Paint Dealer

the daily grind
Photo By isaac cherry
A piano in the wagon
By Jerry Rabushka,
Associate Publisher
“I’ve been
fortunate
enough in
my life to run
across all the
people in the
world who
know everything about
every topic
whatsoever.”
2
I’m not here to endorse one company over the other. That doesn’t mean
I won’t wear free hats, shirts, and sweats that folks are kind enough to
send me, but it means I’m not going to say “this paint is better than that
paint,” or “this product is horrible.” Bait me all you want, it ain’t gonna
happen.
This being said, it was pretty cool to step off a plane in southern
California as a guest of Behr Paint’s VIP Experience. Many of us media
folks, plus some paint contractors as well, were treated to some cool digs
and an in-depth tour of the Behr Paint Factory and its nearby distribution center.
What was cool to see here was a company that is trying to do it better,
trying to create both paint and services to meet the needs of its customers, and asking a variety of people for ideas on how they can make it a
happy marriage.
This is probably a good time to jump on the rail and say “This is a
good thing for any business to do.” Ugh, another one of these, you’re
thinking.
I’ve been fortunate enough in my life to run across all the people in
the world who know everything about every topic whatsoever and are
willing to share. They’re also willing to remind me of my shortcomings,
and since they have none of their own, I’m expected to be grateful for
their insight into how I can improve. Most people I know really enjoy
it when someone sits them down and lectures them about what they’re
doing wrong in every aspect of their lives. We should thank these people
instead of ignoring them like we usually do.
But, we’re all in business to make a little money—or a lot of money, but
you probably start with “little” for about 20 years. A great way to make
a living is to help people solve problems and make friends along the way.
If you’re the best painter in Vermont but you’re just not very nice, you
probably won’t get as many jobs as the lesser painter who makes people
feel like they’re letting a friend come and hang out.
We have a piano mover in town, however, who belies that fact. Call
them up for an estimate and you have a woman answering the phone
who’s rude as rude can be. In fact, she’s elevated rude to a whole new
level. So rather than use their services I had about six friends hoist my
piano up the steps into the house. I still speak to some of them today!
When I had my piano tuned, I asked the tuner what was up with
that—I figured he would be familiar with local piano movers and he
agreed, the woman on the phone was notoriously unpleasant. But, he
said, they were the best movers in town, so he had to use them to keep
his own reputation intact. Chances are they wouldn’t have dropped my
piano like the guys who helped me, but at least they were nice guys, and
the piano’s still in tune.
It’s not like I would randomly move pianos because I like the mover,
but frankly, I’d rather wheel my piano down the street in a wagon than
call that company again. People who don’t know they’re the best in town
probably will hang up on them before they get a chance to prove it.
So it’s nice to see when a big company such as Behr works to improve
itself from quality of product to quality of customer service, and is willing to take advice from the smaller painting firms it hopes to serve. If
you’re either a painter or supplier, you can play too! What have you done
lately to step it up? And what have been the results? Let us know! tpc
Contents
Supplement to
The Paint Dealer February 2014
Departments
Features
Staining Gets
Innovative
6
Help your
customers plank
the walk with
new concepts in
deck stain, how
to put it on, and
how to sand and
prep.
Safe and Happy
12
the daily grind
2
If you don’t know everything already, someone will make sure
to enlighten you.
Junk for your trunk
11
New products from Allpro, PPG,
Glidden, Hyde and Taacorp.
Cover photo
is courtesy of
Trimaco. With all this safety
wear they might not
recognize you, but
you’ll look great at
quittin’ time!
ad index
Allpro Corp..................................................10
allprocorp.com
Mi-T-M..........................................................7
mitm.com
American Family Insurance............................15 Promo Place................................................13
amfam.com/businessinsurance
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Gardner-Gibson..............................................9
gardner-gibson.com
Richard's Paint.............................................14
richardspaint.com
Hyde Manufacturing........................................8
hydetools.com
Shurtape.....................................................16
shurtape.com
Kilz..............................................................3
kilz.com
Taacorp.......................................................13
all-wall.com
Mirka............................................................5
mirka-ceros.com
4
Staining Gets Inn
Look at
deck staining,
getting all
new-fangled
and stuff
J
ust when you finally know it all, along comes
something new. Deck coatings change pretty quickly
as suppliers are searching for ways to protect new
and traditional decking materials better and longer.
