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Interview with Ian Frost - Regional President of the Painting and Decorating Association

Sun, 29 Jan 2017 19:51:12 +0100

Chris Kerfoot (who's superb decorating work you can find here: www.ChrisKerfootPainterandDecorator.co.uk) founder of the Brothers of the Brush decorators' forum on Facebook asked me whether I could do a quick interview with Ian Frost, Regional President of the Painting and Decorating Association.

Chris had seen the quick video interviews I’d done at the National Painting and Decorating Show and asked whether I could do a slightly longer version for the group. He and Ian, who are both sterling decorators and very fine chaps, kindly allowed me to reproduce the interview here, for your perusing pleasure. Hopefully you’ll find Ian’s responses illuminating.

Ian Frost with the Dulux dog in 2012. Can you guess who's who?

Charles: How did you get into decorating?

Ian: Various family members, who were time-served decorators, passing knowledge onto me, but I originally went to college from school to do building/construction ond & hnc courses. From there I did a basic apprenticeship rising to site manager level on both new build and refurbishment projects. I came out the construction industry for 9 years, then came back into it as self employed focusing on decorating. I’ve been running my own business for 14yrs now (predominantly self taught).

Charles: Apart from getting paid, what makes you happiest about being a professional

decorator?

Ian: The sense of achievement and pride knowing I did everything I could to give the client what they wanted (often exceeding their expectations).

Charles: What do you think has changed to the good since you started in the trade?

Ian: The move from oil-based to water-based products, equipment more readily available to decorators at all levels of budget such as sanding and extraction, spray plant, etc, etc.

Charles: What areas of decorating have you experience in? Domestic, commercial, industrial? What do you prefer?

Ian: Domestic, commercial/ light industrial. I prefer the domestic side, especially older properties with lots of character features needing repair (ornate covings, etc).

Charles: Give an example of a mistake you made in your business, and what you learned from it?

Ian: Thinking everybody wants a perfectly finished job to very high standards, when actually a lot of people just want a good standard or even a quick "in & out" job (landlords) and priced accordingly. I learnt the hard way financially in my early years of starting out by losing jobs because of over pricing/specification and spending too long on jobs getting that "perfect finish"

Charles: What advice would you give to someone just starting in the trade?

Ian: Join the PDA (obviously, lol), Get on various decorating forums. Listen to what others say, but make your own judgement on whether to adopt those "teachings" rather than just jumping ahead blindly because "someone said it on a forum". Be truthful and fair when dealing with clients, your reputation is everything!

Charles: What qualities are crucial to be a successful painter and decorator?

Ian: Patience, both with yourself and clients. Keep an open mind to new paints and technologies coming out all the time. Be a professional in everything you do and say.

Charles: How has the PDA helped you?

Ian: I have met a lot more "like minded" professional decorators/business owners through the PDA and made genuine friends because of it.

Charles: What advantages does being in the PDA give to decorators?

Ian: Peace of mind that I have access to legal/arbitration help if problems occur (whether it's clients, manufacturers or staff). General business support and various training course are run by the PDA. Perception by clients you are more of a professional company than "Joe bloggs down the road" by being a PDA member.

Charles: What do you hope to bring to the PDA in 2017?

Ian: I hope to bring in a more "modern decorators’ thinking" to the PDA. It needs to move forwards with new members and business offerings whilst still retaining the "tradition and heritage" of a long-standing trade organisation.

Charles: If there was one product you wish could be invented, what would it be?

Ian: Time-travel in a tin!!! Just imagine it, you could get a full day of work done on site, visit several prospective jobs, get the quotes written up, have dinner and family time, sleep and even walk the dog for an hour...all in 24hrs!!!

Charles: Where can people find you online?

Ian: www.rainbowfrost.co.uk (in the process of being massively updated), Facebook (Rainbow Frost Decorating), PDA website (search in members area), various decorating Facebook and internet forums.

Quickfire questions:

Charles: Tea or coffee?

Ian: Tea (whilst on a break), coffee whilst working (can drink that cold).

Charles: Radio 2 or 4?

Ian: Radio 2 or Planet Rock.

Charles: Aston Martin or Hummer?

Ian: Aston Martin.

Charles: Football or Rugby?

Ian: Rugby.

Charles: Hobnobs or French Fancies?

Ian: Hobnobs all day long!!!

Thanks for reading. If you want to find out more about Ian’s decorating services, please visit: www.rainbowfrost.co.uk

Next week I’ll be interviewing Stuart Yates, President of the Painting and Decorating Association.

