Painting walls in the apartment

Summer is often a good time for a small renovation. That's why we decided to prepare an article for you about refreshing the walls. All the most important tips have been collected in one place. We invite you to read!

the dirt on the wall come from ? The most common dirt is e.g. children's hands in the hall, tomato sauce in the kitchen, dog's paws in the living room or moisture on the walls after winter. I'm sure many people have encountered such problems. As if that were not enough, old paint coatings tend to peel off , which negatively affects the aesthetic appearance of the coating.

Coating properties and wet cleaning

There are probably as many ways to clean walls . The most popular and practical: washing with a wet cloth . And we cannot disagree on this point. A cloth is a good idea for removing dirt from wall surfaces, provided that the previously applied paint has an appropriate scrubbing resistance class .

When choosing paints, let's not just focus on the colors. The properties of the coating should play the most important role .

Below is some important information about choosing the right product from a specialist point of view. 

Scrubability class 

The scrub resistance class is most often determined according to the PN-EN 13300 standard, which divides paints into 5 classes. The test involves painting paint samples and leaving them for 3 weeks. Then the coating is scrubbed with a liquid brush and the coating loss is determined. The loss is measured in microns - 1 µm = 0.001 mm.

Only paints classified in classes 1 and 2 can be described as "washable" or "scrubable".

Below are the products with the scrubbability class specified by the manufacturer: 

It is also common to determine the resistance of paints based on the PN 92/C-81517 . This standard specifies after how many scrubbing cycles the paint will be completely removed. Depending on the type of paint, it may be a minimum of 2000, 3000, 4000 or 5000 cycles.

Another standard used is the PN-C-81914:2002 standard, which distinguishes three types of paints:

•         Type I – paints resistant to wet scrubbing, loss ≤ 70 μm after 200 cycles
•         Type II – paints resistant to washing, loss ≤ 70 μm after 40 cycles
•         Type III – paints resistant to dry rubbing, no trace or trace amount of pigments

For rooms that are intensively used and exposed to frequent dirt, it is worth choosing paints of class 1 or 2 with a semi-matt finish.  

Less frequently used rooms and ceilings can be safely painted with lower class paints and a matte finish. The paint should always be applied in two layers - too thin a layer of paint, even the highest quality one, will not be resistant to repeated washing.  

latex paints can be successfully used, for example, on wall paneling.

Painting walls step by step

We tell you what to pay special attention to and how to choose products. 

What to do when the paint peels off the surface?

If the old paint is peeling off the surface, it must be removed. This operation must be performed because when applying new layers of paint, they will come off along with the old coating.  

Paint coatings can be removed mechanically using a spatula. Why is the paint peeling and coming off in flakes? Well, most likely the substrate was improperly prepared.  

In order for the applied paint coating to adhere well to the surface, it is best to prime the walls. The paint primer reduces and evens out the absorbency of the substrate, ensuring uniform coverage.

One of the causes of paint peeling off the walls is too many layers of paint previously applied as well as the humidity in the apartment (more on this in the second paragraph). 

Example 

Sil-Grunt is a deeply penetrating, water-soluble preparation intended for priming building surfaces indoors and outdoors. When used correctly, it increases adhesion, strengthens the load-bearing capacity, harmonizes the absorbency and cohesion of the substrate, while not hindering the so-called "breathing". Prevents the penetration of discolorations and stains. Reduces the consumption of topcoats.

What to do if mold and fungus outbreaks appear on the walls?

If mold or fungus appears on the wall surfaces, a special fungicide should be used. Causes of fungus formation in rooms: moisture, poor ventilation of rooms. Very often, the ventilation of rooms is not sufficient and must be counteracted with special preparations.  

Example  

Grzybostop is a fungicide intended to combat fungi and molds in building materials such as cement-lime mortars, cement mortars and concretes. It is characterized by high effectiveness in combating mold and fungi that destroy the structure of building materials, deep penetration of building materials. It is easy to use. The use of no specialized equipment is required, so you can perform the fungus removal work yourself. It is also used for professional disinfection of moldy building walls.

Mold on walls is often caused by poor air circulation in the room and high humidity. Once we fight the fungus germs with Grzybostop, we cannot allow the problem to return. Therefore, we recommend using Silanit W mineral paint , which will allow the walls to "breathe" and contains special fungicidal additives.

What to do if there are defects on the wall surface?

If there are any gaps in the walls, we recommend filling them with special fillers. A leaky wall certainly doesn't look aesthetically pleasing.

Why do we encourage you to choose the products we offer? 

We offer paints from a Polish manufacturer. We mix them on site according to the NCS or RAL pattern (large selection of colors), which means that they are always "fresh" and prepared especially for the individual customer's order.  

In order for us to choose the right paint for your needs, you need to answer a few basic questions: 

• what room will be painted? 
• what do I expect from painted surfaces?  
• Is there a problem with high air humidity in the apartment?