Painting is not a science. Everyone can handle the renovation with the help of paint

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The top coat is especially suitable where the wood or metal is no longer in such a condition that you can keep it in its natural appearance, or if you want to achieve a pretty rich shade. Before application, it is advisable to use a primer and then a top coat. You have a wide range of colors at your disposal, according to the manufacturers, you can have up to 20,000 shades mixed. When renovating metal, first use an anti-corrosion primer, then a suitable topcoat comes on. If you want to simplify your work, you will reach for a special product "two in one", which combines the properties of both coatings. You can also use the top coat for today's very popular patination.

Chemical-based paints - with the need to use a thinner - create a more durable surface, improve the spreadability of the material and remove old coatings. But it is not suitable for every material, for example a water-thinnable paint is much better for a classic metal fence, which shows much greater covering ability and resistance to environmental influences. These so-called dispersion coatings do not smell during application or drying, they dry faster, so it is possible to paint the cabinet in one day and the next day it serves its purpose again.

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"You will find universal, water-based coatings on the market, which are designed not only for wood and metal, but also on plastic, terracotta, plaster and other types of surfaces," calculates Radek Kříž, technical and sales representative of the Balakryl and Bondex brands. However, it is always important to follow the correct application procedure and especially the surface preparation.

Stain, varnish, or oil?

In addition to painting, wood impregnation, varnishing or glazing can also be used for wood treatment. Glaze is a colorless or color-toned coating that absorbs into the wood, thus ensuring its better durability. It makes the drawing stand out and, unlike paint or varnish, which only remains on the surface, it does not peel.

The thick-layer stain creates a water-repellent and flexible surface resistant to cracking and peeling with excellent color fastness. On the contrary, the thin-layer glaze penetrates deep into the structure of the wood and regulates its moisture. This prevents it from twisting and cracking. At the same time, it not only protects it, but also emphasizes the drawing and allows it to stand out. Reach for the glaze when you give a new coat to your fence, windows, doors, garden furniture, gazebos or pergolas. You can also use it to treat solid wood furniture. It does not fit on veneer because it does not have enough depth to blend into the wood.

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The varnish creates a transparent, mostly light and easy-to-maintain surface layer, which the wood covers, so the drawing is not visible. A slight disadvantage is that when damaged, you will have to grind and renovate the entire surface at once. Varnishes as well as paints can be synthetic or water-soluble. Synthetic varnishes contain solvents, so they must be diluted and are generally used mainly outdoors.

Reach for the glaze when you give a new coat to your fence, windows, doors, garden furniture, gazebos or pergolas. You can also use it to treat solid wood furniture.

Exterior and interior oils are currently extremely popular. They penetrate the wood, protect it, while letting it breathe. However, only wood that has not been previously treated can be soaked in oil, or at most oil again. The advantage is that if damaged, the area is simply cleaned or lightly sanded and painted with oil. Nobody knows anything. However, the oil has no covering effects and must therefore be renewed frequently. Thanks to its water-repellent effects, the oil protects the wood, for example on terraces.

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Also popular are waxes that penetrate the wood and provide it with natural protection and a pleasant scent. However, after drying, the waxed surface still needs to be polished. "Hard and foreign wood should only be impregnated with oil, one of the reasons is the high tannin content. Varnishing is indicative of beech, oak can be painted with floor varnish. For soft wood, the best possible protection is a thin-layer glaze, in the case of a thick layer, it sticks together, ”recommends Monika Linghartová, an expert in paints and varnishes in Hornbach. But enough theory, it's time to get to work.

Outdoor wood treatment

Is a wooden fence near the cottage or pergola calling for a new coat? Definitely avoid working in the cold or on too cold days, but do not paint even in extremely high humidity or in direct sunlight. Temperatures in the range of 20 to 25 degrees Celsius are best, and humidity should not exceed 75 percent. Take the time to prepare the surface, the most common mistake being if it is insufficient. In general, the surface should be free of all old, incoherent coatings, slightly roughened (sanded, sanded, sanded), free of all dirt and dust and degreased. You can use thinner or alcohol to degrease. Only on the prepared, dry surface, any coating can be applied with the certainty that it will hold well.