Repairing exterior timber - faux Tudor beams

Thu, 18 Aug 2016 21:35:54 +0100

Until the scaffolding was up on this semi-detached house in Stratford upon Avon, it was difficult to see the state of the faux Tudor timber beams at the top of the house. Once I got up onto the scaffolding, and poked my finger into the timber, I got rather a shock. It was not only rotten, but just thin planking.

Taking a closer look at the paint, you can see it was in very poor shape. Nearly all the paint would have to come off.

It was time to get my professional Finnish and German sanding equipment out. You'd be there for weeks just sanding if you tried to do it by hand. And burning off is dangerous not only because of fumes (and if it's old paint, you can be breathing in lead fumes if you burn off) but also because the timber was old, and had voids behind it, there was a very high chance of fire smouldering behind the timber, ready to set the house alight. Sanding with 98% dust extraction is my go-to paint stripping solution in most cases. Time to start.

Sanding right back to the timber allows you to see where the rotten wood is. It also means that where the paintwork is in very poor shape, you can start again with fresh paint on the timber, so no risk of old paint flaking off and taking your new paint with it, because all the old paint will be winging its way into my sanding dust extractor bag.

As you can see, the rot was pretty extensive. To do a proper job, you need to cut it all out, back to a sound timber edge.

There was so much rotten timber, I used a multitool to cut out all the dodgy wood. If you're doing resin repairs to timber, one of the tools I'd strongly advise you get is a multitool - it makes cutting out so much quicker.
As you can see above, the 'beams' are actually softwood planks, nailed onto traditional lath pieces onto which the render was also attached. Luckily the render was very good in most places, so just the timber needed replacing.

A look around the timber merchants and I found some softwood planking which was nearly an exact replica of the original - what a time saver! I also bought a few other sizes for other repairs. As you can just see in the top left of the photo above, I also removed and replaced the timber moulding along the top edge of the fascia board. That was much, much cheaper and quicker than sanding all the old paint off, and repairing it.
All the timber was fixed in place using the Repair Care 4 hour resin system. First you mix up a 2 part liquid version of the resin (Dry Fix 4), and brush it onto all the timber edges you're going to attach. This liquid soaks into the timber a bit and means you get a really, really strong bond. 20 minutes later you mix up the 2 part resin paste (Dry Flex 4) and use that to stick the pieces in, and fill in. Repair Care resin is incredibly tough, waterproof and flexes with the timber. Nothing else comes anywhere near to do a quality repair for this kind of job.

After all the repairs were sanded flat, I could get to the quick, easy and fun part - painting! I was using Sadolin Superdec which is a water-borne exterior finish which is primer, undercoat and topcoat in one. It's a superb product. Two coats of that in black and the job was done. If you're using a pale colour, or white, then you'll need three coats at least on bare timber, but the black has great opacity and two coats was perfect.

Once the scaffolding was down I could get a clear photo of the finished job. I painted the render as well, and there were wooden windows and doors elsewhere on the house which I repaired and painted - but that'll be another blog!
If you're doing a repair like this, it's worth spending the time and using the best materials to do it properly. I'm guessing it hadn't been done to a high standard for decades, judging by the amount of rot and the state of the paintwork. This repair will last a very long time, and if the house is repainted regularly, it'll be a lot quicker and therefore cheaper to paint it next time.

Do it once and do it properly, it'll be cheaper in the long run.

How To Repair Cast Iron Guttering

Sat, 23 Jul 2016 14:29:52 +0100

This piece of guttering was only just hanging on.
Imagine if it had dropped on someone's head.

Here’s the ‘executive summary' of the detailed process below.

Clean off all flaky gubbins*. (*Technical term.)
Glue the pieces of cast iron together using Repair Care resins.
Paint your guttering.
Stand back with a cup of tea and gaze in awe at your repair.

If you really want to know the ins and outs, brew yourself your favourite beverage, sneak a couple of ginger nuts out of the biscuit tin (not a euphemism), and read on.

Stratford upon Avon

Last year I was working for some lovely folk in Stratford upon Avon, redecorating the exterior of their house. There were some relatively new wooden windows which were easy to deal with, but at the front especially there was quite a lot of old timber which had started to rot.

Timber repair specialist

One of my specialties is doing very durable repairs to exterior timber - that’s another blog post, or ten. But this time I noticed some broken cast iron guttering. Now cast iron is a tricky thing to repair, but as one of the first three Advanced Contractors for Repair Care Timber Repairs in the UK, I knew that their epoxy resin repair system would be just the ticket.

I’ve lost count of the windows, frames, doors and beams I’ve repaired with Repair Care resins, but I’ve used many thousands of pounds worth of their products, so I’m comfortable with how they behave and I know exactly how they work.

