Protecting The Paint

Protecting the New Paint in your Facility.

How do you protect the fresh new paint and keep your facility looking good for years? The painters came and went. The paint job looks good, everything turned out perfect! Is there a way to extend the life of the paint and save on future facility painting costs? You can have the painters come in periodically and touch up in the high traffic areas. Some Commercial Painters offer maintenance services to their customers. Ecopainting offers this and we think it’s a good idea. Is there a way to reduce service visits even further and save more money for your facility?

Wall and Paint Protection Solutions.

Plan for this right after your painters leave and as soon as the paint is cured. Walls will get damaged by furniture moving and deliveries, utility carts, chairs even cleaning equipment. Corners, doors and frames see most of the wear and tear, especially in narrow hallways.

In care facilities, wheelchairs, medical equipment and stretchers take a toll on the walls. Boardroom and classroom walls mostly get damaged by chairs and tables. Modern paint is formulated to be tough and dry as fast as possible. Yet it has no chance of withstanding the abuse it is exposed to in some busy facilities.
You can protect the walls by placing small furniture and plants in front of them. Unfortunately, when floor space is at a premium this is not an option. Let’s not worry, protective help is available. There is an entire industry catering to facility managers with protective products made for almost every surface.

Protecting Corners.

Unless your office has an open space design or unique round room architecture, you have corners. Most commercial facilities have outside corners and they need to be protected. Employees work hard, move fast and are consumed with their activities. You can’t blame them if wall protection is not top of mind. You can keep repairing and painting or you can install corner guards. They come in many varieties including clear or coloured acrylic that works very well with office decor. Ecopainting can install these corner guards as part of our paint project. The most requested corner guards we installed are stainless steel. They come in different sizes and can look attractive as not to compromise the office decor. One vendor we use and recommend is Boss Steel located in Richmond Hill. They have standard sizes but if you give them enough time they will cut the product to your custom specifications.

Protecting the Boardroom Walls.

In a classroom and boardroom there are many chairs and tables. Depending on the presentation and the participants, chairs and tables are always moving. One of the most common repairs we do in a boardroom is patch the drywall two or three feet off the floor. Installing chair rail is a good solution to this problem. It protects the wall from chairs and tables and it doesn’t have to look ugly. A carpenter can install decorative wood chair rail that can be varnished or coated with a strong enamel. The stronger enamel finish offers some protection but it’s not indestructible. There are vinyl flat wall protectors available that provide more protection than wood chair rail. They come in different decorative colours including some clear low profile ones. The flat wall strips are great for hallways in  healthcare facilities, schools, universities & child care facilities.

For best results, chair rail should be installed at about 28-32 inches off the floor.

Protecting the Paint of Door and Door frames.

We paint doors and door frames with glossier and tougher paints for a reason. Some of us have a tendency to kick a door open, especially when our hands are full. Door frames are narrow  passage ways and we carry and wheel objects that damage the paint. Doors are expensive to replace or to paint every year. Investing some money to protect them is good economy. Ask your contractor about installing kick plates, push plates and edge guards. There are different choices for different facilities. There are metal kick plates common for front doors in homes and retail stores. Stainless steel guards and push plates offer the best protection for very busy commercial doors.

Diamond plate metal protectors offer great protection for warehouses and automotive shops and can even lend a contemporary look in a nightclub.

Ecopainting is a painting contractor servicing the needs of Facility managers in the Greater Toronto Area. We realize that budgets for painting are not bottomless. We work with our clients to find long term manageable solutions. By protecting your new paint job you extend it’s life cycle. We can source products for your maintenance staff and sometimes we can install them.

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Ultra Spec 500 Review

Ultra Spec® 500 Review — The Perfect Paint for Facility Services?

Is Ultraspec 500 the perfect paint for facility services and maintenance painting?
Benjamin Moore first introduced the Gennex waterborne Colorant system for their top line paints. Aura and Natura paints benefited immensely from this new technology. Contractors were hoping that the Gennex technology would trickle down to many more Benjamin Moore paints. When Ultraspec 500 was introduced as a commercial line with the Gennex system, the commercial painting community welcomed it. This was to be a paint made specifically for us. It was also inexpensive, good quality and had zero VOC in all colours.

