Exterior Painting: Reframing your world

Our home is the glimpse of our sentiments, our feelings and our thoughts.  We build our homes once and we want it to be the best. Besides giving a proper architecture, paints add life to the structure. The look of your house gets transformed with a fresh paint.

And it is not only about the look, paint protect our homes against sunlight, rain and wind. A well-built house with a good structure needs a good exterior paint that catches everybody’s attention. Here are some tips that would help you to paint the exterior of your house.

1.   Consider nature:  Proper planning should be done before getting your house painted from outside. It is important to note here that paint needs time to dry up. Therefore, a dry time of the year, when there is less humidity and no rain, should be selected for painting the exterior of the house. 

2.   Choose Quality and Not Price: Good quality paint will reduce your chances of repainting your house, every year. The exterior walls of the house acts a shield to all sorts of threats so it is important that you choose the paint that is best in quality and long lasting.

3.   Primer plays important: It is a good practice to use a primer prior to using the color coat. Today, to facilitate you, paint manufacturing companies have combined primer and paint that cuts down the overall coats you need to apply. But these paints are more expensive. It depends on you to decide which way to go.

4.   Prepare the surface: Paints do not stick well on rough and dirty surface. It becomes important to scrape the surface well so as to create a clear solid surface on which the exterior paint will stick well.

5.   Use Brush and Rollers: You should use both the paintbrush and roller to apply exterior paint for fast and effective process. For applying paint on narrow surfaces, edges, and smaller areas, you should use a brush. A roller with short diameter should be used when you need to paint large and long surfaces such as siding and trim.

6.   Starting from top: It is always good to start painting from the top and moving down in the same flow. The bottom edge of the sides should be painted first and then the broad surfaces.  To avoid lap marks, you should brush from one wet surface to another wet surface.

Stucco repair: Make your house long-living again

Stucco is the most attractive of all the material. It adds a glowing finishing to the building. Being inexpensive, easy to use has made it popular today all over. Whether it is a residential project or a commercial project, Stucco is the first choice for architects and owners.

While stucco is tough and stands up well generally, it is fragile in nature so it can crack or have a chunk break. A crack then can leads to trapping of moisture underneath causing the exterior wall to deteriorate. In such case, it becomes important to get the cracked stucco repaired for preventing further deterioration. Here are few easy tips on how to repair stucco.

• Remove the edges of the damaged stucco from the walls using a hammer or chisel and continue to chip till the wired mesh. Use a wire-bristle brush to clean the area so as to remove any loose dust and wreckage. A moist rag can be then used to wipe the entire area to pick up any remaining dust.
• Next step is to mix the mortar using a bucket. The standard mixing measurement is mixing one part Portland cement, four parts builder's sand and a small amount of water. Mix the contents well. Remember that the mortar should be thin enough to work easily.
• It is necessary to match the color of your old stucco to get the new one accordingly. So. Match the color and get gallon paint for you.It’s time to spread ¼inch layer of the mixture using a brick trowel into the hole. Be cautious while spreading the mixture onto the wall so that it does not get onto the existing stucco layer. The patched area should be scrapped with the edge of the trowel in cross-hatched pattern and leave it for 24 hours.  Repeat the entire step for next 24 hours.
• Match the pattern of the surrounding wall by using the finished tool, while new stucco is moist. You can use the trowel to create a smooth surface or a damp sponge to mimic stippling or a wadded piece of cloth to achieve a random and gentler stipple pattern. It depends on your choice.  

The area is now ready to be painted over using a primer specifically made for stucco. Let the primer dry and repaint the area to match the rest of the wall. 

Contact Fortune Restoration to know more.

Need of Tuckpointing Masonry

Do you see cracks in your mortar or any kibbling mortar or any evidence of water damage in your walls? Tuckpointing Contractors Oak Park is your place for solution and the solution is Tuckpointing.

In Tuckpointing, the old mortar joints in brick or stone is repaired by grinding or scraping out the old mortar to a certain depth and then filled in with new mortar. It is a very laborious and vigorous job and experienced masonry contractors like tuckpointing contractors Hinsdale
can determine the scope of the work needed to be done. How to determine whether your walls need requires tuckpointing??

There is a simple way of determining by carrying out a short examination. Rub a key across the mortar joint and if you could see powdered material on rubbing, you need tuckpointing. You should approach a good masonry contractor to help you out. When mortar is in weakened condition and the walls bear water for years, it causes moisture to break down the brick masonry and deteriorate the wall quality. Tuckpointing proves to be the best solution as it provides a moisture proof covering to the wall and increases its life. Another reason when tuckpointing can be done is to save money before it gets too late and you are left with the only option of tearing and relaying the wall.

          Tuckpointing involves the use of tuckpointing tools by the professional tuckpointers like tuckpointing contractors, Evanston. These tools are made up of wooden handle which is attached with a brass ferrule. Their thickness or width may vary between 1 mm and 14 mm depending on the tuckpointers' personal preferences and the type of existing brick or stone work that a tuckpointer is tuckpointing.  There are many different types of tuckpointing tools like Standard Tuckpointing Tools /flat bottomed, Square Beaded Tuckpointing Tool, Round Beaded Tuckpointing Tools, Stubnose and Longnose Tuckpointing tools and also Rounded Corner Tuckpointing Tools.

          With this brief information based on research about tuckpointing, you might have got an idea as what, how and when to use tuckpointing. So, take care of your walls and contact a good tuckpointer whenever needed.

 

Concept of Brick Masonry and Brick Replacement

Tradesmen who are experienced in number of construction and building activities are known to be masonry contractors. Masons are not involved in building and construction but also provides other services like brick repair and replacement, creating fireplaces and patios and walkways, etc. the trade is one of the oldest construction professions all over the world.

There are various types of masonry contractors like brick masons- specialized in working with brick and mortar, stone masons-work with a variety of stones to build naïve structure, concrete masons-work with poured concrete or concrete bricks and provide services like coloring, texturing and finishing concretes, tile setters-work in bathrooms or kitchens, lay tiles on walls, ceilings and floors. 

Though bricks are durable, they are insusceptible to air, wind, rain and snow which renders a need for them to be cared and maintained. Repairing a declining brick wall requires basic masonry skills and a few tools and materials. Out of a number of popular masonry contractors, masonry contractors  Old town, provide world class services in brick repair and replacement. 

Brick repair or replacement requires a club hammer and chisel for removing the mortar surrounding the damaged brick. Some professionals like masonry contractors Lakeview also use the drill machine to make small holes in the mortar as per the condition. The bricks around the one removed are dampened and mortar is applied to the bottom and to the sides of the bricks that were dampened. Then the new brick is placed in the space and mortar is applied back vigorously to make it look identical to other bricks in the wall.

 

Brick repairing and replacement requires great perfection like that of brick repair, Oak Park, since they are related with the looks of the building. Nobody likes patches or smears on their walls. It requires great dedication, experience and heed to accomplish these tough jobs.