From Drab to Fab: Mastering Home Finishes with Eric G.

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It's around the house, because last thing you want to do is have to skim coat and do another finish over it or something like that.

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But sometimes that's almost the best way is to come in and do that.

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And that's the same thing with wallpaper.

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You know, one trick that I've learned is that with wallpaper, if you're going to put wallpaper up that you want to take back down again, and wallpaper is hot right now.

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The secret is to wallpaper is to make sure that you have two really good coats of primer underneath that.

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So that way when you get up in there and you've got that drywall, basically a barrier between the glue and the drywall, two coats of high quality primer that will really do a lot.

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And that will make that so it is, it's not going to stick, and it'll come off pretty easy, especially if you use the new chemicals, strippers and stuff that will break down the groove for wallpaper.

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So when it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to know.

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But we've got you cover.

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This is around the house.

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Welcome to the around the house show, the next generation of home improvement.

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Thanks for joining me today.

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I'm Eric G.

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And we're brought to you by our friends over at Monument Grills.

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To find out more, head to monumentgrills.com.

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they have got great grills for an under $900.

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Who doesn't like some awesome savings and quality in the features of the much more expensive grills?

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Today we are going to talk a lot about finishes, and this is really one of those things that is super important.

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It doesn't matter if you're doing something inside or outside.

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Here are my secrets to making sure that these projects go without a hitch.

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And there's a lot to it out there.

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And as times change and new technologies come out and best practices change a little bit from time to time.

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So we're going to talk about the secrets of this.

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Now, the first thing here I wanted to talk about in finishes is going to be interior paint.

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And this is just your walls, your ceilings and everything else.

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And it's one of those things that seems really simple.

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You go down to your home improvement store, you pick up a gallon of paint, you get some rollers and brushes and slap it on out.

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But really, there is so much more to this to make it look like a professional did it and were going to get into that today.

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Now, one of the things that I always say to do its all about the prep, and youve heard me say this before, but it really is taking the time to get a bath towel thats clean, dampen it, and wipe all the walls and ceilings and trims down, get everything clean so you don't have any adhesion problems.

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And that's just in a regular room.

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If you're in a bathroom or a kitchen where you could have oils and greases and things like that, it can be a lot of work.

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And if you've tried to use some of those diffusers with oils, you could also have a film of oil on things almost like smokers do.

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And that's another layer of cleaning that you need to do to get that dialed in.

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So this ends up being a really beautiful project.

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So really it's all about the prep.

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It's taking the, and patching the holes, making sure that the cracks are sealed up.

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One trick that I do is I take painters caulk and make sure that I go in the corners and get those things really dialed in.

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Whether it's between the, the, when it's drywall and textured between the ceiling and the walls and, and everything else like that, making sure that that is just all dried, looking good, caulked up, filled in, textured, wherever you've got those problem areas, making sure those things are done.

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Now the thing is, whether you had to replace a little area there or where you had a, maybe a hole in a drywall, you had to do some repair work.

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Here's the thing.

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Primer is your friend.

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After you've done all your sanding, your cleaning, you've got all the dirt and dust off at the oil and grease.

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Make sure, if you've got areas you've had to do patchwork, put a good primer on it.

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Now, if you've got brand new drywall, you want to make sure that's a PVA primer.

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And that is meant to seal that off.

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So that way the, the paint doesn't just keep soaking into the drywall because that'll be like a sponge.

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It'll cost you a lot of money.

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So PVA Primer is what you want to put on new drywall or an area that you just repaired.

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But really putting a good thick primer on that, on something that is good, especially when you're going over a glossy finish, maybe it is something that is, has had some issues with it.

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You've had some sanding.

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You need to even out an area because maybe you did a, and here's a common one.

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If you went and did a texture on an area, and you went through and had some problems, like brand new texture next to old texture.

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Even if you match, the texture can look really good.

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So what I like to do is if I have an area that is patched up and it's an older wall, you need to put a few layers on there.

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So I like to get a really good thicken primer and put it on over there.

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Cause it's gonna, it's gonna make that patch look less fresh, and it's gonna look like maybe it had a couple coats of paint on it.

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So it's gonna help even that out in that area.

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So you wanna make sure and do that.

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And if you're going over trouble colors like reds and yellows and even some blues, it's really good to be able to.

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Or a super dark color, you're going light.

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A good primer is gonna be helpful right there.

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And that's a key.

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Now, here's the mistake that most people make, including myself.

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When we're doing painting projects, we are not giving it the right amount of time to dry.

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Maybe the caulking's not drying, maybe the muds not drying, maybe the primer is not drying.

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We tend to push it because we want the project to get done.

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And so that's why I almost like to have two painting projects going on at the same time, because I could bounce back and forth.

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I'm not staring at it, waiting for dry for an hour or two or three or four, whatever it takes.

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So you can be working on two rooms at the same time.

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And that's a good way to, to, to jump off that project, keep going on the other one, or just go take a break, grab some lunch, run to the store, do some of the stuff you need to do to give it time.

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And that's where a lot of these problems happen, where we have, ah, that didn't lay out right.

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Maybe you didn't.

