Hi everyone, Out house has commenced and I'm still trying to figure out our hardwood flooring (about 1000 square feet). I'm having the floors site-finished, and they're character grade white oak. My floor guy has brought over a big sample he put together so I could try various stains on it. My kitchen cabinets will be "rustic alder" with a light walnut stain. I like the walnut stain on the white oak, but I want a little more warmth without going reddish. I've decided to put tung oil (or Waterlox) on the floors; will that give a yellowish (warm) cast? Or do any of you have a suggestion for warming up the walnut (or maybe I should try a little different stain?) Thanks! p.s. does anyone know if Waterlox (VOC problem) is legal in Oregon?

While some fabrics have applied "finishes", many of those are not really washable. A well-known example is chintz decorating fabric often made into curtains. It has a subtle sheen, but if you wash it the sheen disappears, leaving just the printed colors on the fabric. Some people like chintz even better after it's been washed, however. Some modern fabrics have resins embedded in the fabric to assist in preventing wrinkles. This is the basis of the wash and wear dress shirts, for example. Those resins do wear away over the course of a large number of washes, so perhaps that's what the salesman had in mind. Personally I find the added resins unpleasant so I try never to buy fabrics treated with them. Finally most white fabris and clothing sold in the US are treated with optical brightening agents (OBAs), which are essentially florescent dyes that make the white color appear to glow. This is to aid in maintaing the visual impression of whiteness. Many mainstream detergents also add a small amount of OBAs in an attempt to prolong the effect. If you wear clothes made of treated fabric next to your skin, you acquire a subtle florescence of your own. In addition, older or antique white textiles when washed with detergents that add OBAs can become splotchy looking. On the whole, I imagine the marketing babble about maintaining your clothing's finish most likely has to do with the resin-coated anti-wrinkling factor. Those do wear away over time, and you may not have clothing treated that way. For that reason you should decide if the "finish-protection" thing is really important to you. HTH, Molly~ PS BTW, a very familiar textile finish is plain old starch added to the rinse water. For that, of course, it's probably better that it washes away with each wash or you'd be walking around like the tin man sooner or later.

If it is rough, sand and spray again. There are many things that can cause sprayed work to come out rough. It could be overspray or the paint may not be atomizing properly because of pressure settings or temperature. It could be simply that your first coat has raised the grain of the wood and you now need to sand that grain smooth again and recoat. Keep in mind that the factory primer on pre-primed trim is generally very low quality so for best results you would want to re-prime with something of high quality, sand smooth and spray your finish coats. Remember that overspray will fly around and land on freshly sprayed items which will make them rough. You either need to have all pieces in the spray area wet at the same time or spray a few pieces and move them out of there before spraying the next few pieces.

If the wall was never primed before the wall paper went up you will need to prime it before trying to repair the damaged paper layer of the drywall. The water in joint compound will cause the edges of any tears to swell and make a lump that wil not go down. If you sand it flat and apply another coat, more water soaks into the sanded paper area and it will swell again. Setting compound can help sometimes, but if you are not experienced can be very hard to use. It sets in a specified time no matter how much water you add. Pre-mix drywall mud hardens by water evaporation, and can be dissolved again by adding water. A coat of latex primer will help even out the surface color and make the defects more visible. If the paper layer is torn or raised, cut it away with a razor knife. Spot prime the area again. Use a 5 inch or 6 inch drywall taping knife and joint compound to spread a smooth layer over the spot. Do not spend too much time trying to get it perfect. Dips are better than bumps. After 24 hours, take the knife and lightly 'scrape' over the repairs. The new compound is dry, but even dried compound is not very hard. With the knife almost parallel to the surface run it over the repairs. Any slightly raised areas of bumps will be cut away. If the compound area is large or very rough, it might take a few passes to smooth it down. When all the bumps and nibs are down flat again, apply another coat of compound, spreading it out at least 3 inches away from the edge of every spot. It takes practice to smooth the drywall mud out without a lot of bumps and gouges. Work a little harder on this second coat. When it dries you can run the knife over it again for any larger lumps, and then use a sanding screen to smooth out smaller bumps. If you want to try you can also Âwet sandÂ. This uses a sponge to apply water to soften the compound and than gently wipe it smooth. Grout sponges (round corners) work pretty well for this. Keep applying compound, and scrapping/sanding until the surface is as smooth as you want. Spot prime it again to protect the patches.