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Design & Remodeling, Designer Talk, Miscellaneous, Painting, Painting
Color is fun and inspiring, and exploring new colors is an invigorating way to play. At the start of each year, the major paint manufacturers unveil their pick for Color of the Year. It’s always fun to try and speculate which color it may be because the possibilities...
Home Improvement Library, Painting
Currently there are federal laws that mandate the proper removal of paint containing lead which affect contractors, landlords, and child care providers, but not individual home owners, specifically. We are required by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to...
Brick & Masonry, Cleaning, Home Improvement Library, Painting
Cleaning Paint Streaks Off Brick I believe this is the white pigment from the powder coating on the metal siding that is washing down onto your brick. Yes, you can remove the streaks yourself but this will continue to be a persistent problem until the siding above is...
Basements, Flooring, Home Improvement Library, Painting, Remodeling
Hang on to your hat …This is a really big job to correctly do if you will have any real long-term traffic on your floor. I really advise solvent paints for floors but you can try water-based coatings at your own risk. I really advise that any solvent floor paint...
Home Improvement Library, Painting, Venting & Circulation
Your environment seems to be moldy and unhealthy from what you describe. We suspect your 7 year old paint is bad, probably moldy, and is probably contributing to your respiratory ailments. Latex paint is smelly but not usually a really bad smell. We strongly suggest...
Home Improvement Library, Painting, Siding
You can paint anything, but should you? Yes, vinyl siding can be effectively coated with a paint formulated to stick to it, but I do not recommend painting vinyl siding due to the substantial expansion and contraction movement caused by the extreme changes of...
Home Improvement Library, Painting
You are correct that the discoloration is from the nicotine bleeding through. I suggest you prime all the surfaces with a product called KILZ. It is an oil-based primer that is designed to keep previous layers (be it nicotine, darker paint, or pen and marker doodling)...
Cleaning, Concrete, Home Improvement Library, Painting
Yes, the paint can be stripped from the concrete, but it is usually a messy, tedious task with no real guarantee that the concrete will return 100% to its original appearance. The removal process entails application of chemical strippers to the surface and then...
Cleaning, Home Improvement Library, Painting
Mold and mildew grows in the water of old latex paint, so I recommend disposing of old paint after 2-3 years even if it seems good. The only reason to keep old paint is for touch up painting. Dispose of the old paint by pouring it over rubbish or trash and let the...
Home Improvement Library, Painting
The real solution is to remove the paint or to replace the trims so a good bonding paint is the key. Two products that do a decent job of avoiding stripping the paint to fix the problem are Paso and Liquid Sand Paper. Both products sort of melt the latex paint and oil...
Brick & Masonry, Home Improvement Library, Painting
Once the brick is painted it is difficult to remove all the paint. The paint absorbs into the brick mortar and does not easily come off. Painting brick is much more common because brick colors often date the house and may need color updating. The vision and value of...
General Construction & Repairs, Home Improvement Library, Painting, Remodeling
One part Downy to 3 parts warm water for hard to work wall coverings. For regular covers, one part Downy to 4 parts water.
Brick & Masonry, Cleaning, Home Improvement Library, Painting
Solutions include scraping heavy deposits of paint off the brick, wire brushing the rest of the solid paint off the brick, and burning the residue off the brick with a torch, heat gun or Bernzomatic flame. Solvents are not good for this purpose because they turn the...
