May 1998
Good Afternoon
Sorry Guy's. If you want to buy paint, you
get a note from your wife or partner
How to buy paint.
I think it would be true to say that most of us guys don't have
much imagination when it comes to colours, colour coordination
and decor design although we know what we like when we see it,
I for one fall right into this category. It seems that the girls
have it all over us and the know what they want when it comes
to this stage of the project. I read an interesting article in
the local news paper a few weeks ago that referred to a paint
shop in the UK were the shop management had become so sick of
men returning the wrong colour paint that the shop has adopted
a new policy. And that is. All men are band from this shop unless
they have a note from their wife or partner. It's a tough life
being a bloke.
A follow up to the 5 biggest mistakes that
most people make when building a new home.
Remember last month I explained the sixth biggest mistake that
most people make when building a new home. And that was, buying
goods or services for the contract or the main contractor because
they appeared cheap or are on special. Well here's another clanger.
We were asked just recently to price for the supply and lay of
a section of tongue and groove floor in a house we were building
for a couple in Wellington, this was to be an optional extra to
the contract. My price was considered too expensive so the owner
decided to supply and lay it himself. Just as this project was
about to start and during one of my site inspection visits the
owner hauled me over to have a look at the floor boards he was
going to use. They looked nice until I picked one up then experience
told me it was heavier than I thought it should be. Ie; the timber
was far too wet for flooring. After voicing my concern, the owner
asked me to take a piece away and test it for water content. It
was 19% which is way to high. Tongue and groove boards should
not be more that 12% water content. You see what happens is that
when the boards are laid and after about six to twelve months
the water in the board will evaporate and the board will shrink
leaving horrible big gaps between the boards. Once again if you
want to become involved, do your homework and if you're unsure
ask lots of questions of your builder or designer.
How to beat condensation.
Driving to work the other day, the colder weather forced me to
turn on the demister that blows warm air up the wind screen of
the vehicle to get rid of the condensation And it dawned on me
to mention how effective ceiling fans are for helping to control
room temperatures and control condensation. Think about it for
a moment. If the car window demister removes the condensation
from your wind screen then the ceiling fan will do the same job
on the condensation of your house windows. Most ceiling fans have
a reverse switch. In the summer time when the weather is hot they
are set to blow air down ward, this creates a wind chill, thus
reducing the room temperature. On the other hand by flicking the
switch to reverse in the winter the air is drawn up towards the
fan very quickly, then pushed outwards along the ceiling space
then down the wall or in front of the windows having the same
effect in reducing house condensation as the demister does on
your car wind screen.
Sure, most forms of heating will heat your living areas quite
well. Most often the colder it gets the higher you turn up the
gas, electricity or use more fire wood. And where does all the
heat go, two thirds of it will be in the top third of the room
and stay there, unless you do something about it like install
or have installed during construction ceiling fans or heat transfer
ducting systems. Ceiling fans are the easiest to install, they
are very effective in heat distribution and reducing condensation,
they use very little electricity - maybe only a few cents all
night, they don't cost a lot to buy or install and finally there
is a good range of styles, shapes, colours and sizes to choose
from.
The myth that brick, split stone, PVC or
colour steel equals a low maintenance home.
It is only a perception that a brick or split-stone clad house
with a colour steel roof , colour steel spouting and PVC trim
makes for low maintenance in house up keep. Sure they can add
to or make up a total or overall picture of time saving, but where
is most of our the time spent?
Keeping our homes clean, preparing food areas, washing eating
and cooking equipment, washing ourselves, washing our clothes
and removing dirt from surfaces etc, what I'm saying here is that
not enough attention is paid to labour saving in our day to day
lives. Sometimes we specifically choose dark colours for our living
environment because things against dark colours don't look so
dirty, but we know they are. So we've got to look for or incorporate
design finishing's that save time and make our homes easier to
look after. We need to be focused more on these areas because
in our experience as a design and build company, most of the day
to day labour intensive jobs do not have as much thought or emphases
placed on them as the brick and colour steel. And lets not forget
there still a lot of paint on the exterior of a brick and colour
steel house, such as above doors and windows, to the evaes, around
doors and to fascias etc.
I'd also like to point out that if you think that just because
you've used brick or stone as an exterior cladding believing that
that is a maintenance free finish and that's the end of it, you're
sadly mistaken. These types of claddings are porous and therefore
away from the sunny side of the house can grow moss and fungus
and therefore need cleaning as often as a painted wall needs repainting.
Actually though, a properly prepared paint finish not only looks
fantastic but lasts a very long time. Remember good old Rolf Harris
with his forty season paint, and of course forty seasons equals
ten years. You see modern acrylic paints don't peel, they just
fade, in about the same time it takes for the colour steel roof
to fade.
So what are some of the more simple labour saving areas. You
know, some of these things may seem so obvious but there often
ignored or over looked. Coved vinyl in all wet or wash down areas,
eg; to bathrooms, en-suites, laundry's, kitchens and toilets,
even round behind the dishwasher. Put everything on a toe space,
even the fridge so that you can cove vinyl up underneath it. Use
wall hung toilets and vanities, install the most effective extractors
to remove steam and cooking smells and (smoke). Wet floor showers,
ie; no shower tray, just walk in the corner of the bathroom and
have the shower rose come out of the wall, and of course all the
bathroom walls are pre-finished sheet or tiles.
A top painter that knows how to put a long lasting smooth and
hard finish on a surface is a fantastic asset, smooth hard surfaces
don't hold the dust. Most of us will chose the cheapest painter
believing we are getting a great deal, unfortunately we get what
we pay for and the paint job only looks good for a few years,
which is why paint get the high maintenance name. Painting done
properly, these no reason why your walls wouldn't look great for
15 years.
Having the builder spend the time after all other tradesmen have
finished go round with the right colour silicone sealer to seal
up all the gaps and potential water leaking areas. I've really
only just touched on the tip of the iceberg with the above. I
have literally a mountain of tips and ideas that free up labour
intensive time in day to day living, the list goes on and on.
A final comment to remember, those traditional so called low
maintenance materials usually only relate to the exterior of you
homes only, that would otherwise need attention once every ten
to fifteen years for only a few weekends. It probably comes back
to most of us don't like painting therefore we tend to cut corners
and end up with a lesser standard of finish that what we would
be otherwise happy with. An average $150,000.00 home could have
up to and additional 10 to 15 thousand spent on bricks and colour
steel to make it low maintenance and next to nothing other interior
areas. Don't get me wrong, I love bricks and colour steel but
they do only make up part of the freedom from household chores
picture.
Best regards
Julian Moss
PS: Buy the way, if you have a problem or want specific information
about any building subject, write or phone me and I'll do my best
to answer your questions or queries.
PPS: I often get positive feed back on the professionalism and
PR of my news letters which I find satisfying and encouraging. But
the real proof of the pudding on our ability to perform and in particular
our back up service comes from our past clients. If you would like
a list of about 40 randomly selected past clients and ask them about
our performance and after completion service, just phone Jackie
at the office on 0800-66-77-27 and she'll post it out.
PPS: I've also noticed that from time to time people that have
written or phoned us for information sometimes come from some distance
to view the showhome on Sunday without making contact with us first
and find us closed. So if Sunday is the only day you can get over
here and you would like to either speak to me or look through the
showhome, please phone me at home and if possible I'll come and
open up for you. I only live 10 minutes away.
A/H 06-377-1779
Oh PS: More and more inquires and sales are from beyond the toll
free area of our office. Because of this, for your convenience I
have installed an 0800 Free-Help phone line to our office. So if
you have any questions or queries you can contact me on:
0800-MOSS BROS (66-77-27)
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