The Different Types of House Paints and Finishes

Editor

The ultimate medium of any designer is the paint that goes on the surfaces of homes, whether applied on the outside or in. While paints or finishes are effective ways to both protect and decorate surfaces, not all paints are applicable in every surface.

Most paints fall into general categories, and these basic types of paint will usually be enough for all your domestic paint job needs. Here they are for your consideration:

Base Coats

Base coats are what bind the finishing coats to the surface they are painted on. Done well, they keep the other coats from peeling off or from losing their colors because of the nature of the surface.

Primer – The primer, or whitewash, is used on uncoated surfaces in order to protect the material underneath as well as provide a good base for the succeeding coats.

First Coat – To build up the opacity of the decorative finishing coat, one or two more coats are usually applied. This is because the paints applied may not always be spread evenly or a surface may need more paint to be coated evenly.   

Finish Coats

Finish coats are more decorative, applied only after the base coats have dried, or after washing down surfaces that have been previously painted.

There are at least three types of finish coats: flat, eggshell, and gloss and satin. The first one is often used for ceilings and walls, and is best used on siding materials. Eggshell finish is more durable than flat, and gloss and satin goes best with wooden or metal surfaces.

Specialty Paints

While most paints will do well in most domestic purposes as long as the right primer is applied on the surface that they were designed for, there are some paints that are made specifically to fulfill a particular task.

Some of these specialty paints include bathroom/kitchen paint, floor paint, metal paint, and traditional paint. The first two are formulated to resist fungal growth, moisture, and staining, with the exception that newly-painted concrete floors need to cure completely before painting.

Metal paint is exactly what it is: high-gloss paint that is designed specifically to give metal surfaces their sheen, and can even be applied directly over rust. Cleaning the brushes used to apply metal paint will, however, take paint thinner instead of mineral spirit.

The last category of specialty paint is traditional paint, such as distemper, limewash, and other types of traditional colors, which can now be purchased much more easily. (One thing you need to look out for in limewash is that it can be volatile when mixed with water, so be sure to read the instructions carefully.)

Why You Should Call a Locksmith Service Instead of Picking Your House Lock Yourself

Editor

When you get locked out of your house or your car, you may be tempted to break yourself in. But when you don’t know what you’re doing, you can easily cause more problems than what you’re trying to solve.

Here’s why it’s better to leave it to a locksmith services in Singapore to break you in should you happen to have a problem with your locks and/or keys:

1. You avoid looking suspicious.
No one wants to look suspicious when doing anything, especially when they’re trying to break into their own home or car because they forgot to bring their keys along with them. However, when you do try unlock car doors or your own home, you will still get suspicious looks.

The good news is that you can easily avoid these kinds of embarrassing moments by simply calling a locksmith service in Singapore when you need help to open door. For this reason, there are many 24 hour locksmith companies that can provide key duplication or replacement any time of day.

2. Their services are confidential.
Locksmith services make sure to keep everything as private and confidential as possible, whether you need to unlock the door to your HDB flat or unlock car doors if you’re in a hurry to get to work.

But the downside to this is that once the locksmith arrives, he/she may ask for your identification. This is needed to verify that that is indeed your address, and not simply someone trying to break into someone else’s home or car.

3. They can break you in without breaking your lock.
Professional locksmiths are able to work locks without breaking them, unlock biometric door, as well as so much more. If your door access machine failed or you managed to break your lock by accident, these Singapore locksmiths also provide a lock installation service and replacement service, as well as fix broken locks that can still be saved. A 24 hour locksmith can be of assistance in case of these emergencies.

Whether you need a key maker in order to duplicate a key, or even a way to repair a lock after you tried to break yourself into your own home, a locksmith can help you out.

Additionally, a locksmith can even install security systems to make your home safer and prevent would-be burglars from trying to pick your locks when you’re not around.

Call a Locksmith for Your Home Today!
Stuck without your house keys? Need a car locksmith to get your car key un-jammed? Need a cheap locksmith that provides quality services? Well, look no further.

There are all kinds of problems you can encounter with your locks and keys that you can’t solve when you try to unpick your lock on your own, but with a professional helping you out, you can say goodbye to these inconveniences for good.

