When you walk into a Duron store, excited to begin your new painting and redecorating project, you are immediately greeted by a kiosk at the front of the showroom displaying cans of paint with romantic names like Duration, Cashmere, and Brilliance. There’s something special about this paint; you can just tell. You can almost imagine that can of Cashmere floating over to your house wreathed in satin, spinning around dramatically to the sound of violin music, and instantly transforming your ratty old dining room into something off of Trading Spaces. You read the specs highlighted on the paint’s label: buttery smooth, beautifully rich finish; self-leveling formula eliminates brush and roller marks; single-coat paint, no need for a primer coat . . . and then down below, tucked demurely in the corner: $59.99. For one gallon of paint.
On the other side of the store, tossed in the back section where the showroom morphs into a warehouse, there’s some other stuff called ‘contractor grade’, which is selling for $25.80. Upon seeing that price, you think to yourself that maybe only fools would fall for that Cashmere scam. After all, how different could two cans of paint really be? They both say ‘latex’ on the label, and what is paint, anyway, other than some gooey, colored stuff you smear on the walls?
As it turns out, there’s a lot more to paint than meets the eye. Zooming in on that generic gooey, colored stuff, you find that there is a world of variation between the two ends of the paint store spectrum. What Cashmere has, that the contractor-grade paints lack, is a proportionally large volume of carefully crafted binder. The “binder” is the ingredient in a paint mixture that forms a strong, smooth film over the painted surface, “binding” the paint together. Cashmere probably also has more expensive pigments, which are the solid ingredients in paint that give it color, opacity, and some of its strength and UV resistance. At the other end of the spectrum, the contractor-grade paint is stingy on binder and is stuffed full of filler pigments, which add volume to the paint, but have no innate optical or structural properties. After a few years up on the wall, those filler pigments will start to come loose from the insufficient binder, and the paint will “chalk”, or wipe off to the touch. The “contractors” referred to in “contractor-grade paint” are usually trying to cheaply finish new construction, and banking on the new buyer repainting the building within a few years anyway.
So the short answer is, paint is one of those products where you do get what you pay for. That said, a lot of the difference between Cashmere and the next brand down is marginal, a matter of improvements to minute details that will probably end up being irrelevant to your project. Unless you have the absolute ideal conditions, for example, (which you probably don’t), you should still use a primer coat underneath your Cashmere, and the paint still won’t last forever. So while the difference between contractor-grade and high-quality paint is real, the last $10 per gallon they squeeze out of you for Cashmere is probably a rip-off.
Blue Door Painters’ advice; walk right by the Cashmere and go for the stuff we recommend to our clients: the trusty, solid, mid/upper – range paint displayed right in the middle of that Duron showroom. A good, tried-and-true paint, without all the bells and whistles, is the best bang for your buck you’re going to get in the painting world, and that’s our professional opinion.
Pick colors to fit the season – with Blue Door Painters decorating advice
Fall is the time of year for warm colors. Reds, oranges, yellows, and browns – accented wherever you need a bright “pop” with the searing light blue of the Washington, DC fall sky, or the white of those puffy clouds that cruise in with the blessedly dry cool fronts.
Warm colors are also an excellent choice for winter. Research has shown that the psychological ‘temperature’ of a room’s interior – determined entirely by the decorating scheme – has a strong impact on the appeal of that room during the extreme seasons. People have a strong preference for cool blues, greens, and violets during the hot summer – and for the cozy warmth of the classic fall palette during the frigid winter.
To get your interior ready for the changing seasons, consider adding some warm colors into your design scheme. Whether you are ready to go all in and warm up all or part of your interior with a whole new paint job, or you only want to focus on the details and make small changes that can be reversed when the earth comes back around in its orbit and the temperature starts warming up again, incorporating warmth into your design scheme is a sophisticated psychological strategy for dealing with the changing season.
A few tips:
– If you have any wood in your interior, bring out the red, orange, or yellow highlights in that wood (if you want to, you can actually bring in a sample of your wood and have a paint store match the color for you – modern color mixing technology is incredibly advanced) by painting, choosing rugs, draperies, and furniture covers, or even by tweaking the simple details in your interior like centerpieces and decorations. Echoing the warm tones that are already present in your wood will give your design scheme an organic feel that will help you stay relaxed and enhance the sense of security and protection against the winter elements.
