The Red Truck crew had another fun and busy year in 2013.  Our projects included commercial jobs,  jobs for past customers, and work for people relocating their homes.

One of our commercial projects had us working near the airport again.  We worked in an industrial company painting an exposed ceiling.  We also painted the exterior and interior of a great new cafe across from the airport - the ROC Cafe.  Great sandwiches and breakfast!

Another project was painting the dining room of a terrific italian restaurant on Monroe avenue - Rocco.  I once worked with the chef and owner of the place back when he ran the Victor Grilling Co.  The food here  is simply amazing.

When we weren't eating while painting - we also worked on more homes for sale, or recently purchased, with a few projects in Fairport.  For most of May we worked for a couple who relocated here from the Carolinas.  

Fairport also had us working for friends at Bright Start Pediatrics.

Some of our more grueling projects had us scraping and sanding very old houses, including one in the village of Fairport. We worked on the old clapboards, the old shutters, and even the dormer peaks with the use of a boom lift. These jobs are tough, but tend to be the most rewarding. 

 Like every summer, we washed and  stained quite a few decks. This year we also stained five fences, most of which we completed using our paint sprayer. 

We recently added a new painter to our crew.  We also added a second red truck.  And, thanks to the folks at Coyne Design, we updated the red truck with an awesome logo, complete with my dog, Maddie!

Thanks to all for keeping us busy this past year!

Here at Red Truck Painting, we preform a lot of  Rochester wall paper removal projects.   A main priority with this work is proper surface preparation after the paper is take down.  

When wallpaper is removed, there is often a good amount of glue residue left over.  If this glue is not fully removed from the walls, it will interfere with the finish coat of paint.  In cases where we cannot clean the walls fully of the glue residue, we must use a product to seal the walls before the finish is applied.

 Oil Primer like Cover Stain  used to be our go to.  Now we usually choose GARDZ Problem Surface Sealer.  Here are the main advantages:
1. Unlike oil, GARDZ does not smell horrible
2. Unlike oil, GARDZ is truly ready in one hour under normal conditions
3. GARDZ takes about half as long to apply
4. GARDZ spreads out almost twice as far
5. GARDZ preforms slightly better at sealing down glue residue, and has worked where oil has failed

Cover Stain would still be a better choice if you only want to paint only one coat of finish after the primer, because it can be tinted, while GARDZ is a clear.  We always suggest two coats of paint, so for us this rarely applies.

There is a learning curve to applying GARDZ (which is also true of oil primer).  GARDZ is extremely watery, and has a consistency resembling milk.  You must be very gentle not to squeeze the roller, or it will run very easily.  Once you get the hang, though, GARDZ will spread out far and easily.  

Once the walls dry, give a light sanding, and they are ready for paint.  The paint will go on easier, because your walls are freshly sealed.

Cover Stain is made by Zinnser.  Now a part of the Rustoleum company, the Zinnser brand is perhaps the best known manufacturer of primer specific coatings.  This primer has been around for years, and is one of the most popular oil primers in the painting industry.

We have been using this primer for years as well.  Cover Stain became our go-to oil primer because it is thick, and because it blocks out stains like it is supposed to. We most commonly used Cover Stain for bare wood surfaces (especially old exterior wood that is porous and/ or or prone to tannin bleed, like cedar) and for problem surfaces with staining issues.  These surfaces include water stained ceilings, smoke stained ceilings, and walls from which wallpaper was removed.

This product does a great job at blocking stains.  With wall paper removal, Cover Stain does a good job at locking down torn drywall, and wall paper glue residue on the wall substrate.  This provides a safe undercoat for application of a latex product.  If latex is used without an oil primer, bubbling of the finish coat, and flashing of the residues is common

Cover Stain dries fast, and can be recoated in one hour, as stated on the can.  We do however suggest an overnight dry with oil primers, as they can take some time to harden, and can also take time to off-gas their oil solvents.   

Cover Stain's main weakness is that it is very smelly, with intense oil fumes.  You must use with adequate ventilation - or you will catch a nasty headache.  Also, if you plan to clean your brushes be prepared to spend some time with thinner or mineral spirits.

See our review of GARDZ, which offers a great, water based alternative for wallpaper removal use primer. 

Red Truck Painting recently completed a large painting project near the Rochester, NY Airport.  We painted for a local manufacturer, and a neighboring restaurant.

At the manufacturing building,  our commercial painters were asked to paint the exposed ceilings in a room that was being remodeled.  This ceiling was full of supports and duct works, and there was no way we were going to get it coated with a simple brush and roller.  And - they wanted it painted black.  What was the solution?  Dryfall paint!

Dryfall paint is pretty simple to define - it dries very quickly, as it falls.  So when you spray the paint, any over-spray will dry before it hits the flooring. The specific product we used was PPG Speedhide Latex Dry-Fog.  This product dries after a ten foot fall.   After a coat of Aqualock Latex Primer, the ceiling was ready for two coats of Dryfall.  It sprayed easily, had great coverage, and cleaned up nicely.  We purchased the paint from Hadlock's House of Paint.

Call Red Truck Painting for your Rochester NY Commercial Painting needs!