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Tools of the trade in the Home Painting Contractor Industry

The brush and the roller are the tools most readily associated with the painter. Recent advances in paint manufacture have led to a standardization of brushes, with many older brushes falling from fashion.

The airless spray gun is the latest tool in the painter’s closet. It’s powered by an electric, pneumatic or fuel powered motor which pumps paint through a hose into a gun which atomizes the paint to a fine spray. Graco is the leading manufacturer of this type of spray gun and equipment for painting contractors.
With the airless spray gun it’s possible to paint extremely large areas of surface in a short time.

The ground brush, also known as a pound brush, was a round or elliptical brush bound by wire, cord or metal. They were generally heavy to use, and required considerable usage to break them in. These brushes were predominantly used in the days before modern paintmanufacture techniques; hand mixed paints requiring more working to create the finish. These brushes still have use in applying primer; the brushes are useful in working the primer into the grain of the wood. Pound brushes required an even breaking in to create even bevel on both sides of the brush minimising the formation of a point which would render the brush useless.

Sash tools were smaller brushes, similar to a ground brush, and used mainly for cutting in sash or glazing bars found on windows.

Sash tools and ground brushes generally required bridling before use, and a painter’s efficiency in this skill was generally used as a guide to their overall ability. Both these brushes have largely been superseded by the modern varnish brush.

Varnishbrushes are the common flat brushes available today, used for painting as well as varnishing. Brushes intended for varnishing typically have a bevelled edge.

Distemper brushes, used for applying distemper, were best made of pure bristle and bound by copper bands to prevent rust damage. Styles differed across the world, with flat nailed brushes popular in the North of England, a two knot brush (a brush with two ovular heads) popular in the South of England, and three knot brushes or flat head brushes preferred elsewhere. In the United States distemper brushes were known as calcimine, kalsomine or calsomine brushes, each term being the U.S. variant of distemper.

Fitches are smaller brushes, either ovular or flat and 1 inch wide, used in fine work such as to pick out the detail on a painted moulding.

Stipplers come in various shapes and sizes and are used to apply paint with a stippled effect.

A duster or jamb brush was used to dust the area to be painted before work commenced.

Limewash paint brushes were large brushes with a triangular head used to apply limewash.

Stencil brushes, similar in style to a shaving brush and used for the purpose of stencilling walls or in the creation of hand-made wallpapers.

Brushes are best stored in a purpose made brush keeper, a box on which a wire could be suspended: the wire would be threaded through the hole in a brushes handle so as to suspend the brush in a cleaning solution without allowing the brush to sit on the bottom of the container and thus cause spreading of the bristles. The solution would also prevent hardening of the brushes and oxidization. These were generally rectangular and stored several brushes. A lid would enclose the brushes and keep them free from dust.

Surface Protection Dustsheets or self-adhesive protection film (Packexe Ltd the leading manufactures) are required to protect surface areas where decorating is being done.

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Interior and Exterior Professional Painters

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Westborough Residential Painter

The key to working with bright hues, according to licensed interior designer and Benjamin Moore’s senior manager of color and design, Sonu Mathew, is to pair them with a deeper, grounded, sophisticated color. She suggests pairing an optimistic yellow with a steely gray, or a fuchsia pink with stone brown.

“It’s about color in context. You live in an environment. The pairing of colors is very different than one color alone,”

So is it possible to paint oneself into a better mood? Perhaps. “There are physiological and cultural attributes to colors. To paint yourself into a mood, you have to have the willingness to go there. Colors with more life, that are more vibrant, will elevate your mood,”

New VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) regulations for paints go into effect on 1/1/09 in Massachusetts.

VOC’s are carbon-containing chemical compounds that readily evaporate into the atmosphere. Common examples of things that emit VOCs into the atmosphere include gasoline, mineral spirits, alcohol, nail polish, and paint.

How the New VOC Regulations Affect You

We are your Source for OTC (Ozone Transport Commission) - Compliant coatings.

For additional info on the new VOC regulations, contact your Painting Project customer service representative, or vitit the Ozone Transport Commission’s web site at www.otcair.org, with contains links to most state enviromental web sites.