Rust frequently starts at the base of the pole where it gets the most wear. Rust Grip encapsulates the rust and seals out it's causes.

COLORADO SPRINGS, 8/2011  After a year of test projects and meetings, the city of Centennial has specified Rust Grip to coat rusted areas on 29 light signal poles. This is a step forward for the City and SPI Dealers like myself. The city of Centennial, a suburb of Denver, will not have to think about the rust on the light poles for another 10-15yrs. This is a huge cost savings for the city. It is also an example of how bureaucracies can break out of the “business as usual” mindset and implement new strategies that save their constituents money.

Despite the long sales cycle, SPI dealers can see how they can bring their own kind of reform to their city halls across the country. Dealing with rust on metal has been a very difficult and time consuming process, up till now. Past rust treatments include blasting off the rust (with various containment methods and hazards) and using 3 coats of specialized paint. Rust Grip has streamlined the process to removing scale, a wire brush, an easy to use solvent for cleaning and two quick coats of Rust Grip. Rust Grip typically saves over 50% of what has normally been done and lasts twice as long.

Rust Grip is an industrial strength coating, but has residential uses as well. It is a great coating for garage floors. Once it dries, nothing gets through. It is chemical resistant, impact resistant and has a surface tensile strength of over 7,000psi. Perfect for the home shop enthusiast.

Contact Tim Hoeffel at Better Painting at 719.641.5043 about how you can benefit from Rust Grip or other SPI coatings, like our insulation coatings Super Therm and HSC.

How Does Insulation Work?

Insulation works because the fiberglass or rock wool creates millions of pockets of air, which is a great insulator. Even so, R rated building materials will absorb heat much like a sponge. Heat “drips” through building materials like water through a sponge, moving from warm to cool. R materials (insulation here) only Retard or slow down the transfer of heat. It is physically impossible to stop it once absorbed.

The Insulation Scandal You Never Heard

The most used type of insulation is fiberglass batting. It comes with differing “R” values, but building codes often use R19. Fiberglass only has an “R19” value under certain conditions:

1. when it is a full 6 inches (150mm) thick, not compacted in any way
2. when there is “0″ humidity in the air, as in the test conditions
3. when it is 73°F (the test temperature)
4. fiberglass must be fully protected from the atmospheric elements by a metal jacket during testing.

If insulation is exposed to different conditions the performance will decrease. Fiberglass or rock wool only works in a controlled lab, and never to its reported “R” value in the field.

When fiberglass or rock wool insulation is compacted in any way, this reduces the R effectiveness to the thickness it is. For instance, 6” of R rated material compacted into a standard wall unit of 3” reduces the R rating from R19 down to R9.5 immediately. This is before moisture (humidity) builds into the material. 1.5% moisture content in insulation further reduces the insulation’s effectiveness by another 35% to R6.1. You are getting 68% LESS of what you are paying for!

What Does an ”R Value” Actually Mean?

The “R” value is determined by an insulation’s capability to control heat “after the fact” – meaning that the initial surface facing the sun has absorbed the vast majority of the solar radiation heat load, and then evaluating the thick layer of insulation’s ability to control the transfer of heat, thus resulting in the appropriate “R” value.

Super Therm® – The Solution to Heat Transfer

This may sound a little trite, but if your home, business or property doesn’t get hot, there are no issues with heat transfer. Unrealistic you say? A little to Star Treckish? If you don’t believe me you may believe the US Department of Energy. Their ENEGY STAR program has a class of materials called Cool Roof Coatings. One of the best performers is called Super Therm®.

Super Therm® blocks 95%+ of the Initial Heat Load

Meaning that the initial surface facing the sun only absorbs 5% of the initial solar radiation (heat load), not 100% as in traditional insulating technologies. This 5% value represents substantially less heat transfer than that experienced by traditional insulations, which slows down but do not stop, the transfer of heat. That’s why it is also called a “thermal insulating barrier”. It prevents things from getting hot.