Benjamin Moore says “ Zero-VOC Ultra Spec 500 is a professional-quality interior coating designed to meet the needs of professional painting contractors, facility managers, and property managers. Professionals will appreciate its excellent hiding and touchup properties, good flow and leveling, easy application, and soap-and-water cleanup.”

The Review of Ultra Spec 500.

It’s been a few years since it was introduced, why review Ultraspec 500 now? We used thousands of gallons of this product, so why not share our experiences with it. This is still our “go to” interior commercial paint. We use it for offices, medical and care facilities, schools and other institutions. 

Quick Drying Time and Recoat.

When a paint dries fast, the painters can apply multiple coats of paint in the same day. This feature alone opened many scheduling opportunities for us. Occupied spaces don’t have to be painted at night or during the weekend. Like most employees, painters prefer not to work weekends and evenings. Facility managers don’t have to arrange night and weekend access and security clearance. Rooms and areas can be prepared, coated and put back in service in the same day. When heavy furniture is moved away from walls, these walls can be painted twice within 2-4 hours. Less furniture moving results in lower expenses to the customer and of course less work for the painters.

Durability of the Paint.

Ultra Spec 500 uses patent pending cross-linking resin technology that strengthens the dry paint film and significantly extends the life of the coating. As a result, Ultra Spec 500 is more washable than most comparable commercial coatings.

It is available in a wide range of convenient sheen levels. There is a low sheen version of eggshell which makes for a more durable alternative of a flat finish. The low sheen still compensates  for less than ideal surface conditions. When the walls are in better condition, their eggshell with it’s higher sheen will provide a very durable coating.

In washrooms and utility rooms where the eggshell is not durable enough, the semi-gloss can be used. The semi-gloss has a softer than usual sheen for a semi-gloss paint. Along with the shinier eggshell the semi compensates for the lack of Pearl or Satin sheens.
The semigloss sheen is sufficient for most doors and woodwork. If additional durability is needed there is a Gloss sheen available.

Ultra Spec 500 Hiding Properties.

The ability of dried paint film to conceal (hide) the previous colour is called hiding. Good hiding can be determined mainly by the thickness of the paint film we are able to apply. Different paints contain varying grades and quality of resins in them. Volume solids is the volume of paint after it has dried. The percentage of solids content per volume is a primary factor of how well a paint film hides the previous colour.

Ultraspec 500 lists Volume Solids of 42 ± 2% in their technical data sheet (eggshell). This is a very high percentage for any paint, especially a commercial line.

This accurately matches our own experience when usint this paint. Two coats are sufficient for most colours with the exception of some  bright whites (OC-65 Chantilly Lace comes to mind). Hiding red with two coats works most of the time when a gray primes is used. Certain reds, oranges and yellows will require a third coat. While multiple coats for red is expected with most paints, Benjamin Moore spoiled us with Aura’s performance. To be fair, Aura costs twice as much as Ultraspec 500.

The Flat is not 100% dead flat. Because of it’s good hiding qualities painters use it for new construction and for real estate purposes. As expected, the flat sheen is not at all washable and we don’t recommend it where washing is expected. We use a lot of the flat as a ceiling paint because it dries fast and often allows a second coat within one hour. When painting a ceiling in a room with large windows Ultraspec 500 may not be the right paint. A dead flat is a better choice for these ceilings.

In Conclusion.

Ultraspec is a very good line of paint for facility managers. It features Zero VOC, good hiding and durability and quick drying. The relatively low price and availability makes it a popular choice for painting contractors as well.

Ecopainting is an experienced painting contractor in the Greater Toronto Area. We have painted for many facility managers and will be happy to discuss your facility paint requirements.

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Removing Wallpaper Prep

Preparing to Remove Wallpaper.