– Harmonize with your existing colors. While warming up a room by choosing an entirely new paint scheme is not necessarily a bad investment (especially in dining rooms, kitchens, and lively gathering rooms where you want to encourage energy), if you don’t want to go that far, you can mix some warm colors into your existing decoration scheme by painting trim or accents, or choosing warm-toned decorations or linens. You just need to be careful that your new colors look good with the color scheme that you already have. You can almost always add a warm color into the scheme you have, you just need to find the color that is oriented on the color wheel either close to, or directly across from, the main color in your decorating scheme. Also condier your variations in the chroma and value; if you have a dull-toned, light-colored room, you may want to avoid bright colors so that they do not appear garish.
– Maximize light with color conturing. As the days grow darker, it’s time to make your interior grow lighter. Using light colors makes an area feel more spacious – an important antidote to the stir-crazy that often comes with winter. Remember that the impact of color is multiplied by the amount of space that that color covers; you would be surprised what a large difference it makes to simply choose a color that is several shades lighter than your existing main color, if you are painting a very large space.
Blue Door Painters tip: Replacing the trim around windows and doors for managing climate control in the Washington, DC cold season
Before the weather gets cold here in Washington, DC, it’s time to think about replacing and repairing the trim around your windows and doors. ‘You want your house as tight as a drum,’ is how the saying goes, and Washington, DC winters are no exception. You may not think too much about it, but you lose a lot of heat out of your house by having rotting or decomposing wood sealing in your windows and doors. Even with perfectly functional fixtures, if the trim is rotting, air can escape through cracks and crevices, making your home less comfortable and driving your utility bill through the roof.
Wood replacement is a straightforward enough procedure. Since the trim around your doors and windows takes a beating (you may not think too much about the beating that it takes, but it gets the worst of the exterior weather, the human traffic that passes in and out, and the pressure of the structural functions that it carries out), it tends to rot and wear down more quickly than either the vinyl siding that surrounds it or the doors and windows themselves. Wood gets attacked by moisture, seeping past old cracked paint and making the organic material on the interior soggy and susceptible to organic decay. Mold, bacteria, and even insects like carpenter bees and wood borers can attack wood once the exterior coating has failed and the wood is left vulnerable. To beautify the areas around your windows and doors, and to get the area moisture-free to prepare for the coming winter, all you need to do is carefully remove the damaged wood, and replace it with fresh lumber that can then be primed, painted, and sealed against the elements.
Blue Door Painters offers wood replacement services as one of our most affordable methods of beautifying and protecting your home. It will surprise you how much better an exterior space looks after even a small section of rotting wood has been replaced. But above and beyond the aesthetic value of wood replacement, you will notice a difference in your winter heat retention and your resulting utility bills. As the air outside gets colder, its time to warm your interior up with a strong and sturdy protective shell.
Powerwash your deck. Keep it looking clean for those trick-or-treaters!
Blue Door Painters discusses preparing for the changing season in the Washington, DC area
Indian summer is now winding down, those wild storms and dragging humid droughts are fading into memory, and you can finally step outside without slapping the mosquitos off your ankles – although you may need to put on a pair of slacks first. Autumn in the greater Washington, DC area is a beautiful time of year. The air feels crisp and clean, the leaves are beginning to blush into the colors of their autumn spectacle, and the stores are bursting with plastic ghosts, witches, and plump orange pumpkins. Compared to August, September and October are some of the best months to be outdoors in and around the nation’s capital, because they actually offer some relief from our infamous summer humidity. If your deck or patio isn’t up to par, you’ll be missing out on some of the prime time weekends for outdoor living in DC.
On the other side of the coin, the beautiful fall weather implies the inevitable arrival of winter, a season as harsh in Washington DC as the summers are muggy. Relaxing outside on a beautiful October morning, you can be rest assured that roughly three months from now, cold, wind, rain, and snow will likely barrage the very spot you are sitting.
