Indy Total Construction

Before you open the paint, gather at least three times as many rags and more thinner than you think you’ll need. There will be spills to wipe up and brushes or rollers to clean.

Painting begins with stirring. All paint is made of tiny grains of solid material suspended in a binder. If a can of paint sits long enough, the solid particles will settle to the bottom.

Paint can be divided into three basic types:

• Paint

• Enamel or varnish

• Lacquer

Paint has a fiat finish. Some types, like vinyl, latex, whitewash and kalsomine, clean up with water. Other paints have an oil base and use other solvents like turpentine or mineral spirits.

Painters used to stir new paint by hand with a wooden paddle. Then they strained it through cheesecloth to remove hard lumps. Now most paint stores will mix the paint for you in a machine. This distributes color evenly.

The only paint you will have to stir is leftover paint. With a stick, lift off the dried paint (the skin) that has formed on top. Wrap it in old newspaper and throw it away.

Most paint stores have paint mixers to shake up the paint. This method is better and quicker than stirring with a stick.

In time paint will separate. It should be thoroughly mixed before being used.

You can make a handy stirrer by bending a piece of steel rod 3). Attach it to an electric drill with a chuck. Place the rod all the way into the paint before starting the drill. Do not remove the rod while it is moving. Use this stirrer in an open area where nothing important will get spattered.

Enamel is paint mixed with varnish. It gives a glossy, easy-to-clean surface. Never shake enamel or varnish. Stir it slowly. Shaking will fill the can with bubbles which will show up on the painted surface. Once enamel or lacquer has been shaken, it will take about a week for the bubbles to disappear.

Lacquer is of a different chemical family. It can’t be mixed with anything. If lacquer is painted over enamel, it will soften the enamel like paint remover. However, enamel can be painted over well-dried lacquer. Lacquer, like enamel and varnish, should not be shaken. Industry is the biggest user of lacquer.

When you have all the necessary materials together, you are ready to apply the paint.

A straight steel rod can be bent into a stirrer that can be used in a hand drill. The drill must be off before placing the stirrer into or removing it from the paint can. Steady the paint can with your feet.

Shaking enamel, varnish or lacquer creates a foam that will show up as bubbles on the finished surface. NEVER SHAKE ENAMEL, VARNISH, OR LACQUER.

Painting can be dangerous. The careless use and storage of paints and related materials can cause needless injuries. Safe painting has two aspects:

• Safety of the painter and other people

• Safety of property

Most important, of course, is personal safety. This includes using a ladder properly. First inspect the ladder. Never use a ladder that is cracked or broken. A ladder should never be painted because paint may cover a dangerous crack. Place the ladder on a firm base and at the proper slant

Personal safety also includes proper use of chemicals such as:

Cleansers

• Paints

▪ Thinners

Many of the cleansers used to prepare surfaces for painting are caustic. That means they will burn flesh and often ruin clothing. All dangerous cleansers have warning labels. Such labels warn against getting the cleanser on your skin, in your eyes, swallowing it, or using it without adequate ventilation. The labels will tell you what to do if one of these things happens. Read the entire warning label before you use the product.

Once the surface is ready, there are more labels to read. Paints and thinners also have directions and warning labels that must be read.

Use the correct thinner for the paint you are using. The wrong thinner can make your paint and brush as hard as concrete. Paint thinner, mineral spirits, or turpentine is used to thin and clean up oil based paints. Alcohol dissolves shellac. Lacquer thinner will cut lacquer.

All paint thinners have one thing in common: they evaporate fast. This means that thinner gets into the air where it is easy to breathe. Besides being dangerous to your health, thinner mixed with air is explosive. One spark can set it off.

Always ventilate the working area. Open at least two doors or windows, on opposite walls if possible. Leave them open until the paint has dried.

Fire is another threat. Under certain conditions some stored chemicals can explode into flames. This is called spontaneous combustion. All flammable materials should be kept in airtight containers to prevent spontaneous combustion.

Paints can also be dangerous. Lead based paint is poisonous, and most states have outlawed the use of lead in paints. Never use paint with lead in it.

Spraying is one of the best and one of the most dangerous ways to apply paint. Always wear a face mask when spray painting. Be especially careful where you use a spray gun. Sprayed paints can drift a long way, and it doesn’t take much to ruin the paint on a car or nearby house. Spray paint doesn’t just disappear into the air. Sooner or later it lands somewhere.

Whenever you paint indoors be sure to ventilate the room. Openings at opposite sides of the room are better than two openings in the same area.

Keep chemical containers closed tightly when not in use. Store them in fireproof cabinets. Place rags in fireproof metal containers. Dispose of chemical soaked rags as soon as possible.

Property is often damaged because painters forget how far sprayed paint can be carried by the wind.