We’re not even saying “stain," because some of what’s new
in deck coatings really isn’t a stain at all.
The big change in the category is the growth of the
“deck cover” segment, says Russ Neale, director of product
innovation at Cabot Woodcare. “These really aren’t stains
in that they don’t
By jerry rabushka, editor penetrate into wood,”
he said. “Instead, they
are high build coatings that completely cover and hide the
wood. These different segments [of the stain market] are
designed to work very differently.”
How’s that? Remember there are no stupid questions,
only stupid call backs. “Stains penetrate into the wood.
They do not build a film and they wear away gradually
over a number of years,” he reminded us. “When the stain
has worn away and is no longer protecting the wood from
fade or water, a clean and recoat is all that’s needed. Deck
covers, on the other hand, do not penetrate. They build a
thick film and will eventually peel, flake or be scuffed by
furniture.” When it’s time to redo it, you’ve got to take off
the old coating first.
With low VOC stains, you’ve going to have a few new
application properties to deal with…like, “I just opened
the can and eeewww!” Well, don’t say eeewww to your
supplier, who might feel a special way about it, but Neale
notes that a low VOC stain may greet you with a muddy
or milky appearance when you pry off the lid. “Cabot’s oil
modified stains have a that type of appearance in the can,
6
compared to our classic oil stains,” he said. “This
is because the oil molecules
are suspended in water. Once
the water evaporates, the oil is
left to penetrate and provide wood
depth and clarity.”
Penetrating your market, or marketing
your penetration
If you’re going to penetrate, then make sure you do it to
the best advantage. Oil penetrating stains, Russ tells us,
give you the benefit of a long working time so you can get
an even coat. “Only one coat is usually needed with a good
transparent or semi-transparent stain,” he advises. “Avoid
direct sun if possible and work a few boards at a time, one
end to the other. A good stain pad will dramatically speed up
application versus a brush, and it lets you work in the stain.
If you use a roller, back-brushing is a must.” But if you open
that milky muddy water-based with its shorter dry time,
Neale notes again how you’ll have to work faster to guard
against lap marks and uneven areas. “It is even more critical
to work just a few boards at a time,” he instructs.
Before you do all this, of course...prep. Is your wood
dry and clean, just like your painter’s wear? No mold, no
mildew, just like your shoes? If not, you’ll be back at this
house sooner than you’d like. “Cleaning with a product
made for wood will kill any fungus, which is of particular
concern in humid or shady areas. Allow the wood to dry
for a day or so, or check that the moisture content is below
15%. Avoid staining in the rain or when rain is in the
forecast,” said Neale.
ovative
Sell first, prep second
Before you even start the prep—apparently we’re
writing this article backwards—you’ll want to have
everything spelled out with your customer. You don’t
want them calling you back in three years saying the
stain failed and you botched the job, so make sure they
know from the gitgo how long it’s supposed to last and
what should be done to keep it pretty.
“Stress to your customers the value of maintenance
over repair and replacement,” Russ recommends. “A
contractor who sets up a reasonable maintenance schedule will have happy customers and a steady revenue
stream,” he concluded. cabotstain.com
The Moore the Merrier
Jeff Spillane, senior manager at Benjamin Moore, tells
us that waterborne technology was a big and somewhat
recent development in the stain market and it’s quite
the game changer! In this category, Benjamin Moore
presents Arborcoat, a waterborne alkyd that came out
about five years ago.
