0206 - Sound Reduction, No VOC Paints, and Painting Techniques October 16-22, 2006 | April 16-22, 2007 >> Vila: Hi, I'm Bob Vila. Welcome to the show. We're remodeling a house here, where we're getting a room, a nursery, ready for a new baby, and today we've got some very interesting stuff to discuss. We're putting in sound-attenuation insulation, which will make the nursery nice and snug and quiet. Also, a new type of ceiling that helps with that job as well by absorbing a lot of sound, and we'll also be showing you all about how to paint the nursery using the right kinds of paints and the right techniques. Stick around. This is our third visit to our nursery project here in Melrose, Massachusetts, where a young couple have bought their first home, a 2-family home so that the rental income helps defray the cost of the mortgage, and they're busy remodeling some bathrooms and a bedroom, getting ready for the first baby's arrival any day now. Nick and Maggie live on the second and third floor of this big 1895 house. They've already insulated the roof up above there to help defray the cost of heating in our tough New England winters. Now it's time to talk about insulating the interior walls for sound attenuation, 'cause, after all, baby needs a quiet environment as well as a warm one. Arline Bronzaft is a PhD in Child Psychology, and you're visiting us here at this project, and I guess one of the things that would concern us is why is it important to have peace and quiet around the nursery?
>> Well, a child has to sleep, and children really find it much easier to fall asleep in a quiet room. Now, you might say to me, "but the child's gonna make some sounds." Yeah, those are the sounds for parents, and when the child makes sounds, particularly an infant, it's usually a cry because the child's wet, the child's hungry, the child is uncomfortable, and those are cues that parents have to listen to and attend to and quiet the child. But when the child has to fall asleep, it's important for the child's development that the child has a good night's sleep. Even though it's broken up by feeding periods, they need to sleep. Development occurs while the child's asleep.
>> Vila: But some would make the observation that many babies come into a household where there's already one or two or, thanks to wonder drugs, maybe six other kids that are older and that are making a racket around the house. Is it important also for a baby to kind of get accustomed to that buzz and that level of noise?
>> You're talking about the child getting accustomed, but the baby is still a baby. We're talking about a newborn.
>> Vila: Infants.
>> We're talking about an infant from 0 to 6 or 7 months of age. When you're putting a child to sleep, it's generally better to have a quieter environment for that child.
>> Vila: That's why they call them "lullabies," right?
>> That's a very good word. But then there's also something else. I think what it also says in terms of the environment of a household -- that the parent that understands the child needs some quiet when the child's very young will also understand that for that child's mental and physical development, there will be times when quiet will help that child to study, to learn, to read. Quiet is not silence. It's just quiet. We can still hear the breeze, we can still hear a leaf, and the child will, of course, want those sounds. Those are wonderful sounds. But when it's just an infant that we're talking about, we're really focusing on rest, and that is definitely aided by quiet.
>> Vila: Arline, thank you for those insights. Now, as part of doing this to the environment, owens corning has come up with a whole concept of the quiet zone, and Harry Alter was here just a few days ago getting started with some of the measures that we're taking to assure that the nursery is a quiet zone.
>> First of all, the first thing to have is long-sleeve shirts, all right? After that, you want to have gloves to be able to handle the fiberglass lid. Next is goggles... A hat... And then last of all, you need a dust mask. Just a pretty simple process. You just take the batt and put it into the cavity and tuck it in as you go. All right? And all the batts have -- with the face batts, you have a little flange here. You basically staple that about every 8 inches. You just want to basically let it lie in the cavity. Make sure it's in. Then when you get to the outlet, you can basically kind of mark where the outlet is. So, then you can take this off and cut it out. Okay. Then you stuff it back in. Go around the outlet... Again, making sure that you're not compressing the batt. What you do is you just split the batt, and you can stuff this right behind the wiring and bring it down, all right? So, you've got the wiring in there now, and then you bring the batt up over it.
>> Vila: So, Harry, the thing I noticed right away is that you've done a very, very careful and meticulous job of installing the product here so that there aren't any gaps and it really fills in the cavity in between the studs. That's important, I guess, right?
