Washable Flat Interior Wall Paint

Fingerprints, smudges, food, crayon marks, etc. They all seem to make an appearance on our painted walls at some point. If you happen to live in my house, it is a daily occurrence. My two daughters and son see to that. I've often thought that I should have installed floor drains in every room as well as plastic walls. This way, I could just hose the rooms down each night. But, like you, I like the look of flat wall paint, hardwood and carpeting. My wife also dislikes the looks of chrome plated floor drains.

Reflections

Did you suffer when your brand new car received its first ding from another car door or shopping cart? It seems like the smallest little depression or bump in a car finish is very noticeable. Have you ever wondered why?

Cars are painted with high gloss paints. These paints, of course, are very shiny. They are also easy to clean. Very few of us would pay top dollar for a car that had a finish like that of Detective Colombo's.

Light rays bounce very uniformly from shiny surfaces. If the surface develops a bump or depression, the light rays are reflected in a different direction away from the bump or depression. The bump or the dimple stands out like a sore thumb.

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This same thing can happen in your house. Have you ever painted a wall or ceiling with semi-gloss or high gloss paint? Did you notice those nail pops just a little more? Or did you see those roller or paint brush marks that never seemed to be there when using a flat paint? Now you know why.

Flat Finishes = Grand Canyon

Older flat wall paints are different than gloss paints. Under a microscope a flat paint looks something like a bunch of Grand Canyons side by side. There are lots of places for light rays to be captured instead of reflected. Sure every now and then a little mesa (flat spot) will be there to bounce light directly back, but this is the exception, not the rule. Flat wall paints do a great job of hiding minor imperfections in wall finishes. Bumps and tiny holes seem to disappear. This is why painters, builders and homeowners tend to prefer these finishes.

These miniature Grand Canyons also make great places for dirt, food, etc. to fall into. The problem is, it's tough to get these same things back out of the canyons.

In fact, older flat wall paints simply could not be cleaned. When you would wash them, sometimes the pigments would come off on your wash rag and after the cleaned spot dried, it would be shiny. Numerous complaints to paint companies by consumers like you prompted them to develop the new washable flat wall paints.

Washability

We already know how easy it is to clean a car. But what gives a car or interior gloss paint this property? These paints contain massive amounts of resin. Resin is a key ingredient in paint. It is the glue which allows paint to stick to a surface. It is also the protective film which surrounds and protects any pigments which may color the paint. Clear paints - yes, there are such things - are simply the urethanes or varnishes you use on wood furniture and cabinetry. Auto manufacturers could coat your car with a clear paint as well, but who wants to see the metal!

Two Types of Resin

The interior paints of choice for many homeowners are water-based paints. These paints can be applied quite easily and clean up with soap and water. Water, and sometimes small amounts of hydrocarbon solvents, are a key ingredient of these paints. The water and solvents allow you to spread the product on the wall. As such, it is often called the vehicle. You use the water/solvents to transport the paint from the can to the wall. Hey, don't blame me. I'm not responsible for the name. Call the paint companies!

Anyway, there are two primary types of resins used by paint manufacturers in water-based paints: acrylic and vinyl (polyvinyl acetate.) There are big differences between the two.

Vinyl resins cost less than acrylic resins. These resins don't foam or bubble as much as acrylic when applied. They resist water damage adequately. Vinyl resins clean out of brushes and rollers quite easily.

Acrylic resins cost twice as much vinyl resins. They maintain high flexibility for long periods of time. They are extremely durable. For this reason, all good exterior house paints are usually exclusively 100 percent acrylic. Acrylic water-based paints often smell a little like ammonia. They foam and bubble more than vinyl resins.

The bottom line is this: paints that contain 100 percent acrylic resins will usually perform much better than vinyl paints. The resin is tougher. This means that it just might be more washable. Remember, you will pay for this quality, but, as the old saying goes, "you get what you pay for."

Magical Paints

We have a slight problem. We know that resins are shiny and that we need resins to provide the washability. So how do the paints appear flat? Well, for the most part, that is a trade secret. The closest that I could get to this answer was a combination of two things: shape of pigments (color ingredients) and quantity of resin.

