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Q What if you painted before the ban?
A Rest easy. Almost all the mercury in paint escapes within a few days of application. The rest should dissipate to insignificant levels within a year.
Q- How do I get rid of old paint?
A- Add solidifiers which can be found at any paint supply store, then follow the directions on the container for proper disposal.
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TIPS
- Refurbish paint brushes that are stiff with old paint by soaking them in hot vinegar - then washing them in hot sudsy water.
- Use fabric softener in the final rinse water when you're finished painting. It will keep the bristles soft and pliable.
- Brushes won't shed bristles if you apply nail polish along the base of the brush.
- Brushes can be stored in an airtight plastic bag to prevent them from drying out if your project takes more than one day.
CHEAP PAINT is penny wise, but often darn foolish for landlords.
A room 9 X 12, including the ceiling has about 450 square feet of paint-able surface. Professional cost estimators figure labor and material at 30 cents per foot for one coat of paint and 50 cents for two. From $135 to $225 to paint just one room; so a typical three bedroom rental home could cost between $1,000 and $1,400, every time a dirty or careless tenant moves out.
Landlords could not stay in business long without finding a way to cut painting costs dramatically. Consequently, many try to find bargain paint at $7 to $10 per gallon. They hire some tenant, who perhaps owes them rent money, to paint for them at about $5 per hour, cutting their room cost to between $25 to $50. At that rate it is often cheaper to paint over grime, graffiti and nicotine, than it is to pay someone to scrub and clean walls and woodwork.
The adage "you get what you pay for" is always true however and there are several down sides to the landlord solution.
People are willing to pay for pretty. Slopped on, streaked, lumpy, landlord off white, may look good enough to pass a section eight inspection, and satisfy a potential tenant who doesn’t want or expect anything better, but the tenant who wants a clean quality environment will pass you by if they possibly can. Cheap paint doesn’t look good long — and a tenant who keeps their house clean will soon be asking to have it repainted or they will move to somewhere that better reflects their self image. Cut turnover in half and the cost may end up the same as for $20 dollar paint and $15 labor. Tenants too will try to get more for what they pay if they can.
Paint, sales are common, shop around then open the can and inspect its contents for defects and off-odors. Some cans may contain gritty particles that will show in the job. If you see a problem, ask for a refund or replacement. Consumer Reports says that Pratt & Lambert Accolade ($31 a gallon) comes closest to excellence. Next best overall were Benjamin Moore Regal Aquapearl and Regal Aquvelvet, Pittsburgh Manor Hall Eggshell, and Sears Best Easy Living Flat 9500 at $19 a gallon, was rated a Best Buy.
Look for qualities that indicate long-lasting results with a minimum of effort. They include the ability to hide old paint and to resist fading. Both of those qualities are likely to vary with a paint's color as well as its brand. There are five traits that tend to be the same within a brand line, in any color: ease of stain removal, resistance to scrubbing, spattering, blocking (stickiness) and water resistance.
Select a paint for what you think is important, dropping characteristics you care less about. Resistance to stains and scrubbing might be the most important, when kids are finger-painting the walls or when nicotine covers every surface in layers so thick you can measure it with a ruler. Similarly, there's no need to worry about a low fading score if you're painting a hallway shielded from direct sunlight or renting to tenants who sleep all day with the blinds closed.
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Buy a paint that hides well to save time and money.
A paint's hiding power depends primarily on the amount of pigment a manufacturer puts into it. Manufacturers know how to formulate paints that hide well in any color. Trouble is, the synthetic pigments that go into a vivid pink, for example, can cost $25 a pound. If a paint maker is willing to settle for a muddier pink, there's a naturally occurring material that will do the job for only 80 cents a pound. Given those figures, it's not surprising that manufacturers, like some landlords, often cut corners. That means it may take more coats of some pinks - or yellows or whites, for that matter - to cover existing paint.
Many manufacturers claim one-coat coverage. BALDERDASH. Their sophisticated ways of measuring hiding power don't translate well from the laboratory to the rental unit. Manufacturers figure that painters spread the stuff on in thick layers, using a gallon for 450 square feet or so. Almost a gallon per room. Normal rolling more often results in an application rate of around 650 square feet per gallon, or about a room and a half, which obviously leaves a 50% thinner coat.
There are other stumbling blocks in real life that paint makers don't reckon on. For one, most painters don't have the skill with a roller that Picasso had with a brush. And they may be trying to cover up the passion producing red that seemed such a good idea for their bedroom to the last tenant.
To measure hiding power more realistically, Consumer Reports developed a chart printed with a repeating series of six stripes that varies in intensity from almost white to black. The darker the stripe a paint will cover, the better its hiding power. They rolled over the chart with practically every manufacture’s paints and checked what was peeking through after one and two coats. Of the 237 paints they tested, only five - four golds and a green - covered the darkest stripe with one sweep.
If you're refreshing a "flamingo pink" room with a new coat f "flamingo pink," you'll probably be able to do the job in a single application regardless of the brand of paint. If you plan on a dramatic color change from dark to light, figure on at least two coats with most brands. With some, especially in yellow, you may need three or four coats. Even at landlord wages, an additional coat of paint will cost much more than a higher quality paint to begin with ¾ in both labor and material.
STAINS
Family rentals are subject to wear and tear need paint that resists stains and stands up to repeated washing. To gauge stain removal, Consumer Affairs took panels coated with the tested paints and spread on them the blackest, oiliest soil they could think of - carbon black plus a combination of animal, vegetable, and mineral greases. They let the goop take hold overnight, then tried to remove it with a machine-mounted sponge moistened with Fantastic spray cleaner. After 25 back-and-forth passes, they noted how much of the stain remained. With the best paints, they cut though the stains easily. With the worst, they had to try more aggressive means, like scrubbing with a scouring powder.
SCRUBBING. An abrasive cleanser will take off just about any stain; however, it takes with it some of the paint and in doing so, changes the appearance of the finish. The glossier the finish, the more noticeable the effects of scouring.
SPATTERING. When you use a roller, droplets of paint can spin off and speckle your face and carpet. Fortunately, if you pick the right paint, you don't have to put up with that annoyance anymore. In recent years, some manufacturers have been able to formulate paint that is virtually spatter-free.
WATER RESISTANCE. Some paints when wet soften to the point where they can be marred easily, then return. All paints return to their original hardness in about four hours. Nevertheless, when painting surfaces on which tenants will put flower pots, or worse, it would be prudent to use only those products whose water resistance is near the top of the scale. Paints that do poorly would be a bad choice for kitchens or bathrooms; even casual splashes could leave permanent stains.
BLOCKING. Sometimes a paint can feel dry without being entirely dry. The residual tackiness that causes windows to stick shut is called blocking. It's a problem associated with latex paints, particularly glossy ones. When blocking occurs, there's likely to be some damage to the paint at the point of contact. Consumer Affairs subjected painted test panels to modest pressure at 120 degrees F (the temperature typically found on a sunlit windowsill). After an overnight wait, eight brands exhibited serious sticking problems. Predictably, three of those brands were the shinier satins. However, two other satins, Benjamin Moore Regal Aquapearl and Glidden Spread Lo-Luster 3100, showed no blocking.
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