STRAY NOTES

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 63, 8 December 1926, Page 17

STRAY NOTES

PAINTING Painting is a job the amateur often undertakes lightly and repents heavily. This most often is through not observing certain indispensable rules which the professional would never think of passing over. These, again, relate mostly to the of the work. No success can be attained in painting over dirt. Yet there is dirt and dirt. The worst is greasy, thick, and obdurate in being moved. There is only one remedy for this, and it is drastic. Even if the paint beneath it goes with it complete removal is necessary. In a case such as this, mix quicklime and potash together to form a thin creamlike paste, and spread this over the paint. Keep the hands out of this Allow it to remain on the paint some hours, then scrape off with a knife and rinse with clean water Two things are all important, at tins stage. Be sure all the remover is ■washed off the surface, and be eaually certain this is perfectly drv before nafnt is applied. If not, blistering is bound to result. Buy a good brand of readvmixed naitit, use a dean brush, and spread the coating out thinlv and evenly. If the wood is new spend and beo'rudnre not th" t’me necessarv to well brush out as thinlv as possible, especially the first coat. Three thin coats arc better than two thick ones. “TEN-SHILLING BUNGALOWS” Under the above rather startling heading, “Country Life” has a sensible leader advocating a wore accommodating attitude on the part of architects towards the builders of small houses. No doubt it would be best that every house, large or small, should be built with an architect supervising at the. R.1.8.A. scale of charges. But we live in a world in which builders and building owners persistentiv refuse to take that point of view. It is better to face facts “If, savs “Country Life.” “thousands of people and hundreds of contractors cannot afford to employ architects, and hundreds of architects, longing to cut their profits to n minimum in order to get work and get decent houses built, are still unable to do so there must be something wrong with the organisation of architects.” The rem er sn< r<r P!s ted hr mir contemporary ’« the co-operation of a group of architects to provide sta”dn.-d nlans and specifications. 1 from which a would-be house builder cor’d choose one that suited him Something of Hi« sort is being done in America. ->nd tho service costs the client a’-nr l - 10s —"lllustrated Carpenter mid Builder.”