After my “House Painting Turned Into A Hobby” post, I thought I won’t be talking about paints for a time, but very recently, I’ve thought of an idea that can be useful. In the Philippines, it is during this time of year when house renovations are done because of the weather. For the benefit of readers who are my countrymen and the rest who have similar weather as the Philippines, I have to post this topic before the painting season is over.
I’ve said in my last post about house painting that I got used to just one brand of paint which is ACE. In my country however, this brand is not so popular because most find it expensive. Not for me because the regular ACE paint can be used for both concrete and wood, is water based and I can use the same stock of paint for five years or more. It is just a matter of reusing even the small amount of old paints and storing the can of paints properly.
How I reuse old ACE paints:
1. To create different colors of paints to cover small areas (1 quart can cover 10 square meters), I buy a gallon of white ACE paint then mix one quart with a leftover paint of one color (around one third to one half quart of leftover). I do the same for the other colors.
2. If two leftover paints can be mixed to create another beautiful color, I do that too, and then mix white paint if I want a lighter color. The light green paint on the photo was a mixture of leftover blue and yellow green paints and then I added a thicker type of white ACE paint, which is cheaper.
3. After a few years, small holes in cans caused by rusting may not be noticed and cause the paint to harden a bit (just pasty). But just now, I’ve thought of another idea that can make it reusable. In the photos shown, I cut the pasty paint in pieces and place the larger portion in a blender and added water about one third of the volume of the paste, then blend till smooth (the quality of ACE paint is retained when not mixed with any solvent so the less water added the better unless still pasty after blending). I can use the other portion not blended as putty to retouch scratches or holes caused by bumps of pieces of furniture and use the artist’s palette knives to apply this “putty” instead of the usual spatula used in building construction. I’ve thought of that earlier and tried it when I did some retouching as mentioned in my last post about house painting. At that time, I said to myself, I have to think of a way to dissolve this “putty” so I can reuse it as a paint again, so this is it.
How to store paints (applicable to all brands):
1. Clean the rim of the can and the crevice surrounding the rim where the cover fits, removing hardened paints.
2. Cover the can and use a hammer to completely seal it.
3. Hold the top and bottom of the can and invert for a second or two. This will seal the cover with paint from the inside.
4. Label the can and store. The paint can be used next painting season.
I’ve said in my last post about house painting that I got used to just one brand of paint which is ACE. In my country however, this brand is not so popular because most find it expensive. Not for me because the regular ACE paint can be used for both concrete and wood, is water based and I can use the same stock of paint for five years or more. It is just a matter of reusing even the small amount of old paints and storing the can of paints properly.
How I reuse old ACE paints:1. To create different colors of paints to cover small areas (1 quart can cover 10 square meters), I buy a gallon of white ACE paint then mix one quart with a leftover paint of one color (around one third to one half quart of leftover). I do the same for the other colors.
2. If two leftover paints can be mixed to create another beautiful color, I do that too, and then mix white paint if I want a lighter color. The light green paint on the photo was a mixture of leftover blue and yellow green paints and then I added a thicker type of white ACE paint, which is cheaper.
3. After a few years, small holes in cans caused by rusting may not be noticed and cause the paint to harden a bit (just pasty). But just now, I’ve thought of another idea that can make it reusable. In the photos shown, I cut the pasty paint in pieces and place the larger portion in a blender and added water about one third of the volume of the paste, then blend till smooth (the quality of ACE paint is retained when not mixed with any solvent so the less water added the better unless still pasty after blending). I can use the other portion not blended as putty to retouch scratches or holes caused by bumps of pieces of furniture and use the artist’s palette knives to apply this “putty” instead of the usual spatula used in building construction. I’ve thought of that earlier and tried it when I did some retouching as mentioned in my last post about house painting. At that time, I said to myself, I have to think of a way to dissolve this “putty” so I can reuse it as a paint again, so this is it.How to store paints (applicable to all brands):
1. Clean the rim of the can and the crevice surrounding the rim where the cover fits, removing hardened paints.
2. Cover the can and use a hammer to completely seal it.
3. Hold the top and bottom of the can and invert for a second or two. This will seal the cover with paint from the inside.
4. Label the can and store. The paint can be used next painting season.
1 comment:
You now an expect about painting. with the knowledge, you can easily paint for others or perhaps you can provide some advices to those who are not so familiar.
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