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You put the primer on, but didn't let that cure all the way so the moisture can come out, let that dry, and then put that over the top.

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So really allowing it to dry will end up giving you a much better finished product.

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So take your time on that stuff, guys.

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And then having the right tools is a big one.

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Don't buy the cheap brushes.

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It's all about getting a good brush that you can.

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I've got brushes I've had for ten years.

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Cause I take care of them.

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So buy the good, high quality brush and own it, take care of it.

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If you get some dry paint on it, which can happen from time to time, especially on big projects.

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Get some of the good brush cleaners.

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It'll, it'll break that down, soak it in that, follow the directions, and you can save that brush.

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It's not a big deal.

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They make stuff to clean that up.

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So really take the time, get the right roller covers, get the right nap of the roller cover.

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If it's a super rough wall, like some kind of a spanish troweled on texture, maybe you need something that's going to be a half inch or even a three quarter inch thick nap on it.

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Maybe a three eight or quarter is great for a smooth wall.

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So really having the right high grade roller cover, the right brushes, and then just using quality materials will give you a better finish.

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And it's going to keep more paint on the wall because if you've got bad rollers, it flings it everywhere.

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So just get the right rollers for the right finish that you're putting and it's going to work so much better.

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Now another trick too here, and this is a big one, is getting the right paint.

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Now I use a company here locally, which is a Pacific Northwest company.

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I do a lot with Miller here.

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Theyre a northwest company, but if youre anywhere else in the country, thats not going to mean anything to you.

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But really theyre a great 100 plus year old company here in the Pacific northwest.

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But ive also used Sherwin Williams.

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Sherwin Williams is a great company.

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Theres a lot of great paint companies out there and theres a lot of good regional ones as well.

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So use something that youre happy with.

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I have no problem with bear as a brand.

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They make a pretty solid paint, but id rather use the company that im familiar with.

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But pick the brand you're going to use and then buy a decent quality paint.

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The biggest and most expensive mistake on a painting project is to buy the cheap paint because you're probably going to need twice as much and then you'll have to paint it half as quickly again.

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So get in there.

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If you buy, if you see a dollar, 40 gallon of paint is their cheap stuff.

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And then if you get up to their 55 for their mid to upper and 75 or 80, as long as you're in that mid to upper and youre going to get the higher quality pigments, youre going to get something thats going to cover better.

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Its going to have less earth in it as fillers and youre just going to have a higher quality product and its probably going to cover better.

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So if you think about it.

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You can buy the cheap paint, pay more money in the long run because youre going to need to buy twice as much of it because youll have to put an extra coat or two on it and then its not going to look as good.

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So thats really where we got to be careful with that is getting the right grade of paint that works good.

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Now, sure, Williams doesn't make bad paint, but I tell you what, if you get up into their good stuff, it'll look good better on the, on the bright colors, it'll hold the color better and it's going to cover so much better.

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So really think about that.

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And of course, paint and primer is a great marketing tool.

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It's good if you've got a couple little spots and you want it to really cover well.

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But paint and primer never takes the place of primer and painted.

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And that's the key right there.

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So really think about that.

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That's a big one.

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Make sure you got that dialed in.

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Want to let you know that there's a lot of ways to find us.

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And that's either on our website, which is around the house online.com dot.

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You can also find us on social media, join our Facebook group, which is around the House nation, and you can get us on Instagram, Facebook, tick tock.

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Now, we're just about everywhere out there.

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And of course, if you listen on the radio, we appreciate you.

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And if you missed part of the show out on the radio network, don't worry, you can always catch us on the podcast, on any podcast player.

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Now when we come back, we're going to talk about secrets of the outside.

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We're talking exteriors.

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Don't change that.

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Dial around the house.

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Be right back after these important messages.

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Don't go anywhere.

Eric G.: 00:13:10

What's up?

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Sticks it in ya and satchel from Steel Panther.

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And you are listening to around the house with Eric G.

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Yeah, we love Eric G.

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And you should, too.

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1987, I never want to be.

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Welcome back to the around the house show, the next generation of home improvement.

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Thanks for joining me today.

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I'm Eric G.

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We're always brought to you by our friends over at Monument Grills.

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To find out more, head to monumentgrills.com dot.

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We are talking today about finishes.

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But before we dive back into exteriors here, I just want to let you know that there's a lot of ways to find us.

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And that's either on our website, which is around the house online.com dot.

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You can also find us on social media.

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Join our Facebook group, which is around the House Nation.

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And you can get us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok.

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Now, we're just about everywhere out there.

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And of course, if you listen on the radio, we appreciate you.

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And if you missed part of the show out on the radio network, don't worry.

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I, you can always catch us on the podcast, on any podcast player.

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We're talking about finishes today, and we're going to talk exterior paint in this segment here.

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f you have a house older than: 1978

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Now, anything before: 1978

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Now, it's interesting.

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In my area here, you can really see the higher end paints had the lead in it because it was the most durable.

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And what's interesting is, is you can find areas, if you were to test a whole city, you can find areas that are a hotbed of where the lead based paint is, because, one, they had a store there that sold high quality paint.

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Two, you had a bunch of people that wanted to buy better paint.

