Washington DC Area Contractor Review of the Interior Design of Bethesda’s The Mindfulness Center

Jessie Norris is the interior designer – and also one of the operating managers – of Bethesda’s The Mindfulness Center.  Given the modern trend in the Washington, DC area of focusing on holistic wellness in all arenas of life – including the design and decoration of our living spaces (interior and exterior), Blue Door Painters reviews Norris’s decorating strategy for building the theme of wellness into the very walls and floors of her Center.

According to Norris, the basic formula for a wellness-oriented interior is to pick out one color, one neutral, one material, and one non-paint accent.  Her formula builds upon the classic exterior strategy used to establish curb appeal (a main, trim, accent, and given color), tweaking it slightly to suit interior spaces, and it adds that little twist toward earthy complexity that makes the Center feel so spiritual and relaxing.

In both design strategies, the first thing that you do is pick one color as your starting off point.  Norris described the colors that she picked as being matched to the purpose of each room.  The offices were in a sophisticated green and a warm and welcoming yellow, while the massage rooms were painted an intimate purple.  The lobby was left neutral.  In the yoga studio, the largest surface in need of painting (and the surface most looked at by yoga students doing inverted poses) was the ceiling, which Norris painted a deep, relaxing and contemplative midnight blue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, to tone the color down and tie it into a general earthy ambience, Norris picked a neutral to pair with each color.  Each neutral tone was selected to compliment the original, stronger color, using the color wheel to come up with a tone that would turn out harmonious.  To add complexity, and to further the organic ambience that comes from varying the texture, Norris also added a raw material into each composition, again selecting substances that reflected the purpose of each room.  The wood of the studio, tile of the bathroom, and stone of the waiting room podium are all examples of the coordinated material.

Finally, Norris used a non-paint accent color (like pillows, washcloths, yoga mats, etc), to fully round out the color scheme in each room.  Small, mobile accents can add bright splashes of color that bring energy into a room without becoming overwhelming.

Using the color wheel, you too can develop an intricate palette that brings wellness into the interior of your home or place of business.  Just start with the color you think suits the purpose of the room the best, and see where you can go from there! If you need any help, check out our color consultation tutorial blog series, or take advantage of Blue Door Painters’ free color consultation.

Blue Door Painters discusses fundamentals of electrical safety concerns arising in painting and redecorating projects

Electricity is all around us.  It charges our air during the dry season, creating sparks when we go to open our car doors.  It courses through our walls.  It makes our gadgets operate that heat and cool our houses, bring us light in the darkness, and give us the power to communicate with people halfway across the world in a manner of seconds.  Whenever you remodel your house, you need to take all of the potential hazards into account while in the planning phase of the project.  For many jobs, this includes carefully going over any and all electrical hazards present on the job site.

With most coating projects, the largest concerns are unfinished circuitry in a developing house, and the electricity used to power many of the tools that make redecorating work more effective and efficient.  Regardless of whether you are a contractor or a homeowner, understanding where the electrical safety hazards are, and what you need to do to to safely navigate them, is important to make your redecorating experience safe and productive.

In order to safely navigate electrical hazards, you have to understand how electricity works.  It may seem like you flip a switch and the machine you are using just starts working by magic, but this is not the case; electricity works in a predictable, and, if properly understood, controllable manner.

Electricity involves a flow of energy, or current.  Wherever this current is directed, an electrical charge will occur.  Certain materials channel or conduct this current, while others block, inhibit, or insulate it.  With clever design, electricity can be channeled through devices that harness the current in order to accomplish work.

All electrical equipment uses a series of paths created by putting conductive materials where the current is desired and insulative materials where it is not.  These paths direct the current from a source of electricity, through a work-accomplishing device, and then to a “ground”, or area of electrical attraction and dissipation.  In the case of a ‘closed circuit’, the ‘ground’ is a return to the electrical source itself, which channels the current back through the circuit instead of dissipating it; in this manner, electricity can be recycled and circle through a circuit until it runs out of momentum.

Electric current will always seek the most conductive path from its source to the most readily available ground.  If all is functioning properly, this current will be completely contained within the tool you are using or the wall you are painting, and will never be exposed.  Electric hazards occur when the intended path of the current gets exposed or interrupted.