>> Yeah. Make sure all the stud cavities are filled, and then, after you do that, obviously, then you want to start looking for any gaps and cracks in the wall, 'cause that's an easy path for noise to get through, and that's when we start looking at caulk.
>> Vila: Is this different from what we put in the side wall to keep the cold out?
>> Well, there's a lot of different densities of fiberglass, and this is one density that is a lightweight density, and it's designed specifically for acoustics. It's not used thermally. It's not tested thermally. We do all our testing specifically for its ability to reduce noise in floors or ceilings.
>> Vila: To reduce noise transmission, okay. So, what's the caulking gun for?
>> I've got QuietZone Acoustic Sealant, and this is a siliconized acrylic, and it's designed to be flexible over time so that it doesn't harden, and we use it to seal up the gaps and cracks in the wall that can happen at the baseplate, where the baseplate meets the floor, and also around the outlets, and that will happen after the gypsum goes up. And for this instant, I'm gonna be sealing up the gap where the existing ceiling meets this top plate just to make sure everything is sealed up.
>> Vila: So, all the way across from that corner and then down to the bottom, you want to provide a bead of this?
>> Yeah.
>> Vila: Okay. Thanks, Harry.
>> Thank you.
>> Vila: All right, so, we're in the room across the way from the nursery now, which will be the guest bedroom, and ed waller's here from certapro, and I want to talk about the kind of paints that we're using and some tips on how to paint, 'cause these are old plaster walls. Now, what kind of paint? It's latex paint, right?
>> Yep, this is latex paint. It's a no-V.O.C. Paint.
>> Vila: Now, V.O.C.s are volatile organic compounds, which what the chemists want us to call them, but basically it's what makes the paint stink, right?
>> Yeah, paint thinner in the old oil-based paints.
>> Vila: And in latex paints?
>> A variety of different modern chemicals -- ethylene glycol, propylene glycol.
>> Vila: But these paints -- they've done away with all that stuff?
>> That's right. These paints have a special resin -- doesn't need any solvents to form a good, solid film. Very advanced, very high-tech.
>> Vila: We're breathing it, and it's not bothering us, and I can attest to the fact that it doesn't stink in here.
>> It's almost pleasant.
>> Vila: Mm-hmm. Now, again, with V.O.C., You can't get too confused, 'cause the fact is that once it's dried, it's over with. There's really no harmful effect from the older paints.
>> Yeah, once it's dry to the touch, the vast majority of the solvent's in the air, and as fast as you can ventilate the property or the home, you're ready to go.
>> Vila: It's all dissipated. What about the actual ability of this sort of paint to grip to what's underneath it?
>> You're actually getting a superior resin in these latexes than you would in, say, basic latex paint. Usually when you get no-fat food or fat-free stuff or all these healthy things, they don't taste as good, but in this case, I think you actually get a superior product, and it's not that much more money. You can buy these products for a few gallons -- a few dollars a gallon more. Rarely do we do just one coat because there's always little voids. When the paint dries, it shrinks. There's gonna be, literally, settling on the paint film.
>> Vila: No, it's a very good point, 'cause during that first-coat application, you're scanning your eyes over every square foot of wall surface, and you can see where you need to come back and do a repair.
>> You're gonna notice the bad spots for sure. You can't see them in a normal, unpainted wall.
>> Vila: Now, is there a reason why he's -- obviously, you cut in before you roll. He's cut in beautifully up here at the ceiling line with a very steady hand, and he's cut in where we have the roof-eave line. But down here at the baseboard, below the windows, I'm just noticing that he hasn't cut in, he's let the yellow kind of go over the molding.
>> Yes. In an old house like this, where the trim's got a lot of, uh, edges and it's not very even, the idea here is to overlap the wall paint onto the trim. That gets the void and the area between the wall and the trim all covered with one solid color.
>> Vila: And that way, when you come back to...
>> Trim paint, a good craftsman will draw a nice, straight line.
>> Vila: What about your radiators? He's painting right over the radiator. Isn't that a problem?
>> That's a good point. No, it's not a problem. A lot of people don't realize that these old metal radiators in homes are really just painted with ordinary latex wall paint. If there's rust, obviously, we need to spot-prime with a rust primer, but otherwise, no. Normal paint stick to these. It doesn't effect the heat or their properties, and you can decorate them to match your room, just like this one.
