FEATURES OF PAINTS AND STAINS

1. FEATURES OF PAINTS AND STAINS THE FUNCTION OF PAINTS AND STAINS Nearly every kind of surface, from drywall to concrete, needs protection from the elements. These hazardous elements can range from raging blizzards to innocent looking sunlight on a living room wall. The full total thickness of the paint that eventually ends up on the exterior of your residence is usually about one tenth the thickness of your skin, and interior paint is even thinner. We ask a great deal of that covering of skin. What it can do depends on a variety of factors, like the quality and brand of paint or stain, and how well the areas prepped and painted. Paint and stain should be durable, resisting fading and abrasion and allowing repeated washings. Interior paint can go on with little spattering. An excellent interior stain or clear finish should resist fading, peeling, or yellowing, and also be easy to maintain, free of impurities or waxes that could collect dirty residue and make cleaning or recoating difficult. Outside paints should dry with a toughness that resists deterioration from all sorts of exposure, and an elasticity that allows for constantly expanding and contracting walls. With their deep penetration and amount of resistance to ultraviolet (UV) light, the stains and finishes on your home's exterior should provide a similar high performance. Historical Development of Stain and Paint The oldest known paint was used by the painters of Lascaux, who ground natural pigments with water and a binder that might have been honey, starch, or gum. You may be wondering why these cave paintings have lasted a large number of years while the paint on the south side of your home is peeling after only three winters. Here's why: The constant mild temperature, humidity, and dark interiors of caves are ideal chemical preservatives. Your house, on the other hand, is subjected to all kinds of weather and conditions. The Egyptians knew as early as 1000 B.C. that paint could protect as well as decorate. Beeswax, vegetable oils, and gum arabic were warmed and blended with Earth and plant dyes to paint images that have lasted thousands of years. The Egyptians used asphalt and pitch to protect their paintings. The Romans later used white lead pigment, developing a formula that would exist almost unchanged until 1950. The Chinese used oil from the Tung tree to cement the Great Wall, and to preserve wood. The Chinese used gums and resins to make complex varnishes such as, shellac, turpentine, copal, and mastic. The formulas and applications for those varnishes also evolved little over the centuries. Milk paint goes back to Egyptian times, was widely used up until the late 1800’s when oil-based paints were introduced. Odorless and non-toxic, milk paint today has been revived as an excellent interior paint. Cassein, the protein in milk, dries very even and hard, and can be tinted with other pigments. Like stains, milk paint has to be sealed with a wax or varnish, and is very durable.

2. Fashioned from hogs' bristles, badger and goat hair, brushes also improved little for several centuries. Bristles were hand bound, rosined, and greased, then hand laced into the stock of the brush. Hog's hair brushes, called China bristle brushes, remain a preferred brush for oil-based paints. Pigments originally came from anything that bore a color, from ground up Egyptian mummies to road dirt. Most mineral or inorganic pigments originated from rust, potassium, sea salt, sulphur, alum (aluminum), and gypsum, along with others. Some extravagant projects incorporated treasured stones such as lapis lazuli. Hundreds of organic and natural pigments from plants, insects, and animals composed all of those other painter's palette. Paints and stains changed little from the time of the Pharaohs to the Industrial Revolution. A book on varnishes released in 1773 was reprinted 14 times until 1900, with only minor revisions. However, the colder climates of northern Europe have brought about the necessity for more durable paint, and in the 1500s the Dutch artist Jan van Eyck developed oil-based paint. Starting during the Middle Ages lead, arsenic, mercury, and various acids were used as binders and color enhancers. These and other metals made the mixing and painting process harmful. Paints and varnishes were usually blended on site, where a ground pigment was mixed with lead, oil, and solvents over sustained high heating. The maladies that arose from toxic exposure were common among painters at least before late 1800s, when paint companies began to batch ready mixed coatings. While contact with poisons given off through the mixing process subsided, contact with the harmful substances inherent in paints and stains didn't change much until the 1960s, when companies ceased making lead based paints. World War I forced the U.S. painting industry to modernize. Manufacturers had to find a replacement for the natural pigments and dyes that came from Germany. They commenced to synthesize dyes. Today many pigments and dyes are chemically synthesized. Inventions in the painting industry have extended well beyond pigments. Water-based latexes have gained in popularity as a safe, quality alternative to oil-based paints. Latexes have changed from simple "whitewashes" to highly advanced coatings that can outlast oil-based products. Both oil-based and latex coatings are emerging each year with notable improvements, such as the ground metal or glass that's now added to reflect destroying UV light. A milestone in the evolution of coatings occurred in the very early 1990s with the introduction of a fresh category of paints and stains known as "water borne." Created by the need to comply with stricter regulations, water borne coatings decrease the volatile organic ingredients, or VOCs, found in standard paint and stains. Harmful and flammable, VOCs evaporate as a coating's solvent dries. They could be inhaled or consumed through your skin, and create ozone pollution when exposed to sunlight. STAINS AND PAINTS CHEMISTRY Paints and stains contain four basic types of substances: solvents, binders, pigments, and additives. Paint and Stain Binders and Solvents