The dangerous thing about electricity is that the human body is a readily conductive substance.  While pure water cannot easily conduct electricity, water with mineral impurities (such as salt, a significant component of human blood) conducts electricity regularly.  And the earth – the literal ground that a person stands on – is a readily available ground.  Unless it is blocked from doing so by a non-conductive substance, an electrical current will seek the earth through a human body if that body interrupts its circuit.  The flow of this current is very disruptive to the critical electric functions of the body, and can lead to burns, numbing, pain, tissue failure, organ damage, loss of consciousness, and death, and it will continue until either the source of electricity dissipates (which is unlikely to happen in most situations because the current is generated by a community power plant), or the contact between either the person and the circuit or the person and the ground is interrupted.

To understand electrical hazards and accidents, therefore, it is important to understand what substances conduct electricity, and what substances insulate it, so that you can identify when an exposed or interrupted current – and therefore an electrical hazard – is present, understand where the current is likely to flow and how to protect against it, understand how to interrupt a current in the event that oneself or another worker gets caught in one, understand the severity of an electrical threat, and understand when and how the heat generated by electrical current can cause a fire hazard.  Stay tuned for our next installation, where we get down to the nitty gritty of electrical safety for painting and redecorating.

 

Spray painting involves using force, usually generated by compressed air, to produce a highly pressurized liquid vapor that shoots through the air and attaches to the substrate, creating a smooth, even coating.  The technique of spray-painting is an incredibly effective way to achieve a quick, even coating over a large area.  However, due to the equipment and materials involved, spray painting also introduces a unique set of hazards.  In this post, Blue Door Painters discusses some of the critical safety concerns involved with spray painting and gives tips on how to use this powerful tool with maximum safety.

Most of the safety hazards arising from spray painting have to do with the fact that the paint spends time as a vapor.  Most paint (and other coatings) transforms from a liquid to a solid as it is spread on a surface and dries or cures, but spray painting involves a third step: the vaporization of the paint so that it can be sprayed, rather than rolled or brushed.  Spraying separates the particles of paint and distributes them evenly into the air.  This third state of matter introduces several additional hazards.

First, spray painting increases the risk of fire.  The mist produced by a spray painting device is particularly flammable, because the mist contains the perfect balance of fuel and air for ignition.  The spraying area needs to be kept at least 20 feet away from any potential source of ignition, including all sparks (static, cigarette lighters, electric circuits, equipment, etc) and heat.  Inspect all spraying equipment, especially for flaws in the cords and electrical elements, as these may become potential sources of heat or sparks.  Do not use damaged equipment, and make sure that the grounding devices for all equipment are in adequate working order.  Keep a fire extinguisher handy while spraying.

Second, the vapor state turns coatings into something that humans can inhale.  Nearly all paints or other materials that might be used in a spraying device are toxic to be inhaled, so the spray form of the substance is more dangerous than the initial liquid.  In order to mitigate the risk of inhalation, always ensure that there is adequate ventilation whenever you are spray painting.
Great care should be taken when working indoors to use fans, open windows, and air filters.  In fact, spraying indoors involves such a high risk to air quality and property damage that it is not recommended that it be undertaken other than by trained professionals.  Consult the manufacturer safety recommendations on your spraying equipment before spraying indoors.
For outdoor projects, attention should be payed to the wind direction, and eye and respiratory protection (ie, goggles and a face mask) should be used while spraying.  Anyone who does not need to be in the vicinity during spraying should clear the area.

Finally, fluids under high pressure (and the mechanism that transforms the liquid into vapor does so by forcing it out through the spray nozzle at high speeds) can penetrate the skin and cause extremely serious injection injuries that can lead to amputation.  NEVER point a spray gun at another person.  Always check that the pressure settings match the manufacturer recommendation prior to use, and do not remove or modify any part of the spray gun.  When the spray gun is not in use, set the safety latch in the ‘safe’ position.  Consult the manufacturer’s recommendations for how far to hold the spray paint gun away from the wall or surface you are spraying, so that injurie so not occur from splash-back, and the coating result is as even and beautiful as possible.

With these safety recommendations in mind, you are now ready to add this powerful tool to your painting and redecorating arsenal.  Paint on!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blue Door Painters offers ladder safety advice for remodeling projects in the Washington DC / Northern Virginia area.