“With lower VOCs, it offers the
penetration of an oil-based stain
and the durability of latex,” says
Spillane. Gone are the days of
coming back year after year to
reapply—if you do it right, he
says, you can set someone up for
five. With a penetrating stain,
it’s all about the prep. “Surface
prep is critical,” Jeff reminds
us. “Decks must be cleaned and sanded
thoroughly. Done right, Arborcoat could last five years
with annual cleaning and a maintenance coat.”
And yep, you’re going to have to plan your job carefully, since it’ll set up quicker than the oil your grandpa,
dad, and well…even you used to use. “On decks,” he
recommends, “go the full length of each plank. On siding, work between the natural breaks in the wood. There
should be no overlap board to board. And again, prep
is critical.” If you’re high or hot, it is even more critical.
“We offer a product called ‘Extend,’ which increases
the workability of stain in hot or dry climates and high
altitudes,” Jeff tells us.
While it’s all well and good to say “stain the deck
every two years,” but not everyone can afford it, and
not everyone wants to do it themselves. With a good
maintenance schedule, however, you still keep their
business, and your clients won’t feel like it’s a choice
between you and a house payment.
7
Crossing that ¼” bridge
Olympic ® RESCUE IT!™ Wood & Concrete Resurfacer bridges cracks up to ¼" deep
and results in a long-lasting, uniform finish that enhances the appearance of your
deck or concrete surface. The fine texture of the coating helps to hide surface imperfections and is barefoot friendly. This 100% acrylic coating provides outstanding
elasticity to fill wood and concrete splits and cracks up to ¼" deep.
• Covers up to 50 sq. ft. in two coats per gallon.
• Creates a barefoot friendly, finely textured, slip resistant finish.
• Provides waterproofing protection; easy to apply & clean up. olympic.com
A Tool
for Every
Purpose
©2014 Hyde Tools, Inc. All rights reserved.
Hyde Tools offers a complete surface
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competitively priced Value Series up to
our premium Pro Stainless™ tools.
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For a better finish, start with HYDE.®
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8
•
800-872-4933
“It’s important to be realistic with
a customer and set up a maintenance
schedule,” says Spillane. “Depending on how much sun a deck gets, a
transparent or semi-transparent stain
lasts about two years before power
washing and recoating is required. An
annual cleaning and a maintenance
coat can extend that. A solid or semisolid stain could easily last 5-6 years.”
benjaminmoore.com
No Dust in the Wind
Since we’re writing this article
backwards, let’s end at the beginning.
Time to sand! Last month we met
Mirka, a company with a dust-free
sanding system. We mentioned a song
lyric “kick up a little dust,” and how
this wasn’t that. Remember Kansas’
song “Dust in the Wind?” This isn’t
that either.
Indoors or out, dust-free sanding
makes good sense, says Mike Gulley,
Mirka’s product manager. “There
is really no time when conventional
sanding would be preferred to dustfree. The elimination of dust offers
benefits to your health, the life of
the product, and the final sanding
result. The exception would be if
you are damp sanding, in which
case the water will contain the dust
particles.”
Of course, someone’s bound to say
“I’ve been doing it by hand all my
life and I’m not going to stop now.”
Which is fine for them. If you want
to try Mirka, Gulley says it won’t
be that hard to get used to. “The
vacuum hose is very flexible and
offers little change from conventional
sanding,” he said. “The one comment
from users who have recently adopted
Before and after by
Benjamin Moore
dust-free sanding practices is that they are unaware of
how much material they are actually removing, as they
no longer have a pile of dust surrounding their work. It
is important to check the sanded surface to monitor the
process. If they wait for dust to appear…it won't happen!
“Net abrasives (“net abrasives” are designed with a
special construction to enhance dust removal) are available in a complete range of grits from P80-P800, from
coarse to fine,” Gully explained. “The grit selection can be
compared to those of conventional abrasives. Net abrasives
are suitable for use on a wide variety of substrates, including wood, fiberglass, drywall and painted surfaces.” And
again, no dust! Well there will be, but you can bag and
dispose it with normal trash removal. “If sanding lead
paint or other potentially harmful material, the resulting
waste should be disposed of in accordance with state, local
and federal regulations,” he advised.