Scaffolding and the reason for proper preparation

The first step was to remove the guttering so I could give it a good clean, ready to repair. I insist on using scaffolding when working on exteriors - you really can’t do proper preparation off a ladder. Many decorators in the past just used ladders, and that’s one reason why sometimes difficult things - like really proper preparation of cast iron gutters - hasn’t been done for decades. I can usually tell when a decorator has just applied gloss over gloss, with little or no preparation and no undercoat. This just doesn’t work. It’ll eventually peel, and it’ll definitely peel once you start sanding it. Good primers, undercoats and specialist professional metal paints are designed to stick. If you're using regular interior or exterior gloss paint, it will only stick to a proper primer or undercoat, or if you're applying a second coat you can do it within a few days (before it has totally cured, and becomes slick and hard). You cannot just apply gloss paint to old gloss paint - it'll peel eventually, and it'll be a real bugger to sand next time you decorate. I could rant on....

Suffice to say, these gutters hadn’t been cleaned out for decades, and they’d been glossed over gloss - so when I sanded I got multiple laminates of gloss peeling off gloss - a right bugger! One of my mantras is that if you do something right, it’ll be easier to do next time. So do the preparation right, do the painting right, use the best products - and not only will everything last longer, but it'll be easier to maintain and redecorate the next time.

Hello guttering, need a bit of Charles Budd love and attention?

The Process

I’ll get off my hobby horse now and get on with the process - which I guess is what you’re interested in if you clicked on this blog. Unless you’re an insomniac.

1. Remove all gubbins (dirt, flaking paint and rust) from the cast iron. It’s useful to have a range of tools - scrapers, wire brushes, different grades of abrasives (‘sandpaper’ (not sand, it’s usually particles of aluminium oxide) or whatever abrasives you use). The ironwork doesn’t have to be totally cleaned back to bare metal, but take off anything flaky.

Gubbins removal.
Note a broken tile on the left of the photo. I fixed that too.

2. Clean the guttering. You can use a degreaser if you like - there are too many DIY and professional products to choose - but Fluxaf, Virosol and EcoSolutions products all do the job. What I do is usually do a final clean with meths. It degreases well and evaporates quickly.

3. Now comes the Repair Care resin process. It’s a process that’s been carefully developed as a very long-lasting timber repair solution, but it also works well for cast iron, and small concrete repairs. It’s based on liquid and gel epoxy resins. Different versions dry in 1, 3, 4 and 16 hours. The quicker drying the more expensive the resins are (and the more they smell!) I tend to use the 4 hour resins, as you can apply them in the morning and they’ll be solid by late afternoon.

Repair Care Dry Fix 4 (two part liquid epoxy resin)
and Dry Flex 4 (two part stiff gel epoxy resin)
This is lovely stuff - I use a lot of it.

4. The first stage is to mix and apply a small amount of Repair Care Dry Fix. This is a liquid version of the resin, and it fills air holes and crevices to create a stronger bond. Some might say you only need to use it with timber, but I’m a ‘belt and braces’ man and if there’s only just a slight advantage to using it, I’ll use it. When I do a repair, I want it to last for as long as possible. Once applied, leave it to dry a little - usually 20 to 30 minutes - perfect to have a cuppa and a couple of biccies. (Please note, you need to use either the Universal Dry Fix or the matching Dry Fix Liquid to the Dry Flex Paste - i.e. Dry Fix 1 for Dry Flex 1, Dry Fix 4 for Dry Flex 4 - ask your supplier if you need more information on this).

My customer kept me very well supplied with tea, coffee and the best biccies available!

5. Then mix up the Repair Care Dry Flex. This is a gel version of the resin. It is fairly stiff, and easy to work with - a little bit like sticky clay. ‘Butter it’ onto both sides of the repair, then push the pieces together, applying more paste if needed. Then carefully remove excess paste - you do this not just to save money (the resin is expensive, but it’s so good that it’s good value) but also because it’s very difficult to sand - even if you have high end commercial sanders like the Festool range, which I do.

The Dry Flex resin is stiff enough to hold the pieces together in this case.
Sometimes you need to support pieces until it has set.

6. You can clamp the pieces together, or just rest them together so they don’t move. You don’t have to apply pressure to the two pieces like with some glues - just keep everything together and still while the resin dries.

Most people would use silicone or a similar sealant to fix this end cap back on.
by using the Dry Flex resin, I can guarantee it won't drop off, and it's totally waterproof.

7. Once the resin is dry, use a sharp blade to carve off any excess resin, and sand as smooth as needed. On old cast iron you usually won’t want to spend too long doing this, as it’ll probably be fairly pitted and lumpy anyway, and it’s just a waste of time and looks odd to have a perfectly smooth repair on a fairly lumpy bit of old cast iron! And remember, time is money, or an opportunity to have a biscuit.