>> Vila: Ed, how do you find a good painter?
>> Look at what he's done, talk to people he's worked for, and, in our case, we'll try him out in the field with an experienced job-site supervisor.
>> Vila: You know, that's one of the things. A lot of people go into the painting business who haven't been trained properly.
>> That's right.
>> Vila: And you sometimes end up with very unhappy clients.
>> Yes, and we train our key staff, and when we bring on new people to work as helpers and painters and apprentices, they're under the watchful eye of someone that we have trained. You'll notice when he's rolling these walls a couple of things. He's using an extension pole. One thing that a lot of people miss, especially doing it themselves -- they don't think to invest 20 bucks in an extension pole, and I'll tell you, it's really hard to paint with just a roller sleeve, with just your hand. You really got to put an extension pole on there, and a decent one that fits your hand. You'll also notice he's rolling from floor to ceiling. A lot of people will paint a little square. He's very purposely, on each load of that roller, painting roughly two roller widths. That's how you know how much paint to use, and that's about the spread rate of a gallon of paint. You should go floor to ceiling, two roller widths, and that's how you paint. That's exactly what he's showing us here -- the fastest, most efficient way to put the right paint on, the right quantity.
>> Vila: Now, are we using a different type of paint for the trim?
>> Yes, on the trim, justin's painting here with semigloss paint. The walls we did an eggshell.
>> Vila: That's always a good idea, but I meant is it still low V.O.C.?
>> Yes, this is actually still a no-V.O.C. Paint. It's Sherwin-Williams' Harmony line. They make a full range -- flat, eggshell, semigloss. Even the primer he's painting over top of was a no-V.O.C. primer, that's right.
>> Vila: Oh, that's great.
>> Yeah, and it's actually -- if you look at this trim where he's painting, that was dark red.
>> Vila: The importance of a steady hand is obviously at the top of the list when you're doing that.
>> Yes. This is where the craftsmanship comes in when you're getting a paint job. The quality of that line's what your eye's gonna look at for the next 10 years.
>> Vila: What kind of a paintbrush should we use?
>> In this case, he's using -- it looks like a purdy synthetic, like a polyester bristle. Those are pretty expensive brushes.
>> Vila: Are those the ones with the exploded tips?
>> Yeah, I think they call them "flared" or "flagged" tips. They flag them.
>> Vila: But it's not a china bristle?
>> No, you wouldn't want to use that with latex. They expand and bloat, and they don't spread the paint very well.
>> Vila: So, those are best used with old-fashioned varnishes and that sort of stuff?
>> Smelly oil-based paint, yes. Lots of V.O.C.s in those.
>> Vila: Yeah.
>> That brush there is probably 20 bucks.
>> Vila: I notice they paint out of a pail. Is that important?
>> Well, you'll notice the way he paints, he doesn't really scrape the brush on the side. He just taps it a little to get rid of the loose paint.
>> Vila: On the walls of the pail?
>> Yes, and having a pail with a large open mouth like that just makes it easy to get in and get the paint out.
>> Vila: So, baseboards are a little bit easier than a panel door, right? Any tips?
>> Well, a flat panel door -- a flat door we might just roll and get a nice light stipple texture. A lot of doors are already like that. In this case, we have an old wooden door. It was previously finished with a varnish or it wasn't even painted. We want to leave a nice brush texture, so we're gonna paint the entire door by brush. We're using our big 4-inch brush. And our standard procedure on almost anything we paint, and we'll follow it with this door, is we do the hard stuff first. We work inside out, top to bottom, left to right.
>> Vila: Inside out means from the deepest part, like the panel?
>> Deepest part out to the farthest-out part, so we're not sort of painting the frame while we're still going around it to get to the door.
>> Vila: And tape those nice old brass hinges and take off the doorknobs, the escutcheons, the keyhole covers, all the antique elements so that you don't get any paint on them.
>> Yeah, and then before the paint dries, we'll pull the tape off so we don't get a bridge.
>> Vila: Ed, thanks for the tips.
>> Okay, Bob. Thank you.
>> Vila: Closed captioning provided by...
