This is part 2 of a 2 part series of articles on paints and stains.
Interior Paints Coatings for Every Job
Did you ever wonder about the difference between interior and exterior paints? I once used exterior paint on an inside ceiling, reasoning that it would last longer. It could endure longer, but as I then found out when I had to touch up the ceiling only two years later, exterior paints will discolor on an inside surface. Exterior paints contain special additives made to withstand the outside. Interior paints have additives that help the paint dry to a durable, uniform surface finish.
Most of the advances in painting technology have been with latex. In fact, latex has overtaken oil-based paint in a number of areas: toughness and elasticity, as well as ease of application, clean-up, and disposal. Latexes have fewer VOCs than oil-based paints. Some, including the Pristine brand created by Benjamin Moore, are made with no VOCs in any way. Today's latexes are created with higher quality pigments and binders that provide them more body, so they go on thicker.
Latexes enjoy quite a bit of recognition for interior applications, specifically for walls and ceilings. Alkyds remain the professionals' choice for trim work because oil based paints are easier to paint on detailed areas like molding and trim. However, that traditional approach is slowly changing as better latexes, including Pratt & Lambert's Accolade Interior Acrylic Semi Gloss, are introduced to the market.
Exactly What You Are Looking For - Exterior Paint Coatings
Moisture is an important concern for exterior paint selection. Each day a family of four will generate several gallons of vaporized water in the house.
Combined with naturally occurring humidity, this can mean a lot of moisture moving through the wall surfaces and siding. Wetness is highest in the baths and kitchen. If these rooms aren't sufficiently ventilated, water will migrate through the walls. Vapor barriers help to contain wetness, but vapor always seeks to leave. The structure of a home, the kind of vapor barrier they have, ventilation, and dampness all make choosing the right paint critical.
In wetter climates you need a paint that will let moisture go through the wood, so water doesn't get trapped under the paint and cause blistering and peeling. Latexes are porous and let dampness pass through, unlike alkyd paints, which form a waterproof seal. Alkyds also don't flex with surfaces that expand and shrink, as wood will, especially in colder climates. Latex paints have significantly more elasticity, allowing better adhesion.
I favor using latex on all exterior surfaces, including wood siding, stucco, and cement. Latexes avoid fading better than most oil-based paints, and they'll cover either oil-based or latex primer (most oils have to go over an alkyd primer).
Latexes perform a great job of covering cement. Despite its hardness, cement is very porous, and oil-based paints don't always stick well. For greatest durability, I would recommend latex enamel.
In general, if I know of a latex product that will provide superior performance, I'll choose it over an oil-based product that needs to be cleaned with a thinner.
Latex only needs water. Thinners add yet another expenditure, are hard to get rid of, and usually end up spattered on my skin or clothes, no matter how careful I am.
Improve Your Interior Staining
You may spend a life studying stains and sealers, but there is nothing mysterious about them. The bottom line in determining which stain to utilize is to become acquainted with the product lines available. Read the label, along with any product information you can get, and talk to the personnel at a professional paint shop.
Outside stains come in oil based, varnish, polyurethane, and water-borne solvents. Stains have less colorant than paint plus more solvents, providing them with greater wood penetration. Waterproofing is a priority with exterior stains. Most come with built-in sealants to increase durability and help protect the wood. The colouring in stains can be pigments, dyes, or both. A semi-transparent stain has more dye for grain penetration. A solid stain has more pigment for surface covering. Pigment is a finely ground coloring that doesn't penetrate the grain as deeply as a dye. That is why a pigmented stain is often accompanied by a sealer such as urethane or varnish.
Some high quality interior stains have dyes to penetrate and pigments to draw out the richness of the grain. Others contain only pigments, that are better to apply, combine, and touch up. Pigmented stains are lighter in color and bring out more of the wood grain. If you're looking for darker results, a dyed stain will provide what you want in one coating (make sure to use a conditioner on porous wood, such as pine and birch wood, to avoid splotching). Dyed stains are almost impossible to touch up. Every coating eventually will require touching up, so make certain to consider ease of maintenance in your use of stains. You'll get the best results by using better stains such as Minwax, Pratt & Lambert's Tonetic, Pittsburgh's Rez, or Wood-Kote.