Both the beauty of the autumn weather and the threat of impending winter are prime reasons to get your deck into tip-top shape now. Cleaning, staining, and sealing your deck will make it an attractive place to enjoy the fall, as well as a safe and protected structure ready to withstand the forces of winter. Once the cold weather rolls around in full force, it will be too late to apply most exterior coatings, and stains and sealants are no exception – temperatures below 55 degrees and direct exposure to precipitation interrupt the curing process and cause the coatings to fail. Early in the fall, there are still enough warm spells to get the work you need done.
Complete deck care involves pressure-washing, staining, and sealing. Pressure washing, a procedure that utilizes water ejected at high speeds to loosen debris and contaminants that are worked into the pores of the wood, is by far the most superior method for cleaning sturdy exterior surfaces. Applying stain after pressure-washing ensures that the stain will be able to achieve maximum penetration, and will not be interrupted by impurities. In addition to beautifying and adding color and tone to the wood, the stain will imbue it with protective and weatherproofing properties that will help it hold up against a harsh winter. Finally, the sealant layer will guard against wood’s worst enemy – moisture – so that even if you have five inches of snow sitting on your deck all winter long, your wood will emerge sitting pretty just in time for a beautiful DC spring.
For more information on deck care, including working with different types of wood, picking stain color, and taking care of your deck all year round, check out Blue Door Painters blogroll. To request a free estimate for full service pressure-washing, staining, and sealing, contact Blue Door Painters now!
Tips on Decorating with Concrete from Washington, DC area contractor
Concrete is one of the most durable and versatile building materials on the market today. You can use concrete for everything from sunroom floors to retaining walls and outdoor patios. As a building material, its combination of strength and malleability cannot be matched, although in its natural state the color and heat conduction are sometimes less than ideal. Regarding the color, while the cold masonry gray natural to concrete might be less than desirable, there are actually several ways to get colors into your concrete surface, opening the door to a wide array of decorating schemes.
The three ways to color concrete are to paint it, to stain it, or to mix pigment into it pre-application. Pigmented concrete – also known as ‘colored concrete’- can be mixed at home, or it can be purchased pre-colored. All three methods have advantages and disadvantages; between the three of them, you should be able to achieve a concrete surface with just the look you want.
Colored Concrete With colored concrete, the pigments are mixed directly into the pre-cured batch. This is a technique also known as “integral color.” Originally iron oxide was the primary pigment used in integral concrete color, but in today’s market you can choose from a wide array of colors, from bold and bright to subtle and earthy.
The benefit to pre-colored concrete is that the color will not wear off, and cannot chip or peel, since it is blended into the concrete itself. It also allows you to maintain the bare texture of the poured concrete, rather than giving it the glossier or smoother painted look of a surface that has been coated. Finally, with stain, you do not lose the thermal effect that you get from bare concrete; your concrete will still absorb heat and slowly release it back into the air, moderating temperature extremes.
The downside is that it can be difficult to predict the exact color that the concrete will turn out on your surface, since the particular batch, as well as the circumstances of application and curing, can make a difference. Furthermore, pre-colored concrete does not benefit from any of the additional functional benefits of coating, such as waterproofing, added cleanability, etc. And if you want to change the color in the future, you have to paint over your colored concrete, surmounting the additional challenges of getting the paint to adhere to the uncoated surface and hiding the existing color.
Painting Concrete Concrete can be painted in any color, and given any level of gloss, on the coatings market. It is important to remember to thoroughly clean the concrete prior to application, and to prime it with a special masonry or concrete-designated primer, but if you achieve those two goals, your concrete surface can be as readily painted as your drywall or your brick exterior.
The benefit to painting concrete is that is gives your substrate the added protection offered by a strong coating. Protective properties of paint vary depending on the brand and the purpose, but you can find paints that are waterproof, that fight bacteria and mildew buildup, that resist fading from UV exposure or mechanical weathering. You will be able to predict how the coating color will turn out based on the sample and/or paint chips that you acquire in your planning phase, because paint coatings predictably hold their color.
The downside to painting concrete is that you don’t end up with the subtle, almost ‘natural’ look that you can get with integrally colored concrete. You also have to perform upkeep on the paint job; recoating it when it starts to wear and/or peel. If your concrete is on the floor in an area that receives traffic, you will need to clean and likely recoat it regularly to combat the effects of the constant wear and tear. Also, depending on the type of paint you choose, some of the natural thermal effects of concrete will be affected by the coating.
