Applying paints to your house gives a sense of completion, newness, freshness and increases the aesthetics of your house. Paint is prepared by mixing the various ingredients in well-balanced proportion. Paints are used as final finishes to any surfaces to protect and decorate your house. Painting your house can be an expensive and a tedious task. Hence before painting, one must check the paint by comparing its characteristics to the characteristics of ideal paint. If it is not of good-quality, the paint will deteriorate quickly and will not serve its purpose properly. Here we have given qualities or characteristics of ideal paint, which a homeowner must know before painting the house.
Characteristics of Ideal Paint:
01. It should possess good spreading or covering power, as it determines the cost. An ideal paint should have the capacity of covering maximum area with minimum quantity. Always check the brochure of the paint given by the manufacturer for coverage information.
02. When applied to the surface, paint should form a thin film of uniform nature.
03. The colour of the paint should withstand the adverse environmental conditions such as rain, heat, wind, etc. for a long time. The colour should not fade or change over its intended life.
04. Paint should have such a consistency that it could be easily applied with a brush or spraying devices.
05. Paint should adhere well to the surface to which it is applied. It should possess maximum adhesion capacity to the material over which it is intended to be used.
06. It should have an attractive and pleasing appearance.
07. Its initial cost must be fairly cheap and it must prove economical over the long run.
08. The surface of the paint should not show cracks after drying. It should be elastic. i.e. must be able to withstand change in temperature. The temperature variation between maximum & minimum temperature ranges during day and night is on an average 20o C. As a result, the wall, plaster etc. either expand or contract. During such expansion/contraction, the paint film must not break or crack. It must be elastic enough to withstand stretch due to expansion/contraction.
09. It should have ideal resistance to corrosion and protect the material over which it is used.
10. Paint should be such that it dries in a reasonable time and not very rapidly.
11. On drying an ideal paint will not show any signs, such as brush marks, shrinkage marks, cracks, patches, etc.
12. Paint must not allow moulds and algae to grow on it.
13. The characteristics of ideal paint should be judged at all the three stages, i.e., before, during and after the application of the paint. An ideal paint will provide a perfect finish to your house and increase its aesthetics and value.