It seems that these new washable flat wall paints contain new pigments that are shaped like snowflakes. Older pigments used to be shaped like balls or rocks. Thus, when completely coated with resin (washability) you still have the capability to scatter light rays like the old fashioned flat wall paints.

The trick is simple. The manufacturers have to include enough resin to coat the pigments, but not too much so as to flood the spaces between the pigments. I'm glad that's not my job! Good luck on your painting project.

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Tips for Painting Metal and Rusted Metal

Do you remember your last painting job? OK, what did you do? You scraped the surface, brushed away the dust, shook the paint can, opened the lid, and started painting. Is that fairly close? What? You didn't take 5 minutes and read the entire label? Are you kidding me.........? Well, the next job is going to be different, isn't it! My first tip is to remind you to read the label on both the primer AND the top coat. Make sure the two paints are compatible. Look to see the drying time. Only prime as much metal as you can recoat the next day or so. A primer needs to be recoated as soon as possible. This helps the finish coat bond!

Surface Preparation

This is the absolute most important part of the paint job. Nearly 80% of all paint failures can be traced back to surfaces which were not given proper cleaning or attention.

Surface preparation is the process of eliminating surface contamination from the surface to be painted. Contamination such as loose paint, dust, moisture (sometimes), oil, grease, plant oils, etc. all interfere with the bonding of the paint to the surface. Remember, paint is simply liquid glue!

Sanding, Blasting, or otherwise Roughening it up!

Do you want your primer to really grip the metal? Then roughen it up. The more you roughen a surface, the more surface area you expose which can grab onto the paint. You don't believe me? Why not take a piece of 8.5 x 11 paper. Fold it like an accordion. Lay it next to a flat piece of paper. Both have the same surface area exposed, but the folded paper is in a smaller area. If you scratch up or sandblast a piece of metal, you create these minor 'folds'. This principle holds true with just about any thing that you must paint.

Painting Rusted Metal

Years ago, I used to think that you had to remove every piece of rust to successfully paint steel. This is imply not true! I have had fantastic luck painting moderately rusted steel. I scraped the loose rust scale off, then wire brushed or rubbed the steel with steel wool. After removing the rust dust, I would use a zinc chromate primer. These primers are often a dull red color when dry. This primer has served me well for the past 10 years. I recommend that you try it or any other top quality rust inhibitive primer for your rusted steel.

Surface Preparation Booklet

Would you like a REALLY wonderful booklet about surface preparation? I thought so! Check the RUST-OLEUM Corporation. Look or ask for:

• SURFACE PREPARATION
  It is a booklet with a person wearing a sandblasting mask on the cover. It is 10 pages long and is a MUST HAVE!

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Chances are you tend to stick with one brand of paint. Most people do. There is a good chance that the paint you currently use has a good oil based rust inhibitive primer for steel. If so, great! If not, the paints listed below will provide you with exceptional protection. The Rust-oleum Corporation, as you might gather from their name, makes a wide variety of primers and finish paints specifically formulated for steel. One of their top chemists provided me with key information regarding rust inhibitive primers. Usually you can find Rust-oleum products in major hardware or home center stores.

When looking for a metal primer, the label MUST say rust inhibitive. If it doesn't say this in the title, look in the one paragraph description on the back side of the label. BEWARE - there are metal primers that do NOT contain rust inhibitive pigments! Without these pigments you are wasting your money. These are the ingredients that sacrifice themselves to the electrolytic solutions that try to corrode the steel. Take your time and find the right product. It will add years to your paint job. I wish you luck on your painting project!

• Coronado Paint Company
  

  Primer - Rust Scat Alkyd Metal Primer
  35-111 35-147 35-153
  This primer has excellent 'wetting' properties that provide great penetration into the steel or rusted areas. Can act as a top coat in certain instances, however, a real top coat is better.

  Top Coat - Rust Scat Polyurethane High Gloss Enamel
  31 Line
  This is a wonderful top coat paint. It contains great resins which provide a strong bond to freshly applied primers.