8. Apply your paints of choice. In this case I used Coo-var Hammercote. It’s a bit like Hammerite but I think it’s nicer to apply. You could use a good rust inhibiting primer (like Rustoleum Rust Inhibiting Primer - which is superb) and then your choice of any top coat, such as an exterior gloss or satin paint. The advantage of Hammercote and Hammerite is that they can be applied over bare metal without the need for a primer.

Guttering and downpipe fixed and painted.
The boundary of the property was the downpipe,
but I painted the neighbour's bit of that horizontal piece too.

9. I’d always recommend applying at least two top coats of paint for durability and also colour coverage.

End piece reinstalled with resin.
Guttering double topcoated inside and out for durability.

10. Once the pieces are dry, reinstall them carefully and stand back with a cup of tea and a few biccies (there’s a theme developing here) and revel in the shimmering warmth of your own achievement.

The broken piece of guttering, reinstalled, double topcoated.
You can see I didn't strip all the old paint off, just the flaky stuff.
You can strip them completely - but that would have cost the customer more.
You can see part of the woodwork, in a satin finish. It did look like this... but that's another blog.

Anyhow, the finished front of the house looked like this. The windows were PVC, but a lot of the black woodwork had serious rot issues. All the rot removed and new timber installed with resin. I'd better get writing that blog!

Tidy.

Bonus photo!

When I started this blog, I'd completely forgotten that there was a broken tile on the roof. Now it's usually cheaper to replace tiles, but in this case I'd have had to source a tile, then replace it. As I was already up on the edge of the roof on the scaffolding, and already mixing up Repair Care resin, I used the same process as I used on the guttering to repair the tile. It worked a dream, and the repair was invisible from the ground. Although Repair Care resins are designed for exterior timber repair, they are very adaptable to many repairs, both inside and outside the home.

PS In case you're wondering, I'm not paid by Repair Care. I've just used their products for a long time, and they are the best on the market for long-lasting exterior timber repairs, so that's why I use them and love them!

Vague Advice for a North Facing Dining Room

Sun, 10 Apr 2016 17:28:02 +0100

Someone I've been advising asked me a question about what colour to paint his north facing dining room. I've never met him or seen his house. He told me he wanted to use Little Greene paint - a great choice as it's one of the best quality British paint brands out there.

I emailed him a quick, and necessarily vague reply, which included the following paragraph:

"Choosing colour is the most subjective part of the job. It depends what kind of mood you want in the dining room.

Something bright and airy? Cool colours? Warm colours? Something intense for intimate dinner parties?

When will you be using the dining room? Mainly at night? If so, will you only really be looking at the colours under artificial light? What kind of lighting do you have? Tungsten or halogen (both of which are warm), fluorescent (which is usually a little cool, often with a slight green tinge) or LED (which can be either warm or daylight bulbs). [I should have included candlelight, which is very warm, of course.]

A north facing room may get no direct sunlight, just that reflected from the sky or buildings/vegetation opposite. If it's just getting skylight the light coming in will be diffuse and blue. If there is reflected light from vegetation too it'll still be mainly blue, but with green hints. If there is a large brick building opposite, reflecting strong sunlight, you may get a whole range of colours including warm tones from the brick, green tones from vegetation, blue tones from the sky. "

As you can see, I didn't give him any recommended colours. There are some lovely colours in the Little Greene palette, and they can mix more colours than they have in their colour cards.

But my vague reply will, hopefully, give him food for thought. I've asked him lots of questions, and only with replies to those questions will we be able to move forward towards colour choices.

Choosing colours to paint rooms, or furniture is tricky. There's so much to take into account. What effect are you looking for? What kind of light will you be seeing reflected from the painted surfaces? How will it change throughout the day, and at night? How will it work with existing furniture, or artwork, or floor coverings?

As both a decorator and photographer I'm working with colour and light every day. I've got a pretty good idea of light quality, quantity and temperature. I bring all this experience to play when advising customers about paint colours (and paint sheen too - just to add another factor into the mix).

But everyone is different. Each customer has different taste (thank goodness, or my work would be rather dull). Some people love the journey of choosing colours, others find it a real drag. Some people make a decision in seconds, others can take weeks, even months.

Once you've sorted out your variables - light, mood, sheen etc. Then you can begin choosing colours. I always advise painting out large colour swatches on lining paper, and sticking them up on different walls. Looking at those swatches at different times of day, and at night. Of course to be totally sure you'd need to keep in mind season - as the angle of the sun will vary throughout each day in the year.

