Home Maintenance | Crestwood Painting

Lead Paint Certification: Why It’s Important

Crestwood Painting has been EPA Lead-Safe certified since 2011, many of our Job Leads have also been trained and certified, as well.

Lead in paint has been outlawed since 1978. If your home was built before that the EPA says that lead-safe work practices must be followed. That means lots of tape and plastic to protect your home and family (and your contractor).

If a pre-’78 home is proved to have no lead in the work surfaces then lead-safe practices do not have to be followed. But the test procedures are fraught with their own set tangled rules – so we just assume lead on every pre ’78 project and work accordingly.

This means more more prep work than most contractors will do: we cover gardens to keep paint chips out, we sweep and vacuum driveways and decks and very often we’re told the yard is cleaner than it was when we started!

We equip our painters with gloves and proper breathing protection when they’re scraping, too. And soap to wash hands before lunch and at the end of the day.

We keep the soap in a nylon stocking – it’s an old Girl Scout trick (the nylon stocking keeps the soap free of dirt). There was a lot of eye-rolling at first but our painters do use it – while they tease.

Lead poisoning is very serious business. Young children and pregnant women are especially vulnerable. Contractors that ignore the EPA’s RRP (Renovate, Repair & Paint) regulations are putting their business at risk. Those same contractors are also unlikely to share the risks with their customers or their employees.

Yes, it’s true – there is a slight cost difference in complying: more time in implementing lead-safe protection, more materials also. On the flip-side, our systems allow us to protect very efficiently and clean up much more effectively than we ever did before implementing lead-safe work practices.

It feels good to do the right thing. All that, and a contractor’s nod to the Girl Scouts, to boot!

3 Steps to Proper Paint Storage

The leftover (latex) paint in your basement will, sooner or later, become a disposal problem. Here’s how to make sure your next can of paint remains in usable condition.

As a general rule of thumb, if a can of paint is less than one third full it is not worth storing – leave the lid off and let it dry completely. Then, leave it out with your household trash – dry paint is considered disposable household trash.

Important to note: liquid paint is considered hazardous waste and must be disposed of accordingly – the Jackson County Household Hazardous Waste Disposal facility is a great option.

Paint should always be stored indoors so that it can not freeze. If it has ever frozen, it is now toast. A good test for frozen paint: stir it. Stir-able paint should be OK, if it feels like a brick it’s probably been frozen.

The How’s

Cover the opening of the can with plastic wrap
Put the lid on securely
Store the can upside down

The Why’s

Plastic wrap will keep paint out of the “gutter” at the top of the can and will keep paint from drying on the lid. It’s best to plan ahead: as soon as you open the can that will likely be leftover, wash the lid and use a pour spout to keep the gutter clean. Plastic wrap will also keep the lid from contacting the can where corrosion can start. See the photo.

Now, before the lid goes on us committed Paint Geeks will exhale long and slow into the can. This will displace oxygen (dries paint) with CO2 (not so much).

Now, the lid – securely. Thumb-pressing is adequate; hammering is excessive and will usually damage the seal.

Finally, upside down storage means the paint in the can seals the lid, making premature drying that much less likely.

Industry experts acknowledge that just about 0% of the paint stored in your basement is likely to ever see the light of day, so the whole storage thing may be a triumph of Hope over Reason. At least now you’ve got reason to hope that your paint will remain in usable condition.

Still not sure if it’s usable? Give us a call – we’d be happy to take a look.

Painting Cedar Shake Shingles

Cedar shake shingle painting — Cedar Shake shingles can split if they haven’t been cared for.

Cedar shake shingles can split and curl when not properly cared for. While replacing damaged shingles sounds straightforward, here’s what to look out for.

Shingle Thickness

This is pretty easy – shingles are either thin (~3/8″) or thick (~5/8″). And you don’t mix them – unless you’re in a real pinch. You can get away with using thin shingles in a thick shingle installation (it will be noticeable) but you really can’t go the other way around – your neighbors will talk.

Shingle Texture

There are two considerations here: texture of the entire wall and texture of individual shingles. If the shingles on the face of a house are all generally cupped (curled) you’ll want to be aware that installing a new, flat shingle may look out of place. Sometimes this solves one problem and creates another; at that point you’ll have to decide what you can live with.

The other texture consideration is with the shingles themselves: older shingles have often been painted 46 times and so much of the original texture has been lost. We’ve seen grooved shingles that have been painted smooth. New cedar shingles very often have two surface treatments: one side is relatively smooth while the other is generally grooved. Easy to match grooved with grooved; a bit of a trick when new smooth doesn’t match old smooth.

A new shingle may really be smooth but it may just as easily be very rough depending on where and how it was milled. Is matching texture important to you? Important enough to sand individual shingles when necessary?

So by now you’ve thrown up your hands and bellowed “Oiy!” – can’t blame you. But as painting professionals it’s up to us to set the expectation with our customers – what you can expect and also what you can’t. That way there are no unmet expectations. Give us a call if you think we might be able to help.

Gluten Free Paint

Like, whatever! Know what I’m sayin’?

Some of the over-used words for 2013. Example: “As artisan painters, Crestwood strives for world-class performance 24/7. At the end of the day, we follow best practices to build our brand. Whatever.” Here’s another: Our painters may take a selfie with your dog, but there will be absolutely no twerking.”

Some of these seemed, at least to me, to have a very hyper-business 80’s ring to them (world class – is that still around?). Literally.

Anyway, the most annoying is, literally, “anyway.” This is the heavy-handed transition from Person A’s conversational interjection to Person B’s more important subject matter – usually themselves. Oiy.

So if you choose to call one of our paint hipsters, we’ll absolutely be responsible stewards for your legacy project. And trust that you’ll make the call to Sherwin Williams about the gluten-free nature of their paint. Yeah.

How to Dispose of Old Paint

Old Paint - Disposal — Best to take old paint to the local recycling center for safe and legal disposal.

Painters in Kansas City – whether DIY painters or pro’s – all have the same challenge at the end of a job: how to get rid of old or leftover paint. There are the environmentally responsible options and then the legally questionable options. Let’s take a look at both.

A certain environmental agency may construe your donation to be disposal and suddenly your kind gesture is seen as dumping rather than donation

Keep Some

It’s never a bad idea to hang on to a small amount of your current paint color. Just an easy and quick way to cover dents and dings from everyday usage. But any quantities beyond a gallon or two present a problem. You can keep it in your basement, yes – but sooner or later you’ll have to deal with it. Sooner is always better.

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