• Fuller - O'Brien Paints & Coatings
  

  Primer - Blox Rust Alkyd Metal Primer
  Fuller O'Brien makes several primers for different metals. Be sure to check the label for the metal you might be painting (steel/iron, aluminum, or galvanized steel)!

  Top Coat - Versaflex Heavy Duty Alkyd Gloss Enamel
  This top coat works on just about every surface except for two areas - wood house exterior trim and auto body paint.

• Kurfees Coatings
  

  Primer - 433 RustPlate Rust Inhibitive Primer
  This paint dries flat for an excellent prep surface for the top coat. It contains barium metaborate - a rust inhibitive pigment.

  Top Coat - 428 WaterBorne Acrylic Gloss Enamel
  Here is a waterbased paint that is compatible with the oil based primer!

• M A B Paint Company
  

  Primer - Rust-O-Lastic Zinc Chromate Primer
  Now here is a paint! I have had superior results with zinc chromate metal primers. See what you think!

  Top Coat - Rust-O-Lastic Finish Coating
  This is an oil based high gloss finish paint.

• RUST-OLEUM
  

  Primer - 7769 Rusty Metal Primer
  7780 Clean Metal Primer
  8781 Aluminum Primer
  These three primers should be self-explanatory. The rusty metal primer is just for that - RUST. Don't use it on clean metal!

  Top Coat - RUST-OLEUM makes a full line of topcoats for virtually any item - exterior wood, metal, high temperature grills, appliances, chain link fences, etc.

• Sherwin Williams
  

  Primer - Rust Tough

  Top Coat - Super Paint or A-100

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Rust Inhibitive Paints and Primers

Corrosion is a killer. It does it to steel, aluminum, zinc, magnesium, lead, and tin in cold blood. Often there are two accessories to the crime - contaminated water and air. You have witnessed this process no doubt. A shiny penny becomes dull brown and eventually green. Bright aluminum turns dull. Fresh, bare steel can be coated with a fine haze of rust in a matter of hours. I know, I've seen it happen in front of my own eyes.

States of Energy

When you look at any metal product, did you ever think that the metal is unstable? Probably not. I didn't think about it until I wrote this column. When metals like steel, copper, aluminum, etc. are refined, they are taken from a stable state (ores in the ground or rock) into an unnatural state. Think. You just don't dig into the ground and pull out I-beams......

Thus, once the metal is refined, it tries to go back to its original stable state. Different metals go back quicker than others. The ones that require the most energy to refine, go back faster to their natural states. In other words they corrode more readily.

Which metals corrode faster than others? It's easy. Here is a list that goes from the most likely to the least likely to corrode in sea water. The top of the list corrodes the fastest:

______________________

• Copper
• Nickel
• 410 Stainless Steel
• Titanium
• 304 Stainless Steel
• Silver
• Gold
• Platinum

The line separates active metals (above the line) from the metals which are passive. As you know, you see on TV specials gold objects pulled from the ocean that look as brilliant as when the ship sank. Does that make it easier to understand?

The Corrosion Process

Steel rusts or corrodes because the steel is actually being eaten alive. The steel rusts, flakes off and disappears. Water which contains impurities (most water does, including rain water!), contacts the steel and creates a battery much like the one in your car.

The water contains ions which create a small electric current. The electric current pulls the iron atoms right from the steel. Furthermore, the steel reacts with air and oxidizes. This is the rust you see. Corrosion can be stopped. Simply do not allow the steel or other metal to come into contact with water and air. This is not as hard as it seems. Think of your car. Many of the body parts are steel which doesn't readily rust if left protected.

The Key is in Chemistry

Paint manufacturers all have chemists who work for them. They know that you can inhibit corrosion by controlling the chemistry at the surface of the metal. In other words, you can treat the steel with a coating which chemically alters the surface of the steel to make it less likely to give up the iron atoms. Rust inhibitive pigments in paint do this.

Some excellent rust inhibitive pigments are metals which are active. Zinc, chromate, lead, barium metaborate, etc. all make great chemical coatings which can protect steel. However, we all know lead is very poisonous. As such, it is tough to get paints that contain lead. Navy ships for years had paints which contained vast quantities of lead. It really protected the steel hulls from rust.

