Posted by Scott Martin on Wednesday, February 15, 2017,
In :
Painting Tips
When I started painting it was easy to pick a masking tape. There was tan type and it was not great. It is still being made and it is cheap. We never use it anymore because it can be hard to remove even after being applied just a few minutes. It does stick well sometimes but maybe a little too well for my taste.
We use the
Scotch Blue masking tape when we need to tape things off. Now that is said all blue masking tapes are not created equal. Not some prevent paint bleed using special adhesive...
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The Magical painters*
Posted by Scott Martin on Thursday, December 15, 2016,
We were painting for a client on Signal Mountain this week. Paul and I were painting a master bedroom and we over heard the clients four year old daughter say Scot and Paul are magical. So I guess we are the magical painters. I told her mother that her daughter made my day. That was so sweet. Their other daughter made us a thank you card four years ago when we painted her bedroom. We painted it again this week and she loves her newly painted bedroom.
The client wants us back next week to do a...
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Next week we stain a boat dock
Posted by Scott Martin on Thursday, June 16, 2016,
We are staining a bunch of boat slip walk ways and a large deck using the stain the club bought to use. I will post before and after photos the end of next week but here is a preview.
.
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Repainting a new home
Posted by Scott Martin on Saturday, May 21, 2016,
In :
New Homes
When you buy a new home you expect it to be finished nicely don't you? Sure you do. But a lot of builders including large ones don't care and build and finish them so cheaply by using cheap south of the border labor. Sure they can look great to the untrained eye but can be a mess. We see things most do not and we are very picky about how our finished jobs look. We recently repainted most of the walls in a home right after closing before the owners could move in. The builder would mot upgrade ...
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Valspar and Sherwin Williams
Posted by Scott Martin on Wednesday, April 27, 2016,
This is not common knowledge but earlier this year Sherwin William bought Valspar. I have been asking myself what this will mean for our customers that have used Valspar paint in the past. Valspar Duramax has been our go to exterior pant for years. It has been very good and I hope Sherwin Williams does not monkey around with it and keeps the Valspar brand. I do like some of Sherwin Williams products but they are high in price most of the time. Valspar Duramax is not cheap either but reasonabl...
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Get rid of those ugly gutter streaks!
Posted by Scott Martin on Thursday, April 21, 2016,
In :
Gutters
We have been this amazing product for a year now. It takes work but it is well worth it. It is not a spray and hose off product and takes some mussel to get them clean but your gutters will look like new when done. Be sure to get the Gutter mop to use on a long paint pole. It is needed if you do not want to scrub from a ladder. Most of the time one story homes are a breeze. A two story home is not as simple.
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Vinyl siding can be painted
Posted by Scott Martin on Sunday, April 17, 2016,
Yes vinyl siding can be painted and in the past it needed to be painted a lighter or similar shade. But Sherwin Williams now has
VinylSafe colors technology. Using their special color pallet you do not have to choose a similar or lighter than your old siding. Heat absorption has been the problem in the past. When you would paint the siding with a darker color the siding would warp and looks unsightly. Now Sherwin Williams seams to have come up with the solution with their new
technology.
We h...
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When testing out paint colors do not paint them on the walls!
Posted by Scott Martin on Saturday, April 16, 2016,
In :
Painting Tips
When testing out a new paint color for a room in your home please do not paint them directly on the wall. Instead use a paintable sheet made just for testing sample colors. They come with instructions.
They are low tack peel and stick and easily removable and replaceable on other walls around your house to see what the the color will look like elsewhere. You really don't want big test spots on your wall for several reasons.- They can be hard to get the final color to cover.
- You could leave bru...
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Artillery Fungus
Posted by Scott Martin on Friday, March 4, 2016,
In :
Painting Tips
So you have never heard of this. Did you just make this up?
The term artillery refers to the fact that these fungus use energy to shoot its spore masses up to 20 feet like a cannon.
This fungus is more prone to be on the shady side of the home more than any other since the bark chips stay damp longer.
This black spots on the siding pose no risk to the siding other than making it look bad like it has been sprayed with tar droplets. At first sight they should be removed as soon as possible. The l...
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Your home is constantly exposed to the elements
Posted by Scott Martin on Friday, March 4, 2016,
Your home is constantly exposed to the elements.
For most people painting the exterior or for that matter even the interior of their home can be an overwhelming task.