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It is a good idea to impregnate the wood first, especially the first time you paint it. Impregnation ensures an even coating, it also contains fungicides, which prevents infestation by wood-destroying insects. It should dry for at least 24 hours, after which the surface is gently sanded. Only then start applying glaze, varnish or paint. Two to three coats are always ideal, with a minimum drying time of one day each. "Apply in as many coats as recommended on the product packaging. Observe the drying time of the individual layers. This also has a great impact on the life of the coating, "emphasizes Radek Kříž.

Get a flat brush made of a mixture of synthetic and natural bristles. Soak only the tip and guide the strokes in the direction of the wood fibers. If you soak a larger part of the brush, the paint will run down your hands when painting. A spray gun will also be a handy helper.

Parquets, floorboards and furniture

A quality wooden floor will last for years. But if it's starting to run out of time and a darker speck appears on it here and there, the surface will simply regrind. For floors that are not too damaged, it is sufficient to sand the surface varnish. You should only work with the grinder to a depth of one millimeter. For more damaged floors, you can be stronger, by two to three millimeters.

Always grind in three steps at an angle to the fibers of the wooden parquet. First use P40 abrasive grit sandpaper, continue with P60 and finally use P100. When you have removed all the dirt, seal any unevenness. Use sawdust from the coarsest sanding mixed with putty.

Then comes the renovation varnishing. After the base coat has hardened, the parquet must be lightly sanded, either by hand or with a 100 grit sanding grid. If you decide to oil it, it is best to do so with a wide stainless steel spatula and brush. To make rubbing into parquet even easier, use a rotary grinder with a harder and more durable sponge.

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The treatment of paneling from popular decks is similar. Again, before applying the coating, you must sand the substrate, degrease, oil, wax or resin and then impregnate the surface. A transparent oil varnish can be used for the coating itself, which creates an impermeable layer. For untreated wooden surfaces, apply it evenly in two thin layers with a brush, sponge or roller in the direction of the wood fibers and let it soak in perfectly. After about 15 minutes, wipe off the oil that has remained on the surface with a clean, dry cloth so that it does not leave a map on the floorboards. Individual layers can be recoated after 16 hours. Between them, lightly sand the paint with fine sandpaper or a sponge.

Renovation of furniture with a brush and paints is a popular activity, especially for do-it-yourselfers. It is necessary to first wash the cabinet or chair with spring water and let it dry. You must re-grind the surfaces again, sealing up any unevenness. Start applying the primer on perfectly clean and dry furniture. Then add two to three coats of the main coat as needed and finally coat the entire area with a top colorless varnish. It is not enough to paint wood once and for all. You must regularly renew the exterior and interior wood coatings to last as long as possible, especially exterior experts recommend renovation every year.

Wire fence, metal roof and radiators

From time to time it is also necessary to protect the wire fence with a suitable coating. Get rid of rust and old incoherent coatings. For example, a steel brush can be used, but an electric grinder or a steel brush on a hand drill will make your work easier. Pay special attention to critical areas, such as welds or joints. Chemical preparations can also be used - rust removers and paint strippers. But you also have to thoroughly remove them from the surface in the end. However, manual or mechanical cleaning is still the fastest, most common and most effective. Then wipe off dirt and dust and degrease with alcohol, for example.

As the freshly sanded surface is prone to corrosion, it must be primed with an anti-corrosion primer in two coats as soon as possible. Only then paint with a suitable top coat, ideally in three coats. However, do not apply them too thick so that they can dry sufficiently and the surface will not wrinkle later.

In the spring, a new surface for the tin roof may also come into play. The high-pressure cleaner removes mosses, lichens, soot, corrosion, grease or other impurities. You will be left with the removal of old paint and possibly regrinding of corroded areas. However, the surface must be dry before you start painting. One to two anti-corrosion coatings are optimal. Only then use a suitable top coat in any shade. Keep a six-hour interval between coats. The ambient and substrate temperature should not fall below 10 ° C.

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Painting radiators, especially the old cast iron ones, is not a very popular activity even for professional painters, it requires patience and care. You apply the color to the folds of the ribs with the help of a rounded roller, the hard-to-reach places with a corner brush. First, however, sand incoherent and non-stick coatings and corroded areas with a steel brush or sponge.

