Water Based Paint

That’s perhaps the most frequently asked question by homeowners while decorating their house. There are a couple of things to be considered while deciding the kind of paint to be used while decorating your home.

The first and most important factor to be considered is the climatic condition of the area where you live. Now, if you are living in an area that gets mildly warm summers and damp winters, it won’t be desirable to use water based paints during winters when the temperature is low because water will take too long to dry unless some external heating is employed to dry the coating.

Similarly, there is no point in using oil based paints with driers during summers as the natural heat helps to dry the paint quite quickly.
The other factor is how fast you want the job to be done. It’s easy to understand that water based paints would dry very fast in summers but take longer to get dried under cold climatic conditions. Water based primers are applied quickly.

Whether to apply water based or oil based undercoat is a long debatable issue. You get satin, emulsion, gloss and satin/eggshell based paints with each having its benefits and limitations that we’ll discuss later.

If you want bare wood to dry quickly and weather is favorable, meaning not too cold, you should prefer using water based primers. If the temperature is near freezing, it would be advisable to use oil based primers to which driers have been added. Terebene when added to oil based paints hasten the process of drying and are especially helpful when painting under freezing conditions.

When you’re done with the primers and undercoats, let’s come to the main job. The choice of paint is governed by the area to be painted and how fast the final coat needs to be applied. Larger areas generally use oil based undercoats as these are ready for the next coat the following day. However, if you have a contractor for painting of interiors, it would be recommendable to use water based paints as these dry quickly and don’t have too strong an odor.

People who like to frequently change the décor of rooms, would better use water based primers and undercoats. These are easy to handle and store and have a reasonably long shelf life if stored in the right prescribed manner. Further, you can recoat with these without spending much of your time, except when you decide to paint in winters. It’s worth waiting for better weather to come along for painting.

Water based enamel paints are generally the most preferred by many users because of the many benefits they offer over a wide range of applications. Here is a brief description of the properties of these paints.

The distinct qualities of enamel paints are that they dry very quickly to give a strong glossy surface. Moreover, such paints are not easily affected by temperature variations and can bear rough handling.

At times people are unable to make out enamel paint from “painted enamel”, though the two are entirely different.

A frequently term used in art is painted enamel. This paint is applied on metals to add color and make them more durable. For the duration of the Renaissance phase, several works of craft and portraits were painted with enamels for providing a decorative finish to such pieces of art.

That explanation should have helped clearing some bit of confusion. Now, let’s understand different types and uses of each type of enamel paint and that includes the water based as well the non water based.

First of all we have floor enamel. Generally it is used for basements, concrete, porches, patios and stairs. Next, we have what is known as fast dry enamel, which true to its name dries up in ten to fifteen minutes of application. This is most appropriate for finishing of refrigerators, counters and a lot of industrial products.

Then we have high temperature enamel, which again as per its name is meant for surfaces that have high temperature like BBQs, engines, brakes and exhausts. And, then we have enamel paint for hobbyists, called model-building enamel paint. They use it for decorating their models in different colors. The popular brands are Humbrol, Floquil, Pactra, Xtracolor, Testors and Model Master. You can generally get them from special hobby stores in the U.K. and the rest of the world. You get them in many colors and these are available in cans or bottles of one quarter of an ounce to an ounce.

So, next time you need to paint something around the house, consider using some enamel paint, which may be water based or otherwise. You can use enamel paint on metals as well wood. Its application not only makes things beautiful, but also extends the life of items on which they are used.

You can apply paint to almost any place but the carpet. But accidents do happen and most often the carpet gets a spill of paint accidentally. It may so happen while you were painting ceiling or the walls and the roller pan got knocked over or your shoes might have attracted some paint and you walked over the carpet with shoes on!

In any case the situation demands your immediate attention.

In case a large amount of paint is spilled on the carpet, usually it’s too difficult to be removed. In such a situation your options are:

- Continue living with that stain
- Use a runner to cover the mark
- Buy a new carpet

However, if you are sure that it’s a water-based paint and the volume is not too much and looks controllable you can follow one of the following tips to get rid of the mess:

The items that you are going to need for this purpose are: a big bagful of paper towels or rags, a trash bag, water, a bucket, small volume of dish detergent and lots of patience.

1. Moving from the outer periphery towards the middle remove the excess of paint by blotting. A thick towel or a humid rug should generally suffice. You can understand moving inwards stops the paint from spreading any further. Care needs to be taken not to rub, but blot the fluid. Frequently change the rag or towel.
2. When you think that you have done your utmost, repeat thee exercise, using warm water.
IMPORTANT: Don’t use excessive water, which may thin the paint and cause it to spread.
3. Gently pull up the affected part of the carpet and try to get rid of paint from the fibers of the carpet. Add a bit of dish detergent if required.
4. When the paint appears to have been removed, apply a tad of mild detergent with warm water on the affected spot.
5. NOTE: all this while, you have to be extra careful in disposing the towels or rags in separate trash bag.
6. When you are certain that the entire paint is almost removed you may utilize a carpet cleaner.
7. Vacuum.
8. Finally, you dry the carpet with a blower. If the stain persists, you need to seek help of a professional cleaner.

