Before and After

It´s not always easy to take good photographs that illustrate the "Before and After" effect of our administrations of render and paint and the improvement in appearance to the property thereof, until that is we worked at the "Coelho" place on Monte Pego. Picture right...

Bought by mum Coelho as investment in the very early eighties when it was one of the very first houses in the area (clever mum!) her sons William and Kurt recently contracted me (clever sons!) to undertake the renewal of all of the paint work of the property to coincide with the other improvements and renovations they were undertaking.

They told me that together with a friend, they had painted the house themselves "about ten years ago" which news led me to the conclusion that they must have spent a fortune on all the Tipp-Ex they used to coat the house with because that´s what it appeared they had used when we started to wash the walls down with the high pressure machine that we use. The coating flew off in enough bits and pieces to fill four large bin bags with and the water was running white with the chalk that had been in paint to thicken it up. Also of course we removed significant amounts of the render which was in as bad condition on account of being poor quality in the first instance and then having suffered through twenty odd years of not being properly protected by a good quality paint.

The next task, after pausing briefly to take the required "Before" photos, was to fill in all the bare areas of render with the special mortar/filler that the paint companies manufacture specifically to undertake these sorts of repairs in that the composition has a much higher waterproofing and adhesive properties than normal fillers. Once completed we then applied a coating of stabiliser/sealer to prime the surfaces ready to receive two (in some areas three) coats of the world class Jotun Jotashield paint that we apply by airless spray equipment. Hey Presto! as good as (if not better than!) new.

This of course left only one task outstanding, to take the "After" photos of course!!

Painters Trany!

I am frequently asked which piece of our painting equipment I value the most and on reflection I generally reply that for exterior house paint contracts the Honda Motor Driven High Pressure Wash Machine because of its inestimable efficiency and time saving properties when we are cleaning down the walls of a property that has significant issues with peeling and flaking paint and render.

However when it comes to working indoors I, as legions of other painters and DIYers have discovered, that a radio playing in the background aids concentration and speeds up the production rate considerably.

Nowadays of course this music can be supplied by new technology gadgets such as MP3 Players and Smart Phones etc. however back in the day the industrious painter had to rely on the good old fashioned Transistor Radio which was know as "The Trany" for short.

Of course we now live in a world of cross dressers and gender benders and so the word "Trany" has acquired a completely different meaning to a generation not weaned on the music of the ubiquitous trany.

For this reason I am always very careful when asking a young employee if they could "Bring a trany in to work tomorrow?"

A Night On The Tiles

Well we´ve all had a few of those I can imagine and great fun they are to, until the hangover sets in the next day that is.

These days my experience with tiles is when I am on the roofs of the clients houses and so often I have to bring to their attention (if they don´t allready know that is) that the mortar that was originally used to secure the tiles to the roof and to one another has decayed with age and as a result many of the tiles have either been blown off the roof or have at least been turned over leaving the substrate underneath unprotected.

Recently therefore we have added the renewing of the mortar to out portfolio of services offered to the clients.

Don´t they look smart?
 

Tipp-Ex?

In a previous "post" (Before and After) I refered to a product called Tipp-Ex. It later occured to me that younger readers of my blog possibly wouldn´t know what this was. So to explain....Tipp-Ex was a product that was used to correct mistakes made when a person was typing (word processing) a letter or document using an old fashioned typewriter. It was supplied as a liquid form in little bottles that came with small brush to applicate included and also in small strips of paper that had been impregnated with the product in powder form.

It was an absolutely essential aid to the production of typewritten material, especialy to non professional typists which of course was nearly everyone!

In the photo on the right we can see a dear old lady of the typewriter generation using Tipp-Ex to correct a mistake on her Word Documet.  Aw bless!

You might be interested to know that the original Tipp-Ex  (Liquid Paper) was invented by the mother of Mike Naismith (true!) who was a member of the very popular sixties pop group "The Monkees" in this photo he is first on the left.


The Monkees of course were the very first "Boy Band" in that they were manufactured by the music biz with the express purpose of being an American rival to the Beatles.

To younger readers who are unfamiliar with the words "Typewriters" "The Monkees" or "The Beatles" I refer you to www.wikipedea.com

Feeling Blue?