How much does it all cost? “A complete sanding
system, including a Mirka@CEROS electric sander, the
high efficiency MV-912 Dust Extractor, vacuum hose
and a starter pack of abrasives has a suggested retail
price of approximately $1,300,” said Gulley. “It should
be available from local distributors at competitive
pricing.” mirkausa.com
To strip or to sand?
Good question—your answer should provide you with the
least amount of work for the best results! Johannes Frick,
business development manager at Festool, (also the manufactuer of a dust-free sanding system), gave us some advice.
“Its about scale, and what type of coating on the deck has
failed,” he said. “Usually, a large scale failure happens with
film forming stain coatings that are left unmaintained and
broken down by the elements. They crack and peel, allowing
moisture in, and the failure accelerates. They do everything
but fall off the building for us.! They are the most difficult
strip. They will need some major surgery.
“The other stain category,” he continued, “is non film
formers. They don’t flake or peel, they just fade out so they
9
Festool allows for dust-free sanding.
are easy to scuff. Sand them at straight
80, as they don’t usually require full
stripping.”
You’ll usually have to strip a failed
coating, he advises, and it’s a matter of
comparing production rates, risk, etc.
between mechanical (sanding) and
chemical methods. “Large scale strips
are traditionally done with a pressure washer and sodium hydroxide—
which is a very caustic stripper—then
they require a second full wash to
neutralize the stripper. It can take a
few hundred gallons of water. There
is risk of damaging the non-wood
elements of the house (clad windows,
glass, stone, roofing, landscaping, plus
skin burns on people doing the work).
Chemical stripping almost always
causes ‘furring’ of the stripped wood
(scarified raised grain, not from water
pressure, but from chemicals), which
needs an orbital float to smooth off
in the end. “I don't know if we should boldly
declare across the board that mechanical (sander) stripping is better than
chemical stripping. But it is a close
call. If you are going to have to sand
the house in the end, a case can be
made for doing all of the removal
with sanders and avoiding the wait
time for the house to dry,” he continued, “especially these days, given the
sander options now available. In years
past, grinders were the top (but very
messy) mechanical option. Generally,
we find that sanding with minimal
dust is a more appealing option to
our customers than spraying caustic
chemicals around the house.”
Plus, you can tell your customers
it’s better for their environment. “If
you are using chemicals for surface
preparation a concern is the effect it
has on the environment, plants, pets,
and children as well as the surface,”
he concluded. “If you are using a
system such as ours that contains the
dust, it helps eliminate that concern
and makes work more effective, not to
mention creating an optimal surface
for applying stain.” festool.com tpc
10
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11
Safe and
S
afety wear had
an image problem to overcome; it make you look bad, plus it was uncomfortable.
What’s the point of wearing protective glasses if they’re
hot, foggy, sweaty, and you can’t see? Ugh. Or coveralls
that make you feel like you’re on a military exercise in
the desert?
Trimaco, a manufacturer of safety wear and many
other products for painters, has put itself to work to offer
you some DuPont™
®
By jerry rabushka, editor T Y V EK covera l ls
that will protect you
from the contaminants of your surroundings but leave
you comfortable enough to paint.
Why should you use coveralls rather than just a pair
of whites (oh, and a shirt, of course)? Coveralls make it
easy for you to leave your workday behind—literally—if
you are spraying paint or involved in hazardous work
such as lead abatement, asbestos or mold remediation.
And it’s not just you. Husbands, wives, kids, and pets
could be in danger if you walk into the house with an
outfit full of poisonous particulates. “No one wants to
get these particles on their clothing and risk the safety
of their loved ones or themselves, said Maria Costello,
Vice President-General Manager, Trimaco. “It’s easier to
put on a coverall and protective wear (goggles, respirator
and gloves), thus ensuring anything harmful is left at
the job.”
