This being the festivities time here in India with Deepawali round the corner, people are busy improving, renovating, painting, decorating their homes, offices and surroundings.

With many of you getting your abodes painted and refurbished, here are a few tips and tricks from your friendly blog BRICKS-n-MORTAR.com that surely shall prove helpful to you.

Though you shall have employed contractors and labor to get the job done, do pay attention to these basic operations involved so as to get the best results justifying the time, money and efforts spent on your part. The key activities involved in getting one's abode painted are:

Surface Preparation

• Before application of any paint coat the substrate needs thorough surface preparation.
• Surface preparation is the first basic step before starting the painting job as the total life of any new paint job largely depends on how carefully the surface preparation is done. Paints applied on loose and flaking receiving surfaces or paints applied on greasy rusty metal substrates would give up much earlier than the usual anticipated life of the paint job.
  
• New wooden surfaces require scraping with sand paper to make the surface smoother, while the previously painted surfaces need removal of flaking and cracked paint film sections.
• Cement plaster surface requires wire-brushing to remove loose particles. For best finish, a layer of lime punning or plaster of paris (POP) is applied by troweling to make the surface smooth and even.
• Iron and metal surfaces require de-greasing and de-rusting before application of priming coat.
  

Priming

• Selection of appropriate Primer for individual substrates like Wood, Cement sand plaster, Mild Steel, Gypsum/ Fibre/ Block/ Ply boards, Aluminium etc. is important as it provides a solid base to the receiving surface before getting painted.
  
• Primers fight against the characteristic deficiencies related to a particular substrate (eg. Alkalinity present in cement plaster or moisture and absorption characteristic of wooden substrates)
• It protects the substrates from degradation (eg. Mild steel substrate from rust)
• Most importantly it acts as a key to provide better adhesion between the substrate and the top coat of finish paint.
  

Application procedure

Interior and Exterior Walls

• Surfaces must be cleaned, dried and freed from efflorescence
• Previously painted surfaces should be washed or brushed down but if the surface is in powdery or flaking condition, it should be removed by scraping or wire-brushing
• In case of areas affected by fungus or algae clean with wire-brush thoroughly and wash with water. After drying apply one coat of Anti-fungal solution and allow to dry
• Fill up the cracks/dents/uneven surfaces with good quality Wall Putty
• After the wall putty has dried, rub down with sand paper and wipe off the dust
• Apply 1 or preferably 2 coats of suitable Primer which acts as a good base
• Apply 1 coat of plastic paint or distemper after appropriate thinning with clean water with the help of a brush, roller or spray.
• After first coat is dry (usually 4-6 hours is sufficient) apply second coat
• In case of kitchens/bathrooms/high traffic areas, use of 2 coats of glossy or semi-glossy enamel paint is best
• For external surfaces, use of weatherproof paints are best which are moisture proof as well.
  

Wooden surfaces

• Clean and smoothen the surface with sand paper
• Fill cracks and dents with some quality knifing paste filler
• Ensure knots are sealed with knotting varnish
• Apply one coat of Grey, Pink or White primer
• Apply 2 coats of Polyurethane, Super Enamel or Clear wood paint to give a glossy surface.

Metal surfaces

• Any signs of dirt, rust and grease should be cleaned and removed from the surfaces to be painted/ polished by using cleaning, de-rusting, de-greasing solutions or by scraping with wire-brush.
• One or preferably two coats of suitable metal primer (Red Oxide Primer or Red Oxide Zinc Chromate Primer or Synthetic Red Lead Primer) be applied and the surfaces made to air-dry.
  
• For aluminium and galvanised iron surfaces one coat of Etch primer be applied followed by one coat of Zinc Chromate primer before applying the desired final paint coat.
• In case glossy finish is desired on the surface, two coats of Polyurethane, Super Enamel or Clear glossy wood paint be applied in the end.

Hope these few basic tips on home painting techniques would prove helpful to YOU. In case of any query or clarification or further information, do feel free to ask us.

At the same time, Team B-n-M wishes all its subscribers, readers and visitors of this blog a very very HAPPY DEEPAWALI. May the festival of lights and triumph of truth over evil bring many a smiles, happiness, prosperity and loving moments to you, your family and loved ones.

(With part references from: jensonnicholson)

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A recent USA visitor to your favourite blog BRICKS-n-MORTAR.com posted a message to us asking about the merits and demerits of HOME INSULATION, and to have our opinion whether she should go for it or not? Team B-n-M, therefore, hereinbelow this post explores various related ifs and buts, dos and don'ts, merits and demerits, etc. on this issue so as to provide ample information to our reader who asked question about 'home insulation' besides sharing the outcome of the analytical findings of Team B-n-M with all other readers and visitors alike.

What is home insulation / building insulation?

To proceed any further with this article, let us first ponder upon a while on the dictionary meaning of the term 'insulation'.
The term 'Insulation' is usually used in Civil Engineering / Architectural jargon to refer to the infill and/or applied material that provides the parent body (on which insulation is done) a sort of blanket cover so as to not let the main weather indicators (heat, cold, temperature variations, etc.) change the near-ideal comfortable environs of a dwelling - be it a home or an office or any other constructed or fabricated unit.

Benefits of getting home insulation done

In simpler practical terms, getting the buildings properly and adequately insulated is the perfect way of providing an effective and continuous barrier between the conditioned indoor spaces and unconditioned outdoor spaces of any particular building. This makes sure that the insulated boundaries of a home (or any building in that matter of fact) will not allow the soothing heated-up environs within during the winters to loose heat, while ensuring that the air-conditioned cool ambiance is not leaked to outsides in summers. Thus without losing the useful inhouse radiant heat in winters and/or gaining the unwanted surroundings heat in summers, it thereby helps a household to maintain a more consistent level of comfort throughout a house, thereby lowering the extents of power / energy / utility bills up to considerable levels.

A few key benefits, therefore, of getting the buildings insulated being:

• reduced energy bills due to reduced variability in radiant (ambiance) inhouse temperatures and thereby reduced usage of air conditioners.
• reduced carbon emissions, also known as greenhouse gas emissions, due to less usage of air conditioners and fuels.
• reduced variability of inhouse temperatures in various parts of the homes (like not too much difference between ground floor and attics and basements, etc.)
  
• efficient energy management
• enhanced life and stability of building due to lesser effects of temperature variations on intrinsic construction and interiors related materials.
• enhanced fire protection of building components.
  
• better mortgage and/or resale value for the building.
• almost nil demerits of the system.
  
• last, but definitely not the least, a sense of safety and completeness to your beloved and cherished home showing you care for it.
  

Conclusion and suggestion to the readers

All in all, referring to all the benefits of housing insulation besides insulating all kinds of buildings in general, it seems prudent to go for it taking services of the suppliers/ providers of repute in one's region who have long standing credibility behind their names. Based upon our extended online and offline search in your region in the United States of America (i.e., the region where the reader who posted this query lives), one such credible party that is having a good name for insulation for houses is sent to you by private email too, as you had desired. You may consult them for a free evaluation of your home and take an appropriate decision thereafter. As for our advice, we would advise you to go for insulation of your home, as it would surely reduce your annual energy bills for one since as per one recent report, heating and cooling account for 50 to 70% of the energy used in the average American home, and you can very well comprehend what kind of figures it would translate into; isn't it? 
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