PANELLING

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 735, 7 August 1929, Page 14

PANELLING

Originality in Wall Treatment UNUSUAL methods If at any time you should come across a screen of Coromandel lacquer at a price that puts it within your means, do not be tempted to pass it by on the score of its being too massive for your modest room. Parted into its various leaves, it will make one of the most beautiful forms of wall treatment imaginable. Posed against a plain, distempered wall of cream or buff, its soft blues and greens on tbeir black background w r ill be exquisitely effective. And, thanks to the Oriental craftsman’s practice of making a complete picture of each leaf each panel will be sufficient unto itself.

A railway poster would not at first sight seem the most appropriate panelling motif. Yet there are some which, divided up as they are for hoarding display, accommodate themselves equally well for panelling purposes. Naturally it is better to choose designs in which landscapes or seascapes predominate rather than figures; also those of pastel colouring are more suitable than the bolder specimens.

Panels of cretonne to match the cretonne chair-covers and pouffes, may be delightful if cleverly selected. Cretonne patterned with water lilies and kingfishers suits this purpose admirably when the surrounding paintwork is in a pale green tint. Another design of futurist ships sailing a future ocean is, in its own way, equally successful, when the blue-green of the waves is repeated on the rest of the walls.

Panels in paint of the same colour as the surrouuding spaces but stippled instead of plain, form a treatment that is restful in its unity. Alternately, the same ground can be maintained while the stippling is done in a different tone. Thus a blue ground may be transformed to lapis lazuli for the panels, or a green ground may have a panelling of malachite.

A SUCCESSFUL PREPARATION

NEW GLAZE FOR WALLS, ETC.

A new liquid glaze for walls, etc., lias been introduced to the market by a New Zealand agency company. The new preparation is used extensively in Australia, while local tradesmen who know the mixture hold out great prospects for its use here. It is a liquid preparation in white and colours which, when exposed for some little time to the air, sets with a hard, tile-like surface that will not soften and can be freely washed. With such properties to recommend it, the mixture has been most appropriately titled Permoglaze.

Permogluze has already been used in Dunedin, the new premises of the National Mortgage and Agency Company in Water Street being finished in this high-grade surface. It has the property of penetrating and closing the pores of bricks, plaster, stone, concrete and wood, to which materials it adheres very tenaciously, giving a hard, glazed surface, that is germproof and sanitary. The fact that Permoglaze is germproof and sanitary renders it valuable for the treatment of walls, ceilings, etc., where cleanliness is important, such as in factories, breweries, bakeries, dairies, laundries, hotels, hospitals, institutions, bathrooms and kitchens. The possession of such a quality has merited the certificate of the Institute of Hygiene, London. Though it differs from ordinary paints and enamels, both in composition and properties, it can easily be applied in the same way as a paint. Besides being leadless and non-poison-ous, it contains no glue, size, casein, or other animal products—in fact, nothing to decompose or promote fungus.

Once set. its hard, impervious surface gives no key for dust or germs to collect, and can be repeatedly washed down without impairing its finish or durability. Almost any wall surface can be easily and successfully “permoglaZed.” A couple of coats will transform an ordinary brick wall into a clean, bright, germ-proof wall, having the appearance and advantages of glazed bricks. Such a material has naturally a wide field of usefulness besides the coating of walls, ceilings, etc. Its hard resistant surface is taken advantage of for coating machinery and plant, its finish not being affected by lubricating oils or frequent washing down.

The covering capacity of Permoglaze varies according to the nature and absorbency of the surface. On a smooth, non-absorbent surface one gallon covers about 70 to SO square yards. On an absorbent surface, such as a bare brick wall, the first coat covers about 7)0 square yards, and the second coat about 00 to 70 square yards a gallon.

In Australia nearly all the factories where cleanliness is desired have been finished throughout with Permoglaze. One of the biggest contracts which specified Permoglaze was for the new electric-power plant at Bunnerong, an undertaking costing £5,000,000. On this building £15,000 is being spent in "permoglazing” alone. The most notable instances of its use in New Zealand are at the Longburn Freezing Works at Manawatu and at the Wellington Municipal Milk Supply Depot.

Perhaps the most pleasing about this new preparation is that it is a British production, manufactured in Birmingham. 2