Amateur house Chester County Painter never had as much help as today. Scores of new paints and equipment placed on industry in the last few years make it possible for the weekend handyman to paint his own house nearly as easily as an expert. From one-coat paints to disposable blowtorches, everything has been designed to make the task go faster, look better and cost less.

With the newest outside rollers, you can paint an average-size house in a couple of days. Add an extension handle and you can roll a terrace without stooping down, reach a roof without leaving the ground.

Painting Hard Spots

Specialized aids with built-in know, how tackle the hard spots for you personally.

Better still, you don’t have to spend hours getting ready and hours cleaning afterward. Premixed paints, electric-drill attachments and self-dispensing calking guns make short work of preparation. Cleaning up is a soap-and-water job for the rubber paints, or a quick dip in special cleaners for the oils. Disposable dropcloths and paper paint pails are used once and thrown away.

In this section are some tips on techniques and tools that make it easier to paint your property than ever before – not how a “pro” does, perhaps, but with much the same results.

The definition of paint is used to include paints, varnishes, enamels, shellacs, lacquers, and stains.

• Paints are composed of mineral pigments, organic vehicles, and many different thinners all combined.
• Varnishes are resins dissolved in organic thinners.
• Enamels are pigmented varnishes.
• Shellac is lac gum dissolved in alcohol.
• Lacquers may be both pigmented or clear – the liquid portion often is treated nitrocellulose dissolve in thinners.
• Stains may be pigmented oil or a penetrating type.
A number of these materials, such as paints, varnishes, and lacquers, are formulated for specific purposes:
• Outside house paints and exterior varnishes are meant to give good service when exposed to weathering
• Interior wall paints are formulated to give excellent coverage and good wash-ability.
• Floor enamels are made to withstand abrasion.
• Lacquers are formulated for rapid drying.
• There are also formulas which provide extra self-cleaning, fume- resisting, waterproofing, hardening, flexibility, mildew-resisting, resistance to fading, and breathing qualities.

Interior paints are used to obtain pleasing decorative effects, improve sanitary conditions, and insure better lighting. These paints may be divided in to four types: wall primers; one-coat flats; flat, semigloss, and gloss; and water paints.