So what are you waiting for? Call a locksmith services to fix all your lock and security problems today!

(Disclaimer: this list is compiled in no particular order.)

Get to Know the Five Surprising Health Benefits of Butter

Editor

If you’re a fan of pastries and other types of delicious baked treats, you may have recently tried to avoid butter because of the effects that fat can have on the body.

However, not all fats are harmful. Fats such as monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat is actually healthy and needed by the body, and can help important bodily functions. Certain saturated fats can also be healthy when in moderation.

In fact, here are the various health benefits butter can give you when eaten in moderation:

1. It has a lot of fat-soluble vitamins
You can find a lot of fat-soluble vitamins, such as A, D, E, and K2, in butter. If you’re considering going vegetarian, adding butter can make up for a lot of the nutrients you would only get in eating meat.

While the first three are nothing new to you if you’re already eating healthy, K2 (which aids in breaking down calcium to be used in the body) is can be hard to find outside of grass-fed butter.

Selenium, which is responsible for enhancing antioxidant effects in your body, is another fat-soluble mineral present in grass-fed butter.

2. Lowered heart attack risk
Saturated fats can also be healthy, and when consumed in moderate amounts, can help the body perform its various functions.

For instance, saturated fats have been shown to help raise a person’s good cholesterol count, while at the same time neutralizing a good portion of a person’s bad cholesterol. This decrease in bad cholesterol can help prevent the onset of cardiovascular diseases later on.

Another way that moderate amounts of butter can lower the risk of heart disease is the additional introduction of vitamin K2 into the bloodstream.

3. Butter is rich in butyrate
Butyrate is a fatty acid created by bacteria when they are exposed to dietary fibers. For humans, this acid is highly beneficial to the digestive system because of its anti-inflammatory and protective effects.

This makes it more effective as a health food than margarine, which is perceived as a “healthier” low-calorie alternative to butter.

4. Certain fats in butter contain anti-cancer properties
While this may sound like a stretch at first, it turns out that grass-fed butter does in fact contain significant amounts of conjugated linoleic acid, which not just boosts your immunity and build muscle mass, but also prevents the development of cancer cells.

5. Butter improves the mood (and the mind)
Additionally, while it seems that cholesterols are the bane of any healthy diet, it turns out that low cholesterol levels can be linked to a higher risk of conditions such as depression, dementia, and even Alzheimer’s.

With just a small helping of butter included as a food ingredient, the risk of these conditions go drastically down.

4 Great Reasons to Try Out Couples Yoga Today

Editor

Yoga has its own benefits as an exercise. Contrary to what you think, there are a lot of bodyweight and breathing exercises in yoga, as well as different styles of yoga, that can do the same thing as spending time in the gym.

However, there are more benefits you can get when sharing this activity with your partner. Aside from having someone to practice and hold different kinds of poses with, there are other ways that couples yoga can be good for you:

1. It reduces anxiety and stress. Yoga is sure to reduce the anxiety and stress of everyday life with many exercises that involve different breathing techniques and poses that require you to stretch and hold your muscles for extended periods of time.

But when you do it with your partner, it’s another story – couples yoga is great for reducing stress and tension after a long day, and makes for a great bonding experience overall.

2. It creates more shared moments. The simple act of doing something together with your partner is a shared moment in itself, and if you’re having a hard time looking for something to do together, couples yoga is a great and easy way to spend quality time with your partner.

3. It promotes intimacy. What makes yoga a gift that keeps on giving is the trust built during the exercises. In fact, certain exercises in couples’ yoga require trust between both parties to hold certain poses for lengths of time.

Once your yoga session is done, not only do you discover your limits and strengths, but you also take steps to improve them, and by extension improve as a couple.

4. If offers warmth and affection. Yoga isn’t sexual in nature, even though it often leads to a better sex life with your partner.

What is integral to couples yoga, however, is touch, which gives much-needed feelings of warmth and affection for both partners. You and your partner will especially need a way to keep them alive when both of you are working and have different schedules, and this is a great way to do so.

To keep the romance alive, there are a lot of exercises you can do in your free time. All you need are comfortable clothes and an exercise mat, and you can get started on a few poses, such as the partner double tree, the downward double log, or even the standard back-to-back pose.