3. Solvents are the vehicle or medium, for the ingredients in a paint or stain. They determine how fast a covering dries and exactly how it hardens. Water and alcohol are the key solvents in latex. Oil-based solvents range from mineral spirits (thinner) to alcohols and xylene, to napthas. The solvent also contains binders, which form the "skin" when the paint dries. Binders give paint adhesion and strength. The expense of paint is dependent in large part upon the grade of its binder. Because water is the vehicle in latex paint, it dries quickly, enabling recoating the same day. The odor that you notice when by using a latex paint or stain is the "flashing," or evaporation, of the binder and solvents. The binders in latex are minute, suspended beads of acrylic or vinyl acrylic that "weld" as the paint dries. Latex enamels contain a higher amount of acrylic resins for higher hardness and durability. Alkyds and oil-based paints are simply the same thing. The term alkyd is derived from "alcid," a combination of alcohol and acid that acts as the drying agent. Both have the same binders, which may include linseed, soy, or Tung oils. Oil based and alkyd enamels may contain polyurethanes and epoxies for extra hardness. Alkyd paints come in high performance combinations such as two part polyester-epoxy for professional use and a urethane modified alkyd for home use. Urethane boosts durability. Water borne coatings use a two part drying system: water is the drying agent, and oils form a hard-drying resin. These new coatings match and sometimes out perform their oil-based cousins. They resist yellowing, are stronger, require only water clean-up, have little odor, and are non-flammable. One disadvantage: They raise solid wood grain and require sanding between coats. Pigments; Paint and Stain Pigments will be the costliest element in paint. Besides providing color, pigments also influence paint's hiding power - its potential to protect a similar color with as few coats as is feasible. Titanium dioxide is the principal the most expensive ingredient in pigment. Top quality paints not only have more titanium dioxide, but also more finely ground pigment. Inexpensive paints use coarsely ground pigment, which doesn't bind well and washes off easier. Stain and Paint Additives Additives determine how well a paint contacts, or wets, the surface area. In addition they help paint flow, level, dry, and resist mildew. Oil is the surfactant, or wetting agent, in oil-based paint. These paints have a natural thickness and capability to flow and level; they go on smoother than latex and dry more slowly, so brush stridations have more time to level out. That is why oil-based paints have a tendency to run on vertical surfaces more than latexes do. Latex paint has been trying to catch up with oil-based paint over the years. Today many latexes outperform oil-based paints and primers, because of thickeners, wetting agents (soapy substances that are also known as surfactants), drying inhibitors, defoamers, fungicides, and coalescents. Defoamers keep latex paint from bubbling and leaving pinpricks (called "pin holing") in the paint as it dries. Bubbling is caused when the soap wetting agent rises to the top as it dries. The better the paint, the less pin holing you will have. It used to be that if latex paint was shaken at the paint store you had to allow it to settle for a couple of hours. This is no longer the situation with better paints, which can be opened up and used right out of the shaker with no danger of pin holing. Coalescents help latex resins bond, especially in colder weather. Oil-based paint, since it dries slowly and resists freezing, can

4. stick and dry in temps from 50°F to 120°F. With added coalescents and, contrary to popular belief, antifreeze, some latexes can be applied in the same temperatures range, and even lower. Some outside latexes can be securely applied at temperature ranges at only 35°F. Companies including Pratt & Lambert, Pittsburgh Paint, and Sherwin Williams have removed the surfactants to help their latex paints be applied in lower heat. As the wetting agents have been removed, the latex dries faster. UV blocking additives have been added to paints and stains to help slow the aging process. Sunlight is accountable for much of the break down of any covering. It fades colors, dries paint, and increases the expansion and contraction process which makes paint crack and peel. UV blockers in paint may consist of finely ground metals and ground glass which is currently being added for even more reflection of the sun's rays. If you are in a region with a lot of humidity, rainwater, and insects, you may want to consider adding a biocide or fungicide to your paint. Biocide deters insects, and fungicide counters mildew. Many coatings already contain some fungicide, but only in small concentrations because of strict interstate regulations. Sound Quality Painting 824 90th Dr SE suite B Lake Stevens WA 98258 (425) 512-7400 Local Painters Lake Stevens Google Map OUR EVERETT PAINTING LOCATION WEBSITE OUR LYNNWOOD PAINTING LOCATION WEBSITE OUR MARYSVILLE PAINTING LOCATION WEBSITE OUR EDMONDS PAINTING LOCATION WEBSITE OUR MUKITEO PAINTING LOCATION WEBSITE OUR MONROE PAINTING LOCATION WEBSITE