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And three, maybe you had a good salesperson there that just cranked out a lot of paint, and there's a lot of it in these older homes.

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So it's something to consider.

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You need to test it.

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It's really simple to test.

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You can go to your paint store, get one of the lead based pens that they have that you basically go over, and if it looks, turns red or whatever color it does, that is now something that you need to treat and do your research, have it abated, or just follow the rules of that and make sure that you're good to go.

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And there's a lot of information online for that.

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And make sure that you're doing it locally in your area.

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If you have to dispose of it, make sure you're disposing it legally.

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It's like dealing with asbestos.

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It's one of those things that we just have to work with.

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The good news, though, is, is that every year that stuff's getting buried under another coat of paint.

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Unless something's peeling, it's not as big a deal unless you're sanding or creating dust.

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So something to consider when you're out there.

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Now, when we're talking exterior paint, there's a lot of things going on.

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But the first thing is, is know your temperatures and the paint you're going to be using.

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It can be too hot, it can be too cold, it can be too humid.

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Read the back of the paint can and find out what the optimal temperature is.

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A lot of paints, if you're going to get below 50 degrees at night, that's not going to cure.

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Right.

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And in the morning, when you have that morning dew, it could happen on the side of the house.

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And now you've got streaky paint.

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The other hand is, is you could get out there and be painting when it's 95 and it's well beyond what the application temperature is, and it doesn't give it a chance to cure.

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Right.

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And that can be its own issue.

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So too hot, too cold can be a problem.

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Make sure that you're following those directions and you're doing it correctly.

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So there's the first mistake.

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And, of course, watch your weather so you don't have issues down the road.

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Now, one thing I do not paint, and I do not recommend it to anyone, and that is painting vinyl siding.

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I'm not personally a fan of vinyl siding for a couple reasons.

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One, a lot of the older stuff, when it got brittle or cold, it was very easily broken.

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And what's still vinyl, it can still yellow in time.

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And so the problem we see is that the different colors have different chemical compounds in that plastic.

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Right.

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So a lighter color doesn't need to have the same heat resistance if it was a charcoal.

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So the problem is, if you go in there and go to, let's say, Sherwin Williams and buy their paint, this is not a paint problem.

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This is a problem of the original vinyl siding.

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So if you go in there and paint your house that was white, a nice, beautiful charcoal gray, or a hunter green, and you get full sun one day, all of a sudden, because of the dark temperature that is now going to have the possibility, at least, of melting and warping that siding, I have seen it where it literally melted off the side of the house and made it look like that there'd been a house fire and it melted off the side of the house.

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So I do not recommend painting vinyl siding.

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That's one reason.

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The second one is, is vinyl siding.

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Vinyl expands and contracts.

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So if you're out on a warm day and you paint that and you're changing a drastic color, reason why you have all those j trims and all the moldings around in vinyl siding is because it has to move, and it moves fairly significantly.

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I have seen people go in and do a color change on vinyl siding.

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It shrinks, gets really cold, and then you see all these lines of the old color where it shrunk up and that's now exposed.

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So that can be another big issue.

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If it was me, I would not spend the money on painting vital signing.

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I would change it out for another product and something that's going to be a little more durable and probably a little more durable in the cold and everything else.

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So I would take a look at some of the fiber cement, some of the wood.

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If you want to go vinyl siding, great.

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Just pick a color that you're going to be happy with and go that route again.

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But that's the difference with that.

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And sometimes, guys, you might pull the vinyl siding off if you have an older home and see some beautiful stuff underneath there.

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I have seen you pull the vinyl siding off and some shingles, some beautiful house had cedar shingles or, or beautiful siding underneath and the people didn't want to paint it.

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And then siding guy was running around knocking on doors, sold people on vinyl siding.

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So that can be one of those things that kind of can be a neat surprise now.

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It can also be hiding a ton of sins.

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So you just don't know until you start peeling it off.

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But the cool thing is, many times you can bring in a vinyl siding pro.

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They have the tools that can pop those sections out, and you could start to see what's underneath there and maybe a little bit of filling, a little bit of painting.

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You now have that vintage siding that's been hidden and protected behind this stuff for years.

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So that's a big one right there.

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Now, I say if you're going to do a house paint, you want to start weeks in advance.

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You want to get the side of the house, scrub down.

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I don't.

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I'm not a fan of using a pressure washer, but just a, like a brush on a pole, a good, a good hose sprayer, and just carefully wet the wall down.

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Pressure washers can do a lot of damage.

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They can get water up into areas you don't and can cause damage inside the wall.

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So I want you to be always spraying down, not up.

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So you get water underneath it and really just give it a good scrub down first.

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Then youre going to go through and check to make sure you dont have any water issues.

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If waters getting behind that siding, youll see peeling paint, youll see caulking.

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That needs to be recaulked.

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Its a great time to go through, clean out all the old stuff, reculk everything, and then prime any troubled areas.

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Now, I had a house that I worked on years ago that was up in Everett, Washington, and it was a house that was going into be a rental.

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And it had dinner size plates where they had put latex over paint or oil based paint and oil based over latex.

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It was a hot mess.