If you wish to stay away from the watery nature of stains, try a gel stain, which has had almost all of the liquid solvent removed. Gels are simple to use. They wipe on, dry out fast, and cover evenly. Because they're colored with pigment, gel stains don't penetrate that well. They're a great choice for porous woods that are difficult to cover evenly with out a toner. Gel stains do a excellent job of bringing out the grain on embossed metal or composite surfaces. I don't recommend working with them for hardwoods, which require a good dye stain to emphasize the depth and beauty of the grain.
How We Improved Our Painting With Sanding Sealers
Sanding sealers are interior primers that both penetrate and seal wood. You can use them under clear coats or on top of stains as sealers. Sanding sealers are different from a sealer like polyurethane, which is not made to prime. They're similar to varnish, but diluted with solvents to allow better penetration for priming. The hardness of varnishes and lacquers inhibits them from soaking into the wood pores. Sanding sealer can offer a better bond for clear coats.
Shellacs tend to be put into sanding sealers to strengthen the resin and provide a quick drying agent. They also add an amber tone, so if you're using a sanding sealer with shellac, make sure it won't impact the stain. Shellacs tend to yellow aver time and contain toluene, that has a high VOC content. Shellacs are slowly offering ways to new sanding sealer formulas with lower VOCs and better performance.
Alkyd resin sanding sealers likewise have high VOCs, although less than their shellac based cousins. Pittsburgh Paints makes a slow drying alkyd resin sanding sealer without shellac named Rez 77-1. This specific primer/sealer is good for both interiors and exteriors. Pratt & Lambert's Latex Sanding Sealer has suprisingly low VOCs, but is only for interior wood and shouldn't be used under a water borne polyurethane.
Oil-based sanding sealers also can be utilized to seal outdoor wood, especially decking, which is continually exposed to sun and water. For color consistency in areas like decks, it's best to completely coat, or back prime, the lumber before it is in place, using the same sealer or stain. Olympic Water Guard, Messmer's UV Plus, Behr's, & most high end deck stains are great water repellent sealers that can also be utilized for priming exterior wood.
Amazing Wood and Stain Sealers for Interior Wood
Sealers, including varnishes, lacquers, urethanes, and shellacs, are added to the stain itself, applied as a top coat on top of a stain, or used as a clear coating on unstained wood trim. They could be used for any type of wood trim, including windows, doorways, and the casing around them. Although you can buy stain/sealer combinations, they have a tendency to yellow, are difficult to keep up, and don't endure as long as separately applied stain and sealers.
Varnishes contain oils such as Tung oil, an extremely hard, durable sealant that can be brushed on and dries slowly. Varnishes are easy to clean and maintain with soap and water followed by a wiped on varnish, which usually keeps a wood surface looking great for years. Make certain there is no wax in your cleaner, because wax clogs wood pores. I prefer to work with Hope's Tung Oil varnish for a wipe-on maintenance coat. Lacquer is a fast drying sealer that almost always needs to be sprayed, since it becomes tacky almost immediately.
Polyurethanes do almost anything shellac does, but they're better to maintain. While shellacs act like paint, polyurethanes act more like a clear coat that permeates the wood instead of sitting on top of it. Polyurethanes brush on and dry out quickly, with little odor and VOCs. They have more or less replaced shellacs as a clear sealer. Another reason urethanes have grown to be such popular sealers is the fact they don't require sanding sealers.
The smells associated numerous paints and stains can become more than simply offensive, they can be toxic. Solvent based varnishes, lacquers, and shellacs provide a ultra hard coating but contain very high VOC levels. Water based sealers, like the stains, match the performance of many solvent based sealers, with fewer VOCs. The VOC content of water borne sealers such as Sherwin Williams Kern Aqua Lacquer average about 250 grams per liter, or 2 pounds per gallon, half the usual VOCs of oil-based lacquers. The ethers in water borne sealers aren't combustible, another advantage, but they still have enough VOCs to warrant a respirator.
