When painting any substrate, we must always begin with a clean, dirt and grease free surface. If there is mould, dirt, grease or anything else present, we must remove and clean it before we can begin applying any type of coating.

Moisture Content

When coating bare wood, first things first, we must check its moisture content. Coating wood with high moisture levels will result in product failure; loss of adhesion.  If you do not have one already, a moisture meter is a good investment to make, especially for a painting contractor. It will cost you more in the end to have to return the following year and deal with a coating issue. Typically, exterior wood surfaces should not have more than 15-20% moisture present prior to painting & 12-15% for interior surfaces.

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Priming Bare Wood

If you are deciding to paint bare wood, you should seal all knots (spot prime) with a shellac based primer. Shellac based primers are great for sealing wood knots and sap streaks. They do carry a pungent odour, but dry very quickly and will not let the knot bleed through the top (finish) coat. If you are looking to stain your bare wood, you don’t not have to seal the knots with a primer, heavily saturating the knots with stain will do.

Removing all dried up and oozing sap is a must, especially when dealing with woods such as fir or pine. After removing the sap build up, use an appropriate primer/sealer to seal in the sap affected areas.

Shellac-Base Primer

Zinsser Shellac-Base Primer

Filling in the Holes

Finally, it is time to fill in the holes and cracks and begin sanding. Use an interior or exterior grade wood filler, when filling in holes and cracks. I would recommend using a higher grade wood filler as they tend to shrink and crack a lot less. When it comes to sanding, stick with 150g – 220g sand paper. All sanding should be performed in the direction of the wood grain. Sanding across the grain will create scratches that will absorb stain and polyurethane unevenly.

Preparing your bare wood surface correctly, will allow your coating to penetrate and adhere properly. Your new wood surface will last for many years to come!

Billy Petrovski
Creative Director
The Paint People

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The post Preparing Bare Wood for Painting or Staining appeared first on The Paint People.

If there is a downside to the sizzling market, it is that a lot of homeowners are taking the opportunity to get in an on the action. So if you decide to put your home on the market, you’ll face lots of competition.

Stage Your Home to Maximize Its Value

With the heightened competition, there’s renewed emphasis on staging your home to increase its appeal to potential buyers. Professional home stagers are experts on making the changes to your house that appeal most to house hunters.

There are a number of relatively easy do-it-yourself projects that will help you save at least part of the cost of hiring a professional stager.

1. Paint the Interior and Exterior of Your Home

No other home renovation delivers a higher return on investment than a good coat of paint to both the interior and exterior of the house. Brighter colours inside will give your home a more spacious, airy feel. Neutral exterior colours increase the all-important curb appeal of the house.

2. Paint Bathroom Tiles

Along with kitchens (see below), bathrooms are one of the most important selling features of your house. If your bathroom has not had a recent renovation, you can cover dated, dirty and damaged tile with a high-adhesion primer and ceramic epoxy.

3. In the Kitchen

Cabinets are the largest visual feature of your kitchen. Replacing them can be costly. Instead, you can paint or re-stain them to make them look as good as new.

Never underestimate the importance of presenting your home in the best way possible. Even if you’ll already be getting far more for your home than what you paid, you can add thousands of dollars to its value by doing a few simple and inexpensive DIY projects.

The post 3 Easy Home Staging Tips appeared first on The Paint People.

The biggest problem may not be the actual jobs you need to do, but choosing which one to start with. It’s always daunting when you head outside in springtime and see just how much work needs to be done.

Your first job is simply to clean up the yard of debris and make sure your plants, shrubs and lawns are in good shape and get the attention they need for a solid season of growth.

After those basics are in order, it’s time to look at your home and give it the loving care and maintenance it’s starving for.  Here are a few ways to do that:

1. Power Washing

Whether it’s rain splattering mud from gardens onto the sides of your home, or just dirt that’s built-up on your siding over the winter, giving everything a good power washing will either make it look as good as new, or get it ready for a coat of paint that will.

2. Paint Wood, Vinyl and Aluminum Siding

For the ultimate in looking “springtime fresh” there’s nothing like a good coat of paint. It’s easier and a lot less expensive than you might think. And your home will look great.

3. Re-Stain Your Deck & Wooden Fences

With the constant barrage of sunlight, it doesn’t take long for your deck and fences to look weather beaten. Re-staining both of them will not only make them look much better,it will help protect them against more sun and water damage.

When you look at all these jobs at once, it’s tempting to give up. But if you pick one, like painting your siding, and then break that job down further, maybe by starting only with the siding in the back, suddenly you turned the job into doable parts and it’s easier to get them – and the whole project – done .

The post Spring Clean-Up Tips for Outside Your Home appeared first on The Paint People.