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So I went in there and basically reground it all, tested for lead, wasn't there, reground it all down.

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But we still had all these transition areas where you would see it if you were to put, because paint doesn't really hide much.

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If you see it there, it's going to show up and telescope through.

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So I went down to my Sherwin Williams store, picked up some primer that was a filler.

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And what this did was to fill in those areas where I sanded and grinded and took off all the loose stuff.

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And it was an adhesion primer that was thick.

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And so I actually sprayed that on and it gave a nice leveling across the entire clapboard surface.

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So it made it look really good.

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Then after that, I hit it with my couple coats of paint.

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I back rolled it.

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I was spraying and back rolling.

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Make sure when you're spraying that you're back rolling it.

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So you're basically taking a roller and rolling back over the top of that.

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So you make sure you got that dialed in and that's going to really give you the best look.

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And that back rolling really pushes that in and makes that grip.

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Now when we come back, we're going to be talking inside again with cabinetry and trim.

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Some of my secrets there.

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We'll do that just as soon as around the house returns.

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Don't go anywhere now.

Eric G.: 00:21:53

Not from you, not from anybody.

Eric G.: 00:23:20

Hey, this is Ron Keel, the metal cowboy from Keel, the Ron Keel band and stealer.

Eric G.: 00:23:26

We are rocking around the house with Eric G.

Eric G.: 00:23:29

Raise your best.

Eric G.: 00:23:31

Welcome back to the Round the House show, the next generation of home improvement.

Eric G.: 00:23:34

Thanks for joining me today.

Eric G.: 00:23:35

I'm Eric G.

Eric G.: 00:23:36

If you want to find out more about us and the show here, we've got so much going on out there, from two YouTube channels to Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, everyone, Facebook, closed group, which is around the house nation, where people put up their stories and their projects and everything else.

Eric G.: 00:23:52

You can find out more about us over to roundthe.com dot.

Eric G.: 00:23:56

We've been talking today about all the different things with finishes.

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We talked earlier about interior paint, exterior paint, and you can almost run out of time talking about that stuff.

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This next segment here, I wanted to talk about cabinetry and trim, and that's a really basic one here.

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But there's so much detail to get that look good.

Eric G.: 00:24:15

And it's funny, across the United States, if you look, there are certain parts of the country where if you're doing a new painted kitchen, they'll order it raw or primed, it'll come in and then they paint it in place so the moldings and everything else end up looking a lot better.

Eric G.: 00:24:32

The problem is, is that most people out there, and I'm going to say most, but most even painting contractors out there, can't do as nice a job on that finish.

Eric G.: 00:24:44

Then what you're going to get with the robotic computerized machines and the paint that is baked on finish that goes on, I'll just use a brand like craft made, for instance.

Eric G.: 00:24:55

It's one of those things that you look at and go, wow, they can do such a better job as a manufacturer because there's no dust.

Eric G.: 00:25:02

They've blown off everything beforehand.

Eric G.: 00:25:05

They've got a really hard, like, conversion varnish finish where they mix part a, part b, and it, it sprays on.

Eric G.: 00:25:12

It's much more like painting your car where it has that factory finish than it is anything inside your house.

Eric G.: 00:25:20

And so the thing to think about with that is, is that, okay, I am not going to get as good a finish if I paint inside my house in almost any situation, then you would get out of a factory finish.

Eric G.: 00:25:33

So what are the options?

Eric G.: 00:25:34

We're not going to get into the, into the nitty gritty here on the paint material itself, but with cabinetry, you want something that's going to be super durable when you're painting it.

Eric G.: 00:25:43

Some people come in with a lacquer, and to be honest, lacquers are not my favorite finishes.

Eric G.: 00:25:48

They don't hold up compared to the newer stuff.

Eric G.: 00:25:51

These days you're seeing professional cabinet shops paint with a conversion varnish or a urethane.

Eric G.: 00:25:59

That is a kind of a conversion varnish urethane finish.

Eric G.: 00:26:02

If I was going to describe it, it's a two part urethane that's baked on and comes up with a really solid, durable finish.

Eric G.: 00:26:10

The problem that you see if you go down to your paint store and get stuff is that those are just latex water based finishes, but they're really a rubbery, soft finish.

Eric G.: 00:26:19

So they just don't hold up compared to many.

Eric G.: 00:26:22

So that's why at least you want to go with a trim paint of some kind, some kind of an enamel trim paint that's going to hold up.

Eric G.: 00:26:29

If you go into a paint store, they will have cabinetry paint many times, depending on the brands that they carry, but they'll have something that's a little bit more durable, and that's really what you want, because cabinetry, whether it's in the bathroom, you've got chemicals, you've got oils, you've got cleaning stuff, all the different things that show up.

Eric G.: 00:26:47

It has to be much more durable than the paint that you put on the walls of your house, which is meant to have some flexibility to it and just to go on really nicely and lay out nice.

Eric G.: 00:26:56

So the other thing that you see, too, is, is that there's so much detail in the paintwork.

Eric G.: 00:27:01

Like, it's like painting a car.

Eric G.: 00:27:03

That's why you don't see the grain when they're painting with paint grade materials, MDF, maple, some of those really closed grain woods.