Super Therm® is like a thick ceramic paint-like coating. ENERGY STAR says the “EPA qualifies paint only as a roof coating in our Roofs program (generally for the top of a commercial building roof). Roof coatings are NOT insulation. They reflect solar heat off a roof rather than absorbing it, keeping the building cooler”.

Documented Results Using Super Therm

1. German Mechanical Engineer in Construction Physics makes study of home coated with Super Therm® and finds 76% less energy usage from Super Therm as compared to fiberglass and rock wool.
2. 2008 temperatures in Las Vegas average 110°F in July. Adobe homes were coated (roof and walls) with Super Therm® reported up to 50 – 60 % savings on the TOTAL utility bill. One house (1499sf) has a utility bill of $103 for the month of July with swimming pool, (5) f reezers and electronics running constantly. House maintains temperature not over 81°F without air conditioning.
3. Clark County School District’s (Nevada) Engineering Study documents reduction in roof temperatures from 161°F down to 97.5°F (2°F over ambient air temperature) in Las Vegas. CCSD of Nevada 2nd largest school district in US.
4. Florida department of Energy Specialist documents moisture block and air flow reduction as well as 30% savings in homes in Florida (hot and humid climates) and in Denver (dryclimate) as well as steel containers.
5. Total house application cost is paid with energy savings in 2 – 4 years.
6. Sony Corporation coats roof and walls of one monitored building with Super Therm® and finds 78% reduction in total energy consumption.

Super Therm® has been consistent in blocking heat LOAD in all weather conditions over many years. In 15 years of evaluation on sections of an old roof, Super Therm® only lost 8% of it’s heat blocking ability. There is no comparison between Super Therm® and traditional insulation.

Super Therm will

• Reduce your heating and cooling bill, permanently.
• Block mold, mildew and wood rot from forming.
• Keeps your home draft free and dry as a breathable wind and water barrier.
• Block flame spread as a Class “A” Fire Rating.
• Last 20+ years.
• Reduce fossil fuels needed to produce electricity.
• Balance the indoor temperature of your home.
• Increase your indoor comfort level.
• Non toxic, low VOC, environmentally friendly, ceramic based formula.

Let’s not forget that it more than makes up for the deficiencies of typical insulation. Since you now have a great way to further the value of your home and increase your comfort level, why not send a quick email for more information? Forewarned is forearmed they say.

By Tim Hoeffel, Better Painting, Colorado Springs, CO, 719.641.5043

Benefits of Super Therm®:

• Energy Savings – Super Therm® can provide energy savings of 20-70%. According to use and application.
• R-19 Equivalent Rating – Super Therm® reflects over 95% of radiation from the sun replacing the 6 to 8 inches of traditional insulation to block initial heat load.
• Blocks Moisture and Air Infliltration – Super Therm® is certified and tested as a moisture and air barrier under ASTM certified testing.
• Environmentally Friendly – Super Therm® is certified environmentally safe and eco-effective by MBDC LLC (Gold Certificate) and is approved by the USDA for use in and around food preparation areas. (The original USDA testing and approval letter is on file.)
• Class A Fire Rating – In case of fire, Super Therm® will not contribute and will resist the spread of fire. “0″ Flame and smoke.
• Long Lasting – Super Therm® has a 20+ year lifespan on roofing under normal conditions when applied as a system

Super Therm® is UL, FM, DNV, ABS, IMO, USDA, Energy Star, ICC, California Home Furnishings, and U.S. Coast Guard and CRRC approved to meet criteria.

Super Therm® is Energy Star qualified as a 20 year roof coating (page 87, Energy Star Roof Product List)

Super Therm® OutperformsTraditional Insulation

The ASTM C-236 Heat Transfer (Guarded Hot Box) test was performed with Super Therm® to determine the BTU/in./sq.ft/hour/F and conductivity performance of Super Therm® so that a comparison could be made with traditional insulation. Since this test, many facts have come to light concerning the test methods and procedures used by the traditional insulation industry to demonstrate insulation (R) rating.