You can’t always just paint your walls.  Sometimes, you gotta paint your ceiling.  Or your roof, your dormers, the upper reaches of your stairwells…

That’s where ladders come in.

The risk of falling arises whenever you are elevated off of the lowest possible surface.  When you fall, you lose control of your body and gravity takes over, bringing you into an uncontrolled and often violent unintended contact with whatever is below you.  Human beings can survive most falls from low heights, provided that they do not land on anything penetrating.  When falling causes the body to incur more than 10 Gs of impact, however, serious damage or even death can occur.  The way a person falls, and whether or not anything falls on top of them, also plays a role in the seriousness of the injuries.  Since ladders are the most commonly used tools for elevation, and because ladders are mobile and are therefore capable of moving and falling over, accidents from ladders are common hazards in redecorating projects.  Observing the following precautions is the best way to ensure that the upper reaches of your home get redecorated safely.

This is why ladders, in particular, are so dangerous; even when they do not elevate workers very high, the way that the worker interacts with the ladder during the fall and upon impact can greatly exacerbate the injury.  Below we are going to cover several commonly found pieces of elevating equipment that introduce falling hazards, and describe how to navigate them safely.

Instructions for Safe Ladder Use

1) Set it up right:

– Use the four-to-one ration when laying the ladder up against a vertical surface; place the ladder so its feet are one foot out from the vertical support for every four feet that it rises.  An eight-foot ladder, for example, would need to have its base arranged two feet away from the vertical surface.

– Do NOT use a ladder in a horizontal position, like as a runway or a scaffold

– Place the ladder where both rails have solid footing, preferably on slightly softer ground, so that the legs of the ladder sink slightly into the ground

– Lean ladders up against stable surfaces, not loose stacks or piles of material.

– Secure ladders that reach more than eight feet with ropes and/or skids to prevent the ladder from falling forward.

– Extend the rails of the ladder at least three feet above the upper landing, if you are using it to reach a second floor or ledge.

– Do NOT mount the ladder anywhere near a door or unmarked path of ingress/egress where it could be unintentionally knocked over.

– Do NOT use metal ladders around electrical circuits; they will act as conductors and pose a serious electrocution risk.

– Do NOT splice smaller ladders together; use the right ladder for the job.

– Multipart and extension ladders will have a safety lock that holds the ladder firmly in place when extended; make sure that this lock is fully engaged

2) Use it safely:

– Hold side rails with hands when ascending or descending.  Do NOT hold material while climbing; secure it to a belt, or attach it to a rope and raise and lower it after you have ascended.

– Face the ladder while ascending and descending.

– Do NOT slide down a ladder.

– Do NOT climb higher than the third rung from the top on straight or extension ladders, or the second tread from the top on stepladders

– Do NOT use during strong wind or other chaotic environmental circumstances.

– Do NOT drive nails, screws, etc., into ladders.

– Place your equipment on a secure surface other than the rungs of the ladder, and try to keep one hand free for balance at all times.

– Do NOT lean or attempt to extend yourself outside of the area that can naturally be reached by standing on the ladder.  This may cause the ladder to unbalance and tip over.

3) Take Care of It:

– Keep ladders free of grease, dirt, paint, solvent, and slime, which might obscure defects and negatively impact traction.

– Tag or mark defective ladders as soon as possible so that they will not be used.

– Always inspect for defects before use; loose locks or rungs, stuck hinges; even the smallest problem can make a ladder unsafe.

By following these simple tips, you should be well on your way toward safe redecorating of the highest height.

The mathematics of coverage from a Washington, DC area contractor

According to industry standards, if you go to Sherwin-Williams and buy one gallon of paint, it ought to cover 400 square feet of surface.  To get a sense of 400 square feet, think of a normal 10 foot by 12 foot bedroom, with 8 foot ceilings.  To paint all four walls, you would need 352 square feet of paint; to add the ceiling in, too, you would run out of paint just before the project was completed (the ceiling would bring you to 472 square feet of surface).  On a larger room, like a 20×20 living room, that gallon wouldn’t even be enough to cover all the walls, although it would get you more than halfway (wall surface in that living room would equal 640 square feet).   So the rule of thumb for interiors is that one gallon of paint ought to cover one small- to medium-sized room, and two gallons are necessary to cover a larger room.