And, remember it’s always good to play safe rather than regretting later. So, whenever you undertake any painting job, it’s best to remove the carpet or keep it covered and thus avoid the carpet from getting spoiled.

A well-finished plastered wall will look nice on being painted with a quality water based emulsion paint to get a flat smooth finish. It needs the following tools for accomplishment.

Tools

1 x 9″ paint roller with a small pile long life sleeve
1 x 3″or 4″ paintbrush of good quality synthetic or pure bristle Hamilton perfection
1 x roller pole
1 x roller tray or scuttle
1x 2.5ltr paint kettle
1 x bucket or old clean 10ltr paint container

Protection

Dust sheets folded over double, masking tape for pre finished surfaces, sponge, pail of water and cloth to clean up any accidents.

Materials and miscellany

Good quality trade vinyl mat or silk, quality filler (tetrion), abrasive paper of 120 grade, decorator’s caulk.

Keep in mind that applying the first coat is of prime importance when painting a new plaster. This is the base for your final finish, the quality of which largely depends on the first coat. If you thin down the paint with water you are going to get a rough orange peel like texture which you won’t be able to get rid of, resulting to uneven finish.

Step1
Spread out the double folded dustsheets for additional protection. Keep all your tools and materials together in the middle of the room. Pour paint into the bucket and mix it with 20% water. Stir the mixture well. That thins out the paint for easy absorption by plaster. Fill the paint tray to its level, see that you don’t overfill it and half fill the paint kettle for cutting in brushwork.

Step2
Now, you are prepared for applying the first coat. Cut in with the brush all over the room to include door frames above skirting, around windows, a straight line to the ceiling, taped up light switches and sockets but taking care to feather out the edges of the paint so as not to get runs or ridges of paint, and keep cutting in strips to a width of about 6″. After the entire cutting is over, roll the walls ensuring to overlap your cutting in. That completes the mist coat. As the paint had been thinned it is absorbed by plaster giving it an even texture.

Step3
Starting from one point of the room work your way up going all round to evenly rub the wall to get rid of any grit. At the end it should feel smooth to the hand. Next, mix some filler to fill any cracks, holes or dents. Then using the sealant gun and decorators’ caulk, fill the tops of skirting and sides of doorframes. I put a thin caulk bead down the ceiling line making it easier to get a tight straight cutting in line.

Step4
Go all over the room and rub all patches of the filler till you get smooth flush finish. Now, get rid of dust on the skirting or all other horizontal surfaces. Then you touch in the filled patches with the watered down emulsion.

Step5
You may now apply the second coat, the same way as the first. Though neat paint may be applied, you’ll get a finer finish if you dilute the paint by about five percent water. Thinned paint also makes it faster and easier to cut in a straight line to the ceiling. Now, roll about six feet wide section of wall till all the paint in the roller is finished, then go back, and back roll (evenly rollover once more while paint is still wet and roller is exhausted) each section. This takes out the roller texture even more.

Step6
Repeat step 5 using neat or thinned out water based paint, For getting the best results slightly thin down for a second time and also back roll again. The thinning down ratio depends on the quality of paint used.

A lot many people seem to be unaware that contractors can color and stamp plain concrete and give it the appearance of a host of other materials. Stone patios, brick entranceways, cobblestone driveways and field stone walkways are regularly done using patterns and coloring of the concrete. It helps the customers in the sense that such decorative concrete work is executed at a fraction of the cost of the real materials that they imitate. However, unlike most real materials, the concrete has to be sealed to shield the coloring agent.

The concrete may be colored, stained dyed, or powder coated, but its color layer gets worn out from normal foot and vehicle traffic. The coloring layer remains protected and lasts for many years on being sealed with an water based paint or with acrylic sealer. Moreover the sealer has the additional advantage of darkening the color and giving it a glossy finish.

Acrylic Sealers

The decorative concrete industry makes most frequent use of acrylic sealers. The reason is that they are UV resistant and thus do not turn yellowish with age. They are so easy to use that even a novice can use them. Additionally, unlike polyurethane, acrylics are not averse to moisture during application and until they cure, making their application still simpler.

Acrylic sealers provide protection to concrete from water, oil, de-icing salts, grease and other liquids that could cause stains.

Water Based Acrylic Sealers

Many states have now specified the quantity of VOC (volatile organic compounds) that be present in concrete sealers.

This is intended to improve the quality of air in the state. Some of the states like California and the Northeast do not allow the use of traditional solvent-based sealers at all. One option is to use water-based acrylic sealers. These sealers give a medium gloss and can be applied even on wet concrete. The additional benefit of using these is very low odor, thus prompting their use for interior projects.

Just as it is not recommended to use a latex paint over existing oil-based paint, water-based acrylic sealers are not to be used over existing solvent based sealer. The older sealer prevents proper bonding of new sealer.

The sealer needs to be reapplied at least once in two years, as it wears off due exposure and traffic. The area to be resealed should be cleaned before applying the acrylic sealer.