Not only can you repeat different exercises and modify your routine to have all kinds of poses, but you can also adjust your routine to have as many repetitions as you want.

Professional Painting Process

Editor

Is your apartment in need of an overhaul? Or are you moving into a new condo in Singapore, but you don’t like the interior house painting? Looking for a good painting contractor in Singapore can be a hassle especially if you have no idea whatsoever about the process and how long it will take until you can move back in to your home. Read on, because this guide will be able to help you find the best painting services company in country.

Painting Process
The first step in looking for a commercial painting contractor is understanding what goes through the process of completing an HDB painting service for small residential units. The contractor will explain to you how long the project will last based on the assessment of the apartment and the effect that you want to achieve. The best painter in Singapore will first take a tour of the interior of the house to note down what needs to be done first, such as touch up paint on cracked ceiling, before full condo painting can commence.

1. Protection. Depending in your arrangement with the commercial painting service crew, you and your family can still stay at home while the renovation is ongoing. If this is the case, the painters will have to make sure not to damage any furniture, appliance, and surface during the project. The painting will be done room by room or section by section. Preparation of the house includes covering surfaces that do not have to be painted.

If you have a lot of items at home, the HDB painting contractor might recommend renting a storage or warehouse to temporarily store them. Condo painting professionals use drop cloths and sturdy plastic to protect surfaces. Curtain rods and other wall accessories are also removed if they can be detached, but baseboards and window and door trims should be covered. This is also the right time to decide which type of paint you would like to determine the cost of paint and negotiate with the best condominium wall painter in Singapore for the labor and other painting services.

2. Preparation. The next step in condo painting is to “prep” or prepare the surfaces that will be painted. You cannot just paint the wall right away even if it looks even and smooth. When you hire a painter, he will also assess the condition of the walls and ceilings to determine if it needs to be patched up or replaced. The painter will work in one are of the house at a time to make the job more systematic without having to interfere with the daily activities of the occupants if you choose to stay during the renovation. First, they will patch up any holes or damage on the surface. You might be surprised to find out that even in well-maintained homes, there are problems that can be easily overlooked. Next, the walls or ceiling will be sanded to make the surface even. This will remove drips, bumps, and runs. Finally, caulking is done to make sure there are no holes, dings, and nicks left especially if it had been previously done by a cheap house painting service.

3. Painting. Once the surfaces are taped and sealed, the painter can finally start painting the walls and ceilings. In most jobs, priming is done first before the first coat of paint is applied. Usually, the painting services company will start on the ceiling first before painting on the trims and walls to minimize drips on the floor and walls. This will avoid the unsightly mixing of different paint colours where the wall and ceiling meet.

Issues in Bathroom Plumbing

Editor

Maintaining a clean and functioning bathroom is an important step to avoiding health problems in the family and avoiding embarrassment in case you have guests. This is why finding the best plumbing services in Singapore is critical to avoiding emergency fixes and possible renovation that will cost more.

Here is a list of common bathroom plumbing problems that you need to pay attention to.

• Clogged Drains. Even if you clean your bathroom regularly, it is still possible for soap and hair to clog the drains over time. Minimal clogs can be cleared with a plunger or a mixture of vinegar and baking soda. However, to avoid damaging the drain, it would be better to call a 24 hours pipe contractor in Singapore to take care of your clogged drainage system. A professional plumber knows very well how to handle drain blockage and fix broken pipe in a fast and efficient manner.

• Water Temperature. If you have a water heater, it’s important to have it calibrated regularly by a PUB licensed plumber. They are equipped with the tools and know-how to fix almost any brand and type of water heater. This is especially important if the water heater is connected to a system in the apartment complex.

• Pipe Leaks. Silent leaks can be dangerous if ignored. Over time, the water can cause structural damage that will cost more than simple repairs. However, this can be difficult to detect without the help of a professional. To avoid silent leaks, schedule regular inspections with a reliable HDB plumbing contractor that specializes in apartment complexes. Older buildings might also need new plumbing and better fixtures to minimize problems.