If you decide to paint the heating now, in the heating season, do not forget to turn it off before the renovation and let it cool down completely. Do not forget to cover the meters and taps used to control the temperature with adhesive tape. Treat clean and dry radiators with a basic anti-corrosion paint. After drying, lightly sand the edges of the repaired areas so that the newly painted surface matches the original paint. Finally, paint the entire surface with a top coat, which is intended directly for hot water heating, as well as a special acrylic varnish for radiators. After four to six hours at 20 ° C, you will be able to use the heater immediately

Patina is worn

Patina adds authenticity and historic touch to furniture and accessories. You don't necessarily have to wait many years for the varnish on the new wooden chest of drawers to peel off and the edges to abrade. Try patination with sanding. If the chest of drawers is already painted, sand the surface with a sanding sponge, sandpaper or electric sander except for bare wood. In places where you want to create a scuffed effect, apply wax with an ordinary candle, and paint the first coat of paint. Other coatings will not adhere so well here and the effect will be more pronounced.

Choose places that would naturally abrade with long use - edges, places around the fittings at the drawers, etc. Allow the first layer to dry well. Then apply another layer. Allow to dry completely again and then sand the surface with sandpaper in the very places where the wax was. Repeat the procedure once more, applying the wax first, ideally in different places than before, and then the last coat. After it has dried completely, carefully sand it again where you have applied the wax. And it is done.

Shellac polish and bone glue

Do not go into painting or painting historically valuable furniture without thorough consultation with experts. "When we renovate, for example, an eighteenth-century chest of drawers with rich marquetry, we first dismantle the whole part into individual parts; restorer David Fiala from Atelier Fiala on his blog.

If some parts, whether structural or otherwise, are missing or no longer repairable, the restorer will manufacture, cut or turn a new part faithfully similar to the missing one. But he must choose wood about the same age as the renovated artifact, of the same kind, drawings and similar properties. The manufactured replacement must be glued to the original places.

All glued joints are glued with bone glue. This original binder was widely used by our ancestors. These are purely natural, light brown granules that are boiled, and the resulting mass is still hot, applied to the heated wooden part instead of the chemical binders that are now commonplace. With it, you will also fix the structural joints on the chest of drawers so that it regains its original shape. Restoring marquetry requires not only skill and skill, but above all patience.

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The detached parts are glued or very carefully removed and glued back with those that are missing. The restorer must first choose the right veneer, mostly noble woods of fruit trees, but often also foreign and relatively rare woods. The shape of the required marquetry must be transferred to the veneer or veneers thus prepared, since the various woods are always stacked next to each other. The individual particles are then precisely glued into the desired shape and retouched so that they cannot be distinguished from the original ones. The surface is carefully sanded. First rough, then moistened to make the fibers come out, and grind finer. This procedure is repeated several more times until the surface is beautifully smooth and the nozzle is clearly visible for years. The chest of drawers then gets a new juice in the form of flax cheese, which on the one hand adds moisture to the wood and on the other hand underlines the drawing and color.

At the moment, the restorer is facing another alchemical delicacy, which is shellac polish. The basis of the long-forgotten surface treatment are the dried faeces of the Indian lacquer beetle. "Of course, the restorer does not run around India and does not track where the insects are pouring, but buys this dung already dried and treated, so it forms a kind of flakes, which in turn dissolve in a special, only 98% anhydrous alcohol," explains David Fiala.

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The liquid prepared in this way rubs into the wooden surface, which is a roll of special fabric. Fine paraffin oil and alcohol are gradually added to the shellac on the field. Before the surface is perfect, ten to fifteen layers of shellac polish must be applied. The chest of drawers prepared in this way goes to rest for a fortnight, during which time the polish so-called sags, larger pores swallow larger amounts of shellac, and the surface is therefore not uniformly smooth and shiny, so it is necessary to wait and rub the other layers again shellac and a larger proportion of alcohol and oil.

This rest regime is repeated as many times as necessary, depending on the structure of the veneer used. Excess oil, which rises to the surface of the wood, is spread with polish, which is a modern substitute for Viennese lime, which used to be a household cleaner. With this last step, the renovation of the chest of drawers is completed.