No wonder many people get professional interior designers to choose colours for them, if they can afford it. It's not an easy task. If you employ a professional decorator then she/he may be able to advise - but not all decorators (even those who are highly skilled technically) will have that more artistic eye to advise.

Colour advice is something I always offer my customers. But even if I'm offering to help choose colours, I'll always say what my preferences are, and why - but it can only be a preference. Everyone is different.

This is how I like to do colour swatches. BIG! Farrow and Ball colours on the left, and Little Greene on the right.

Festool sanders - worth the money

Mon, 18 Jan 2016 13:16:21 +0100

I won't drone on for too long about how much I love my sanding equipment. I'm sure you've better things to do. I've got two Mirka sanders for broad areas - the Ceros and Deros, and I've got two Festool sanders - the RO90 for exterior timber work, and my RTS400, mainly for interior woodwork, and for finishing off exterior woodwork.

These sanders make a MASSIVE difference to my decorating. Sorry for the caps, but I can't emphasise how useful they are. Not only can I sand much quicker with these tools, but attached to my Festool dust extractor, I produce about 5% of the sanding dust compared to sanding by hand - or by machine without dust extraction capabilities.

Anyway, I said I wouldn't drone on. Suffice to say these sanders are expensive, but worth every penny. They are extremely efficient and effective, and they just keep on going - kind of the Land Rovers of decorating tools. Recently, my RTS400 developed an electrical fault - just a loose cable inlet socket I think. I emailed Festool UK, they sent a courier, fixed it and sent it back. What did I pay? Nothing. They guarantee their tools for 3 years. The service is pretty much impeccable.

Expensive? Yes. Great value for money? Definitely.

Decorators in Stratford upon Avon

Tue, 28 Jul 2015 18:01:17 +0100

I love decorating in Stratford upon Avon. It's an old town, with plenty of old buildings, and that's what I love the most. Don't get me wrong, I love the simplicity of decorating relatively newer buildings, as usually the plaster is flat, the woodwork is simpler, and they are often faster to do, but I do love the challenges and details of being part of the renovation process of old buildings. And although Stratford upon Avon is a relatively small town, it provides enough work for at least a handful of decorating companies, and certainly enough for me to be booked as far ahead as I want to be.

This brings me onto a question I'm often asked when I tell people how booked up in advance I am, namely 'is there anyone else local whom you can recommend?' As it happens, I've only been living here for a few years and I do nearly all my decorating on my own. When I have brought in other professional decorators on certain jobs, they've mostly been people I know from out of town. I haven't actually worked with any of the decorators who are based in Stratford upon Avon! I'm sure many of the local decorators are good, but I not having worked with them, I can't recommend them from personal experience. I'd hope they use dust extraction sanding. I'd hope they use non-yellowing paints for interior woodwork. I'd hope they protect surfaces properly, and clean up well when they leave. But I don't know. These are all things I do, and I hope they gradually become standard practice in the UK decorating industry.

Rustoleum Chalky Finish Furniture Paint - and more reviews

Sun, 07 Jun 2015 18:50:02 +0100

Some of you may know that I'm one of the reviewers on the Painting and Decorating Product Reviews website. It's a relatively new site but already proving popular and reviews are now coming in thick and fast.

Over the next few weeks the team of professional decorators who do the reviews will be adding new products to review, as well as lending their experienced eye to review products already on the site.

The plan is to provide both professional decorators and DIY decorators alike with a completely impartial and professional resource of reviews to products used by decorators.

I've done several reviews on the site, but readers of this blog might be most interested in my review of Rustoleum Chalky Finish Furniture Paint. I've done quite a few projects with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in the past, as regular readers may know, so I was very interested to try this new paint on the market. I thought it was 'okay'. Certainly good enough for that shabby chic finish. But if you're interested in furniture painting, then do read the review.

http://pdproductreviews.com/rustoleum-chalky-finish-furniture-paint-charlie-budd/

You can also find a review of the same paint by my good Cumbrian colleague Sean Wilkinson here:

http://pdproductreviews.com/rustoleum-chalky-finish-furniture-paint-2/

I hope you enjoy reading the reviews, and keep an eye on Painting and Decorating Product Reviews for more reviews coming soon!

Patience and Detail - Victorian Cast Iron Lattice Windows

Sun, 16 Nov 2014 13:19:50 +0100

Several ideas have been spinning around my head due to a particular job this year. A job of patience, intricacy, detail, more patience, thought, analysis, change of technique, more patience, evolution of technique....

Patience and Detail - needed with cast iron lattice windows.

Those of you who know me know I'm a pretty patient chap. Earlier in my working life I was a care worker for adults with learning difficulties and challenging behaviour - that needed oodles of patience, and empathy too. I've also spent many years as a professional wildlife conservationist in several countries - again, patience, and this time determination was also needed.

