by Joe Pangburn, President of Lakeside Painting, Inc. Here is an interesting bit of news. CertainTeed, a building products manufacturer, is expanding its "indoor air quality (IAQ) gypsum board product line." They've introduced AirRenew Essential for residential construction and remodeling. Gypsum Board is, of course, Drywall. So this is some pretty exciting health-related news for homeowners.   According to CertainTeed, AirRenew Essential is a "VOC-scavenging technology" that "proactively captures VOCs, specifically formaldehyde and other aldehydes, and converts them into safe, inert compounds" for a healthy home environment.  They've made the drywall available in two forms: 1/2-inch board and 5/8-inch Type X fire-resistance drywall. “We...

Concrete Block is a common building material used on commercial and industrial buildings. As with any building material, a number of factors can cause paint failure. Here is what to look for and what to do about it.  Inspect Walls for Cracks Before the cleaning and painting process even begins, a facility manager and painter should give the concrete block a thorough inspection for cracks. You also want to keep your eyes out for moisture, paint failure's best friend. The inspection for moisture and cracks will go a long way in ensuring the building's structural integrity. If these things are ignored, the repair costs down the line...

At Lakeside Painting, we like to keep our eyes on hot color trends. This year, Pantone, a company that keeps tabs on color trends in fashion and home, named Emerald Green it's 2013 color of the year. It also happened to be one of Pantone's Spring 2013 color trends. Yes, it's no longer Spring, but Emerald Green still has a great Summer vibe.  Emerald Green, as seen in the image above, has an incredibly class touch to it. It look simultaneously modern, vintage, light, flowery and airy. In short, a perfect color for Summer, but something that works year round as well. This color would look great in...

I've talked about Electrostatic Painting before on the Lakeside Painting blog, but I feel that it's a subject worth revisiting with more specificity for Milwaukee Area commercial and industrial businesses. It can be used for almost any type of metal, from desks to aluminum windows; but Electrostatic Painting is particularly exciting for industrial machinery. Coating Industrial Equipment With Electrostatic Paint As noted before, Electrostatic Painting is a high-tech method of painting metal surfaces and objects, which makes it ideal for industrial machinery. But, how does it work? The special equipment propels negatively-charged paint at positively-charged metal surfaces or objects. In this way, it has 98% efficiency of coating-to-object, compared...

by Joe Pangburn, President of Lakeside Painting, Inc. In case you hadn't noticed, it's Springtime here in Wisconsin. Heck, it might even be summer with some of the temperatures we've seen. A welcome relief after a long, harsh winter. And with spring comes the ideal time to take up that exterior or interior paint project for your home. Here are a couple of reasons why it's good to paint right now. Late Spring = Less Moisture That's right. In comparison to early Spring, late Spring features less rain showers and moisture. If too much moisture permeates the air in the form of...

On occasion, both returning and potential new commercial and industrial customers ask, "What is sponge blasting?" or "How does sponge blasting work?". When the subject of abrasive blasting methods comes up, one could be excused for thinking that sponge wouldn't be the ideal media for the job. But, it couldn't be further from the truth.  What Is Sponge Blasting & How Does It Work? As I tell my customers, Sponge Blasting is an abrasive blasting technology, in which a high-pressure system expels sponge media at high speeds onto a surface. Sponge Blasting can be used to remove paint and contaminants, profile substrates and even to pull off...

by Joe Pangburn, President of Lakeside Painting, Inc.  One of my main concerns right now as a painting contractor and business owner is the safe driving of my employees. We tend to take this for granted, only reminded of driving habits when an accident occurs, or a near accident. The fact is that safe driving should be a concern day-in and day-out. Statistically, driving to and from work is the most dangerous thing we do on a daily basis. The construction industry is a dangerous place to work, so those statistics are telling.  Below are some of the things I'm telling my painters.  Stay...

by Joe Pangburn, President of Lakeside Painting, Inc. Electrostatic painting is a high-tech method of painting metal surfaces and objects. It involves the spraying of electrically-charged paint at a metal object or surface with the opposite charge. The big upside of Electrostatic Painting is its 98% efficiency of coating-to-object, compared to traditional paints' 70% efficiency. It's also cost-effective. You won't have to replace metal objects and surfaces because Electrostatic Paint's even application makes it look like-new.  Here are a few surfaces on which I recommend using Electrostatic Paint.  Metal Doors At Lakeside, we do a lot of work with metal doors, especially...

by Joe Pangburn, President of Lakeside Painting, Inc. For painting industry professionals, especially those contractors working in the commercial and industrial markets, encounters with concrete block exteriors are frequent. Here are three things to know for your new or old concrete block exterior project.  Inspect the Concrete This is common sense, but it needs to be restated: before cleaning and painting any concrete block exterior, inspect the wall for cracks. This helps in controlling moisture and ensuring a long-lasting paint finish. It will also help preserve the facility's structural integrity and wall stability. Moisture, thermal expansion, foundation settlment and bad support can all lead to cracking....