I am sure that I have done a TV show on this product, but for the life of me I cannot find it and people keep asking. There is a special category of re-finishing product, often called 'furniture re-finisher' (not furniture or paint stripper) but variations are made by several different manufactur...
To fix a bulge or hole in a lathe and plaster wall, we need to pay special attention to two things: limit the damage as we remove the loose plaster, and make sure the new plaster sticks solidly to the old lathe.
DEFINE THE PROBLEM AREA
Start by using a pencil to draw a line around the entir...
Connect to your favourite weather forecaster and look for the following conditions:
Category: Finishes Product: Acrylic Latex Paint
Temperature Limitations: Use above +10 C (+50 F) and below +32 C (+90 F)
Rain Limitations: No rain for 24 hours
Wind Limitations: low to moderate to avoi...
Determining, definitively, whether a given paint was oil or latex has always been a bit of a problem, but an important one as you can paint oil over latex, but not latex over oil unless you use a special 'super adherent primer' first.
I used to recommend taking a bit of paint thinner on a clean ...
I just received (October 2014) an alert from Healthy Building News about additives in many building products that are supposed to kill microbes and make the house healthier. These things are called “Antimicrobials”. A couple of the best known trade names are Microban and BioFresh.
Little disi...
Eleminating ordinary paint odours
Are you tired of the smell of paints and finishes? There are now several products on the market that you add to your paint and when it starts to dry on the wall, this chemically reacts with those molecules that cause the odour and stop those odours.
It works wi...
The shape of the tip of the bristles is critical for a good job.
Cheap brushes are cut off square as in the second photo, which makes them easier to manufacturer.
But they don't do nearly as good a job of carrying paint or laying it down as a brush with a tapered end and spl...
Round brushes, with tapered and split end bristles, are the standard trim brushes in Europe. You actually rotate the brush as you move to keep a wet brush on the work. They are beginning to show up in Canadain paint stores.
Stir sticks are more effective if you cut holes in the stick.
Always scrape down to the bottom of the bucket.
Power stirrers, like the one shown in the photo, should push the paint down to avoid it splashing up.
Some common kitchen tools can be modified into manual or power paint stirrers.
Mi...
This article was written in 2003 -- and in 2023 Fibre Decor is no longer on the market, but still on some walls. Want to patch some, check out this article.
'Fiber Decor' was that paper mache type wall finish that gives you an interesting textured and random coloured finish. Many people really ...