Although they resist yellowing, water borne sealers such as acrylic latex polyurethanes do have a tendency to raise the grain. They will also set up or "flash off" quickly at temps greater than 60°F. The best working temperature for nearly all water based acrylic latex polyurethanes is between 50°F and 60°F, which lets them flash a bit more slowly. In this case, flashing-off simply means that the solvent evaporates and leaves the resins to finish the drying out process. A contractor I know once used water based latex polyurethane sealer that flashed off so fast he could only put it on between 5 A.M. and 9 A.M. Anything later than that was too warm.
Minwax makes very good water borne polyurethane, as do Pittsburgh, Pratt & Lambert, Benjamin Moore, as well as others.
Amazing Stains and Sealers for Exteriors
Due to their better penetration and sealing power, most exterior stains sold today are oil-based. However, oil-based solid stains peel off as they grow older, making them more challenging to maintain. A solid stain is like paint: It coats more than it penetrates. A latex solid stain peels less and is also easier to maintain as it ages. However, I favor oil-based products for semi-transparent stains. Added oil solvents let them penetrate deeper. Some of the better stains on the marketplace include Pittsburgh Solid Color Latex Stain, Messmer's U.V Plus, Moorwood Solid Color Exterior Stain, Sherwin Williams Woodscape stains, Pittsburgh Semi-transparent Exterior Stain, Rez Deck Stain by Pittsburgh, and the Sikkens Cetol system.
Deck stains usually have more solids when compared to a typical exterior stain, which will make them stronger. I would recommend buying a high-end stain that is semi-transparent or what is called a trans-oxide. Until just lately, the major problem with outdoor stains was their low UV resistance, but newer trans-oxides have finely ground metal mixed in for better protection. A high end deck stain won't need a different sealer overcoat, although you can include one (such as Olympic Water Guard) if you believe extra protection is needed to battle moisture content and sun exposure. Better deck stains retail for approximately $35 a gallon and cover 300 to 400 sq. ft.
Avoid using deck stains that contain silicone. Despite their attractive price, they aren't a good deal. Advertisements for silicone stains and deck sealers often show beaded up water on the deck, and many people are fooled into thinking that this is the indication of an effective coating. However, silicone deteriorates quickly, usually in a matter of months, producing a discolored, waxy coat that is a pain to eliminate. The deteriorated silicone also stops repelling water.
"High build" coatings such as Sikkens and Messmers work remarkably well on outside siding, nonetheless they are too soft to be used on your deck. Eliminating these coatings can take gallons of wood cleaner and way too much work.
Water borne outside stains, such as Sherwin Williams Woodscapes, incorporate the features of oil-based and latex coatings. They run and drip less than oil based stain, and dry faster, enabling two coatings the same day. Water based stains have the resilience and versatility of your latex stain, giving them stamina. They're a good choice for most applications. But bear in mind that clearing up water borne stains will take work. You can find a couple of oil components in the solvent which may have to be cleaned. First use soap and water, then alcohol. Ask your seller for specific cleaning directions for water borne stains, and read the label.
When In Doubt, Ask Your Painting Professional
In the event that you still have questions about which paint or stain to make use of, don't hesitate to ask people in the know. An experienced, experienced salesperson can clear up any questions it's likely you have. Choose a paint store with staff having at least 10 years of experience in the business. Inquire further what has worked best for your particular application and ask to see a spec sheet on the product in question.
The answers you get will rely upon whom you ask. A paint store will attempt to market you one of their products, in the end, that is why they're running a business. Painting contractors may not be impartial, either. They have to sell their experience. I get tons of phone calls from people desiring aid with their painting problems. Most painters, including myself, don't object to giving one hour of time, but if you want in depth answers, consider hiring a contractor for a professional analysis. Rates vary, but I usually charge about $60 for a written and oral examination, depending on the traveling time involved. A paid analysis will let you know whether you should paint, stain, or re-side, as well as which coating might be best for your project. Each painting job has unique conditions that warrant specific answers.
Sound Quality Painting
824 90th Dr SE suite B
Lake Stevens WA 98258
(425) 512-7400