Staining Concrete It is a little-known fact, but concrete also can be stained. The stain actually penetrates the pores of the concrete, creating a beautiful and unique multitonal effect. Unlike paint (or even more so, carpetry), stain has no effect on the thermal properties of concrete. You can also choose from a multitude of colors and tonal effects, even choosing stains that mimic the look of marble or other high-end flooring materials.
The downsides to stain are that it does not protect the concrete, and it is extremely hard to predict exactly how the stain will look after it is applied. Another consideration is that since the stain is penetrating, it cannot easily be removed; if the look of the stained concrete at any point is considered undesirable, the only option will be to paint over it.
So there you have a full overview of your colored concrete options. Far from the tired, gray, boring substance that you’re used to, you can now tap into the true power of concrete as a powerful and versatile decorating tool.
Blue Door Painters offers advice on choosing colors for Washington, DC wood surfaces
Wood stain is a powerful tool. Not technically a coating, it actually penetrates the substrate to which it is applied, changing the color by enhancing the natural tones of the wood with a warm translucent glow. Stain can be used to make wood look antique, to make it look exotic, to change the color, to bring out the natural grain, to make it look warmer, or to catch the light coming in from a window just so.
Any wood can be stained, interior or exterior, but you need to be careful when choosing colors and coming up with a decorating strategy because stain is also one of the most volatile tools in the coating industry. Since it penetrates and blends with the natural wood, rather than coating it, stain doesn’t turn out consistently across the board; the exact same pot of stain will look drastically different on a piece of oak bedroom furniture than it would on a treated pine deck. So choosing your stain color is an exercise in both careful decorating strategy – and trial and error.
1. The Strategy
First off, you want to take the type of wood that you are staining into consideration. Luxury woods – like cherry, maple, mahogany, or rosewood – should NOT be stained, because they look far better in their natural state (this is why you pay top dollar for them). Some other woods, like cedar, redwood, and oak, are attractive with or without stain, leaving the big decision up to you. Other types of wood – like beech, birch, poplar, ash, gum, and new or pressure-treated* pine – almost always benefit aesthetically from a stain job.
* Be careful to ENSURE that your pressure-treated pine is fully dry from the pressure treatment process before staining.
Next, it’s time to think color. We’ve talked in previous blogs about the psychological temperature of the various rainbow colors (red, orange, yellow = warm; green = neutral; blue, violet = cool), and about the way that the value (ie, how light or dark the color is) effects the perception of space in both interiors and exteriors. The exact same considerations come into play with wood stain, except you are dealing with a palette that is pretty much composed entirely of shades of brown. Brown is a flexible color; it can – and is – pulled by stain up toward the yellow/white/blonde end of the spectrum, out into a world of reds and oranges, or down into deep earthy tones approaching black on the value scale. When you are staining wood, you should think about both the warmth – which can be loosely measured by how much red is in the color that you choose – and the light play. If you want a warm, homey feel, go for a stain color with a lot of red or orange in it. If you want a cooler, more sophisticated look, go for a pure chocolately deep brown color, or alternatively a pure white- or yellow-blonde. Undertones of green and blue in the stain (these are subtle, but sometimes present) will also make a stain feel ‘cooler’. Next, think about the amount of light you want playing off of your wood surface. If the surface is large, light colors will make your space look larger, while darker colors will bring about a feeling of intimacy. If the surface is small, light colors will lower the emphasis, while dark colors will make the details “pop”. Use any and all of the decorating principles that we’ve discussed in prior blogs, and remember to consider the other colors you will be using in your decorating palette.
2. The Test
This is the important part, and you have to be ready to spend a little bit more than you may want to. Because after picking out the color you want, you have to use some trial and error to figure out what type of stain will actually give you that color in real life. Since stain reacts unpredictably with different species of wood, you have to purchase several different stain colors (and even stain brands) and try them out on an out-of-the-way surface before you can ensure that you have achieved the right affect. Pick a hidden corner or side of the surface you are staining and try out your stain colors, ensuring that you are using the same lighting and number of coats that you will use in your final application.