Eric G.: 00:27:12

And that's really where the difference is when it comes down to that.

Eric G.: 00:27:15

Now, if you walk into a brand new house or a nicely remodeled brand new house, that's really where things start to, to show the difference, and that's many times, is that the moldings in the house were sprayed.

Eric G.: 00:27:29

Somebody came in with a paint gun, masked off all the walls.

Eric G.: 00:27:34

And many times, they'll come in and actually do the moldings first.

Eric G.: 00:27:37

They'll come through, spray those out, get those all done, let that dry, and then mask off the moldings and paint the rest of the walls.

Eric G.: 00:27:45

So you're seeing it done?

Eric G.: 00:27:47

I've seen it done both ways.

Eric G.: 00:27:48

I like that way better where it's painted first and then the rest of it.

Eric G.: 00:27:52

But really, it's up to you and how your painting process is going to be.

Eric G.: 00:27:56

And then you have to have the painter that's going to be the painting gone to be able to do that.

Eric G.: 00:28:00

So, like a lot of the Graco style paint, automatic painters, basically, your airless painters are really good.

Eric G.: 00:28:07

You'll see people do hvlp, which is high volume, low pressure.

Eric G.: 00:28:11

There's a lot of different ways to paint, but really, your typical plug in, go to the paint store, either buy or rent a sprayer is way most people do these moldings these days.

Eric G.: 00:28:22

They'll go through, get them all sanded, get everything filled, get them caulked, caulk between the molding and the wall surfaces.

Eric G.: 00:28:29

You won't see anything like the, oh, you won't see carpets in yet.

Eric G.: 00:28:33

A lot of that stuff will be done ready to go, and then they'll come through and spray all the trim work, all that mill work.

Eric G.: 00:28:41

Doors will be set up.

Eric G.: 00:28:42

They've got special hangers now that you can do to stack the doors up.

Eric G.: 00:28:45

That'll hold them upright much more like a commercial painting place.

Eric G.: 00:28:49

Some people order the doors pre painted.

Eric G.: 00:28:52

I've seen that happen, too.

Eric G.: 00:28:53

But really, it's just coming down to what, however, the builder or the remodeler is going to be handling it.

Eric G.: 00:28:58

And if it's you, this is where the paint prep again starts out.

Eric G.: 00:29:03

If you're repainting doors, you have to be really careful before you take the doors down to repaint.

Eric G.: 00:29:08

When you're doing a remodel, I want to see how close the reveals are on everything.

Eric G.: 00:29:12

Sometimes if you put two coats of paint on something, that door is not going to close correctly after that.

Eric G.: 00:29:18

So in that case, you might have to go around and either sand down or machine down the door slightly so you can do that.

Eric G.: 00:29:25

And so those are a lot of the little details that you have to do.

Eric G.: 00:29:27

And then you got to take all the hinges off and the hardware, keep that.

Eric G.: 00:29:31

I like to put that into either boxes or bags and put the bags near the rooms so where the hardware is so you don't lose it and get it mixed up, that can be a big issue, and those are some of my little tricks and tips to do that.

Eric G.: 00:29:44

But really, with doors, one thing you got to do is make sure you get all the grease and oil off, because every time our hands touch something, we're laying a layer of grease and oil on it.

Eric G.: 00:29:54

And if somebody used floor polishes, waxes, or even worse, somebody got in there with some WD 40 and got some silicone spray on the door, you've got a lot of cleanup before you go.

Eric G.: 00:30:05

Put anything water based over the top of that.

Eric G.: 00:30:07

So that could be a grand issue to deal with.

Eric G.: 00:30:10

So be careful with the finishes.

Eric G.: 00:30:11

They can layer up, and all of a sudden, the door is not closing correctly.

Eric G.: 00:30:15

And you've got some issues that way.

Eric G.: 00:30:17

And, of course, when you're painting doors, you want to paint all the sides, all the edges, get them sealed up correctly.

Eric G.: 00:30:23

It's something on some of the quick flips, you see where they miss it.

Eric G.: 00:30:27

But that's an important part of this process, to make sure they're all cleaned up, they're sealed up and ready to go.

Eric G.: 00:30:32

And the moldings, even though they're paint grade, you don't want to be having to go in there with filler and.

Eric G.: 00:30:36

And dealing with big cracks.

Eric G.: 00:30:39

If you didn't get the moldings cut right, cut them right, get them in there.

Eric G.: 00:30:42

Cause you're gonna see you.

Eric G.: 00:30:44

You could try to fake it, get in there with some caulking and some filler.

Eric G.: 00:30:46

But when things start moving around, that bad area is going to show.

Eric G.: 00:30:51

So make sure that your molding game was on correct and that you've got them.

Eric G.: 00:30:55

I like to actually, before I put moldings in these days that are painted, I will paint them once in the shop first just to get a coat on them, just because it makes it so much easier the next time.

Eric G.: 00:31:06

Then you can go in, shoot the moldings, get everything caulked in, filled in, and you're already a step closer and you've started out with at least something that's closer to getting finished and you've got one paint coat out of the way and it's easier to paint them all once when they're sitting there and you get at least a base coat on that and that'll sure help with those other coats.