Wallpaper removal is possibly the single, most unpleasant task that house painters can undertake. It is certainly a messy job, involving slimy glue residue, wet drop-cloths and garbage bags full of the stuff. What probably scares us the most is the unpredictability of the job. Very often we don’t know the age of the wallpaper. There are times that the surface was not prepared well by the installers. You can certainly test a little corner but that is not necessarily indicative of how easy the wallpaper removal will be. Painting contractors will sometimes suggest to the customer a time & materials arrangement. This will go a long way in taking care of any difficulties and protect the contractor from any surprises.   

Unfortunately some homeowners do not like paying based on time & materials. To some this has the same connotation as writing a blank cheque to a stranger. The customer will sometimes try removing wallpaper themselves to save money. It is difficult but certainly possible for a homeowner to do this. All it takes is some research, hard work and basic tools.

Find out what Kind of Wall is Behind the Wallpaper.

Is it drywall or plaster? Older homes have plaster walls, newer ones have drywall. If you are not sure, you can guess what they are by gently knocking on them. If you knock on the wall and it sounds and feels solid you very likely have plaster walls. If it sounds hollow, you likely have drywall.

Plaster walls are stronger and if they are in good condition, they will not be damaged. The possible drawback of working with plaster walls is their age. First, a safety concern: if the walls are very old, there may be asbestos in them. This work is very hazardous and better left for specialty professionals. In some homes it is possible to have multiple layers of wallpaper installed over each other. Our Toronto painters found that to be the case in older downtown neighbourhoods.

Drywall provides a more delicate surface to work with and you need to take care not to damage it. Many times an enthusiastic customer will remove the wallpaper for us, only to find out that the walls were severely damaged in the process. This happens more when the installer did not prime the walls properly before the installation. Repairing the damaged walls costs a lot of money. Sometimes considerably more than the money saved by “helping” with the removal.

Quick tips: do not use a steamer on drywall, and use putty knives with rounded corners.

Basic Tools for Wallpaper Removal.

A Stepladder. You need one to reach the ceiling comfortably as most of the work will be done on the ladder. A stepladder with a tool tray is especially helpful as it allows you to use both of your hands.

Plastic drop-cloths. You will need a lot of plastic to protect your furniture and to capture some of the water with the glue residue. You will need a lot of it, so you might find it more economical to purchase a big roll.

Painters drop cloths or anything you can find to catch a lot of water. You need a lot of water for this project and you will want to capture most of it. If you don’t you will damage your floors or even the ceiling of the lower floor. In the absence of painter’s drop cloths, old blankets, sheets and towels will do the job.

Wallpaper removal solution. Some homemade solutions are water softeners, dishwashing liquid with water, or plain hot water. All of them can work when the wallpaper is easy to remove. If you want to make your life easier we suggest one of the commercially available products. They come premixed, concentrated or “gelled”. In our experience most of the work well if you follow the directions on the container. Ecopainting uses a solution we special order from the US. It is less harmful and is quite effective.   

Bucket and a sponge to apply the solution to the wall. Alternatively you can apply the solution to the wall with a tray and a paint roller.

If there is a lot of wallpaper to remove, using a garden sprayer with a pump will make the job go faster.

A “paper tiger” or coarse sandpaper. Sometimes the top layer is waterproof vinyl that is difficult to remove. By using these tools you can score the vinyl surface to allow the solution to penetrate and reach the glue. Be careful not to damage the walls under the wallpaper. Drywall gas a delicate, paper thin surface, especially when it gets wet with hot water.

A wallpaper steamer. This was a popular tool when most of the walls were made of plaster. A steamer applies hot steam quickly to the surface and helps dissolve the glue. I would not recommend a steamer for drywall surfaces. It will damage the walls and create extensive and expensive wall repairs and plastering.  

Strong garbage bags to collect the old wallpaper, and used plastic.

Putty knife or scrapers. To remove the paper and scrape the old paste off the wall. Round the corners of the scrapers to avoid damaging the surface. There is a specialty sharp blade made specifically for wallpaper removal. We find the blade to be too sharp for most of the jobs, except for hard and smooth plaster walls.

Removing wallpaper is a lot of work but a little preparation and good tools, can make the job easier. If you need help, this service is part of our interior painting services.

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