Paint is composed of four primary components. There’s the binder, which holds the paint together, the pigment, which gives it its optical and physical properties, the solvent, which helps it go on evenly and change smoothly from a liquid to a solid coating – and then there are the additives. “Additives”, as the word suggests, are simply extra things that are addedinto the paint mixture, to achieve a variety of purposes. While the additives are arguably the least important of all of the paint components, since you could certainly still paint the wall without them, it is the additives that give modern paint their superpowers. Living in a bustling metropolitan area like Washington, DC, today’s local painters and homeowners reap the rewards of thousands of years of paint technology to experience paint products that dry quickly, evenly, and thoroughly, and possess a whole range of other properties in addition. But it wasn’t always that way. Historically, successfully painting your living room could be a difficult undertaking indeed. In order to help modern Washingtonians appreciate how far paint technology has come from then to now, Blue Door Painters is providing this list of paint superpowers – and the additives that are responsible for them.
We love plants, but our paint wants to stay separate...hence their biocides. Don't turn your white walls green!
Brief Glossary of Paint Additives – and their Superpowers
abrasion resistors – improve the surface’s hardness and smoothness so it can be cleaned or rubbed without damage
adhesion promoters – help the film stick to the substrate by roughening the surface, increasing physical absorption of the paint film by the substrate surface, and enhancing the chemical bonding.
anti-blocking agent – Blocking is when the paint on two surfaces sticks together (think about a painted sliding window that sticks to the frame when closed and cannot be reopened). Anti-blocking agents bloom to the surface of a film and create bonding resistance.
anti-float/anti-flood agent – keeps pigments from floating away from each other and creating a streaky effect (floating), or from all of one kind of pigment crowding to the surface as the film dries, muddying the desired blend
anti-foamer/defoamer – prevent bubbles from forming in the coating
anti-freeze – chemical that prevents mechanical damage to a coating in its liquid or film state through exposure to extreme cold (or cold and heat in cycles, which can be the most damaging)
anti-gelling/anti-livering/anti-skinning agent – a chemical that stops the process through which many paints form a film on top of a wet can, or otherwise thicken in the can through an irreversible state change
antioxidant – a chemical that prevents oxygen from reacting with other compounds in the mixture that are vulnerable to oxidation
anti-settling agent – a chemical that deters pigments from sinking to the bottom of a mixture
anti-slip/anti-skid agents – additives used to produce more traction on the paint’s surface
antistatic agents – chemicals that make the surface film less conductive
biocides – any chemical designed to resist organic attack of the paint film, including bacteria, fungi, algae, marine borers, and even certain kinds of insects
brighteners – usually fluorescent dyes or pigments that absorb UV radiation and re-emit it as a violet-blue light that gives white tones a brighter (and less yellow) appearance
burnish-resistors – chemical resistors to “burnishing”, which is the increase of gloss or sheen in areas where the paint coating has been rubbed
chelating additives – chemicals designed to bond with and render harmless any metal impurities
coalescents – chemicals that enhance good film formation during the drying/curing phase of latex paints by softening the edges of the plastic molecules and encouraging them to bond with each other.
corrosion inhibitors – these chemicals prevent rust, and other corrosive metal chemical reactions
craze-resistors – chemicals that prevent cracks or fissures upon shrinkage of the paint film
curing agent – additive that enhances the curing of a film
deaerators – Deaerators prevent the formation of air pores (microfoam and pinhole formation) in a film. dessicants – chemicals that have a high affinity for water absorption, used as drying agents
detergent – a surfactant that is added to remove soiling from a surface
driers – driers are chemicals that accelerates the drying time of paint, ink, or varnish.
dyes – dyes are soluble colorants.
electroconductive additives – compounds that alter the conductivity or resistivity of a system to electricity. emulsifier – chemicals used to produce stable mixtures of two incompatible liquids.
flame retardants – chemicals that will reduce flammability and help fireproof a coating.
