Green Home Design - Paint

Paint is leading the expansion of the green home design building movement. Manufactures are being forced to produce paints with less dangerous and smog-producing compounds as regulations become tighter, increases in consumer demand for eco-friendly products and pressure mounting from environmental groups who closely monitor the green home design building movement.

Not everyone is happy about the changes paint manufacturers have had to make over the past few years towards the green home design movement. Many designers, painters and consumers who are for the green home design movement are becoming worried about increasing restrictions on oil-based paints (which contain high levels of harmful volatile organic compounds), and even on less hazardous water-based latex paints.

Some are arguing that with current products moving towards the green home design building movement it is impossible to replicate the integrity of an oil-based paint especially for the use on cabinetry, trim and other specialty jobs. In addition, painting walls and ceilings can require additional applications of the newer paints made with low volatile organic compounds or V.O.C. 's than the traditional latex blends.

VOLATILE organic compounds, or V.O.C.’s, are gases emitted by products like paint, lacquer, cleaning supplies and pesticides.

Over the past decade, many regulations have been enacted by the state and federally to reduce V.O.C.'s that are in paint and other products as part of a movement towards green home design. Federal V.O.C. limitations are 250 grams per liter for flat finishes and 380 grams for other finishes such as semi-gloss. An advisory group created under the Clean Air Act of 1990 (The Ozone Transport Commission), has recommendations limiting V.O.C.'s even further to 100 grams per liter for flat paint and 150 for other finishes. States that are in the process of adopting these limits or already have are: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Southern California has the most stringent rules in the country in which the South Coast Air Quality Management District requires all paints sold to contain less than 50 grams of V.O.C.'s per Liter. Many of today's new paints on the market have already been manufactured to comply with this so that they will not have to reformulate their products in the future as the regulations change and the movement towards green home design grows. Meeting these standards are Benjamin Moore's Aura, Home depot's Freshaire Choice and Sherwin-William's Harmony. Some other companies like Yolo Colorhouse and AFM Safecoat produce only low or "zero" V.O.C. paints.

Green Seal a nonprofit environmental organization are the ones who certify products as eco-friendly. They have listed 21 brands that have passed their environmental saftey and performance tests. Coming in third is Benjamin Moore's Aura with Sherwin-William's zero V.O.C. line Harmony, did not hold up to the performance test well along with several other brands. As the movement towards green home design continues to grow products through research will eventual increase their integrity and become standard among building products.

Curb Painting Business

A curb painting business is extremely lucrative and easy to start business that can make money fast. What might you be painting a curb for, you may ask yourself. Well, in many places people have their house number painted on the curb which is a necessity. This type of business requires only a small investment that anyone can afford. It is also extremely easy to learn. At a hundred dollars a pop you could be making very good money curb painting.

In order to start your business you will need some materials to start with. You will need stencils to produce the numbers on the curb along with the proper paint. You will want your numbers to be highly reflective so that night time viewing is possible. This will be your catch! Most numbers are painted cannot be seen at night. You will have a much better response for work if you do something or provide something most others are not. So when thinking of starting this type of opportunity you must make sure you have the correct materials.

Now in order to make money people will have to know you exist. You need to get the word out. You will need to make up some flyers and get them out there. Advertising in cheap places is also good just keep your advertising to a minimum. You can easily make around 200 to 300 per day with this opportunity. In areas that folks have their house number on the curb it is necessary for them to have it so there is a lot of potential for money here. You may also use internet advertising to spread the word of your business.

Good luck with this extremely low investment business opportunity that anyone can start. Curb painting is becoming evermore popular. You may want to also remove fading numbers as well for even more money. Just have fun curb painting and make some dollars. I would love to here from those that have done this and are making money!

Painting Business Property Insurance for Equipment

When getting general liability insurance for your painting business you may want to consider insuring your equipment by purchasing extra Painting Business Property Insurance Equipment you may own. Typically your home insurance may cover the equipment up to 3,000 dollars, so if you have more than that you should look into getting the extra Painting Business property insurance for equipment when you are away from home with your equipment.

You may ask yourself, “Should I get insurance to cover my painting equipment?”. The answer is; Yes! It would not cost too much more for having Painting Business Property Insurance for equipment. Ladders, sprayers, power washers and tools can run thousands of dollars and to have them stolen or destroyed could be very costly.


