In this Issue of
The Craftsman Way
Minimizing Stress on Bella and Her Adoptive Family
Keeping You Safe in Pre-
1978 Housing
Your Questions Answered
Paint Memorabilia Corner
Stipple Brushes from
the 1920's and 1930's |
The Client
Testimonial of the Season
"I anticipated that by now we'd have moved all the
furniture and paintings
back to their original
places against the walls.
But
that's just not going
to happen. The walls are
far too beautiful. Anything that hopes for a place in front of
our walls will have
to prove its worth first."
- Richard Medina
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Our Promise
to You
Peace of Mind
Pride in Finished Work
Delight
...No matter who is doing
the work!
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Painting in Partnership Affiliations
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Minimizing Stress on Bella and
her Adoptive Family
Painting services delivered in a
home environment sometimes present a particular challenge. Minimizing the stress on the family,
while maintaining the efficiency of the painting operations is most important.
On this particular project, the close coordination of the painting activities
was critical, due to the fact that the owners home-school their three children
and the dad works out of the house a good part of the time. Additionally, there
was a delightful 160-pound Leonberger dog which is also part of the family and
whose needs for space must be taken into account. Her name is Bella, shown above holding one of her furry friends.
Because of the Holidays, it was decided that the painting
project would be divided into two phases: the downstairs and the upstairs. A
convenient start time for the family was agreed upon. The family then developed
an off-premise schooling plan for the duration of the painting project. We then
discussed the game plan for tackling the sequencing of the rooms we would be
working on. Since painting services involve performing multiple tasks with
varying dry-time requirements, we made the decision to only have two painters
working on the project and work in no more than 2 rooms at a time.
This way, we
could avoid disabling the whole house and creating chaos for the family.
Keeping the stress down for the family during an interior
painting project is critical to producing a successful painting experience for
our clients. Balancing the needs of the family with the needs to maintain the
efficiency of the painting operations is our goal. Painting in Partnership is committed to
maintaining a happy balance between those two key factors.
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Keeping You Safe in Pre-1978 Housing
To
meet the EP  A regulations that take effect in April of 2010, it is a pleasure to
announce that Painting in Partnership is now a "Lead Safe Certified Firm" and
that three of our people have become "Certified Renovators". Below is some information on the
new regulations.
Lead
was used as a paint ingredient for generations in the United States because of
its durability features. It is estimated
that 50 million tons of lead were used in American homes before it was banned in
1978 because of its poisonous nature.
(Ironically, Europe moved to ban lead in paints in 1921, more than 50
years prior to this country.)
Lead
has been proven to be especially dangerous to children under the age of
six. The main exposure comes from
ingesting lead dust that accumulates on floors and in carpeting. It gets absorbed from hand to mouth during
play activities. This dust is largely
generated from remodeling projects (including painting) or the up and down
movement of windows that disturb the lead on the surfaces.
In
April of 2008, EPA signed new regulations that come into effect on April 22nd of
2010. It requires contractors to
distribute the "Renovate Right" brochure
to the owners of pre-1978 child-occupied buildings. Contractors must now be certified by the EPA
and ensure that the work is supervised by "Certified Renovators", so that
EPA-prescribed procedures are followed.
The whole intent of the new legislation is to protect children of six
years of age or younger.
Painting
in Partnership continues to be on the cutting-edge of technology and work
practices in order to give you the best long-term result, while keeping you
safe. If you wish to receive a PDF copy
of the Renovate Right pamphlet,
please email us at: info@paintpartner.com. We will send it out to you right away.
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Your Questions Answered!
Question: "Why
is caulking important to the quality of my paint job?"
On
the outside of a building, caulk plays a critical role in keeping water
out of
your building. Unlike paint, caulk has
the ability to expand and shrink with the ambient temperature and
humidity. When caulk begins to fail, moisture gets
into the surrounding wood joints. Before
too long, the moisture rots the wood and causes expensive repairs.
Because
of our frequent freeze and thaw cycles, caulk begins to fail within 2 or
3
years. It is therefore important to do
maintenance caulking and paint touch ups.
Such a practice will add years to the life cycle of a paint job. Make
it a point to ask Painting in
Partnership to come and inspect the caulk on your house. This is work
that saves you a lot of money!
On
the inside, caulk adds to the aesthetics of a paint job, by closing the
gaps
between the wood joints and also between the wood surfaces and the walls
and
ceilings. Wintertime is a good time to
re-caulk interior surfaces, because the house's surfaces are generally
the
driest.
Question: "My kitchen cabinets
are stained oak. What are my options for re-finishing them?"
You
have several options. First of all, you
are not limited by the color of your stained cabinets. Tired of the
"golden oak" look? Would you prefer to have the look of walnut or
mahogany? This can be accomplished without having to
strip your existing cabinets.
Additionally, you can save at least $10,000-$20,000 in the
process.
"No,
I would rather have the painted look."
OK, no problem. The new
waterborne enamels give you a beautiful look, because of their ability
to
easily level off. The secret is to
clean the surfaces well, use a bonding primer and apply a good measure
of
painting craftsmanship.
If
you go the painted route, you have the option to apply a glaze over your
cabinets
and wiping it off and leaving it in the recesses of the wood for a
beautiful
expensive look. There are many different
options with color and style. Oh yes,
you get a sample door for your approval before any work is done.
Please send me your question(s) via my e-mail at mario@paintpartner.com. |
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Stipple Brushes from the 1920's and 1930's
Stipple
brushes come in different shapes, material and sizes. They were often made out of China bristles,
sometimes rubber and even horse or hog hair. They were generally large in size,
commonly 6 to 10 inches in length.
Shapes varied from round, square or rectangular. Smaller versions of the same brushes were
made to stipple small areas, like between window casings or above
doorways. Here is a sampling of antique
stipple brushes from our collection of painting memorabilia:   Wall
stipple brushes served a few different functions. First, before the paint rollers were
invented, stipple brushes were sometimes used over wet paint to eliminate the
brush marks. More commonly, wall stipple
brushes were used to produce decorative finishes with glazes or texture
paints. Smaller, round and tightly
packed versions were also used to force paint through the openings of
stencils. To this day, stipple brushes
continue to be in vogue as a decorative finishing tool. |
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