• Dripping Faucet. This is so common in homes that it’s easy to ignore them until the fixture finally breaks. When this happens, the plumbing cost of an early repair is cheaper than having to contact an emergency plumber. You will also be wasting a lot of water that can hurt your monthly water bill.

• Running Toilet. This issue can also hurt your water bill as most toilets use up 200 gallons of water because of leaks. It can be avoided with regular inspection and minor repairs to the flapper valve by cheap plumbers.

• Choked Toilet. No one wants a choked toilet bowl that does not drain right away when flushed. There are several causes for a clogged toilet, but usually it’s caused by blockages of certain objects (e.g. toilet papers, sanitary napkins, bar soap, etc.). If you do not want to deal with this pesky situation, call for a professional help to remove choke in toilet right away. Experienced and certified plumbers in Singapore are experts in dealing with these problems and can guarantee to fix your plumbing issue in no time.

• Toilet Parts Failure. Heavy use can eventually cause wear and tear on the toilet parts, especially if the apartment unit you’re renting is at least ten years old. It is also easy to diagnose a toilet problem whenever you use it. Do not attempt to fix it yourself and call a 24 hours plumber instead.

• Low Water Pressure. Older apartment buildings commonly experience low water pressure because of hidden leaks. You might want to contact your landlord about looking for a plumbing services company. Your best bet is not only to fix broken pipes but to replace the old pipes entirely. Chances are, not only does it have several leaks, it is also corroded.

• Old Fixtures and Pipes. If you are moving into an old apartment, you will want to have a professional plumber inspect the toilet, sinks, pipes, and fixtures. Only a professional plumbing contractor should install a sink, replace old pipes, and install new fixtures.

The Basics of Acrylic Painting for Beginners

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Acrylic is considered a versatile painting medium and can be applied using different tools besides brushes. It’s also cheaper and less messy than oil as well because it dries quickly and is odorless.

History of Acrylic Painting
Unlike watercolor and oil, acrylic is a more recent medium manufactured in the 1940s. Most of the acrylic paint then were polymer-based and were used as house paint. Artists noticed its versatility as a medium and it gained popularity when the quick-drying type was introduced.

Most artists today consider that acrylic is still in its infancy stage because manufacturers continuously develop acrylic with different pigments and artists still experiment on the medium.

Acrylic can mimic the effects of other medium and it can also be mixed with other types of artwork. Some of the most famous acrylic paintings were made by Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko, and Bridget Riley.

Materials for Acrylic Painting
There are so many choices in art shops in Singapore when it comes to art supplies that you feel like you’re missing out on something if you don’t try all the products. But don’t worry, you will need only a few basic items when you’re a beginner. When you have mastered the basic techniques in acrylic, then you can try the expensive brands next time.

You will need the following for acrylic painting:

• Ten basic colors (ivory black, titanium white, burnt sienna, cadmium yellow, dioxazine purple, cadmium orange, phthalo blue, cadmium red, phthalo green, and alizarin crimson)
• Stiff-bristled brushes for the acrylic paint and soft-bristled brushes for watercolor effects (don’t forget to get a medium filbert)
• Supports for acrylic (such as paper and canvas)
• Disposable or plastic palettes
• Two jars with clean water (one for mixing and one for washing brushes)
• Cloth and paper towels

When selecting the paint, start with student-grade paints that come in bottles for easier handling and storage, but you could also try paints in tubes if you’re more confident in using them.

Basic Techniques for Beginners
You must learn the following techniques in application before painting your first subject.

• Washing. Apply paint diluted with water on a paper using a wet brush to create a watercolor effect.
• Dry Brush. Apply undiluted paint on a paper using a dry brush to suggest movement and texture.
• Stippling. This is the use of dots to create an image. You can apply paint either through dry brush or washing.
• Dabbing. Apply paint on the paper or canvas using paper towel or a sponge.
• Flicking. Flick paint onto a surface using a slightly wet brush to create a splatter.
• Detailing. Add details using a fine brush.
• Use of a Palette Knife. Scrape off a bit of paint and apply in on the canvas as if you’re spreading jam on a bread.

When you’re ready to paint a subject, start by sketching the image first then painting over it. When mixing colors, you can use the palette knife or mix the colors on the palette before painting on the canvas.