>> Vila: Hi. Bob Vila here. Next time on the show, we're working on our remodeling project, where we're getting a room ready for a new baby. We're turning the nursery into a very quiet room by putting in some sound-attenuation insulation and a new type of ceiling which is beautiful to look at but also muffles the sounds. And we'll be showing you some painting techniques -- not just the right kinds of paints but how to apply it, where to get started, and what kinds of brushes and rollers to use. That's next time. Don't miss it.
>> Vila: Hi. Bob Vila here. Next time on the show, our baby-nursery project is getting a paint job, and we'll be giving you some tips on what kind of paints to use and how to put them on. Also, some sound attenuation and a terrific new ceiling. Don't miss it.
>> Vila: Hi. Bob Vila here. Next time on the show, our baby-nursery project gets a paint job and some sound insulation. Don't miss it.
>> Vila: We're back in the nursery, and one of the things we want to do here is sound attenuation because it's a room that has a lot of angles and a hardwood floor, and we want to be able to absorb some of the sounds, like a baby crying, and Ken Lanoie's here from Owens Corning. What's this called -- this product?
>> This is the QuietZone Solserene Fabric System.
>> Vila: The Solserene Fabric System. It's basically an absorptive ceiling.
>> Absolutely. It's made of three main components. There's a track that goes around, but the main sound absorber is this high-density fiberglass board with fiberglass mesh that goes on the bottom of it, and this absorbs sound -- doesn't block it like the hard surfaces. It absorbs the sound that's in the room, softens the space.
>> Vila: It just absorbs it, and then it's all covered up with a fabric.
>> Right. So, it's an acoustically transparent fabric, meaning that the sound will go through it but it will be picked up by the board. What they're doing right now is they're installing the acoustic fiberglass board up against a hard surface, okay? So that's gonna be the real -- the absorber.
>> Vila: Right.
>> And once that's in place and the track's in place, then they're gonna take the fabric and stretch over it.
>> Vila: Well, this is something that a homeowner can tackle.
>> Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Do it yourself.
>> Vila: All right. So, then, the next step is to take all this fabric and stretch it across the material.
>> Correct. Tuck it into the corners. Get it up.
>> Vila: Oh, I see. So, you tuck it in the back side of that molding that's on the perimeter of the room.
>> Absolutely correct. And when you order the material, it comes with a tacking knife.
>> Vila: With this tool?
>> Yeah, the tool. It's like a putty knife. But it -- the material is grabbed by the back of that track molding, so they get it up in place, and you can see a lot of the wrinkles are already coming out of it now. And then later on, we'll go back and make it very tight. The beauty of this system, Bob, is as more and more homes have granite surfaces, marble floors, wood floors, plastered ceilings, there's a lot of hard surface, a lot of echo.
>> Vila: A lot of echo?
>> Yeah, a lot of echo, so this absorbs it on the ceiling area.
>> Vila: So, we're just doing a preliminary trim job on the corner over here, but already you start to lose the sense that it's a fabric 'cause it stretches so nicely that it really does look like a plaster ceiling.
>> Absolutely. It gives you that nice, crisp, clean line that you're looking for, and it gives you a lot of architectural-detail possibilities -- dormered ceilings, rounded edges, vaulted ceilings, et cetera.
>> Vila: So, you could leave it like that and have that little shadow line, or, as you were saying a minute ago, you could add a ceiling molding or a picture mold or crown.
>> You can change the color if you wanted. It'll blend right with it.
>> Vila: Ken, what about the cost?
>> The cost is about $6 a square foot.
>> Vila: 6 Bucks a square foot? And it makes a difference!
>> Does make a difference.
>> Vila: I can tell. Thanks a lot.
>> Thank you, Bob.
>> Vila: And that wraps things up. Next time we're gonna be putting finishing touches on that bathroom, including a corian tub surround. Also, we'll be looking at natural products to use in the nursery and all sorts of baby-safety products -- gates and covers for outlets and that sort of thing. Till then, I'm Bob Vila. Thanks for joining us. Looking for help on your next project? Visit BobVila.Com for everything you need to get the job done right. You'll find show highlights, interactive tools for planning your next project, and helpful how-to articles for every room in your home. BobVila.Com -- the ultimate home site.
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