Monthly Archives: August 2014

Not fit for purpose?

Posted by on August 28, 2014 1 comment

Dulux Paint mixing is a great idea in principle because almost every shade imaginable can be created to order by taking a base paint and adding pigments. A bit of shaking and hey-presto a whole tin of paint to your exact requirements.
In practice though the system is badly flawed.
With regular painting work, I always insist my clients buy a good brand of paint but after the latest escapade I shall also insist they do NOT buy mixed-to-order paint but instead buy a stock colour.
Here’s why:
1) If the paint has stood any length of time or maybe the can inverted (even briefly) the virgin tin is likely to have formed a skin in places (possibly against the lid as in the last picture below) and this will not mix staying gloopy and white.
2) The pigments added should be thoroughly liquid but in reality often contain lumpier bits that do not mix and are then introduced onto the painted surface.
3) A full tin has no room for the liquid paint to slosh about when skaken which hampers adequate mixing.
4) The method is too imprecise to render two tins mixed to the same colour to be exactly the same so unwise on large jobs needing more than one tin.
In fact, I have christened this paint system NTSC (like the USA’s colour TV system) and it stands for ‘Never The Same Colour.’
Shown below are some pictures from a recent job which illustrates perfectly the short-comings. It was a nightmare to produce a good finish because every tray full of paint was a very slightly different colour no matter how hard I tried to mix it and undissolved grains of three different pigments (black, pink and ochre) were constantly appearing.
However, apart from boycotting mixed paints altogether here are some other options:
1) Only use in establishments for the blind or visually impaired.
2) Use only for painting out dungeons, caves or cellars.
3) Rename your decorating company ‘Mr Blobby does painting’

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Note: I am inviting Dulux to comment

Don’t let crap floor tiling spoil your posh bathroom.

Posted by on August 1, 2014 Comments Off on Don’t let crap floor tiling spoil your posh bathroom.

It is fair to say us Brits have only recently moved away from having carpet or lino in our bathrooms. Accordingly, we are still feeling our way with ceramic tiled bathroom floors. Since most bathrooms are upstairs and UK houses usually have timber floors, the tiles will invariably be laid on top of floor boards.

Note: Obviously any plumbing (or cables) under a tiled floor will not be accessible except possibly from underneath (going through the downstairs ceiling) so before you commence check and double check everything for leaks, pipe-hammer, etc.

When you tile onto timber boards, the whole floor area to be tiled MUST be braced usually with a covering of ply of at least 9mm thickness. This over boarding must be screwed to the floor underneath at roughly 200mm intervals in each direction and also stagger joins between the ply boards where possible.

Before tiling, walk around to make sure nothing still moves or creaks. When you are happy the floor is rigid you must then use a slightly flexible tile adhesive and grout designed specifically for sticking tiles to timber floors.

The first bathroom pictured below had only recently been finished because I was asked fit blinds, trim the entrance door to clear a transition strip and do some other finishing off.

Judging by the quality of the wall tiles and bathroom furniture it was NOT a cheap refit but whoever tiled plainly didn’t brace the floor because I could feel the tiles move and crunch as I walked on them.

With crumbling grout (second picture) water will get underneath these tiles perpetuating the problem.

I very often see this in houses and in fact my own bathroom was the same when I moved in. But as you can see in the last picture, when I refitted my own bathroom I secured the tiles properly and they are still stuck firm after four years.

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