About Paint

Paint is defined as a chemical material which forms a decorative and preventative layer when applied on a surface. This material is a chemical mixture which is formulized within certain principles and contains four basic ingredients:

- Binders
- Pigments and filling materials
- Chemical additives
- Solvents (Solvent+Water)

Expectations of the users and particularly expectations of the specialists applying paint and the consumers from a high quality paint are given below:

- Hiding efficiency
- Whiteness
- Dilution capacity (Adjusting the paint consistency with water)
- Easy application
- Price
- Colorfulness
- Consumption

Firstly, a paint suitable for the surface should be selected and if auxiliary materials are needed care should be taken to ensure that these materials are suitable for the surface and paint. A high quality paint should be preferred when buying paint. Cheap and low quality paints have the same cost as high quality paints in terms of square meters. However, savings made on low prices may result in serious losses in the future. Paints, primers and thinners of any quality are sold on the market. However, it is recommended to use suitable paint, primer and thinner for the surface in order to get a better result in terms of the application. 

When choosing paint, it should be checked if the product you will purchase complies with TSE standards and the manufacturing company has ISO 9000 certificate. 

A small surface area should be painted in order to see whether the color to be used in indoor and outdoor places is suitable.

Firstly, the required tools and devices related to the paint to be applied should be available completely.

- The most important principle of paint applications is to use products of the same system and brand. The application instructions of the material to be used should always be followed.
- No paint should be applied on dirty or moist surfaces. The surface should be prepared according to the paint type to be applied.
- Defects relating architectural details, if any, should be corrected.
- For new cement plastered or exposed concrete surfaces which will be painted for the first time, the earliest application should be carried out 3-4 weeks later.
- All paints should be mixed with a suitable mixer in their packages before application.
- Wood protector, cellulosic filler varnish and epoxy group products should be transferred to another container and mixed before they are mixed in their packages. Paints should not be applied in very hot or cold environments.
- Paint work should be carried out as thin coats.
- Powder or liquid additives should not be added into the paint and the paint should not be thinned at a rate more than the thinning rate stated on the paint package.
- To provide a good adhesion, gloss surface should definitely be matted.
- In order to reuse the remaining paint, thinner should be added into the paint at an amount sufficient to cover its surface and the paint box should be kept at a cool place after it is closed with its cover without mixing.

Before starting the paint work, moisten your hands with a protective cream. This allows you to clean easily. Don’t clean your hands with thinner as thinner removes the protective layer of oil on your skin and therefore causes cracks on your skin. Synthetic paints and primers, oil paints, varnishes and thinners are combustible materials. They should be kept away from flames, heat generating places, electric leakages, in ventilated places and in a tightly closed situation. Don’t try to extinguish the flaming paints, thinners and varnishes with water as it strengthens the flame. In such cases, use fire extinguisher if possible or you can control the flame with a damp blanket. Paints thinned with water do not constitute much trouble for human health. However, since synthetic paints and thinners vaporize during usage and the amount of oxygen reduces, some respiration problems may be seen. Therefore, lead-free and aroma-free products should be preferred and good ventilation should be provided. In case that the products spread to the body, particularly the eyes should be washed with plenty of soapy water and rinsed with plenty of water. Hands, face and skin should be wiped with a soapy cloth and rinsed with plenty of water.

Roller Brush: Long haired roller brushes with long hair (18-24 mm) are suitable for plastic and exterior surface paint applications while short haired roller brushes (10-12 mm) are suitable for satin paint application. Coral roller brushes are designed to apply grained (textured) paints. 

Roller brush cleaning: After using water based paints, wash the paint on the roller with water and rinse the brush with soapy water. Then, store it hanging with its cylinder downward. If a synthetic based paint was used, remove the paint on the roller brush removed by skimming far as possible and rinse the brush with soapy water after cleaning with synthetic thinner. Then, store it with its cylinder is downward. Before reusing, the roller brush should be moistened with the thinner of the paint to be used. 

Brush: The brush should be bent with the hands and its dust should be removed in order to dust off the new brush and shed the weak bristles. The new brush should be used in primer work firstly to prepare it for paint work. Dip the brush into the paint about a half length of the bristles, then slab off the excess on the side of the paint container. 

When you break off, the brush should be dipped in the paint vertically, it should be left horizontally on the paint box. The brush should not be used to dust off the surface to be painted or mix the paint to be used. 

