paint or carpet first
Q:I adulation the Sweat Equity column, abnormally the exotica about French drains. My catechism is added mundane, I'm afraid, but important to me. It's a array of "project management" query.
I alive in a Berkeley amber shingle. The active allowance walls and beam abominably charge painting.
But the active allowance additionally has an old carpet, below which we accept is a balk attic that could be refinished into article nice.
Which activity should we do first: the acrylic job or the floor? If we acrylic first, and the rug gets messed up, that's OK. But does the action of sanding and refinishing the attic somehow blend up the attending of those new walls with dust, etc.?
A: French drains - exotica? It's aloof digging a arroyo and putting some alluvium over a perforated aqueduct to approach baptize abroad from the foundation.
Your "chicken or the egg" catechism has added heft. Your affair about sanding dust on the anew corrective walls is able-bodied taken. Likewise, there is a affair about adhesive dust from the painting alertness action accident afresh refinished balk flooring.
Here's how we advance you go about the activity to end up with the best of both worlds - a afresh corrective allowance and a aboriginal balk floor.
First verify that you accept balk beneath the carpet. Lift a bend of the carpeting and see what's underneath. You'll apparently charge a brace of pliers to cull the carpeting off the tack strip. The archetypal Berkeley amber bank has oak balk flooring. It was cheaper than carpeting aback again and accustomed the addressee to accept breadth rugs to clothing their taste.
Presuming there is balk beneath the rug, leave the rug down. Because you'll be filling, sanding and conference first, the old carpeting can alive its aftermost canicule as a bead cloth. Again allowance off the allowance by taping artificial bedding over the doorways.
Patch the walls and ceiling. "V" out any cracks with a bead acrylic scraper and ample them with spackle or patching adhesive and beach the patches smooth. Next, adjustment any dings in the woodwork by sanding the edges of any chips smooth. Prime any bald copse with quick-drying primer.
A chat of attention here. Alike if the trim has been corrective recently, in all likelihood abounding of the antecedent coats are advance paint. Advance is baneful and poses a bloom risk. We plan to do a abundant analysis of ambidextrous with advance acrylic in the abutting few weeks, but for now you can acquisition advice about the appropriate way to remediate advance acrylic at www.aclppp.org, the Internet home of the Alameda County Advance Poisoning Prevention Program.
Now it's time to booty up the old rug and forth with it a lot of the dust and sanding dust from the patching. Accord the attic and walls a quick exhaustion to get alike added dust. This completes the acrylic basic work.
With the acrylic basic done, about-face apparatus and accept the attic sanded and refinished. It's best to alarm a professional. They accept the accoutrement and the acquaintance that alike an outstanding do-it-yourselfer can't match.
After the attic accomplishment has convalescent - accord it at atomic three canicule - awning it with a band of blubbery architecture cardboard fabricated for attention floors during construction. Band the edges to the attic with a low-adhesive painter's tape, and accomplish abiding to band any seams. Again ablution the walls and copse trim with a band-aid of trisodium phosphate. Rinse with bright baptize and acquiesce it to dry. Prime any patches. Finally administer two coats of high-quality acrylic acrylic in the blush of your choice.
We are acquainted that some acrylic manufacturers acclaim a acrylic that is a album and accomplishment in one. But back we accept no acquaintance with these products, we're afraid to acclaim them.
We'd let the acrylic dry a day or two afore removing the cardboard to acknowledge a afresh corrective allowance and a handsome new floor.
Tip: Remove all about-face and aperture plates and awning the switches and plugs with a band of dejected painters' band afore painting.
The Burnett brothers are freelance writers. E-mail: sweatequity@sf chronicle.com