flatting agents – particles added to a mixture to scatter light and create a flatter-toned finish
flow modifiers/flow and leveling agents – chemicals added to the mixture to change the paint’s surface tension so that an ideal balance of wetting and leveling is achieved by the paint
hardeners – specific curing compounds that are added to promote, enhance, or control the curing reaction
hindered amine light stabilizers (HALS) – chemicals that scavenge free radicals created by UV radiation, therefore reducing the degradation of polymers due to UV radiation
humectants – additives that prevent a mixture from drying out during storage
impact resistance improvers – these chemicals improve both the flexibility and the adhesion of the film in such a way that it becomes more resilient to damage from various forms of impact
leafing agent – chemical that prevents the metallic flakes in certain metallic pigmented paints from overlapping and creating an undesirable texture
lubricants/slip aids – chemicals that decrease the frictional resistance between surfaces.
moisture barrier – nanoparticles can be used to create a moisture barrier by filling spaces in the film; this allows a form of waterproofing that does not create complications in the adhesion of subsequent coating layers.
moisture scavenger – these chemicals absorb and get rid of moisture leaking into the film through natural drying/curing processes or environmental contamination
plasticizers – materials used to increase the flexibility of an otherwise brittle film
preservative – a compound used to prevent and deter the deteriorating action of microorganisms upon a substance (rather than a biocide, which is actively toxic to attacking biota, preservatives act as a deterrent/hostil environment)
reactive diluent – a viscosity reducing element in the mixture, which actually becomes part of the final coating through chemical reaction with other constituents in the coating. Reactive diluents are not technically solvents, because they are not volatile, and are therefore present in the final coating.
retention aids – chemicals that slow down the evaporation rate of certain solvents, and prevent the entrapment of solvents under a layer of solid elements (pigments, binder components, etc)
rheology modifiers – additives that thicken the mixture and affect the viscosity, flow, and deformation (rheology is the study of the flow and deformation of matter)
soil repellants – a chemical agent that resists soiling by non-biotic elements (dust, dirt, etc)
surface modifier – an additive intended to modify a particular surface property, like friction, surface tension, abrasion resistance, softness to the touch, or appearance
surfactants – compounds that affect surface activity.
suspension agents – substances included in a mixture in order to increase the resistance to pigment settling
synergists – chemicals used to facilitate radiation-initiated polymerization
tackifier – a chemical that will increase the amount of time that a coating stays in a tacky-dry condition
texturizer – an additive that creates a particular surface texture in a cured powder coating
thickeners – materials used to increase the viscosity of a liquid.
wet edge extenders – additives that keep a film open or wet during a painting operation.
wetting agents – additives that improve the mixture’s adhesion through facilitating maximum contact between the liquid and the substrate
Step-By-Step Instruction on Drywall Repair by Washington DC Area Contractor
Drywall is one of the most powerful and flexible of the modern interior construction surfaces. Easy to repair, replace, and remove, and install, working with drywall is an easy and satisfying way to transform your interior.
You may want to work with drywall if:
– You have sections of your walls that are damaged by moisture, mold, abrasion, or normal wear and tear
– You want to add or remove a wall
If you are installing or removing a wall, you will also need to work with the studs or rafters that lie within the drywall, and that takes greater expertise than simply manipulating the drywall. However, if you simply need a section of your drywall replaced, the procedure is simple enough that it can be undertaken as a do-it-yourself project. Blue Door Painters outlines the steps in the discussion below.
Step 1: Remove the Damaged/Undesired Drywall
In order to remove the damaged drywall, first use a ruler, pencil, and squaring tool to sketch out a rectangular section that extends slightly wider in all directions than the damaged area. You want to make sure that your section has right angles, and that when that section is taken out, the damaged area will be fully removed. Next, using a sharpened utility knife, cut along your sketched boundaries. Once you have made cuts along the full perimeter of the damaged area, you will need to remove that isolated portion by releasing the mounting devices and then prying it off the wooden framing. To access screw or nail heads that might be anchoring the drywall, remove any taping within the damaged section.
