How to paint your house inside & outside

When painting our homes in the past the use of oil based paint was normal. But today it can be completely avoided, Which is good for our health aswell as the enviroment as a whole!

But the problems in the past did not just lie with paint but also building products. That in many cases is still a problem today. I mean just think about all the alergies we have today compared to what our parents and grandparents had in the past!

Inside painting & Decorating:

I use Water or acryl based paints on all walls and woodwork. I also use water based knot primer and water or acryl based wood putty or filler.

Other positives about these products are:

You can apply them to already existing oil painted surfaces.
Some acryl products actualy dry and protect harder than oil products.
The drying time is much less.
There is less smell, So less headaches.
You can get your house back in order faster.
You can wash your hands and your brushes with warm water.

Negatives:
(There always has to be some negatives:)

Water based paints (not acryl) Don,t cover too well and can be damaged easily.

Acryl based paints: because they dry faster they are more difficult to apply.

Water based paints do not cover as well as oil based paints (needs more coats)

For the best result when using an akryl based primer on a previously varnished surface one must:
1)Wash the area with a strong detergent and rinse afterwards.

2)Sand the shine off the varnish. (you don,t always have to sand down to the bare wood, Just remove the shine so that the paint has something to cling too.

3)Vacume the area if needed.

4) Apply water based knot varnish x 2 (not always neccesary in older walls where the sap is no longer there, But its best to be safe than sorry!)

5) Prime the walls with an akryl based primer. Often stores have different primers for different surfaces. Just ask if you are not totaly sure!

6) Paint with akryl based paint. You will need a roller and a wide brush covering the bridth of one panel. You roll 3 to four lengths at a time and then smooth of with the brush from bottom to top.

7) Another alternative is to Roll some lengths relatively thick, quickly go over with a brush, Roll again and smooth off again with a brush.

WARNING: Akryl paint dry,s faster than most commonly used paints so don,t think that applying less in this case is the best way! If you do so, then you will find that the paint will dry before you go over it with your brush!

WARNING: If you cheat by not washing your walls or not sanding, then you will risk that the primer will not hold. This can result in an off yellow colour seeping through or that the primer shrinks and shows what looks like small cracks all over your walls.

LAST PIECE OF ADVICE: If you are going to do the job, Then do it right or get a profesional, Or pay for the consequences!

I have met many who just cannot be bothered taking the time to prepare a room properly. Preparation for many is the rough work that even most painters would love to avoid. But welcomer to reality :-)

Preparing a room for decorating:

1)Cover the floor completely. Use tape on the covering from end to end. Not a little tape here and there as people tend to tear the papp when rolling the roof (Celing) If you have a stained or recently varnished floor then be carfull not to tape the floor itself as this could leave marks.

2)Cover and tape everything that is not getting painted. (Alternatively remove furniture and wall objects from the room if possible) There are some good adhesive tapes in the market today that can stay on longer, Ask your retailer about this.

3) Leave your paint supplies in another room if possible or in the middle of the room you are painting. Never up against a wall you will eventualy have to paint.

4) Just hope that the person before was not smoking in the room. Otherwize you will have to wash the roof and the walls with a heavy cleaner and then rinse off afterwards, Then prime with something that stinks! Its a painters nightmare and it can cost the customer a small fortune if they don,t do it themselves first or if they do it wrong.

5)If there are unwanted holes in the walls or roof. Then fill these with sparkel. For cracks I have found that most sparkel or fillers don,t hold for too long. Its better to use an akryl gun. squirt the akryl over the crack and wash off with a damp cloth. make sure you get all excess acryl off as this is not possible to sand afterwards.

6)perminant marks can be removed with red spirit, But rinse over the area afterwards. You can also use knot varnish and primer to try cover marks (Waterbased)

7) Lynol is a great product for removing paint marks off gummy sealents like you can find round windows, But like red spirit it is anything but enviroment freindly :-(

I use enviromental freindly products for the most part. People hate the lingering smell of oil paint in there homes. Why not paint with acryl then? Its easy to apply. Its easy to wash off. Its strong and covers well. It dry,s within two to three hours. (Tools keep better)

Walls:
Its best to use Akryl based products. Akryl is strong, Water based and its easy to wash the walls later if neccesary.

I use PVA water based paints for celings/roofs though. I tend to use paints with a low shine output. ie Matt. (Unless your roof/celing is real fancy, who wants to look at it?)

I use akryl or a mixture of water and oil based paints (new) on woodwork. All my primers are waterbased too.

WARNING:
Be careful when priming varnished wood. Although oil is the best solution in this area, Its not always affective unless you sand off all the varnish shine first. I have been working with several tests in this area and I would not say that akryl primers were better. Not on old varnish.

The most important aspect of painting anything is preparation. its not the other way around. If you cheat and just throw on some paint, then you will more than likely just show up all the earlier mistakes. So here is what you do:

1)Cover all the area,s that you don,t want to paint. Use blue masking tape. It holds longer and comes off easily.

2)Wash all fat marks and whatever off the previous paint. Use fresh water again afterwards and dry.

3)Sand the shine off the old paint aswell as damaged area,s.

4) Use wood filler on damaged area,s and sand this again once dry.

5) Vacume everything thouroughly.

6) Apply akryl based paint. There is also a water based oxan which is a good substitute for oil paints. However you will need to apply 3 to four coats minimum.

7) You will need a smal brush for your railings depending on what type. You will also need a lining tool and a radiator roller with a thin sleeve. The idea is that after you have finnished witht he railings, you will then roll the steps and use the lining tool to smooth this off. Just remember to start at the top of the stairs :-)

8) Akryl paint tends to dry fast so its possible to apply two coats on the same day if you are energetic enough? :-)

Ok Drywall taping is a tough one for most who don,t do it on a daily basis. Here are some basic rules if you plan to do it yourself!

1) Check that the wall does not have any inside damage. Like bubbles or broken plaster under the paper. Tear off anything that looks loose. Also check for wide gaps. Often seen above doorways and in corners. Use a stanleyknife and cut along the edge on both side. Reason for this is so that the plaster has something to cling too!. Make sure all screws are screwed in properly!

I am putting this module on hold! My problem is that when I work on a lens I often mix norwegian and english words. I need to investigate more before I can continue? Feel free to contact me though if you need help sooner?

The best paint that lasts tends to be the most expensive too! Today they are becoming more and more advanced in that area. where you can now buy a good oil paint with a 12 year guarentee. That does not mean though that if the paint fades or flakes off after 12 years that you are covered. This may depend on your primeing. In this country we use Visir for new wood which is for inpregnering/priming new wood. then we use a thin oil base after about 6 months and a second coat the following summer. Some prefer just to use an oil base all the time as it shows the patern of the wood and sits well. However after some more years they will add a heavy coat. Todays main oil product is called drygolin extreem. Guarentees that it will hold indefinately for 12 years. Some say 20 years.

A better alternative Is Acrylic optimal. This can be applied on impregnert and oil based primers. But of course its water based! Its the best in my book and easy to apply. negatives are: it can cost more and covers about half the amount of space than oil påint.