When working with exteriors, you are dealing with larger surfaces, so you need to assume you will be buying larger quantities of paint.  An average two-story house is about 20 feet high, and then another twenty feet wide (if not more).  Even just a one-sided, 20 x 20 foot facade will take up an entire gallon of paint; more if you’re not careful with it.  Six gallons of paint is a standard purchase for a two-story exterior, with additional gallons to cover trim and accents.

How about trim and accents?  In some cases, you can get away with only purchasing a quart of paint for trim, but you need to take a close look at the amount of trim on the property before making that assumption.  You would be surprised by how quickly that surface area adds up; a quart of paint can only cover 1/4 of what a gallon can, and that only adds up to 100 square feet.

Of course, there are a lot of extra factors that can decrease the coverage you get out of that gallon.  While the details of all of these factors are complex, they all fall into three general categories of coverage retardation:

1. Paint Issues,

2. Substrate Issues, and

3. Technique Issues

The quality of your paint will affect the coverage.  High quality paint with strong, durable pigments will have greater hiding power, and will therefore be capable of coveraging more surface with less paint.  High quality paint will also require fewer coatings to arrive at a thorough covering, and will reduce the materials cost that way.

The substrate will also affect the coverage, which will affect how far you can stretch a gallon.  Certain substrates will absorb or repel the coating, necessitating that more paint be brought in to complete the surface.

Finally, your method of application will affect the coverage.  If you spill a lot of paint, leave the top off the paint can or roller bucket/tray, or roll wet paint over wet paint, you will end up using a lot more paint than necessary to complete the coverage.

Blue Door Painters is happy to calculate the exact amount of paint you will need for any given project as part of our free estimating service.

A painter’s discussion of the aesthetics of Washington, DC Rowhouses

You’ll see them in Adams Morgan.  You’ll see them in Dupont Circle, Kalorama, Georgetown, and Mount Pleasant.  You’ll see them around Capitol Hill.  You’ll see them in all shapes, sizes, materials, and styles.  Some of them are over a hundred years old, and most of them are worth more than a million dollars.  We’re talking about Washington, DC row houses; they’re everywhere in the nation’s capitol, and painting them right is an important contribution to our city’s aesthetics.

The critical thing to keep in mind when decorating row house exteriors, is that you are both one with, and distinct from, your immediate neighbors. Unless your neighborhood has specific aesthetic restrictions, you have no limits on your own creativity – nor control over what your neighbors do.  But the key to the aesthetic success of the entire neighborhood is for each homeowner to strike a perfect balance between self-expression and neighborhood harmony.  Meaning, you want to blend in with the whole, but still manage to make a statement.

Below, we have depicted two recent Blue Door Painters success stories.  Both are Washington, DC row houses; the first in <where>, and the second in <where>.  Each one demonstrates the mistakes that can be made at each end of the originality/conformity spectrum – and provides hints for how to restore your row house to the perfect aesthetic balance with its neighborhood.

In the first case, we have a row house that suffered from too much neighborhood conformity: a total lack of distinction from its neighbors.  Outside of certain planned and aesthetically controlled communities, row houses with identical decoration give a neighborhood a cold, neglected, almost institutional feel.  Passers-by get the sense, without even knowing why, that residents don’t have the resources or motivation to give their homes an individual touch; this makes the neighborhood seem less affluent (ironic in an area where most of these homes sell for over a million dollars!).  While gardening and hardscaping play a role in showing pride in your home and giving it a personal touch, choosing a unique color for your facade is the quickest, lowest maintenance, and most impactful method of establishing uniqueness.

In our first example, the homeowners first tried to establish identity by leaving the bricks identical to their neighbors but painting the door bright blue.  While painting a front door blue can be a clever technique in certain situations, in this case it only served to draw attention to the drab uniformity of the plain brick construction.  Dissatisfied, the homeowner needed a scheme that would harmonize with the simple elegance of the rest of the neighborhood, but still firmly distinguish it from the crowd.

Departing drastically from the natural brick, Blue Door Painters painted the facade a warm silvery gray, and trimmed the door and windows with a snowy white that provided subtle yet definite contrast to the architecture.  Choosing a mahogany red for the front door pulled it back in from the former garish blue, and created harmony with the red bricks of the neighbors.  The result is a distinct contrast from the rest of the row, but a cleverly maintained aesthetic harmony.