The premium is usually calculated per 100 dollars of equipment, but at a low amount. What if you were on the job and a fire broke out burning the house and your equipment to the ground. You would be out of luck if you did not have painting business property insurance. There are so many things that can happen. You should also have commercial insurance on the vehicle that you are using for business. Checking with various agents and insurance companies I am sure you will find a reasonably decent quote for your painting business property insurance.

Once you have found a few good quotes it is very important to read the document and understand all that is covered. You may find subtle differences between the policies. You must decide which is more important or which fits your needs closer. Once you have done that you will then compare the premiums and choose the one you like best.

You should have many local agencies in your area that you can get quotes from. Usually it will be the larger well known companies that will have larger quotes and more stringent rules. The larger companies will also make it difficult for the new business owners to get coverage by having strict qualifying rules that you will need to comply with. You will probably be better off finding a broker.

Never make an uninformed decision when getting insurance, and do not allow the agent to push you into making a quick decision either. Take your time and really investigate all the policies for what and how much each specific category covers. Good luck in getting your painting business property insurance for equipment.

Wood Deck Maintenance Tips

Wood deck maintenance tips does fall under interior painting for the fact that some decks have enclosures leading to exterior parts of the home. For this reason I will publish this article. You may head over to Exterior Home Painting blog to read more about Wood Deck Maintenance

• Mill Glaze – Is when the surface of the wood is new and has a sheen on the surface from the mill that hiders penetration of stain A shiny surface on the wood which comes from the mill when the wood is cut.

• Stripping a Wood Deck- This when you remove any old finish that is on the surface of a wood deck. Best done by sanding but can also be done with or without chemical solutions but with a pressure washer.

• Sanding a Wood Deck - This is done with a comercial sander and it completely strips the deck of it's finish. When sanding a wood deck you should not use any wood brighteners or chemical cleaning solutions.

• Power Washing After Sanding - Once the wood deck has been sanded you will need to wash the deck off with a pressure washer that is 1000-1200 psi, a wide 40 degree spray nozzle, and the nozzle should be held at least 12 inches from the surface.

• Power Washing with Brighteners and Cleaners - This is where wood brighteners and cleaning solutions are used to clean the deck. The chemicals will strip most stains but will not strip solid stains or paint, for that you will need do sanding. A power washer between 1500-1800 psi will work and a 25 degree spray nozzle held at 12 inches from the surface will work.

• Power Washing without Brighteners or Cleaners - a strong pressure washer between 2000 and 2500 psi and a spray nozzle of 15 to 25 degrees held at about 8 to 10 inches from the surface of the wood should work. There may need to be some sanding and then a repeated wash. You must be careful with this method because you can easily damage the wood.
  

Hiring a Painter for a Painting Business

Whether owning a painting franchise or painting business you will eventually need help with your work. You can hire painters with experience and laborers who do not have a lot of experience. When hiring a painter or painter’s helper you will need to think about what you are doing. Most importantly you will need some business insurance other than liability insurance which will protect you and them should they get hurt on the job called Workman’s Compensation Insurance.

First order on your list will be to go get the workman’s compensation insurance which your local insurance broker or agent can quote for you. In Pennsylvania the cost for Liability insurance for a painting business is about 500 dollars and for Workman’s Compensation Insurance the base is about 1500 dollars and then at the end of the year there is an audit of your payroll and the amount is adjusted according to your payroll.

The next order of business is you need to decide how much help and what type of help you need. Someone with a bit more experience who can do more without direction will cost more than just a helper. You will need to discuss with the person how you will pay them, whether it be weekly or biweekly. Having a payroll company take care of the payroll for you can help as well.

There are a number of ways to get a helper or painter. You can advertise in the newspaper, print flyers or a very good way is through Craigs List. You will need to state what you are looking for and how much you will pay. With Craigs List they will respond to an email which you can screen the prospective employee out and then exchange numbers.

When screening the prospective Painter for the position you will want to know their experience and have them back that up. You may also want to have them work on a probationary term to see how they work out. If they work out and can meet the expectation that you expect and they have portrayed then you are in luck.

You may find that the person does not work out but you should now have a list of possible people to choose from. Hiring a painter for your Painting Business or Painting Franchise is no easy task. Just make sure you have some business insurance coverage to protect you and your employee in case of any injury on he job.