Brush cleaning: The brush should be cleaned with the thinner used with the paint (water, synthetic thinner). Brush bristles cleaned with water should be stored in a hanging position with the face downwards and they should be wet with water before reusing. When reusing the brush cleaned with thinner, you can dip it in thinner and spin between your palms to remove the thinner. (If the thinner on the brush is not removed, it may over-thin the paint and cause some unwanted problems.) If the used brush will be reused in a short time (2-3 days), its bristles are covered with a bag and the bag is tied tightly; so that the drying of the bristles may be prevented. 

Using ½, 1 or 1.5 inch brushes for door and window joineries, 2, 2.5 and 3 inch brushes for wide door and wood surfaces, 4.5 inch brushes for parquet and wall surfaces, lining brushes with different sizes for lining works facilitates the application. There are also heater paint brushes to paint back side of heaters and moveable head robot brushes with various sizes for different angles. 

Note: 1 inch equals to 2.54 cm and it indicates the width of brushes. 

Silicone: One component, antibacterial, high technology silicone with fast drying, excellent adhesion and sealing features. It is used for adhesion, filling and water insulation at the mounting and repair works of glass, pvc, metal, wood, tiles in bathrooms and kitchens, washbasins, bathtubs, shower cabins and plumbing elements. It is applied with its special silicone gun. A plastic operation stick is fitted into the tube after its end is cut with a box cutter according to the surface to be applied and silicone is applied by pressing the gun. Surfaces to be applied should be protected with masking tape and always a plastic glove should be used for manual corrections made during application. 

Betek Polyfoam: Polyurethane based, one-component, ready-to-use foam which hardens with moisture. It adheres to any type of construction materials except polyethylene, silicone and Teflon. Ground to be used should be clean and oil-free, surfaces to be protected should be covered with masking tape and dry surfaces should be moistened. 

Before application, shake the product strongly for 30-40 times. When the box is in vertical position, open its box and screw the operation stick. Rotate the box downwards and fill the gaps from bottom to up at an approximate rate of 1/3. Do not expose it to direct sunlight. It may be cleaned with acetone when it is wet. Encrusting in about 10 minutes, this material gets ready to be cut in 1 or 1.5 hours and gets dry and hardens completely in 24 hours. 

Masking Tape: Please be careful that the surface to be applied is dry. 

There are no adverse effects if it is kept in a furnace in furnace for 1-2 hours until +70°C during automobile paint works. 

Sandpaper: It is a material which is used with the purpose of smoothing the surface at paint and paste applications or matting the surface and increasing the adhesion at applications to be made on gloss surfaces.

It is recommended to use 80-120 no. sandpapers for smoothing wall pastes, 400 no. sandpapers for sanding operations between coats of furniture group paint, primer and filling materials.

Numbers indicate the sand gaps of the sandpaper. High numbers are fine sanded sandpapers while low numbers are thick sanded sandpapers.

If the thinner of the paint is water, these are water based paints. Plastic paints, acrylic paints and silicone based paints are water based paints. If the thinner of the paint is synthetic thinner, these are synthetic based paints.

A little amount of dishwashing liquid is dripped onto the moistened cloth and the surface is wiped with pressure. If the color of the surface appears on the cloth, the paint is water based. Otherwise, it is synthetic based.

Primer makes an inhomogeneous surface suction homogeneous, increases adhesion, reduces paint consumption and enables the materials like paste, paint to keep their characteristics and integrate with the surface at following coats.

A primer suitable for the conditions of the surface should definitely be used before starting the paint applications.

- For cement based mineral surfaces with dusting characteristics (exposed cement, plaster, etc.), first primer work should be carried out with a mixture of 1 cup Capatect Lateks+2 cups of water.
- For cement based mineral surfaces without dusting characteristics (exposed cement, plaster, etc.), before paint and paste works on betopan (concrete board), plasterboard plates, the first primer work should be carried out with the primer of the paint to be applied on exterior surfaces or with Alpina Primer or Alpina Paste Primer on interior surfaces.
- Before starting paint work on dusting surfaces such as satin plaster, lime, whitewash, etc., Alpina Transparent Primer, Betek Satin Gypsum Primer or Alpina 1/7 Concentrated Primer should be applied.