In the second case, we see an example of a homeowner who took the desire to be unique a little bit too far, and it disrupted neighborhood harmony.  The row house in the center is painted a bright sky blue, a strong cool color that clashes with the pale but warm earthy tones of its neighbors.  While some neighborhoods are characterized by a wide range of color, and can therefore support such a high degree of contrast, in this neighborhood (particularly with so little landscaping) the contrast was too harsh and the row house in the center clashed.

Blue Door Painters changed the color of the home’s facade from sky blue to a warm, but pale buttery yellow.  The color still stood out from the neighbors, one of which was a more textured gray-gold, and the other of which was more tawny, but it kept the general color scheme intact.  The choice of white for the window trim created further contrast with the neighbor on the right, whose house has a similar texture; their slightly darker trim set off the center house’s white trim quite nicely, without creating a clash.

So when you set out to decorate your row house, you need to consider what color scheme would create the perfect balance of uniqueness and conformity to maximize the beauty of your entire neighborhood.  Feel free to take advantage of Blue Door Painters color wheel tips or our complimentary color consultation service if you want some free ideas!

Northern Virginia painting contractor Blue Door Painters explains how to use paint to get a new look in a bathroom or kitchen for a fraction of the cost.

Many architects would agree that tile is the absolute best choice for any area of your home that is going to be getting wet or greasy on a regular basis.  Assembled with a sturdy masonry technique and constructed of naturally water-resistant materials that will not rot or deform in perpetually moist conditions, tiles can take a soaking and are a piece of cake to clean.  They’re also attractive, offering a wide range of mosaic options.  So if your kitchen, backsplash, or bathroom is finished with tile, you shouldn’t have anything to complain about.

Unless, of course, you don’t like the way it looks.  Since the aesthetics of tile are so versatile, (get it, versatile), and since they’re used in rooms like bathrooms and kitchens where people tend to get daring, trends in tiles have varied widely from decade to decade – even from year to year.  If your home was built in the 1980s, for example, you might have some garish lime greens, rust oranges, and dark browns in there that aren’t really your cup of tea.  Or if your home was tiled as part of the staging process for selling, it’s probably stark white, paired with white grout, which can lend a room an uninviting institutional look once the initial gleam wears off, and shows grime very easily.

But there you face a dilemma, because tiles can last a long time if properly installed, they are extremely functional, and compared to other substrates they are relatively expensive to rip out and replace just because you want a different look.  After all, someone has to lay every single tile down individually, and that someone is going to charge you for it.  So most homeowners tend to look at their unsatisfying bathroom or kitchen decor and think to themselves, “I sure do hate that color, but I’ll just have to live with it until it’s time to redo the whole bathroom anyways.”

This is a tragic failure to grasp the simple power of the world’s most versatile decorating tool: paint.  Yes, tile comes pre-finished in a million colors, factory installed for a perfect, glowing finish.  Yes, tile is extremely smooth and shiny, so resistant to marking that you can actually rub off the scribbles your son put on it when he got ahold of your Sharpie with nothing but soap and water.   But that doesn’t mean you can’t paint it.

In fact, painting tile is a simple, easy, and cheap way to redecorate a kitchen or bathroom without a total overhaul.  All it takes is three quick steps and the right choice of tools and equipment, and you can have a new look at a fraction of the cost, while preserving your room’s moisture resistance.  Let Blue Door Painters teach you how:

Step 1: Prime.  You need to clean and prime your tiles just like you prime any other substrate prior to painting.  The extremely important difference here is that you need to prime tile with a specially designed primer built for high-gloss surfaces.  Most paints won’t grip your tile any better than the mold in your bathtub or the errant Sharpie did; that’s the beauty and power of tile.  But there are special chemicals designed to penetrate the outer layer of the tile’s glaze and grip hold, anchoring down a strong film; these chemicals have been mixed into high-gloss primers to make them perfect for the job.  Try out Sherwin-Williams Adhesion Primer for a stellar example.  Make sure that your tile is squeaky clean and completely dry to help your primer work its magic.  Use a small, soft foam roller to apply your coatings over tile, to make sure that your primer and paint layers get spread evenly over both the tile and the grout.