The two most important things to painting contractors I find, are time and money. Purchasing premium quality paint will save you time, which in turn will save you money. When you use premium quality paint, with high volume solids, you are actually getting more “paint” in the can for your dollar. More “premium quality paint” in the can means more coverage. You actually get more square footage out of a gallon of premium quality paint when you compare it to a lower quality product. More square footage per gallon means you need to purchase less gallons for the job. There are many reasons why a gallon of paint can vary in cost, most of the time it’s because you’re actually getting less paint in the can, with poor quality ingredients. Don’t be fooled by the price tag!

Solids are that portion of the paint that will dry or cure to a solid film. They include the resin fillers and pigments remaining when the paint is dry or cured. The balance of the paint consists of solvents that evaporate during spraying, air drying or curing.

Premium Quality Paint & Touch-ups

It is very important to painting contractors that there touch-ups are seamless. The last thing you want to be doing is re-painting a whole wall because you can notice the touch-up you just applied. Aura & Regal Select from Benjamin Moore (both premium quality paint products) have excellent hide and touch-up capabilities.  Saving a few extra dollars at the checkout will only cost  you more in the end, because you will have to
spend another day working at no cost, re-painting walls that are not touching up well.

Premium Quality Paint & Brand Association

Another benefit painting contractors will have when using premium quality paint like Benjamin Moore is, you get to associate your brand with top quality products. This is HUGE, and can offer you a competitive advantage against the others. There are thousands of painting contractors out there, but what differentiates you against the rest? We need to understand that not everything is based on price. The products you use, and the services you provide, are all a representation of the brand you are creating. Customers now are far more educated than before. When they are paying for a service they expect top quality products to be used. Using premium quality paint & products will keep you ahead of the game.

Billy Petrovski
Creative Director
The Paint People

The post Why Painters Should Use Premium Quality Paint appeared first on The Paint People.

Painting a room using Regal Select

Don’t buy poor quality, low cost paint. Often times poor quality paint is much more difficult to apply and its appearance can be less than ideal. It will also not resist stains and dirt, and will not hold up to scrubbing and cleaning. If you choose this route you definitely will be painting in no time again. Check out my blog Why Premium Paint Is Worth The Money

Premium Quality Paint

Aura Interior Paint

Regal Select Interior Paint

Natura Zero-VOC & Zero Emissions Interior Paint

ben Interior Paint

Paint Sundries

Don’t purchase poor quality paint sundries (rollers, brushes, tape, etc.) If you want to save money somewhere, purchase a mid-grade paint (the “ben” line from Benjamin Moore is good) and buy top quality sundries. Purchasing low quality sundries, will affect your time spent painting, and its final appearance. Low quality rollers will leave lint all over your walls, causing you to sand and re-paint them again. A low quality brush, will not hold a lot of paint, will not allow you to have control, and cut straight lines, and will also loose bristles. Investing in top quality brushes and rollers will give you control, save you time, and allow you to apply a uniform coat of paint, giving you a beautiful, smooth finish.

Prepping the Surface for Painting

PREP, PREP, PREP I cannot stress this word enough. A lot of my customers moan and groan when they hear they have to prep the surface. This is a step you shouldn’t skip. 99% of “product failure” is due to inadequate surface preparation. It’s almost is never because of the product, although customers seem to believe so. The product is also the easiest thing to blame. I’ve heard it so many times before, “oh the paint didn’t stick,” “why is my deck peeling?” The first thing I ask is “what did you do for your prep?” and like always the customer responds “prep?” I just applied the paint to the surface. This is a NO, NO! You must prep the surface before anything else. There are many different types of preparation for different surfaces, speak to your local paint store for adequate prep procedures. Check out my blog Preparing Bare Wood for Painting or Staining

Exterior Painting

Depending on the product you have purchased, there are different manufactures guidelines to temperature, when painting outdoors. Rule of thumb is never paint below °10 (it must remain this temperature for a period of 24 hours.) All the new Benjamin Moore exterior paints, allow you to use their products when the outside temperature is °5 or higher. Remember this temperature should remain °5 or above for a period of 24 hours. If you paint when the temperature is below manufactures recommendations, the paint will stay tacky and take a lot longer to dry. If you paint when the surface is too hot (if it’s hot to the touch, it’s recommended you do not paint) it can cause bubbling, lap marks, and an uneven finish. It is best to paint outside in the early morning or evening.

At the end of the day, you get what you pay for. It’s always good to invest in the best quality paint and sundries. Resist the temptation to save a few bucks, because it will actually cost you more in then end. Follow these simple rules and I know your next painting project will be a success.

Billy Petrovski
Creative Director
The Paint People

The post Four Tips For Making Your Painting Project A Success! appeared first on The Paint People.