Step 2: Inspect, Measure and Cut Replacement Drywall
Once you have removed the old drywall, you need to replace it with a segment of new drywall that is the exact same size and shape. Carefully measure the old section that you have removed, and trace out a section of new drywall that has the same parameters. Prior to cutting, inspect your new section of drywall for any structural or aesthetic flaws, including cracks, dents, and disfigurement. You also need to inspect the surface where the drywall is going to be mounted, making sure that all fixtures and residue from the damaged drywall have been thoroughly removed, the wood has been patched and sanded, and the underlying substrate bears no sign of mold or water damage. If you do have mold or water damage in the wood or insulation behind your drywall, further work – such as wood replacement – may need to be undertaken.
If both the drywall and the mounting surface are ready to go, use a utility knife to make your cuts smooth and straight.
Step 3: Mount the Drywall
Drywall can be mounted using screws, nails, or adhesive (glue). Each method has advantages and disadvantages. Mounting with screws gives the sturdiest attachment, able to withstand changes in the underlying wood without popping free, but it is also the most expensive and time-consuming. Nail installation is cheaper, and still affords a sturdy mount if executed correctly (make sure to hammer the nails in at the dead center of the wall stud). Adhesive installation is even easier to execute, and leaves the surface smoother, but it is also the most vulnerable to warping. Choose your method of mounting drywall thoughtfully, and stick to the same method for the whole of your project.
Step 4: Tape, Finish, and Re-coat
The final step is to tape, finish, and re-coat your new section of drywall. Drywall tape runs along the joints, covering the seams and any fasteners you might have used. Drywall tape is paired with joint compound, which is a plaster-like substance that is worked into the seams to create a smoothed-out surface, covering drywall tape and hiding the marks of any fasteners. Joint compound should be applied with a smoothing spatula that allows it to neutralize the seam between the new section of drywall and the rest of the wall.
Joint compound keeps your walls looking smooth, so after you paint...the damage or seams are practically invisible.
Once tape and joint compound have been applied, and the wall has assumed a level surface, it is time to repaint the entire wall, so that the new section blends into the old and becomes undistinguishable. Use a strong primer over the entire wall before painting, one that is suitable both for old paint and for bare drywall. With only a topcoat, your patch might stand out from the rest of the wall, making the repair obvious.
In four simple steps, you can repair your own drywall. For further information, or to request a free estimate on your drywall repair or replacement project, contact Blue Door Painters.
Profile of Washington DC and Northern Virginia’s Most Popular Interior Building Material
Once upon a time, the building materials used to cover the inside surfaces of residential homes were the same as those used on the outside: wood, stone, and brick masonry. Construction was not yet sophisticated enough for builders to think about the differing demands of an interior versus an exterior surface.
As technology progressed, techniques were developed to create a smooth, even interior finish using plaster and stucco. Once dry, the plaster would create an ideal surface for interior purposes, such as decoration and sealing against the elements battering against the exterior. Stuccoing an interior involves applying wet plaster against a framework (often made of some sort of mesh) in successive layers.
While plaster and stucco create a strong, beautiful interior finish, they also posed some problems – especially for the wanna-be remodeler. Successful installation of plaster interior surfaces requires care, but is not prohibitively difficult – but changing or replacing any part of those surfaces, once fully dried, can be a nightmare. If part of a plaster wall gathers moisture and rots, or if a wall needs to be changed or an electrical or pumping system behind the wall needs to be operated on, ripping out and replacing a limited section of the wall is a huge hassle. Upon reflection on this difficulty, the call went out to the architectural engineers to come up with a building material that would serve the same purpose as plaster – creating a smooth, even finish – but would be cheaper and easier to manipulate all throughout its lifespan.
The bad news is...well, obvious. The good news is that drywall can be relatively easy to repair! We'll blog about THAT later...
The answer that they came up with is named, in contrast to its moist cousins, “drywall”. Drywall is constructed by sandwiching a layer of gypsum in between two sturdy sheets of paper – helpfully dubbed the “face paper” and the “back paper”. The face paper and the back paper are carefully composed mixtures of pulp and chemicals designed to perform the tasks you would want for the outside and inside of your interior walls, respectively. The face paper is often treated with fire resistant, mold resistant, and coating-friendly chemicals, while the back paper is treated with chemicals that give it extra moisture and mold resistance, static dispersal, and physical flexibility to withstand the expansion and contraction of changing temperatures. The gypsum core in the middle gives the drywall its strength, so that it can keep its shape while being mounted vertically or horizontally on wooden studs and joists.