These results are astounding! Super Therm® is 296% more effective than traditional insulation under identical conditions and shown to be stable all day in field studies by Sony, UPS and others.

* Tested by Owens Corning Insulation for Mechanical Systems 2002.

HSC™: Medium Temperature Coating

Get heat protection that surpasses conventional insulation with HSC™ Coating. HSC™ Coating is a ceramic based, water-borne insulating coating designed to insulate in medium temperature situations. Use HSC™ Coating as a base coat/primer or build layers for additional protection.

This insulation method is much different than the traditional “wrap” insulation materials that only slow down the loss of heat (known as an R rating or “heat transfer”). The seven ceramic compounds used create a barrier to catch and hold heat on the surface of the unit—be it pipe, furnace surface, boiler, etc. Unlike wraps that use air as the insulation component, the ceramic compounds in HSC™ Coating resist absorbing heat trying to come off the surface to escape. This traps and holds the heat onto the surface for more effective insulation performance.

Benefits of HSC™ Coating

• Easy to Apply – Apply directly to hot pipes while operating with brush, roller, or airless sprayer.
• Increased Insulation – Additional coats immediately reduce surface temperature and loss of heat.
• Long Lasting – Does not absorb moisture or lose insulation value.
• Safe – HSC™ Coating is non-flammable and non-toxic.
• Coverage – Can be brushed or sprayed to fit over any configuration or shape.

Super Therm® and HSC work well as in indoor – outdoor knock out combination punch to may insulation needs. HSC works especially well for the underside of roof decking in attics, HVAC equipment and hot surfaces below 350°F. It forms a non-conductive barrier preventing the loss of conductive and radiant heat from surfaces.

Disclaimer: This information is provided by Better Painting of Colorado Springs, CO and is to my knowledge, fair and accurate. All test results and technichal information are provided by Superior Products International, II, Inc. Better Painting is submitting this information in good faith that all tests and reporting are done acurately and fairly. Better Painting will not be held liable for any test data or results or construal, misapplication or misinterpretation of findings. Better Painting will answer any questions it can, but will defer technichal questions to SPI.

Benefits of Super Therm®:

• Energy Savings – Super Therm® can provide energy savings of 20-70%. According to use and application.
• R-19 Equivalent Rating – Super Therm® reflects over 95% of radiation from the sun replacing the 6 to 8 inches of traditional insulation to block initial heat load.
• Blocks Moisture and Air Infliltration – Super Therm® is certified and tested as a moisture and air barrier under ASTM certified testing.
• Environmentally Friendly – Super Therm® is certified environmentally safe and eco-effective by MBDC LLC (Gold Certificate) and is approved by the USDA for use in and around food preparation areas. (The original USDA testing and approval letter is on file.)
• Class A Fire Rating – In case of fire, Super Therm® will not contribute and will resist the spread of fire. “0″ Flame and smoke.
• Long Lasting – Super Therm® has a 20+ year lifespan on roofing under normal conditions when applied as a system

Super Therm® is UL, FM, DNV, ABS, IMO, USDA, Energy Star, ICC, California Home Furnishings, and U.S. Coast Guard and CRRC approved to meet criteria.

Super Therm® is Energy Star qualified as a 20 year roof coating (page 87, Energy Star Roof Product List)

Super Therm® OutperformsTraditional Insulation

HSC™: Medium Temperature Coating

Get heat protection that surpasses conventional insulation with HSC™ Coating. HSC™ Coating is a ceramic based, water-borne insulating coating designed to insulate in medium temperature situations. Use HSC™ Coating as a base coat/primer or build layers for additional protection.

