Scaffolding and Dust Containment

A paint restoration project can involve much advanced planning and equipment, especially for an old building in a large urban area like Chicago. Before any work can be performed, power lines will have to be moved because of their proximity to the work areas. The Chicago Department of Operations handles that service, at a hefty cost! Additionally, there may be an additional low voltage wire for police and fire communications that will need to be wrapped. That service is performed by a different Chicago Department, this one at no cost, amazingly.

An old city building is often right up against the sidewalk and, if it has bay windows on its façade, the building actually extends three or four feet over the sidewalk. Consequently, city ordinances require the erection of a canopy over the sidewalk to protect pedestrians. It also must remain lit from dusk to dawn. Once that work is completed, the scaffolding can then be erected to ensure safe and comfortable access to all work areas. In the case of our paint restoration project in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago, four layers of scaffolding covering the entire façade needed to be installed. The scaffolding company secured the necessary permits prior to installation. Lastly, our painting project will require the rental of a scissor lift to reach a section of the cornice that extends into the alley. A separate permit has to be secured for the use of space in the alley.

Personal Safety Equipment

Once the work above has been completed, two important aspects need to be addressed before work can begin on the painted surfaces. First, dust containment must be set up, as required by the RRP rules. In our case, it involved the set up of 4 mil plastic barriers on both ends of the scaffolding, the use of 6 mil plastic to seal the canopy to the edges of the building and the containment of the work areas to capture the paint debris and dust. The second aspect involves personal safety equipment to meet OSHA and EPA requirements. In our paint restoration project, it involved the use of fall arrest protection equipment, hard hats, dust suits, special respirators and eye protection. Having now completed all the surface preparation, we are ready to paint, finally!

Investigating the cause of peeling paint is critical to doing proper and long-lasting paint restoration, especially for exterior repaint projects. Skipping that step can easily lead to incomplete surface preparation and result in premature paint failure. Read on for an illustration of this principle.

East Side - After Scraping, but Before Sanding

Someone to whom I had given a house painting proposal four years earlier called to tell me how sorry she had been for not hiring my company to repaint her house. Within six months, her new paint job had started to peel. She said that she had chosen a lower price at that time. She said that she was not going to make the same mistake again and wanted Painting in Partnership to do the paint restoration work on her house this time.

Indeed, the South side of her house did show extensive peeling: the paint was peeling down to the bare wood. However, a cursory review of the rest of her house did not reveal much of a peeling issue. What was going on to cause the paint to entirely delaminate from the wood siding?

South Side - After Adhesive, Tinted Primer

Upon closer examination, we noticed that there was a lot of dead wood fiber attached to the back of the paint chips. It is a known fact that paint cannot adhere to dead wood fiber. We then proceeded to test the adhesion of the paint surfaces that appeared as stable and gave no sign of peeling only to discover that the paint was coming off in sheets! So, even though the paint film gave no sign of impending failure, there was no adhesion between the paint film and the siding. It was only a question of time before it all peeled away. Our theory for what may have caused the problem was that the wood may have sat too long in the elements before first getting coated, but we could not know for sure.

Having diagnosed the problem, I approached the client with a prescription for how to remedy the situation:
- The paint had to come off wherever possible.
- The siding had to be completely sanded to remove all the dead fiber.
- We recommended a high-built, tinted, adhesive primer to ensure that the paint that had not come off would continue to stay put.

All this additional preparation work took about 110 hours of labor, which the client gladly paid for. Our client got what she wanted all along: a long-lasting, good looking paint restoration job! Eighteen months later, there is no peeling paint anywhere on her house.

Lightning strikes and the need for paint restoration pretty much go hand in hand. A couple of weeks ago, we received this email from a client: “Call me. House took a direct lightning hit on Sunday. Fire on roof. Your faux finish is ruined.”