The greatest benefit of drywall is its maneuverability. If a section of a wall gets mold or water damage, or becomes soiled from years of domestic use, it is easy and straightforward to remove the damaged section, replace it with a new piece, and re-coat the surface to look like an unbroken whole. If you want to hang a new wall to divide a room into sections, or you want to rip down part of an existing wall, adding and removing drywall is a manageable process. All in all, handling and making changes with drywall is a remodelers dream; like the adult’s version of building with legos.
So if you have any changes you want to make in your home – sections of wall to be replaced, or changes you want to your interior layout – and the building material used to establish your interior is drywall, you are in luck. You can follow the simple steps in our Drywall How-To blog to manipulate your drywall yourself, or you can call Blue Door Painters now to take advantage of Washington DC and Northern Virginia’s premiere drywall repair and installation services.
As we discussed in the previous electrical safety blog, electricity is a potential hazard of any redecorating project. Since electricity involves the flow of current through conductive materials, understanding the properties of various materials in your home, and learning how to predict and control the path of electric current, is the key to electrical safety.
Conductive materials commonly found in the home include metal, water with minerals dissolved in it (and most un-distilled water does), people, sweat, and air charged with static. Non-conductive materials include rubber, plastic, wood, glass, and mica.
Most electronic circuits – including those running through the walls and those found within the casings of tools, are made of metal. Many other parts of those tools, however, and other objects such as clothing and containers, are also made of metal, and are not intended to conduct electricity. Electrical accidents can occur when handling a metal tool that has inadvertently come in contact with a circuit, or when moisture from sweat or damp conditions conducts electricity in unintended ways.
Inspect your electrical tools and the areas you use them in to prevent electrical accidents.
Electricity can also cause fires through the generation of heat, which happens whenever the current encounters resistance. Every substance offers some resistance to electrical current, but some much more than others (the classification of materials into conductive and insulative materials can be thought of as a measure of resistance: conductive materials are low resistance, while insulative materials are high resistance). While using insulative materials to block current is the way to protect against electrocution, it can also create a fire hazard. If electrical current can find no path of low resistance, it will take the best possible route, and generate heat to account for the difference between the amount of energy in the current and the amount of energy that can be conducted by the path. Electrical machines channel this heat to accomplish work; their operating devices provide resistance in carefully calculated amounts. But when a current encounters too much resistance, or the resistance is unintended and therefore not productively channeled, the current may arc through the air, seeking a parallel conductor, and generate a good deal of heat in the process, or it may simply heat up the substance to the point that a fire is ignited from the combination of that heat and any combustibles in the area. Attaching a device to a power source that is too strong for its circuitry to handle is a classic way to start electrical fires. The amount of current that a given wire or device can handle should be clearly labeled, as should the source of electricity that you are using.
Prior to use of any electrical tool, it is important to inspect it for potential flaws and hazards in the electrical system. Any potential interruption to or exposure of the machine’s live circuitry is a hazard, and under no circumstances should that tool be connected to a power source. Warning signs of electrical hazards includefrayed or damaged cords, open or non-insulated wiring, signs of physical damage on power tools, improper or missing grounds, temporary power connections encased in mud or unprotected, and mismatch between device and power source (a common mistake is to use standard lighting fixtures paired with unusual power sources intended for power tools, or in other hazardous situations)
Precautions to take for electrical hazardsinclude:
– always using double-insulated tools or a grounding cord complete with GFCI (ground fault circuit interruptor) to guarantee that there is adequate protection between yourself and the current and that there is a more attractive alternative path for escaping current to take than through your body
– wear insulating gloves and shoes at all times when working around electricity. This covering will insulate your body from the ground, discouraging electrical current.
– inspect electrical tools regularly
– always check the amperes of devices and power sources, and ensure that they match before using them together.
– always keep insulating materials on hand (scraps of dry cloth, insulating gloves, rubber mats, etc)
– don’t wear metal objects when working with electricity
– don’t touch water, damp surfaces, ungrounded metal, or any bare wires if you are not protected
– do not fasten wires with metal hooks, staples, or any other method that could damage the insulation
– keep electrical cords and equipment clean and free of kinks