This insulation method is much different than the traditional “wrap” insulation materials that only slow down the loss of heat (known as an R rating or “heat transfer”). The seven ceramic compounds used create a barrier to catch and hold heat on the surface of the unit—be it pipe, furnace surface, boiler, etc. Unlike wraps that use air as the insulation component, the ceramic compounds in HSC™ Coating resist absorbing heat trying to come off the surface to escape. This traps and holds the heat onto the surface for more effective insulation performance.

Benefits of HSC™ Coating

• Easy to Apply – Apply directly to hot pipes while operating with brush, roller, or airless sprayer.
• Increased Insulation – Additional coats immediately reduce surface temperature and loss of heat.
• Long Lasting – Does not absorb moisture or lose insulation value.
• Safe – HSC™ Coating is non-flammable and non-toxic.
• Coverage – Can be brushed or sprayed to fit over any configuration or shape.

Super Therm® and HSC work well as in indoor – outdoor knock out combination punch to may insulation needs. HSC works especially well for the underside of roof decking in attics, HVAC equipment and hot surfaces below 350°F. It forms a non-conductive barrier preventing the loss of conductive and radiant heat from surfaces.

Disclaimer

This information is provided by Better Painting of Colorado Springs, CO. All test results and technichal information are provided by Superior Products International, II, Inc. Better Painting is submitting this information in good faith that all tests and reporting are done acurately and fairly. Better Painting will not be held liable for any test data or results or construal, misapplication or misinterpretation of findings. Better Painting will answer any questions it can, but will defer technichal questions to SPI.

Answer: Hi Debbie,
Thanks for your question. I’ll make an assumption first, that by “upholstered” you mean “carpet”. If you have hardwood stairs you probably have hardwood in the most of the rest of the house too. In Colorado, that is considered a premium finish and brings extra value to the house. You may want to check out the rest of the house and think about keeping the hardwood by having it refinished. If not, here is how to paint the stairs.

Products
I would not recommend a latex paint for stairs. It isn’t durable enough. You need something that can take the abuse of being walked on and kicked. I would recommend an oil based solid body deck stain. Even a water based deck stain doesn’t hold up like the oil based. For best results use Sikkens. Second choice is Cabot’s. They do drag a little so thin with Penatrol. It will take several days to dry so make sure you don’t need to go upstairs for a while.

How To
After removing the carpet strips, prep the wood by wiping it down with a TSP substitute. Fill the nail holes with spackling and sand till they are flush with the wood. You may want to scrape off or sand any bumps or fill dents with wood filler and sand those areas flush. Wipe off the dust with a damp rag. Prime with Zinsser’s Cover Stain or Low Odor primer. I would avoid Kilz for this project. Then paint with two coats of an oil based solid body deck stain.

Hope This Helps,

Tim Hoeffel
Better Painting
Colorado Springs, CO

Answer: I’m not sure what you mean when describing the effect you want. I’ve included some general guidelines for working with glaze that I hope will get you started. First a quick comment. I would replace the steel wool with a Scotch/Norton/Other nylon pad. If a piece of steel wool breaks off and becomes embedded in your surface it will rust.

There are two ways to work with glaze. Either buy a colored glaze or mix paint with clear glaze. The easiest way is the colored glaze, if you can find one close to the color you want. My paint store, and many others, carry McClosky’s in about a dozen different colors. It’s easy to use but experimenting is recommeded.

You will need the following: several clean rags, a small bucket of water, a small container for the glaze (4″-12″ wide, 1″-2″ deep), latex gloves, drop cloth or equivalent.

Pour a little glaze out in the container. Dab the corner of a clean rag in the glaze and apply it where desired. It dries very slow so you can work it around, add and subtract, until you get the desired effect. You will want a damp rag and dry rag. The damp rag to wipe off excess from where you don’t want it, the dry rag to subtract stain if you get too much on. You can swirl it on or use strait lines, work it in and wipe off the rest on the top. It will have a tendency to collect in the lowest areas like water. That gives a dark line effect.