Eric G.: 00:31:26

Just make sure you're reading your finishes and understanding when you can paint, when you can coat, how these things work out so you don't end up putting too much paint on and then you have a gummy finish or it just doesn't cure or even worse, it just starts looking bad.

Eric G.: 00:31:39

And that's the one thing you got to be careful with with all of these finishes, just to make sure that you're looking good there.

Eric G.: 00:31:45

So that's a key there.

Eric G.: 00:31:47

And then really just protecting it from then on out of that's the problem with MDF trims is if you bump it someplace, boy, it blows out really easily and then you've got some issues.

Eric G.: 00:31:57

So really good primer, couple really good coats of paint and you'll be looking good.

Eric G.: 00:32:02

And that's it.

Eric G.: 00:32:03

Now with a cabinetry, again, you just want to make sure that you're protecting that cabinets.

Eric G.: 00:32:09

Humidity is an issue.

Eric G.: 00:32:10

And so I've seen some issues out there with people in homes where they're painting out the entire home, including the cabinets.

Eric G.: 00:32:17

Those can really suck up moisture.

Eric G.: 00:32:19

So what I like to see done is when those cabinets come in early, I like to see those things get at least primed and sealed or primed and sealed from the factory so you dont have humidity issues, warping issues and things like that.

Eric G.: 00:32:32

And when, again, when youre painting the doors, I want to see paint on the front, back, top, sides, bottom, all of it.

Eric G.: 00:32:37

Alright.

Eric G.: 00:32:38

We come back, were going to talk about those problem areas and how to deal with them on any kind of a finished project.

Eric G.: 00:32:43

Really, what are the problems?

Eric G.: 00:32:45

How do we solve them and what are the tricks that makes the job so much easier.

Eric G.: 00:32:50

We'll do that just as soon as around the house returns.

Eric G.: 00:32:52

If you want to find out more about us, head to aroundthehouseonline.com.

Eric G.: 00:32:56

we'll be right back.

Eric G.: 00:34:17

Welcome back to the Round the House show, the next generation of home improvement.

Eric G.: 00:34:21

Thanks for joining me today.

Eric G.: 00:34:22

I'm Eric G.

Eric G.: 00:34:24

And I tell you what, I love how we keep expanding the radio show out there.

Eric G.: 00:34:27

We keep growing into new markets out there.

Eric G.: 00:34:30

And if you're hearing us on the radio for the first time, thanks for tuning into around the house show.

Eric G.: 00:34:34

This show has been going for 36 years on the radio out there, and I am the fourth host and doing this coming up on another decade.

Eric G.: 00:34:43

Here's as my ten year anniversary is creeping up.

Eric G.: 00:34:46

We'll talk about that later.

Eric G.: 00:34:47

And of course, the podcast is across the world, internationally, on every podcast player that I'm aware of out there.

Eric G.: 00:34:53

So thanks for tuning us in and being making the show so successful.

Eric G.: 00:34:57

We have so many of you out there that tune into the show every week.

Eric G.: 00:35:00

I really appreciate every single one of you.

Eric G.: 00:35:04

Now, we've been talking about finishes here, whether it's painting inside, outside, and what are the problem areas.

Eric G.: 00:35:09

And one of the biggest ones are a.

Eric G.: 00:35:12

This is a big issue now.

Eric G.: 00:35:14

This is where I get stuck a little bit.

Eric G.: 00:35:16

I don't know what the biggest issue is in painting.

Eric G.: 00:35:18

e white, maybe they were that: 1980

Eric G.: 00:35:35

Because you've had people smoking in the house for 20 or 30 years now.

Eric G.: 00:35:39

If you want to smoke, that's your deal.

Eric G.: 00:35:41

But if you're coming in and having to deal with this after the fact, I tell you what, it's almost easier to deal with a house fire in.

Eric G.: 00:35:48

That damage is done and it's so hard to clean up outside of just painting in there and the cleaning, you've got flooring, this ruined.

Eric G.: 00:35:55

You have an h vac system that might not be salvageable.

Eric G.: 00:35:58

There's a lot going on there.

Eric G.: 00:36:00

But when it comes to dealing with that, the first thing I do is come in and basically wipe the walls down.

Eric G.: 00:36:07

So I would get in there with dawn soap and some rags and just go through and try to get it as clean as I can, see if that'll get in there.

Eric G.: 00:36:17

Then the next thing is I just keep going over the walls and tarp it off, get up there, scrub it down.

Eric G.: 00:36:24

TSP works as well.

Eric G.: 00:36:26

Now, there's other things you can do.

Eric G.: 00:36:29

You can get into some of the commercial cleaning places, and there's a lot of stuff out there that works.

Eric G.: 00:36:34

I'm not going to endorse any one of them out there, but there are stuff that the fire department, the fire cleanup people use.

Eric G.: 00:36:40

There's stuff that you see people use in casinos for cleaning that stuff out of.

Eric G.: 00:36:45

There are chemicals out there.

Eric G.: 00:36:46

You just gotta be very careful.

