	Smells: To be on the safe side when working indoors with materials, use a respirator. These can be gotten at Home Depot or any paint store. These range from paper filters that are good for dust or sanding up to the 20-30 dollar range for a full respirator assembly with canisters that block out fumes. Certain paint thinners and solvents can give you a nasty headache with prolonged exposure.
	More on smells: Some paint stores are now offering paint additives like "PaintPouri" which adds fragrance to the paint. We haven't used these particular products so we are unsure of the strength of the smell or how long it lasts or if it even smells nice. Old school painters used to recommend putting a little bit of vanilla extract into the paint. The best handling for paint smells is to get the paint to dry faster. When the paint is fully dry, the smell will go away. So turn up the heat or put a space heater in the room to make the smells go away. For oil paints (which usually take longer to dry and have a stronger smell) you can use an additive called "Japan Drier" which can be obtained at any paint store. It greatly speeds up the drying time of any solvent based paint.
	More notes on oil paints: We don't recommend using oil paint in a bright white. Current oil paint products tend to "amber" or "yellow" over time. In a year or two, your bright white will be an off white. If you have to use a bright white, use an oil based primer and then use a water base product. (In order to change over from an oil to a water base, you need to prime, because water based paints won't adhere to oil well. An oil based primer is a rough coat of material which gives the water based product something to stick to, and allows you to change over.)
	Keep a jar of Vaseline with your paint materials. You can put a little on the edge of window panes, handles or metal and the paint won't stick to it. We also recommend putting a little on your face, hands and arms when rolling or spraying for the same reason.