If the ready made colors are not to your liking, buy a quart of the color you want, a quart of clear glaze in the appropriate sheen, and combine paint to glaze in 1:3, 1:1, 3:1 ratios depending on how dark you want the glaze. The more paint the quicker it dries, too.

Wonder if you could help me, I am trying to first coat a newly plastered wall with a good brand emulsion and using a good finish roller.  I have watered the emulsion down but as the paint dries the paint just peels off.

What am I doing wrong, could it be anything to do with the roller I am using as I normally use a paint pad??

Hope you can offer some advise.

Thanks

Answer:
There are two issues to consider with new plaster. The first is a high PH level. You may have heard of this in concrete. Plaster is very similar. As the plaster dries there are a lot of chemical reactions going on that make it very alkaline. This makes normal paint unlikely to stick well if at all.

The second issue is moisture in the plaster. Just because it’s dry on the surface doesn’t mean it’s completely dry in the middle or back. Perhaps you have noticed a little extra humidity in the room?

Here is what you can do. Put a couple fans in the room with the door open for a few days to help the plaster dry. The PH level will slowly dissipate and stabilize over the first month. After that normal paint will work just fine. Prime with a PVA. If you don’t want to wait that long you can buy an alkali – resistant primer from your local paint store. Don’t forget to use a low nap roller to keep that plaster looking smooth.

Happy Painting,
Tim Hoeffel

Cheap or value based quality is an oxymoron. If you want quality your going to have to pay for it. Forget Walmart, Kmart and any other “mart” and go to a real paint store, like Dale’s Paint, where you can talk to sales professionals who deal with contractors daily. You can find out why a certain paint is used more than others, how it goes on and how it holds up to real use. MPI approved products for high traffic areas are only marginally more expensive and can give results up to 9.14 times better.

These 5 paints got kudos from Consumer Reports for “high scores for staining and scrubbing, and resisted gloss changes.”

• “Behr $24 CR Best Buy”
• “Kilz $19 CR Best Buy”
• “Valspar $27″
• “True Value $23 CR Best Buy”
• “Dutch Boy $15 CR Best Buy”

Here are the cruel hard facts from the MPI article’s summary. “Only 1 of the 5 passed qualification tests for performance contained in the test standards and protocol for MPI #138. Some failed cleansability or burnish resistance, or scrubbability, etc.

“For reference, MPI’s minimum number of scrub cycles for this standard is 3000, but 1 of the 5 Consumer Reports “Best for high-traffic areas” products actually failed by film breakthrough observed as early as 319 cycles.

“That only 1 of the top 5 of Consumers Reports “Best for high-traffic areas” paints passed the MPI performance standards does not indicate that the products tested are not good paint products, but it does indicate that the performance and durability standards needed for commercial projects are somewhat more stringent. Until accepted performance test methods are adopted by any consumer product testing, perhaps professional specifiers of commercial products should avoid DIY paint recommendations for commercial and institutional projects.”

The moral of the story is that professional painters know what works. We want to give you products that actually work because, for the many small one or three man businesses, our job is on the line every day. We care about our quality and hope to make your life a little better by doing our job well.

For the complete article by MPI, please go to www.paintinfo.com or click the link in the blog roll.

You may not have thought of your house paint in this light before, so prepare yourself for an epiphany. Ready? OK. Designer paints. Yeah, that’s it. Wait…Just a minute…Let me explain. This is better than it first looks.

We all know about designer colors. This is designer formulations that bring out certain properties such as fade resistance, durability, adhesion, scrubabillity or other factors. As hard as they try, the major paint companies have not hit the holy grail of one coating being great at everything.

Most Paint Not “Good” At Everything 

Just ask ConsumerSearch.com. “In its June 2007 issue, Consumer Reports published the best comparative review we found on interior paint. Editors tested over 60 different interior paints, concluding that no one paint does everything well.” My buddy and go-to paint guru guy Doug Wilson at PaintSource.net said the same thing. “Paint can be rated to be the best, but on what criteria?”. Out of the 60 paints rated by Consumer Reports, it only took 3, yeah, three votes, to be ranked the “best”.

