Painting and Decorating. Stain blocking.
One of the most common issues that painters and decorators have to deal with on a daily basis is stain problems on walls. Whether they are damp stains or residual stains they all give painters and decorators a serious headache.
In this article we will guide you through steps taken by painters and decorators at Painting In Dublin when tackling such stain related problems.
Preparation work.
The first thing a painter and decorator does when faced with a stain on the wall is figure out if the stain is dry. It is impossible to cover a stain that is caused by an active leak. Plumbing issues often contribute to the formation of stains on customers walls of the house and until such problems are fixed, a painter and decorator is powerless even with the best of available stain and damp proofing materials available on the market. Just like any other problem, stain killing begins with the identifying the cause and nature of the stain. After making sure that the cause of the stain is no longer active, painters and decorators begin with the preparation work on the stain and surrounding area. Often a stain becomes more than just a surface problem because water that caused the stain in the first place leaked through the wall/ceiling and weakened or even damaged the plaster. As painters and decorators know you should never paint a surface that is not dry and sound, so they will remove all damaged plaster and make sure the starting point is dry and hard. Filling the gaps is next where painters and decorators will fill the gaps with filler and let it dry before sanding it to a smooth surface. Often a second coat of filler is necessary after the initial filling took place, especially when faced with deep holes and cracks where the fresh filler is too heavy to be applied in one go.
Stain blocking and painting
After making sure the surface meets the requirements of the surrounding walls, painters and decorators begin with a coat of stain killer and let it dry before applying extra coats as necessary. Stain block is always applied to an area bigger than the initial stain, making sure the treatment is absorbed by the surface thoroughly with no patches uncovered. There are a number of stain killers out there to choose from and your painter should recommend a suitable one. Sometimes it is necessary to treat the surface with damp seal which helps maintaining the walls stain free, it is often required where the stain is caused by surrounding area such as basement external walls or external walls of a building exposed to excessive rain or damp.
Painters and decorators will tell you that treating stains is never straight forward but rather continuous adjusting and tweaking process until the problem is fixed. You can treat a stain only to see it reappear when attempting to paint the wall, therefore a bit of patience is always appreciated when you ask a painter and decorator to fix a stain problem in your house…

Painting In Dublin.