Check the Label on the Can!

Priming steel can't be done with just any paint. Look at the label and make sure you have a primer that contains rust inhibitive pigments. If the paint has them, it WILL say so on the label. If it doesn't, keep looking!

Be sure the primer you use is oil based. Oil based paints can simply coat the steel better. They flow better into the microscopic surfaces of the steel. This provides much better holding power. Not only that, oil paints are great vapor barriers. Water vapor and air itself simply can't pass through. This is vitally important if you want to stop the corrosion process. Good luck on your painting project!

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The idea for this article on urethanes came from an individual I talked with at a home show in Victorville, California. I was thinking of doing a column on urethanes but this gentleman brought it to front and center. He was having trouble getting a urethane finish to last on his front door. I thought the column would be an easy one to research and write. Heck, how complicated can urethanes be? Well, I'll tell you what, I REALLY opened up a can of worms with this column!

Complex Chemistry

The paint, excuse me, I mean "coatings", industry is very complicated. Paints and clear coatings are a witch's brew of many different ingredients and chemicals. They are blended in various amounts to create different properties. The terminology can get so technical so fast it can make your head swim. My advice to homeowners and professionals alike is to stay away from the chemistry aspect of coatings and concentrate entirely on the labeling and instructions about each product. If you carefully read a product label, you often will find clues as to how the product will perform. Isn't that convenient! Who would have thought it was that simple!

For example, just about every urethane label I have read has a paragraph heading "RECOMMENDED USE". It is vitally important that you read this paragraph before you buy the product! Don't buy a urethane designed for floors to put on your exterior door. There are big chemical differences in the products.

Urethane vs. Varnish?

Old fashioned varnishes are not much different than today's urethanes. The major difference is purely chemical. Urethanes contain an isocyanate (what the heck is that?). Evidently an isocyanate is a chemical chain that contains nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen. When combined with a polyol like traditional linseed oil, you get a urethane!

Urethanes outperform traditional varnishes because they resist chemicals, scuffs, and scratches. For the most part, urethanes are also slower to yellow or amber.

Sunscreens for Wood

Ultraviolet (UV) light has garnered lots of publicity in the past 5 - 10 years. We have finally figured out that it destroys just about everything -our skin, vinyl siding, certain plastics, colors, fabrics, wood, coatings, etc. The UV rays are invisible but evidently have the same impact as those very cool phaser pistols you see in "Star Wars" movies and such. UV radiation blasts things apart on a microscopic level.

Adding pigments or colors to urethane will help them to significantly resist UV degradation. What, you didn't know you can add pigments to urethanes? You bet you can! In reality, urethanes or varnishes are nothing more than clear paint. In fact, if you are trying to match stained woods, it can be done by blending pigments into a urethane. I have done it on several jobs to match new woodwork with older stained wood. The look is dramatic. After you achieve the perfect color, you then apply two coats of clear urethane over the pigmented coating. Without this protection pigments might wipe off when cleaning or brushed against with a white article of clothing.

Doors vs. Floors

Wood exposed to the elements and weather turns into a living, breathing "creature". In other words it moves. Urethanes formulated for these applications have to be softer or more flexible than a urethane applied to a gymnasium floor. A wood door or exterior sign expands and contracts. If the urethane can't absorb this shock, it will simply pop off the wood.

Maybe your exterior door urethane failed because you put a floor urethane on the door? It could have also failed because it had too little UV protectors. The UV light could have destroyed the surface wood cells. These cells succumbed to gravity and took the urethane with it!

Water & Oil Don't Mix, or do...

Great strides have been made in coatings technology with respect to urethanes. Water "based" finishes are now available. However, it gets confusing from here on. Why? Because there are two main groups of water based clear finishes. The same is true for oil based as well. The best performing water based urethanes tend to be those that "crosslink". However, guess what? It will be tough, if not impossible for you to find these in your regular paint store or home center big box store. Sorry.......

Crosslinking - What is That?