Lightning Strikes on Tip of the Roof

Fire Damage to Roof Beams

Lightning struck on the highest point of the house (as shown by the blue tarp) on a Sunday morning. The owners were unaware that the house had been hit. Fortunately for them, neighbors saw the lightning strike. Shortly thereafter, they noticed smoke coming out of the roof and called 911 immediately. The fire department rushed to the scene and extinguished the fire.

In spite of the neighbors’ vigilant eyes and the fire department’s quick response, the house suffered significant damage from fire, smoke and water. All things considered, the damage could have far greater if the response had not been so quick.

The restoration work will involve structural work to repair the roof beams, carpentry, new insulation, replacement of damaged drywall and paint restoration to a number of rooms affected by smoke and water, including about 1,000 square feet of a decorative painting finish in the foyer and halls. During the restoration process, the owners’ belongings will be in storage and they will be living in a rented house.

When lightning strikes, Painting in Partnership, from the Chicago area, stands ready to assist in all aspects of paint restoration, from the repainting of surfaces to the replication of existing finishes.

Paint restoration sometimes requires starting over, especially when it comes to painted brick. Painting brick is not a good idea, especially when you are dealing with common brick. Common brick was fired at a lower temperature and was therefore softer than face brick. Common brick was usually used on the rear and sides of buildings. Face brick was used on the front of the house and was much harder and durable, and also more expensive. So, why is it not a good idea to paint brick?

Brick structures are designed to breathe and let moisture escape out through primarily the mortar joints, which are purposely made a lot softer than the bricks it is holding in place. Mortar is the sacrificial component of masonry. In the process of acting as a transport for moisture, it eventually falls apart, but the bricks stay intact. When painting contractors paint brick, it interferes with the design of the masonry and, therefore, the moisture gets trapped. It finds its way inside of the building, or causes the paint to fail and the brick to deteriorate, or both.

Peeling Paint and Spalling on Painted Brick

Old Limewash Visible on Exposed Brick

The first picture shows what can happen when common brick is painted: paint peels and brick spalls, as indicated in the right side of the picture. Then, what is the solution to this problem? The next picture gives a clue as to what the solution is.

The white substance you see on the exposed brick area is limewash, which has been used through the ages to beautify masonry structures. Unlike paint, limewash becomes one with the masonry and allows it to breathe and act as it was intended to. There are countless European masonry structures finished in this way.

Unfortunately, if brick has been painted and problems like this occur, the remedy will entail the stripping of the layers of paint. The work will also likely include the replacement of the spalled bricks and the re-pointing of the failed joints with similar mortar. This work will have to be done before limewash can be applied. In order to achieve an opaque look, three or four coats of limewash will have to be applied. Over time, when the limewash wears off, one or two more coats will rejuvenate the look.

As indicated at the outset, paint restoration sometime requires starting over. This is the kind of knowledge and resources Painting in Partnership brings to bear on its work on older homes and “period” homes, in the Chicago area.

Paint restoration in older houses, interior or exterior, is about to become more complicated for painting contractors, as well as other trades that disturb lead-based paint. In April of 2008, EPA enacted new regulations that take effect on April 22 of 2010. It affects trades such as painters, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, remodelers and other trades who create dust in child-occupied buildings built prior to 1978.

The intent of the new regulations is to protect children under the age of 6 and pregnant women from the poisonous effects of lead dust generated from remodeling projects of different kinds. It mandates that painting contractors and other contractors to give EPA’s Renovate Right pamphlet to all owners of pre-1978 housing. It also mandates that contractors be certified by EPA as “Lead-Safe Firms” and that projects be supervised by “Certified Remodelers” to ensure that EPA-prescribed procedures are followed during paint restoration work.

Huge fines can be levied by EPA against violators at the rate of over $32,000 per day, per violation. Even though EPA has limited enforcement personnel, it has empowered local governments to enforce the regulations, not to mention that nosy or angry neighbors can become willing whistle-blowers as well.

What does all this mean for paint restoration and painting contractors? It means that house painting contractors have the opportunity to create added value for their customers by following safer work practices. It also means that the most professional painting contractors have the opportunity to further differentiate themselves as the contractors of choice to potential customers.