A while ago I was wandering through the SpecialChem4Coatings web site looking for additives that I could put in paint to keep it wet longer. I signed up to have a rep contact me for a particular additive with some long chemical name. A few days later he calls. Turns out to be an industrial account rep for BASF. Yeah, that really big chemical company that makes the stuff that makes all our stuff better.

Anyway, I find out I’m in way over my head because I got nowhere to put a rail car of corrosive chemicals. But this rep starts telling me stories of going to visit the guys in the paint lab. Turns out that they can experiment with small batches of paint that are really phenomenal. The kind of stuff that really will last a lifetime. ‘Course, it would cost a hundred smackers or more per gallon, but who sweats the small stuff, right?

Paint Buying  Tips

Well, this is the dilemma we are in, cost vs. performance. Not very part of your house gets the same kind of wear or experiences the same conditions (like the kitchen or bath vs. the dining room or a room with a lot of direct sun light). So the paint companies are forced to make their paints perform differently to accommodate different conditions to keep things affordable. And performance is normally the looser.

So what most of us end up doing is hoping the “top rated” paints are “good enough” at doing what we need them to do so we can overlook their weak side.

But buying paint isn’t quite like buying gas, lots of brands but only three grades. Buy the grade that fits your budget and goals because each grade all pretty much the same regardless of manufacturer.

What often happens in the paint industry is that one bargain line may be as good as a premium line for 2/3 the price. So what’s a body to do? Follow this checklist of things paint is supposed to do well and see how it matches up with the things highlighted on the paint you are thinking of buying.

Match Room Use with the Paint

The items not mentioned are the things you need to watch out for. As reported in the ConsumerSearch article quoted above, Sherwin Williams’ Duration is excellent at durability and adhesion, but really bad at color retention. How much you want to bet their promotional info doesn’t mention that it fades fast?

Ideally you want to match the room use with the paint. You can cheat a little by using a higher sheen of lower grade paint, which is less expensive. Higher sheens have a smoother, harder surface. That means there is less for dirt and other stuff to stick too, which makes it come off more easily. But you may not like shiny walls or brittle paint. A lower sheen but more durable, and more expensive, option may be the best option.

You also want to look for indicators like “100% Acrylic” or “Urethane Fortified”. Just like in cooking, the better the ingredients the better the results. In this case it is less work for you. Fewer coats for coverage and easier touch-up.

Better Ingredients Make Better Paint 

This article excerpt from the Spectra Paint Center gives some technical ingredient details and what that means for you.

“According to PQI (Paint Quality Institute), quality paints have better binders. The type of binder and amount used affect everything from stain and crack resistance to adhesion.

“Several polymer types are used as binders for latex paints. Oil paints usually have a drying oil or modified oil, called alkyds, as their binders. Of the two, quality latex paints with 00-percent acrylic binders are especially long lasting. They’re also more expensive.

“Part of the reason is that acrylic binders cost more,” said Walt Gozdan, PQI technical director. “You’re paying extra money but you’re getting more durability and better adhesion.”

“Typically speaking, quality paints have more prime than extender pigments. Prime pigments are good hiding pigments, while extender pigments provide bulk at low cost. The most common prime pigment is titanium dioxide, a white pigment found in both oil and latex paints. It’s not inexpensive but is imperative for good hiding”.

“All of these benefits save time in the initial painting and in recoats. Since most of the cost of repainting a home is in labor, it makes sense to invest in a top-quality acrylic latex paint. It applies easier, lasts longer and, when spread out over the life of the paint job, costs less”. End excerpt.

When picking paint, you are weighing pros and cons of the eleven categories listed above with the use and environmental conditions of the room. The big advantage to working this way is that you will end up with better looking and longer lasting paint. You will have Better Painting.

To Your Better Painting,

Tim Hoeffel