Alan and Haulwen Black certainly were feeling blue when they realised how difficult it was going to be to recreate the colour of the walls of the house and gardens of French Artist Jacques Majorelle  that they had seen and admired when they had visited Marrakech.

So when constructing the sunken gardens adjacent to their villa in Javea a few years previously they had employed a regular painter using regular blue paint on top of less than regular wall render the result being that within a short time the render was parting from the walls and the paint had lost most of it´s original colour and was looking very sad indeed.

Our first task was to remove all the bad render and replace with a good quality waterproof product which would have the correct adhesive properties to remain in place and then we contacted the Jotun Paint Company who recommended that we used one of colours from their extensive colour palate applied to Majestic Plasticised paint which they assured us would both retain the strength of colour required and be extremely water repellent to provide the desired long life.

The results can be seen in the photo on the left.Two years on and still no sign of failing render and the colour just as strong as the day it came out of the tin.

So now the Blacks don´t have the blues.
Just the walls of the sunken garden!

Watching Paint Dry

Painting and decorating is an occupation/hobby that for some reason has contributed a great many metaphors to the every day language.

One of the most commonly used of these appeared in the news threads of the printed and online media recently when it was used by none other than Mr. Wayne Rooney when he tweeted in his Twitter account when watching the Superbowl, that it was “Like Watching Paint Dry” this is to say of course that he found the event (sometimes described as “The Greatest Show on Earth) to be extremely boring.

This news prompted two trains of thought with me.

The first which I always think when I hear this particular meta 4(twitter speak!) used is, how can “Watching Paint Dry” possibly be boring? It is after all how I earn my living and I spend a great deal of my working day doing same. In fact if I am not “Watching Paint Dry” I am not earning money.

Secondly I thought, how much experience does young Wayne have of “Watching Paint Dry” he doesn´t after all strike me as the DIY sort? In fact I would imagine that the closest Mr Rooney has ever been to a tin of paint will be the red stuff which he uses to “Paint the Town Red” (another meta 4) which he does on regular basis (allegedly...sources can´t be confirmed at this time etc).

There are quite a surprising few more examples of metaphors,euphemisms and similes connected to painting and decorating, I suppose because everyone has a least tried it at some time in their lives, (with varying degrees of success!) and I will show more examples of these in future blogs.

Wood - A Love Affair

It's hard to beat Mother Nature when it comes to creating beautiful , lasting building materials. Certainly wood, that hard, fibrous tissue harvested from many different trees , is the backbone of shelter construction that has housed humankind for thousands and thousands of years

As a construction material, wood is highly regarded for it´s strength, efficiency, adaptability in use and of course, lasting durability and beauty. Properly cared for wood serves silently and dutifully for several hundred years or more. Yet as tough as it is, once wood leaves the cradle of Mother Nature's care and goes on to its extended life as a building material, someone has to take responsibility. That someone needs to look it over regularly and occasionally apply modern methods of protection to extend wood's productive life span. 

We at The Villa Painters know a thing or two about caring for the timber that is so commonly used in and around the homes on the Costa Blanca.

People living in this part of the Spain love the natural look of wood of ceiling beams,  window frames and pergolas and increasingly now, decking around swim pools. However the typical 300 days of sunshine we get here can play havoc, because the sun's UV rays will, over time and without proper re staining, turn wood surfaces black and cause shedding or deterioration to occur.” Furthermore unchecked moisture issues can lead to wood rot, an equally troublesome enemy for wood surfaces.

The Villa Painters know how to spot wood threats and how to treat them. We work with our customers to find a balance between the appearance and protection they are comfortable with, and explain the various stain/color finishes, as well as their protective properties.” Clear and transparent finishes are usually preferred, but they require more frequent re staining. Semi-transparent and solid color finishes hide some of the wood's natural beauty, but last longer in the strong sunlight.

We always recomend the products of the Jotun Paint Company and in particular Trebitt wood stains and treatments. A range of products developed and perfected by the Jotun to treat and protect the wooden houses of their home nation Norway. In general, two coats give the best protection. The first cost penetrates the wood for good protection. The second coat bonds well to the first coat, and provides a surface covering that better resists UV and moisture