What do I need to do first? How do I do it? Should I go green? How long will this take me? What will it look like when I finish? Should I just get someone to do it?
We hope the last question you said yes I do need someone to do this for me and I hope that you call on us.
We make sure that the prep work and painting are done proper...
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Low VOC Waterborne Alkyd Paints
Posted by Scott Martin on Thursday, February 25, 2016,
When it comes to painting the inside of your home you should want a low or Zero VOC paint. It is much healthier for you and the person doing the painting.
There are now many more to chose from by most if not all brands. I am sure this trend will only be growing.
Benjamin Moore has a great new waterborne Alkyd for trim and cabinets. It is not cheap but neither is oil base paint and it is not low VOC and smells to the high heaven unlike the waterborne Alkyds that have low odor and are Low VOC.
It...
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Breaking news!
Well we are now a Wolman Certified contractor. Well it is not a big deal to most people but I did have to print out a large manual and take a test to get certified. Now we must primarily use Wolman products while doing decks. We are doing sample decks in neighborhoods around town. This is limited to only one deck per neighborhood so be fast to get the special discounted price. We also are limiting this to 4 or 5 decks.
We will clean unstained decks or strip the old stain and re-stain the deck...
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Trust must be earned
Posted by Scott Martin on Tuesday, February 16, 2010,
I want to address trust in this post. I think it is very important that you trust whoever is working around your home. Not just to do a good job but will they show up when they say they will. Will they tell you the truth even if it should mean they will not get the job. Will they be honest about everything
.
We try our best to give a truthful answer to your questions. If we do not know something we will say so and try to find the answer for you.
We have worked in many homes where the owner ...
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Drop cloths
Posted by Scott Martin on Thursday, January 28, 2010,
In :
Consumer Tips
Today I was reading where a painter was saying he rarely ever use a drop cloth when rolling ceilings. That is just crazy! We always use drop cloths to cover the floor and plastic to cover furniture and other items while painting walls and ceilings. We cover sidewalks, porches and driveways. We cover bushes and plants if needed.
I would never say I was so good I did not need a drop cloth. So beware of painters without drop cloths! No one is perfect. Continue reading ...
A yahoo user asks, I am painting room.
Posted by Scott Martin on Thursday, January 28, 2010,
In :
Painting Tips
I am painting my room. Does red & bubblegum/hot pink go together?
I wanted to paint 3 of my bedroom walls pink & then the main wall red but im not sure if this will go? also i thought of 3 pink walls and one black wall but im scared the black wall will make my room look very dark. help please!
I said.
" I have been a painter for 25 years and I would never paint a wall black. As far as red and pink that just makes me a little sick but it is you room and you can always repaint. Go to a paint s... Continue reading ...
A tip about so called screened contractors.
Posted by Scott Martin on Friday, January 22, 2010,
In :
Consumer Tips
When looking for home improvements contractor , watch out for companies who states they pre-screen contractors for you. All these companies do, is to get your referral to as many contractors they can that pay them for the service. They sell leads to the contractors who are listed with them and collect huge fees, $25-$30 a lead even if they do not get the job. This can add hundreds of dollars to the final cost. Just think about it this way. Someone has to pay in the end and it's going to be y... Continue reading ...
Is your home looking bad?
Posted by Scott Martin on Wednesday, January 20, 2010,
In just a few short days we can change the look of your home like we did for this one in North Chattanooga.
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Paint coverage
Posted by Scott Martin on Sunday, October 25, 2009,
In :
Painting Tips
Most people want paint to cover in one coat. Very few paints will cover in one coat over any color. Some will cover over a lighter color.
If the can says one coat coverage it may just do it for a pro but maybe not a do it for a non pro. Even I have a hard time getting some paint to cover in one coat.
One paint we are using now is doing a very good job of covering in one coat. Sherwin Williams Super Paint.
We have had some luck with Valspar getting it to cover in one coat.
A lot depends on what yo... Continue reading ...
Prep
The single most important thing for A nice lasting paint job is the prep work. It's a boring, time consuming job that can consist of sanding, dusting, cleaning, patching holes, caulking, cleaning dust and more. If done right you will have a excellent looking paint job. But if not done right you can have a real mess that can be very costly later on. We at Martin Brothers Painting do our best give you a vice paint job. We do all the necessary prep work then and only them will we paint. A paint ...
