I was recently restoring some older doors and windows and needed a good epoxy solution to address some pretty bad wood degradation. My trusty local paint supply store recommended a product called Flex-Tec. It comes in a beefy, dual tube caulking gun setup that the Terminator might carry if he were into wood restoration. Since that was a lot more product than I needed, I opted for the less manly mini-tube that fits into a normal caulking gun. The product is easy to mix and creates a very solid bond. It’s thick enough you can apply it upside down and it won’t run, and it’s easy to tool to pretty much any profile. After sanding and painting, you are left with what looks like sound and healthy wood. Great stuff! Say “Hasta La Vista” to decayed wood with Flex-Tec. Available from select dealers, or direct from Advanced Repair Technology starting at about $27 for the Mini version.

The Silent Paint Remover, aka infrared paint stripper, might be your ideal solution for assassinating old paint. Let’s face it, stripping old paint is a hassle. You could use methyl chloride stripper, but then you’d risk it eating your flesh off, and there’s the potential carcinogen issue. Heat guns are effective, but carry a high risk of lighting your house on fire or risking lead poisoning. I have now tested a Silent Paint Remover on a couple projects and have found it to be one of the better paint stripping options out there. The tool works fairly quickly (10-60 seconds per section, depending on the paint you’re working with), and it bubbles and softens the paint nicely and cleanly. You just heat a section, and then use a high quality pull scraper to strip the paint.
The lower temperature on the tool is designed to prevent dangerous vaporization of lead paint. However, because this is a dry stripping process that involves scraping, I think there is still a likely risk of causing paint dust to become airborne. Before you strip any older paint, I would highly encourage having lead testing done. If you do plan to work with lead-based paint despite the risks, carefully observe lead safe work practices, or hire a reputable lead abatement company. The Silent Paint Remover is available for $395 from the friendly crew at Viking Sales.

As many of you know, I truly hate painting. It is extremely rewarding, when it is done! I recently stained and finished an old door and in the process managed to almost glue the door to the sawhorses it was on. No matter how careful I was, finishing the door edges resulted in stick-i-tude to the surface the door was resting on. Enter the Painters Pyramid. It seems some clever inventor, (Mike Bucci), decided to solve the problem of painting the sides of objects more easily. Painter’s Pyramids are three-sided pyramids made of a specially formulated, lightweight plastic. Each pyramid has rounded points to minimize the “touch point” on the object being painted, while reducing the possibility of marking the wood. The pyramids have holes make them easy to attach to a sawhorse or other work surface. The makers recommend painting only the top surface of an object prior to turning it over on the Painter’s Pyramid™ and then painting all remaining surfaces. For you color conscious buyers, they are available in blue, yellow and red. Very reasonably priced at $4.99 for a package of ten. Available at PaintersPyramid.com

Have I mentioned how much I hate painting? If not, let me reiterate. . . I hate painting. I consider painting a more extreme version of Chinese water torture. About the only thing I hate more than painting is trying to clean the brushes afterwards. As much as I do not want to recommend something disposable, I love foam brushes for some painting tasks. They also work great for applying varnish to woodwork. Although disposable does not equal environmentally friendly, when you factor in the 2000 gallons of water I use trying to clean my paintbrush, I am not convinced a disposable brush is worse than cleaning and re-using brushes. Purists and paint pros always seem to recommend a high quality regular brush. However I think foam, especially versions resistant to breaking down, is a very viable alternative. Just avoid rough surfaces and replace the brushes frequently to keep them from falling apart and leaving little foam particles in the finish. I got mine from a big box store, but I found what appears to be a cheaper and better source online. A box of 50 2″ brushes is just $12.50 from WoodworkingParts.com. That’s 50 brushes for about the cost of one high quality standard brush. I have not tried them, but they have disposable foam rollers as well.