Eric G.: 00:36:47

And some places you might not be able to get them, but there are chemicals out there that can make this job a little bit easier.

Eric G.: 00:36:53

So do your research, figure it out, and be safe with that.

Eric G.: 00:36:57

The next thing I wanna do is I wanna come in after I've got it all cleaned up, dried out humidity is back down in the house.

Eric G.: 00:37:05

I'm gonna go in and I'm gonna seal everything with a really good primer.

Eric G.: 00:37:11

Now, sometimes in this situation, if you can get one of the, the primers that have the alcohol based versus the, the latex base, sometimes those will work a little bit better because you never get all of the stuff off the wall.

Eric G.: 00:37:24

So you want to seal that in so you don't get the smell out from that anymore.

Eric G.: 00:37:29

And then you're going to go through and do your regular paint prep through everything else.

Eric G.: 00:37:33

But I would first, if it's just, you got it cleaned up, you got as clean as you can get it.

Eric G.: 00:37:38

Get that primer on that first so you can at least get that smell sealed in.

Eric G.: 00:37:43

And then I would do two or three coats of good paint, maybe even a second coat of primer if it looks like somethings bleeding through.

Eric G.: 00:37:50

Ive seen that happen, and that works out really well.

Eric G.: 00:37:53

That can be a tough one.

Eric G.: 00:37:55

And then, man, I tell you what, you will struggle to get that smell out.

Eric G.: 00:37:59

It can be done.

Eric G.: 00:38:00

Ive done it.

Eric G.: 00:38:00

But having a company come in, cleaning out the ducts, having the H vac person come in and clean out the heating and cooling unit, anything that's moving air, that can be pretty rough.

Eric G.: 00:38:11

Sometimes it's only in a bathroom or a bedroom, that might not be so bad.

Eric G.: 00:38:15

But, boy, I tell you what, I've seen some where you just, you just have to get in there and get it cleaned up, and it can be a rough one.

Eric G.: 00:38:21

So be careful with that.

Eric G.: 00:38:23

Another one we talked a little bit about, but peeling paint is always a story.

Eric G.: 00:38:27

Peeling on an interior wall that is, that is got a texture on it can be tough because when you sand, you're going to hurt that.

Eric G.: 00:38:33

Youre going to ruin that texture.

Eric G.: 00:38:35

That can be an issue.

Eric G.: 00:38:36

And a lot of times what happened is you have an older house that maybe had an oil based and somebody put latex on or a combination of latex and oil and you have adhesion problems.

Eric G.: 00:38:46

So what I want to do is get in there and get any of the loose paint off of that, get it dialed back, see what you can do to get it out of there once youve got that peeled back.

Eric G.: 00:38:57

And of course, follow your lead paint rules if there is some, because this is where that would get dangerous.

Eric G.: 00:39:01

But get that cleaned up and then what you can do is hit it with a adhesion primer over the top of that to make sure that your new paint is going to stick over all the top of it.

Eric G.: 00:39:12

Even if you put a primer on it, if it's still a failed finish, you're still going to fight that.

Eric G.: 00:39:16

So make sure you get anything loose or anything that's scraping off.

Eric G.: 00:39:21

Super easy, just clean it up, get it out of there.

Eric G.: 00:39:24

If you have to come back and retexture over the top fit fine.

Eric G.: 00:39:27

Do it.

Eric G.: 00:39:28

Just make sure if you're going to do that, get it all sanded down, ready to go, prime it, then texture it, then prime it again and you should be good to go.

Eric G.: 00:39:37

So that's the new thing with that is to, just to see, hey, what can we do with that?

Eric G.: 00:39:41

And try to get that saved because last thing you want to do is have to skim coat and do another finish over it or something like that.

Eric G.: 00:39:47

But sometimes that's almost the best way is to come in and do that.

Eric G.: 00:39:51

And that's the same thing with wallpaper.

Eric G.: 00:39:53

One, one trick that I've learned is that with wallpaper, if youre going to put wallpaper up that you want to take back down again.

Eric G.: 00:40:00

And wallpaper is hot right now.

Eric G.: 00:40:02

The secret is to wallpaper is to make sure that you have two really good coats of primer underneath that.

Eric G.: 00:40:11

So that way when you get up in there and youve got that drywall, basically a barrier between the glue and the drywall, two coats of high quality primer that will really do a lot and that will make that so it is, it's not going to stick and it'll come up pretty easy, especially if you use the new chemical strippers and stuff that, that will break down the glue for wallpaper.

Eric G.: 00:40:31

So make sure you got a couple coats of primer on before your wallpaper.

Eric G.: 00:40:36

And make sure you also have that if you got an eggshell texture or something on the wall or orange peel, make sure that you've either put in that first layer of the backer for that so you can hide that texture.

Eric G.: 00:40:48

Or the easiest way for me is I like to go through and just sand and skim coat and flatten that wall out so you can do wallpaper.

Eric G.: 00:40:57

Wallpaper is hot.

Eric G.: 00:40:58

It's a really good thing to do out there.

Eric G.: 00:41:00

But here's one lesson I've learned in the finish department of wallpaper.

Eric G.: 00:41:04

If you're ordering it from Amazon, don't waste your time.