This company wants to offer safety and comfort at the
same time! “Painters are much less likely to use uncomfortable and stuffy protective wear, therefore the more comfortable and breathable Tyvek coveralls offered by Trimaco
encourage them to wear it on the job,” said Costello.
Trimaco, DuPont’s distributor for retail, has recently
expanded its DuPont Protective Apparel offering. “In
Coveralls make it easy for you to leave your
workday behind—literally—if you are spraying paint or involved in hazardous work
such as lead abatement, asbestos or mold
remediation. These three photos courtesy
of Trimaco.
12
Happy
www.tpcmag.com
addition to stocking all styles of traditional Tyvek
coveralls, we now stock the Tyvek Dual and the
Tychem® QC Coveralls,” said Costello. “Tyvek Dual
coveralls offer the protection of Tyvek on the front side
with a high comfort SMS back, providing increased
protection where it is needed, and breathability overall. Tychem® QC fabric starts with your typical Tyvek
and adds a polyethylene coating for added chemical
protection, she explained. “It protects against light
liquid splash with at least 30 minutes of protection
against more than 40 chemical challenges.”
SMS stands for “spunbond, meltblown and spunbond,” a method of manufacture that provides the
fabric with a barrier to filter out smaller particles.
The company now has a full line of DuPont
Tyvek Coveralls. “They are the ideal balance of
breathability, durability and comfort—allowing for
a greater range of motion, superior breathability
CAN LIGHT STUFFER
Keep it covered and
go home clean.
and fewer blowouts,” said Costello.
“Tyvek Dual is designed for very specific applications where demanding
comfort requirements are needed for
jobs with frontal exposure, such as
spraying.”
In addition to the Tyvek range,
Trimaco carries other coveralls
for painters, said Costello. “Polypropylene is the most economical
and comfortable and protects from dust and
light overspray. SMS is a three layer fabric that
offers more protection while remaining breathable.
Trimaco also offers microporous bilaminate Body
Barrier™ which offers very good protection but is
not as breathable. This full range of coveralls from
Trimaco satisfies a large array of needs and price
points.” trimaco.com
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13
Left and previous pages: 3M™
continues to develop and improve
safety products for comfort and
protection. For example, the
company has a variety of respirators available for many different
painting and prep situations. It's
important to make sure you and
your crew are using sufficient
protection for the project your
are involved in.
14
ForceFlex your Face
Your coveralls will help protect a lot of you,
but you still have eyes, ears, nose and mouth
that under certain circumstances will need
more help than nature originally provided.
3M™, with an eye, ear, nose and mouth
towards comfortable and effective safety
wear, is improving many of its current products and launching some new.
First of all, look for a new and
improved version of its original
ForceFlex Max safety eyewear, called
ForceFlex Plus. “This product is
designed with soft nosepieces and
temple inserts so the fit stays comfortable, even in the most demanding work environments,” said Tom
Kalafut, 3M Safety, Global Business
Manager. “It can flex to fit your face
for a more comfortable fit. It is also
made with the latest technology to
keep your vision clear, with impact
resistant lenses that absorb 99.9% of
UV, UVA and UVB.”
Along with that, 3M has come out
with a half facepiece reusable respirator that has a quick latch drop-down
mechanism for easy on and off as
you move in and out of contaminated
areas. You won’t need to remove your
hardhat or face shield when lowering
or raising your respirator.
“Our teams are focused on creating
safety products that are reliable and
comfortable so users can stay focused
on the task at hand, not on their
safety products,” said Kalafut. “For
example, our Paint Sanding Valved
Respirator features 3M Cool Flow™
Valve technology for heat reduction
and easier breathing.”
Below the neck, 3M has some easy
to use and comfy coveralls. A two-way
zipper makes them easy to put on and
take off, while reducing contamination of your clothing. Some styles have
breathable back panels to improve air
circulation and help keep you cool.
Use these coveralls anytime you are
looking to protect your clothing and
skin while working with paint, drywall dust, or non-hazardous liquid
splash, the company recommends.
3m.com tpc
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