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Wallpaper removal
I just got finished removing wallpaper from a bedroom and painting the walls. What a job! People should only paint walls and leave the paper for books and newspapers
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Another Townhouse is finished
We just finished another townhouse repaint. We would love to paint your townhouse, house, apartment or office. We are licensed and have been painting for many years. We have just recently started using Valspar paint and highly recommend it for interior walls. We have used it on the last three jobs and really like it and it is cheaper than Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams.
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The Story of The Carpenter
Posted by Scott S on Tuesday, July 28, 2009,
An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his
employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house building
business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his
extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to
retire. They could get by.
The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked
if he could build just one more house as a personal favor.
The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his
heart was not in his work. He resorted ...
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Twitter
Posted by Scott S on Friday, June 12, 2009,
In :
Twitter
Hi All,
You may think this topic has nothing to do with painting but I think it does and this is my blog! If you are like me and you use twitter then you will like this site. It gets you followers and maybe can help you make some money using twitter by having more followers. It is free to use. The cool thing about this is when you send the tweets to 6 people in the list your name is at the top of there list of names they send to. I think this will get us a lot of followers. I an going to try i...
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Summer is here!
Posted by Scott S on Friday, June 12, 2009,
In :
Hot Deals
Hi All,
Summer has just started and it is getting hot! So we hve decided to give some hot deals on painting now til July 30. If you buy the paint and have all items out of our way we will paint a 12x12 room or smaller for $75 this is for the walls only and one coat and you supply the paint. Continue reading ...
Vinyl Flooring
Hi
All,
I found out one thing last Friday! I can not patch vinyl flooring
that has been cut out. I tried to put a patch in for some very nice people and
could not get it to look good enough for me. I am a perfectionist about a lot of things and this was one of them. I hate being defeated! Well I can not do
everything! No one can. I will not try that again.
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When do I need to change my smoke alarm batteries?
Posted by Scott S on Tuesday, June 9, 2009,
In :
Smoke Alarms
That
is a good question. Well here is one answer. To be on the safe side two times a
year. That is the recommendation of all fire departments. I do it ones a year
some time and it is OK but I should do it twice a year. Please do not wait until
they start beeping it will drive you crazy before you get them changed because
they will most always start beeping at night. It must be some kind of law or
something! If you are not able to change you batteries give us a call. We can do
it...
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New newsletter
Posted by Scott S on Wednesday, April 22, 2009,
In :
Newsletter
We now have a monthly newsletter. You can sign up for our newsletter and email list on our home page. This is new this week. I hope that you like my newsletter and I hope I get better at writting them.
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Funny yootube video. Monkey Brothers Painting
Posted by Scott S on Thursday, March 26, 2009,
I thought this was
very funny. It is a ad for a Los Vegas Painting company.
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Mow grass for a profit!
Posted by Scott S on Thursday, March 19, 2009,
In :
How to
Hello Folks,
If you like to mow grass and you would like to be your own boss this may be of great help to you. It looks like a lot of information for little money.Maybe we should start cutting grass too.
Click Here! Continue reading ...
Free Shed Plans
Posted by Scott S on Tuesday, March 17, 2009,
In :
Plans
Hello Folks,
I got the free shed plans. Here is what you get. You get a 8x10 shed plan in PDF format and is 13 pages.Three of the thirteen are how to frame a wall. It is a very helpful plan. The second plan is a web page so the way I saved it was to email it to myself. I then highlighted the main part of it without the ad and coped it to a Word doc then saved it. There system was slow to email me the link to plans so give it a hour or so.
Got to run.
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How Your walls will look depends on these things.
- New drywall (Sheetrock is a brand name) needs to be primed with
a primer like Firstcoat or one of the other Sheetrock primers. Most
builders skip this step because of the cost. I have painted for years
and we only used it for about a year or two because most people would
not pay the cost. Then they would complain about the way the walls look.
- Another
thing that can make the walls look bad is a poor drywall finisher. It
has not been finished enough to sand but they do it anyway.
- A
person sandin...
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Time To Paint Again!
Well it is is Spring time again.
From time to time all property owners will have to paint something be it inside or outside. Spring is a good time to paint the Exterior of a building. Painters love the Spring time like everyone else and now is a good time to get a pro to paint your house or Office. If you hate to paint you better get a pro and the job will be done faster and you will not be bothered. People either like to paint of they hate to paint there in not much
middle ground here. I like...
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