Attention to detail has always come naturally - there's a strong perfectionist streak in me. At school I used to draw detailed pencil sketches of trees, or portraits of celebrities, and my drawings of dissected plants, earthworms, or fish in biology classes were given top marks. I hated having to give up art to concentrate on the sciences, but those subjects tickled my attention to detail too, past degree level.

It's pretty obvious what this has to do with decorating. To do the best job you can do - within the constraints of budget (i.e. time) that the customer is willing to pay, you have to look, and look again - think and think again. And again.

Sometimes you'll look at a wall, and think 'that needs filling, all of it, every inch, then sanding'. So that's what you propose, and if it's within the budget you go for it and get it as smooth as possible. Sometimes you think 'every single spindle in that hall, stairs and landing has uneven paint, drips, chips - every single spindle needs sanding back to smooth'; I did that on a job recently. It took me 15 minutes per spindle - those spindles (Victorian, as old as the house, I'd say) probably never looked as good as they did when I'd done with them. And I could have gone further, but time... budget....

Back to the beginning. This job that prompted my thoughts - Victorian cast iron lattice windows, definitely of the 'they don't make them like that anymore' mould (so to speak). So they're well over a hundred years old, and they should last many more lifetimes if they're not replaced. But over time the window and frame warp slightly - so they don't close totally flush - even if you take all the paint off them. And they are some of the worst windows for energy efficiency you could possibly design - unless you designed a hole in a wall with nowt in it. But they are beautiful. I love them. I shouldn't do, I should hate them. I should despise them, rue the day I first saw them. But I don't.

An old Victorian Schoolhouse - 11 cast iron lattice windows in need of love.

The job's not yet finished at the time of writing, but nearly. I've been posting photos of this job throughout the year, and many of my decorating colleagues around the country have commented that they wouldn't have had the patience to take the job on. And they wouldn't have used the techniques that I'd have done (although most of them have come around when I've explained the reasoning behind my decisions.)

I've done several properties in and near Stratford upon Avon which have these types of windows, and as I intimated at the beginning of this blog, my techniques for tackling them have changed - in some ways drastically, in other ways through a gentle evolution as I worked. To begin with I had a plan of how to tackle them. I knew which materials I'd use. I'd estimated how long each one would take. I've adjusted the coatings I use. I've changed the tools I use. I've drastically changed the overall approach. I did them well at the start, but now I do them really well - more thoroughly. Not quicker overall - because I'm being more thorough - but I'm doing each part of the process quicker.

This is one I did earlier. Lovely, but time-consuming.

The finials on the above property were rotten - some creative Repair Care resin sculpting by myself renewed them.

To begin with, these windows were in a bad state. The underlying ironwork was sound - very sound. No deep rust has been found. But they were covered with surface rust - nearly everywhere. The putty was cracking in nearly every pane. The paint was cracking everywhere. They were a mess. Whoever had last painted them had obviously taken as much care as they could without significant preparation work - but it wasn't enough to treat the underlying issues.

Nearly all the paint and putty needs to come off.

Step one was to remove nearly all the putty. This was done with 18mm Japanese Olfa snap off blades. Lots of them. Even these blades, which are some of the best in the world, blunt fairly quickly when scraping against metal. The only putty left was solid, it would have taken a hammer and chisel to remove - and on metal windows with fragile glass, that was a 'no'.

A similar window on another property - there's a lot of old paint and putty to scrape off.

Step two was to sand every single glazing bar. On this property with 11 windows of this type to repair and decorate there are well over 1,000 glazing bars. I counted them once, I can't be bothered to do so again! Every single one was scraped and sanded, then cleaned down with methylated spirits. A few panes which were cracked or badly scratched were replaced. I made paper templates of each pane to be replaced and had them cut in 3mm glass at a local glazing company. The price was reasonable - between £2 and £4 per pane. Mind you, I replaced over 50 panes on this one property, so it adds up - it's still worth it though.

Glass to be replaced was covered with masking tape, so fragments wouldn't ping all over the place.

Templates were prepared and taken to Stratford Glass to have precisely shaped panes cut.

Checking that each pane fits before being bedded in with Dryseal glazing sealant.

Personal protective clothing while taking out glass: goggles for eyes, hat for the July sun and adequate chin protection.

Step three was priming the metal and remaining putty. I've experimented here with Rustoleum rust inhibiting primer, Owatrol oil and Hydrate-80. All are superb, and all have their advantages and disadvantages. That would be another blog in itself.