When you apply a regular water based paint finish, the water begins to dry. The pigment and resin (glue) particles are pulled closer together. Eventually these particles are touching one another very tightly as the last little bit of water evaporates. The particles stick to one another and the surface which was painted. Each particle maintains its own personality, however, as it sticks to the particle next to it. There is no chemical crosslinking in this scenario.

Old fashioned linseed oil, many oil based urethanes, and some water based urethanes, however, chemically react as they dry or "cure". What really happens is that the urethane actually turns into one GIANT molecule of urethane. The individual particles crosslink and become one. As you might imagine, this type of finish is much more resistant to moisture infiltration and chemical attack.

You will never see anything on a urethane label about crosslinking. It is too technical. However, you will see mentions on the label about "non-yellowing" properties. Many people don't like a urethane to amber or yellow. If you want this property, you are going to pay for it in performance. The urethanes that do not yellow are NOT crosslinkers.....that's not something to be proud about if you are a urethane.

Hardness of Floor Finishes

Urethanes used on floors need to be very hard. Hardness is directly related to the amount or degree of crosslinking in a urethane. The more crosslinking, the harder the finish. Other ingredients(the oils or resins used)also influence hardness as well. Suffice it to say that price will often be a clue as to performance. The urethanes that contain more crosslinking capabilities or chemicals almost always contain more higher priced ingredients. This means more cost to us, the end user. Check the labels to see if this isn't true! Look to see what type of performance claims the manufacturer makes on the label. Read closely and you might just be surprised.

Bottom Line:

Do you want a high performance urethane? If so, stick with an oil based one. They resist chemicals better, usually have a higher gloss, they do not raise wood grain, and are almost always more durable than water based urethanes. If you want the ease of rinsing your brush in water or want a non-yellowing film, you will not get long term performance. The choice is yours to make.

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Urethane Manufacturers / Types

Every paint (coatings) company has a urethane/varnish line. I would need a 10 page bulletin to list the different brand names of each manufacturer. As discussed in other articles, the properties of many of the urethanes are similar when comparing ones used for SPECIFIC purposes. In other words, as long as you use the right urethane for the right thing, you should do fine. I have listed a few companies that I know to make great urethanes. That is NOT to say that companies that are not listed make inferior or lower quality products. Remember, use price as a roadmap. Low cost urethanes may give you sub-standard performance!

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Urethane Application Tips

Read the Label Instructions!!!! Carefully!!

The first thing you are going to notice, especially if you choose to use a water based urethane, is that there are many things you can't do when you use a water urethane. For example, maybe you have had great success in the past sanding with steel wool. Those days are gone. Why? Because you leave very small pieces behind which will rust when you apply the urethane!

You may also find out that a previously applied finish has to be completely removed. This can be a bummer! Read the label application instructions carefully.

Surface Preparation is Everything

Your finial finish will be only a few thousandths of an inch thick when dry. Small imperfections will show through the finish. High gloss products magnify surface defects such as sanding imperfections, sanding scratches, bumps, hammer marks, etc. If you want a surface like glass, you must get it to a glass like finish before the finish is applied.

A water based urethane will absolutely raise the grain slightly. This is not a problem. Let the finish dry as recommended on the label. Then sand the finish lightly to knock off these high spots. When the second coat is applied, you should not have any grain problems whatsoever.

Clean, dry, dust-free surfaces are a must. Do not underestimate the importance of this. Remember, the urethane "sticks" to whatever is at the surface of the wood. If it is wax, dirt, dust, etc., don't be surprised when the urethane peels off in large sheets. I know this from experience. I urethaned the beautiful floors in a house once. Too bad I didn't remove the wax that the previous owner had applied!

Stir - Don't Shake

I always have to watch myself around urethanes. As soon as I pick up a can I want to shake it as I do with paint. Shaking urethanes introduces tiny bubbles within the product. Sometimes these bubbles will not disperse before the finish dries. If this happens you have big problems!

Sand Between Coats - Time Applications!

To get a mirror like finish you must lightly sand between coats. To get maximum adhesion between coats, it is important to apply the second, third, etc. coats as soon as the manufacturer says it is permissible. Why? Because often the previously applied coat will chemically and mechanically bond to the following coat. This can really make for a durable finish. Don't let days or weeks pass between coats.

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