I don’t know about you, but I think painting is a drag. Yeah, sure, it looks good when it is done. . . but the prep work combined with the knowledge you will have to do it again in several years really puts a damper on my enthusiasm. I am all for any solution that rids me of the painting monkey on my back. And what better to rid yourself of a monkey than with a Rhino. Rhino Shield is an innovative product that is advertised to never chip, flake or peel. The material used is actually a ceramic coating system and comes with a lifetime warranty. It looks like fresh paint, comes in any color, and bonds permanently to surfaces including wood, stucco, brick, and aluminum. According to the manufacturer, ceramic coating reflects over 90% of the suns energy, giving it a 25-year fade rate that is virtually undetectable to the human eye. For more information, visit Rhino Shield online. Thanks to Darren for the tip.

I love a good entrepreneurial story. Take this coffee can as an example. In 2001, an enterprising fellow named Mark Bergman devised this can to help him with his painting chores. Not long after, the can underwent some cosmetic and utilitarian refinement and evolved into the hugely successful Handy Paint Pail. A clever magnetic holder keeps your brush wet and in place right in the pail. That means no more tell-tale trails of paint showing where you walked while painting. An adjustable strap cuts down on hand fatigue. The rim makes for a handy paint scraper, resulting in a mess-free, or at least mess-less project! They even make liners for the pail that are 100 percent recycled. Available at Home Depot and a load of other home improvement retailers. Ace Hardware carries them online for about $12.

I love it when my wife strips! I am referring of course to paint stripping. Not only paint stripping, but eco-friendly paint stripping at that. I refinished a door a while back and used some of the typical home improvement store “melt the flesh off your bones, carcinogenic, environmentally evil” paint stripper. After hours in a respirator and some googling of the main ingredients I vowed to find a safer alternative. Enter Removall products from Napier Environmental Technologies. My wife gave the stuff its first field test to remove a layer of paint from some vintage wood we have in our house. Application one was promising, but we did not put it on thick enough. We left a second very thick application on over night, and the stripper did a remarkable job. Oh, and the Removall did a good job removing the paint too! It is not as fast or as effective as the carcinogenic variety, but it is effective enough for me given the benefits it has: water-based clean-up, fully biodegradable, non-flammable, contains no TAPs or HAPs (Toxic / Hazardous Air Pollutants), low odor, will not burn skin, and my favorites, non-carcinogenic and non-toxic. The products are not cheap either, but when you factor in your health and that of the environment, I think it is well worth it. I just wished some of the major stores would carry it. I tracked mine down from a site call ProPaintStrip.com for about $50 for a one gallon size. I ordered the “220″ formula which is brush-able (some formulas are for spray application only).

Technically I should title this post Metalize your Walls. The crafty team over at Kling Magnetics in Chatham, New York, have devised a paint that enables magnets to adhere to it. Magic Wall Magnetic Paint is actually a dark grey primer that you can top coat with your favorite paint. Great for kids rooms, offices and maybe even kitchens. If you love putting magnets on your refrigerator, just image if you could do the same with a wall or an entire room. The possibilities are endless. I plan to paint all of our downstairs with it and then get 1000 of those magnetic poetry kits to cover our walls in limericks of questionable taste. Prices range from about $25 for 16 ounces to $93 for a gallon. Sold at Michael’s Craft Stores, Sherwin William’s, and Do It Best Hardware. Also available from the Kling Magnetics web site. Thanks to Narineh for the clever tip!

OK, so this may not be the biggest problem to plague home improvement, but I have encountered it twice in the last few months. Have you ever opened an old can of paint, only to find a near-impenetrable “skin” that dried since the last use? If so, you will love Bloxygen. It is a can of inert gases that prevent oxygen from getting to your paint or stain. Just spray it into the container before sealing. Bloxygen does not help with water based finishes or lacquer, just oil-based stains, paints and inks. Cans are available for under $10 and are reportedly good for about 75 uses (quart sized). You can order Bloxygen at the maker’s site:
Bloxygen
or at any of their vendors.