Step four is masking. On the first couple of properties where I tackled these windows I sealed the glass and painted without masking. Not only did I have to clean off the glass after sealing it, it took me up to an hour to paint many of the windows. And it was fiddly, difficult to get paint into some of the awkward angles. Now I mask every pane. It means I can get really sharp lines, and apply the many layers of paint really, really quickly. It's definitely worth it.

I was being closely watched from inside as I masked the panes.

Step five was replacing the putty. I very, very rarely use traditional linseed oil putty - for virtually all glazing I now use Repair Care Dryseal glazing sealant. This is a very strong, flexible glazing sealant which is guaranteed for 10 years. So it won't crack like putty. And another huge advantage is that unlike putty it can be painted within a few hours. The blurb says 'overpaintable in 2 hours' but I find that's a bit optimistic. I usually give it about 6 hours, or overnight. It takes a lot of practice to get it right - at first I made a right pig's ear of it - and each glazing bar was taking an age to get a good finish. But I got quicker and quicker at getting a decent finish. A good caulking gun is essential. And a moistened silicone spreader with a good smooth edge and good point is essential. I usually moisten with wipes (Big Wipes or Repair Care wipes seem to be the best) but some colleagues recommend moistening with water which has a few drops of washing up liquid in it.

Gary, area rep for Repair Care, kindly popped in to give me some glazing tips.

Step six is picky, picky... picking off any bits of Dryseal that I didn't quite get right. Maybe that's just me being perfectionist again, but half an hour of doing that per window makes a huge difference. And if I've already spent well over a day on a window, prepping and sealing it - another half an hour is nothing.

Step seven is my favourite - PAINT! Now that everything is masked off I can paint each window really quickly - about 15 minutes each per coat, sometimes less. Another advantage of masking is that I can really push the paint into awkward angles, this is difficult to do if you're also trying to cut in a neat line. One coat of Otex primer, with a slug of Owatrol oil conditioner in it to improve paint flow (it's also a rust inhibitor). Once that's dry, which is just a few hours, a quick pick and rub down, even a little more sealant applied in the odd place - continuing the perfectionist theme. Then another coat of Otex.

Step eight is to apply two coats of Tikkurila Valtti Ultra. This is a water-based exterior paint of superb quality. It's made in Finland, where they really know about making durable coatings for exteriors. Tikkurila is a very old paint company, 152 years old to be precise, and they make brilliant paints for interiors and exteriors. (That Otex primer I mentioned is made by Tikkurila too.) As well as being incredibly durable, Tikkurila Ultra has another big bonus point - it can be overcoated after just one hour! This is obviously dependent on some factors such as air temperature, humidity, whether it's in the sun.... (if you really want some bedtime reading, read my fascinating (if you're as much of a paint nerd as me) blog about the Art of Watching Paint Dry on my colleague Martin Guest's website.)

Step nine, at last... remove all the masking tape. This is my second favourite bit of the process. The windows look pretty messy up to this point - there are no clean lines as I've painted over the edge of the tape. But now the clean lines appear. At this point, I notice a few places where the lines are not quite right, so I might scrape off a bit of paint, or I might apply a couple more bits of masking tape and apply a couple of coats of Ultra. I keep going until I'm happy. This can be hours of work even once all the masking tape is off. But if you've spent weeks and weeks on windows like these, spending a few more hours in getting them as close to perfection as you can is a pleasure.

I had already prepped and painted the front door - in Farrow and Ball 'Pigeon' (I know, I know) and 'Pointing'.

Step 10 involves standing back. Enjoying the smiles of your customers. Packing everything away. And texting your friendly scaffolder that he can remove the scaffolding (yes, my scaffolder is very friendly, and bloody good at his job - if a customer wants to use someone else, I resist like a toddler wanting sweeties in the supermarket. His name is Jamie Hamlin from Express Scaffolding in case you want to know.) Anyway, I digress.

These windows took me about three days.... EACH! And I had 11 of them on this property. That's 33 working days, or nearly 7 working weeks. It was less of a chore due to my beloved Radio 4 (and a bit of BBC 6 Music) to keep me relatively sane during some of the more repetitive tasks. And my customers are lovely - access to plenty of tea, coffee and choccy biccies.

Be warned, taking on a job like this does involve huge patience, and attention to detail. I'm lucky that I've got both. But most people would really struggle, they'd get fed up. It would be too tempting to do a half-job on them - as had obviously been done in the past. But half-jobs are rarely durable... and soon you're back to where you were - time again to do another half-job. I'd rather do a proper job, then it'll last for a long time. And once it's all done properly, if you keep on top of it, it'll be much quicker (and cheaper) to give it a spruce up when it begins to weather a little.

Patience.

Detail.

Tea.

Biscuits.

Radio 4.