Eric G.: 00:41:07

The stuff that I have found on there, that is vinyl.

Eric G.: 00:41:10

The only great use of that is maybe if you're in an apartment, you want to peel it back off again or without doing damage.

Eric G.: 00:41:15

Good luck.

Eric G.: 00:41:16

Hopefully you won't.

Eric G.: 00:41:17

But I tell you what, that is the junkiest of all junk.

Eric G.: 00:41:20

It stretches.

Eric G.: 00:41:21

You can't move it without stretching it.

Eric G.: 00:41:24

It falls apart.

Eric G.: 00:41:25

It comes off the wall.

Eric G.: 00:41:27

It is no different than your grandmother's shelf paper that she put on the inside of the cabinets when she moved houses.

Eric G.: 00:41:33

It is shelf paper.

Eric G.: 00:41:34

That's all it is.

Eric G.: 00:41:35

And you want to have something good and quality and it is almost impossible to get those things.

Eric G.: 00:41:41

I did a segment with that, with some stuff I ordered and I was like, I'm going to fight this.

Eric G.: 00:41:46

Yeah, it was junk.

Eric G.: 00:41:47

I got done with the segment, I ripped it down, sent it back to Amazon because there was no way you were going to hang that and make it look good.

Eric G.: 00:41:54

It was cut crooked, the edges were, were stretched.

Eric G.: 00:41:58

You couldn't even really hold it.

Eric G.: 00:41:59

A good texture on, good tension on to lay it out because it was a peel and stick.

Eric G.: 00:42:04

It's just not worth it.

Eric G.: 00:42:05

Guys.

Eric G.: 00:42:05

Go spend the right money.

Eric G.: 00:42:07

Head down to your painter decor store.

Eric G.: 00:42:09

There's online places as well.

Eric G.: 00:42:11

But really, if you've got a good design center, you can pop in, order a sample, put it up on the wall, make sure it's looking good, get it dialed in, and you're going to be much happier with that.

Eric G.: 00:42:22

And you'll have something that's good.

Eric G.: 00:42:23

Make sure that you're using the right glues when you put it up and you'll be fine.

Eric G.: 00:42:27

But making sure one other trick too is for you rookies out there that I have done is I have color matched the area behind it.

Eric G.: 00:42:36

So if you have a light blue wallpaper you're putting on the wall and the background is light blue, tell you what, if you put a light blue paint on the wall, let that dry for a day or two and that you color match to that, it just seems to go up there really easily.

Eric G.: 00:42:51

And with some of the thinner wallpapers, I think it actually enhances the look of it, but it's just good.

Eric G.: 00:42:57

It's a little cheat code that works if you're a brand new diyerhead and you can get away with a little bit more there, having that behind it, if you just take the time.

Eric G.: 00:43:05

Wallpaper is tough, but if you can do it yourself, it's a good way to do it.

Eric G.: 00:43:10

And really, the professionals don't charge you that much these days to get in there.

Eric G.: 00:43:14

And if you spend so much on wallpaper, you'll spend so much for installation.

Eric G.: 00:43:18

But the good guys come in there, those craftspeople, when they come in there with laying wallpaper, tell you what, those guys can get it down, whether you're putting on the walls, the ceiling.

Eric G.: 00:43:27

I was at a house earlier this week where it was on the ceiling that was absolutely gorgeous in the dining room.

Eric G.: 00:43:33

It looked really good.

Eric G.: 00:43:34

It was in between the exposed beams and it looked like a million bucks.

Eric G.: 00:43:37

So that's another great place that you can put stuff.

Eric G.: 00:43:40

So think outside the box a bit behind some shelves on the ceiling.

Eric G.: 00:43:45

Think about what you want for durability because, you know, bathrooms, you need to have something that's a little bit more vinyl, so it'll take the moisture.

Eric G.: 00:43:52

Whether you're putting in other stuff, just think about the durability.

Eric G.: 00:43:54

Kids rooms might be a little tough if you have a little kids, but there's a lot of things you can do with that to make it look really good.

Eric G.: 00:44:01

And wallpaper, these days, if you do the prep, it will come off and it's not that big a deal.

Eric G.: 00:44:05

not like trying to take that: 1920

Eric G.: 00:44:10

And good luck getting that off without doing wall damage.

Eric G.: 00:44:13

Sometimes it's just easier to tear it out, rip it down, put up new drywall and start over again.

Eric G.: 00:44:20

All right, everybody, if you want to find out more about us, head over to aroundthehouse online.com dot.

Eric G.: 00:44:25

Thanks for tuning into around the house this weekend.

Eric G.: 00:44:27

I really appreciate it.

Eric G.: 00:44:29

If you're listening on the radio, make sure you follow us on your favorite podcast player because we do have our midweek special that comes out in the middle of the week where we fill in the spots between Saturday and the following Saturday.

Eric G.: 00:44:41

We'll see you next time.

Eric G.: 00:44:42

Thanks for tuning in around the house.

Eric G.: 00:44:43

Have a great rest of your weekend.

Eric G.: 00:44:45

Take my hand.

Eric G.: 00:44:47

I know where to go all over the radio with.