Step 2: Paint.  If you primed right, you can be flexible with your paint.  Using a similar small, soft foam roller, get creative with color, design, and texture to change your tired or ugly tile design into the color scheme of your dreams.  You don’t need to use any particular brand, but you should aim for a flat or mid-gloss paint; the opposite of what you usually want in a bathroom.  We’ll tell you why in a second.  If you need some help picking colors, check out our Color Combo Special blogs, or take advantage of Blue Door Painters complimentary color consultation service.

Step 3: Polyurethane.  You want your finished surface to be as shiny and stain-resistant as the original tile; otherwise, your redecoration was a functional downgrade.  When bathrooms and kitchens are painted, they’re usually topped with high-gloss paint to achieve maximal cleanability, but we told you to work with flat or mid-gloss paint.  Why?  Because for our final coating, we’re going to add a powerful, shiny, clear protective layer of polyurethane.  Polyurethane is nothing but gloss and power, with no pigment whatsoever to interrupt its protective strength.  Covering your tiles with polyurethane will bring their performance up to the standard you want, and will also restore them to the expected tile-shininess – and it will stick better to a flat or mid-gloss paint coat.  Apply two coats of polyurethane with a medium-firm, high-quality synthetic brush, using long, even strokes, and sanding in between coatings with a 350-grit sandpaper.

Read the label carefully to determine how long it takes your polyurethane to dry, and keep moisture, people, and pets from coming into contact with your polyurethane until it has cured completely.  Once it’s done, you should once again have a strong, shiny tile surface – but now in a color and design that you can really appreciate.

Blue Door Painters explains how to use coatings to help protect your home from fire.

It’s been a long, hot summer, and the violent electrical storms we have been graced with in the Washington, DC area this season are likely to continue as we enter the dog days of August.  While the humid air helps control the environmental fire hazards, the heat and the lightning that we have experienced puts homeowners at risk.  Everything is hotter than usual – and therefore that much closer to combustion.

Fireproofing your home, and making preparations for fire emergencies, is a task requiring many approaches.  You need to know what fire is and what causes it, make a plan determining the response of everyone in the household in the event of a fire emergency, and also come up with a comprehensive physical and behavioral plan for fire prevention.

Selecting the right coatings and building materials, when redecorating and remodeling, is a critical element of fire protection.  Technology has greatly improved the fire resistance of paint products, since the historical role of flammable paints in many major calamities has been well-documented.  Historically, the binder used in paint products was highly reactive and no attempt was made to add fire-resistant chemicals to the mixture; the combination of flammable paint and wood as a primary building material was disastrous, especially during hot, dry spells.

Manufacturers and builders have had hundreds of years to learn from those mistakes.  Far from being flammable, most modern paints and other coatings are highly flame-resistant, and designed to protect potentially vulnerable building materials – like wood and drywall – from threats of fire.  In this way, modern coatings actually help fight fires for you.

Wood will burn at 572 degrees Fahrenheit, provided it is exposed to enough air to carry out the combustion reaction.  Coatings can help resist fires in two ways:

1) By resisting heat buildup, deflecting temperatures up to 700 degrees away from the underlying building materials, paint can prevent flammable substances (like wood and some kinds of drywall) from getting hot enough to ignite.

2) By having extremely high flash points, modern paints do not ignite at the temperatures that occur in a normal fire.  Latex paint, the most commonly used type of paint on the current market, is water-based and non-flammable.  The chemical formulation of modern oil paints – known as “alkyds” – has eliminated flammable solvents from the mixture and provided fire-retardant additives that make the flash point of these substances even higher.

When you are shopping for paint, the flash point (meaning, the temperature at which a substance will ignite) for both the liquid and the solid phase of the substance will be advertised on the can.  If you are painting around electrical boxes, in boiler rooms, or in the kitchen, you may want to look for brands of paint that are heat- and fire-resistant; these will have heat-deflecting properties as well as an extremely high flash point.  Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore both sell specialized flameproof paint that will give you the peace of mind you need that your home is safe from fire.  If you want more information about fireproofing, the flammability of paints and other coatings, or the best way to use coatings to help protect your home, contact us for a free estimate.