That's me that is.

(And if you've got to the end of this blog, you must be pretty patient too. I take my hat off to you.)

Zinsser Peelstop and Zinsser Coverstain - repairing water damage to walls and ceilings

Tue, 21 Oct 2014 12:48:25 +0100

I'm often asked to repair walls and ceilings which have had water damage from leaks. It really helps to know what products to use to sort them out.

Zinsser Peel Stop

On a recent job this summer, I was asked to repair some peeling and cracking paint by a kitchen hob.

All the loose paint was scraped off. And all the cracks were 'raked out' (this gives filler something decent to grab onto). Then one coat of Zinsser Peel Stop water-borne primer was brushed onto the whole area, taking care to brush in all directions to make sure the primer got into all the tiny nooks and crannies. Peel Stop takes just a couple of hours to dry, so I could then fill any cracks and raised paint edges (I used Toupret Reboucheur - as it dries quickly and Toupret fillers are generally fantastic.)

Onto another job in the house for a couple of hours, then I carefully sanded the filler flat - taking care not to sand too hard and re-expose the edges I'd treated with Peel Stop and filler. A quick dust and two coats of the original kitchen paint and the job was done. Sanded, sealed, filled, sanded and topcoated.

Next up....

Zinsser Coverstain

A bathroom leak had made water pool over a hallway ceiling. After covering the floor with dust sheets, I raked out the cracks and discovered part of the plaster had completely degraded. In other words, suddenly I had a bloody big hole!

This photo was taken part-way through raking out. I filled the hole first with plasterboard, held down with water-based adhesive. I sanded the whole ceiling (using dust extraction as usual, so there was virtually no airborne dust) and filled the cracks and remaining holes with Toupret Le Reboucheur. Another few hours on another job (I had the sitting room to paint) and the filler was dry enough to sand. A quick vacuum of the whole ceiling and then two coats (an hour apart) of Zinsser Coverstain oil-based primer was applied with a foam roller. The advantage of the foam rollers is that they're quick, they apply an even coat, you don't get any bits from the roller stuck in the paint, and they're cheap enough to leave to dry and chuck in the bin. Washing out oil-based paints from rollers is neither healthy, time-efficient or environmentally the best option due to the quantity of white spirits you'd need!

Once the Coverstain had dried, a couple of coats of the customer's choice of ceiling paint were applied to the whole ceiling (painting patches often shows up, it's usually best to paint a whole surface).

Now the eagle-eyed amongst you might spy a paler patch to the left of the smoke alarm. This photograph was taken as the paint was drying, and the ceiling emulsion painted on top of the Coverstain dries more slowly than on the matt and absorbent previous ceiling paint. Don't fear - it all dries the same colour eventually.

Zinsser Peelstop is a very useful primer to have in the cupboard if you do a lot of painting. It seals peeling, flaking, and chalky surfaces.

Zinsser Coverstain is even more useful. As well as being a brilliant stain blocking primer, it is a fantastic primer for many other surfaces, including timber. It has very high opacity (in other words it covers well) and it sticks to nearly anything! I use it every week as a general primer for woodwork. Although it is oil-based, it dries in a couple of hours, so it's very practical to use. I usually add a bit of Owatrol paint conditioner to it to make it flow better, as it's quite thick.

Two fiddly jobs done as well as a couple of coats on the walls of the sitting room, and one very happy customer.

Kinky Vintage Naughty Noir by Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen

Mon, 07 Jul 2014 21:57:09 +0100

I was going through my photos this evening and came across some snaps of a job I did for a neighbour a few months back. They'd asked me to hang a couple of feature walls in their sitting room with a black flock wallpaper by Graham and Brown, in the Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen design 'Kinky Vintage Naughty Noir'. Ooookay! It was fairly straightforward to put up, once the walls were properly prepared. This flock wallpaper is embossed with a fuzzy, almost hairy black fabric - it brushes off very easily so one has to be careful when smoothing it not to over-smooth, or the flock can not only be brushed off but also flattened. And, because of the texture, you have to be very careful not to get any paste on the front of the wallpaper, as it'll be very difficult (if not impossible) to remove the paste from the flock without damaging it.

It's not the most expensive wallpaper, but at up to £60 a roll, you don't want to be making errors and having to replace drops. It's a pretty simple 'paste the wall' paper - fairly heavy but easy enough to cut with my favourite Olfa sharks fin knife (The LA5 Auto Lock is my favourite for most jobs.)

As well as hanging these two feature walls, they asked me to paper their entrance hall in cream and gold Desire paper, also by Graham and Brown. This is more straightforward paper, up to £30 a roll, but makes a nice statement and it gave the entrance hall a lovely warmth.