Challenge: How can I make screwing screws easier on my hands? This seems to be a problem with people who have arthritis.
The Best Result: In the old days people would dip a screw in some kind of oil. This would make it easier to drive a screw in and made it easy to get it back out, but screw doesn’t hold well enough with the oil.
There is an even better solution. Rub the screw on an ordinary bar of soap. Again, this makes driving the screw easy, as well as removal, but it also gives it better holding power than with the oil. The screw will stay put much better. This method has the additional benefit of rustproofing your screw!
Make sure you use bar soap, and not just a liquid detergent.
Challenge: I have ants attacking my cat’s food dish. What should i do?
The Best Result: In addition to the Corn Meal trick (which will kill off the ants that come for kitty food, there are a couple of really quick methods of repelling the ants from getting to your cat’s food dish.
One of them is to simply draw a circle around the bowl with a piece of chalk. The ants won’t cross the line. They have to go elsewhere to find a snack, unless they can figure out how to build a bridge.
The other method, which is the one that we use quite a bit here at Admiration Ranch, is to put a moat around the food. You simply put a small food dish inside a larger bowl with water in it. The ants can’t get past the moat, again that is unless they can build a bridge.
DEFINITION TANNIN: Okay, right from the start I suppose I should tell you what Tannin is. It’s something you’ve probably seen, a tan or brownish discoloration on the paint surface that the paint just won’t cover up. Here, courtesy of Wolman Wood Care Products is probably the best definition of tannin that I‘ve come across:
Tannin (or Extractive) Bleeding: Redwood, Cedar and Douglas Fir are examples of wood species that contain naturally occurring, water soluble chemicals that tend to migrate to the surface with exposure to extracting agents such as water. After rain or heavy dew, coffee or tea-colored stains may appear on the wood surface. If the wood is coated, discoloration of the coating may occur when tannin extractives are dissolved into the coating solution by water, reach the surface and remain as dark, coffee-brown stains after the water evaporates. This reddish-brown bleeding is unsightly, but not damaging to the coating.
SOLUTION:
As in many paint problems moisture is sometimes an issue and it certainly contributes to the tannin problem – - so look for and correct those. Get that surface as dry as a bone!
You can remove the existing stains with oxalic acid. Just Google oxalic acid and you’ll find information about it and products that contain it. It’s basically wood bleach.
Next you should rinse the wood off with a pressure washer. You can rent pressure washers from Home Depot’s that have Tool Rental departments.
Let the surface dry completely.
Then, I recommend using Dunn Edwards Premium E-Z Prime (W708) – Acrylic Wood Primer to prime the surface. This will really help to prevent stains from bleeding through. If the stains are severe I would suggest two coats of primer.
Final coat with high-quality paint in the finish you want.
This should handle most stain problems. However, it’s possible that some bleeding my happen within a year after you’ve painted the wood. Don’t repaint it as soon as this occurs. Wait a full year as this will let any remaining tannins to come to the surface where they will weather away naturally.
I’m sure many Do-It-Yourselfers have experienced this the first time they attempted a painting project involving the painting of walls or ceilings. You end up with areas on the wall where the paint seems to be darker than other areas, somewhat resembling the “frame” of a picture. It’s particularly noticeable when you’ve been painting the walls of a room and you’ve gone around the room and cut in the corner edges and ceiling line with a brush prior to rolling. The brushed areas can sometimes end up looking slightly darker then the rolled areas and there’s your “picture frame”.
WHAT CAUSES “PICTURE FRAMING”?
It’s most commonly a coverage problem. If you’re brushing and rolling, the brushed areas tend to have a thicker paint film than the rolled areas.
HOW DO YOU PREVENT IT?
First, make sure you’re putting on an even coat when you’re brushing and rolling as that will help keep the look uniform. Next, I would highly recommend painting one wall completely before moving on. Pick your starting wall and cut in the corner edges and ceiling line (if walls are a different color than the ceiling) with a brush and then roll the whole wall out. As an added safety I roll as close to the edge as possible with the roller leaving the minimum of brushed area showing. When that wall is done proceed to the next wall and continue around the room in this fashion. This keeps you moving from “wet to wet” as we say in the biz. That basically means the brushed areas haven’t had a chance to dry and set up before you roll the wall out.
Once again, I hope this information has been helpful and I look forward to sending you more painting tips.
Another fabulous tip from my good friend, Perry Martin, professional painter in Orange County, California. Here he gives you a full rundown on “blistering”:
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Here’s something you’ve probably seen, or even experienced yourself when trying your hand at painting – - blistering. That’s where the paint looks like it has bubbles or blisters in it. This is usually caused by heat or moisture.
CAUSES:
It can sometimes be caused by painting in direct sunlight or applying paint to a surface that is too hot.
If you’re using oil-based paint over a damp or wet surface it will also blister.
Exposure of fresh paint to high humidity, dew or rain.
Possibly moisture coming through interior walls from areas such as kitchens, bathrooms or laundries.
HOW DO YOU HANDLE IT?
There are two different ways to handle this problem depending on whether it’s caused by heat or moisture. So, the first thing you will need to do is determine which of the above is the culprit. You do this by peeling off and examining the backside and the surface of the blistered paint. If only the most recent coat of paint is blistered then it’s most likely that heat is the reason. If the peeled blister contains several coats of paint, and you’ve peeled down to the bare surface, it’s probably moisture related.
BLISTERING DUE TO HEAT:
Scrape and/or sand the blisters down to the underlying, sound coats of paint or primer.
Repaint the surface with a high-quality paint, in the desired finish (see Volume 2 for advice on types of sheen) and make sure the surface temperature is below 90 degrees.
BLISTERING DUE TO MOISTURE:
Do what you can to improve the room ventilation if it tends to be a moisture trap. Re-caulk any areas you suspect moisture may be entering from, as necessary, to prevent future moisture from getting in.
Scrape and/or sand the blisters down to the bare surface.
Prime and repaint with desired finish.
Voila! That should pretty much handle it!
Once again, I hope this information has been helpful and I look forward to sending you more painting tips.
Perry Martin
Professional Painter – Orange County, California
Perry’s email: perry801@hotmail.com