 

Local Contractor Discusses the Powerful Visual Impact of Replacing Damaged Wood on Washington, DC Exteriors

Looking at one house from the curb, you see a residence that is way past its prime, an older home with a great deal of character that would still never be a solid purchase.  Looking at its neighbor, identical in architectural style, landscaping, and large-scale wear and tear, you nevertheless are impressed by the sturdiness of the structure and the timelessness of its historic charm.  A house that has held up so long must truly have something to offer; you find yourself seriously considering it as an investment.

What is the difference between these two homes?  The answer is shockingly simple: wood replacement.

In a city where the average age of the residential structures is over 50 years, finding clever ways to spruce up an old residence is a critical move in the real estate game.  Like taking a shower, getting a tan, or putting on makeup, wood replacement works wonders on an aging exterior.   It is a simple service that almost every Washington, DC exterior could benefit from: and yet it is a service that many homeowners overlook until they are preparing for a major exterior overhaul.  Refinishing an entire exterior is a costly and time-consuming endeavor, and in some cases a simple wood replacement project would suffice.

What do we mean by ‘wood replacement’?  We mean inspecting your exterior for all the damaged, rotting, splintered, or deformed wood along windows, cornices, porches, railings, doors, and siding.  Any damaged wood is removed completely and replaced with fresh boards, and then the whole is repainted for a fresh finish.  The result of a good wood replacement project is that all of the serious problem areas in your home’s facade – those spots that you have grown so used to that your eyes just slide right over them – are turned into strengths, making your home look rejuvenated.  Even if the bulk of your exterior is starting to show its age in a more general sense, if you fix up the real problem areas, your home will look much more put together.

If you want some visual reinforcement of this simple concept, check out our wood replacement gallery: the difference between the before and the after shots is extremely satisfying.  Go out and do an inventory of your exterior right now: are there areas that are in urgent need of TLC?  We’re happy to help – take advantage of our free estimation service and we will be right over!

No, you shouldn’t freak out – because freaking out causes your airways to close up, and so do VOCs.  Instead you should calm down, educate yourself about what VOCs are, why they are in some of the products used in your project, and what you can do in order to steer clear of the hazards that they present.

Talking about “VOC”s in our paint products is all the rage lately.  “VOC” stands for Volatile Organic Compound – and all that that means is that VOCs are chemicals that easily evaporate into the air at room temperature.  Unfortunately, this means that we humans can breathe these chemicals in, and usually they are not the kind of chemicals that are harmless when inhaled or ingested.

VOCs are in many paints, solvents, and other building materials – they are a ubiquitous part of the painting world.  However, the detrimental effects of industrial (including the painting industry) air pollution are currently being investigated by the EPA, so there is pressure on the market to come up with low-VOC alternatives to most of the current well-known and well-loved products. Unfortunately, the industry is young and the technology is still developing, so the ideal balance between functional quality and reasonable price doesn’t usually include low-VOC technology.  In order to get that, you need to sacrifice either paint quality, or you need to turn out your pockets a little bit and purchase a high-quality, zero VOC product (like Sherwin Williams’ Harmony).

The environmental concerns of VOCs should be taken seriously, and all support should be given to manufacturers for developing lower-VOC alternatives, but in terms of an immediate health risk to your home (or to the workers), a high concentration of VOCs needs to accumulate in a space with inadequate ventilation.

Exteriors nearly always have adequate ventilation.  It is within the confined spaces of interiors that VOCs start to become an immediate health concern.  To mitigate that concern, your Blue Door Painters crew will come equipped with the technology to create sufficient ventilation in every space.  Workers will open windows and run large fans to keep the house interior safe.  When a worker needs to enter a more confined space, he will bring a BDP-supplied Respirator, which is (in this case) a portable air filter that fits over the face and nose and takes the VOCs out of the air that the worker is breathing.  That area should then be clearly marked off and labeled with a sign that indicates the hazard that was there.

Since VOCs are airborne, the good news (at least as far as immediate health is concerned) is that even in confined spaces, if left undisturbed for long enough, VOCs will filter out.  If you smell any strong scents, or feel lightheaded, it might be a sign that the air you are breathing has a higher than recommended concentration of VOCs or other chemical contaminants.  Freaking out is the wrong thing to do: instead just call your Blue Door Painters contact, report the VOCs, clearly mark the hazard area, and stay away from it until adequate ventilation can be provided and the place gets a chance to air out.