All About Painting: Surfaces and Substrates

Vancouver's Best Painters: Painters painting in Vancouver
Painting Vancouver With Paint is what Vancouver's Best Painters painters

• Trade Terms
• Introduction
• New Exterior Substrates
• New Interior Substrates
• Uncoated Aged Substrates
• Previously Coated Substrates
• Summary

Vancouver's Best Painters: Surfaces and Substrates

TRADE TERMS

Alkaline cleaner: A cleaner that saponifies (converts oil, grease, or organic compounds a water-soluble soap) and washes away other types of contaminants.

Alligatoring: A paint surface defect that forms cracks resembling alligator hide. Also known as crocodiling.

Blasting: Short term for abrasive blasting using compressed air or pressurized water.

Block filler: A heavily pigmented coating used to fill the pores and voids of cinder or concrete block.

Calcimine: A finish composed of water, calcium carbonate, and glue or size that was used in older construction. It was used primarily on plaster ceilings, but was also used on walls or interior masonry and sometimes tinted for decorative purposes.

Chalking: The decomposition of a paint film into a loose powder on the film surface. Concrete: A mixture of portland cement, aggregates, water, and, at times, special additives.

Consolidant: A liquid epoxy consisting of a resin and hardener that, when mixed properly, can be used to repair rotted, dried out, or spongy wood. When dry, it may be sanded, sawed, drilled, and finished like wood.

Detergent: A synthetic organic cleaning agent that is liquid or water soluble and has wetting and emulsifying properties.

Efflorescence: An encrustation of soluble salts, commonly white, deposited on the surface of coatings, stone, brick, plaster, or mortar. It is caused by the leaching of salts or alkalis from mortar or adjacent concrete as moisture moves through them.

Laitance: A thin, weak, brittle layer of cement on a concrete surface. It is usually caused by an overly wet or overworked mixture.

Neutralized: The process used to eliminate excess alkalinity or acidity in concrete or masonry. It is measured in units of pH, with 7 being the desired neutral value.

Parge coat: A mixture of water, portland cement, and sand that is spread onto masonry or poured concrete walls in a thin layer to provide a seal and a smooth finish.

pH: A measure of the alkalinity or acidity of a liquid or solid material. A pH reading of 7 is neutral; greater than 7 is alkaline (basic); less than 7 is acidic. The further from 7 the reading, the more acidic or alkaline the liquid or material is.

Primer: 1. The first coat in a painting operation. It is designed to promote adhesion of subsequent coats. 2. A coating applied to a substrate to improve the adhesion of wallcovering adhesive.

Profile: Contour or roughness of a surface. Also known as surface profile, anchor profile, or anchor pattern.

Substrate: Any material to which paint, coating, or wallcovering is applied.

Surface: 1. The portion of the substrate to which paint, coating, or wallcovering is applied. 2. The finish obtained after paint, coating, or wallcovering has been applied.

Wallcovering: Any type of paper, vinyl, fabric, or specialty material that is pasted onto a wall or ceiling for decoration and/or protection.

Wash coat: A thinned coat of paint or stain applied as a primer prior to the final finish.

White coat: A thin, fine plaster coat, also known as a putty coat, applied over a coarse plaster base to obtain the final plaster finish. Years ago, this coat was sometimes tinted to the desired room color to eliminate painting.