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Rayco Painting Company uses eco-friendly paint products, including Benjamin Moore Aura paint that offers the quality of traditional premium paints with the peace of mind and safety of zero VOC products.

When it comes to protecting our environment, every little choice can make a difference, including which paint you use when repainting your home. All major paint manufacturers now produce low-VOC, eco-friendly paints so it can be difficult to know which one to choose.

To determine the best eco-friendly paints, we at Rayco Painting Company look for a paint that is both high in quality and low in environmental impact. One that is a stand out above the rest is the Benjamin Moore AURA paint line. This premium-quality paint has zero VOC’s, both in the paint base and the colorant. Available in a vast range of colors, AURA is guaranteed to provide radiant coverage in 2 coats.

Here at Rayco Painting Company we strive towards using green painting supplies for each and every job. We follow all regulations for separating and containing hazardous materials and removing them from your home or commercial site.

For eco-friendly painting services in the East Bay, contact Rayco Painting Company.

Always use a brush when painting old wood siding. It allows the paint to be worked into the siding's faults more successfully than a roller or spray.

There are many different types of wood siding, so choosing the best paint can be tricky.   The most important factor when choosing a paint product for wood siding depends on what has been used previously. Rayco’s veteran contractors pay close attention to this when they’re working with all our residential customers in San Jose.

The most common paint product for wood siding are Latex-based systems, and continuing with high quality latex products is the best choice. There is a wide-variety of 100% acrylic paints available and we can recommend the best products for your home.

Another option for wood siding is High build paints.  High build paints are 100% acrylic and as their name would suggest, thicker. This increased viscosity leads to a thicker film of paint with each coat and therefore a thicker coat of protection for your wood siding. Most of today’s modern paint manufacturer’s have high build paint lines.  Regal from Benjamin Moore is a solid choice.

For older wood siding, which has been previously painted with oil paint, the best paint choice is a hybrid paint which combines both latex and urethane technologies. These products will provide exceptional bonding to oil systems and the fact that they do not require a primer coat makes them a favorite for surfaces requiring extensive scraping and sanding.

To learn more painting tips and services that Rayco offers friend us on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/#!/rayco.painting

Get rid of that paint smell by using Natura from Benjamin Moore

An exciting advancement in the world of green paint has been the introduction of odor free paint and fragrance fillers.

Paint fumes and odor have always been a concern for homeowners because they can linger for quite awhile after the paint job has been finished. Painting in high humidity can cause the fumes and odor to remain, which is another big benefit in painting interiors in the fall and winter when the air is dry.

Fortunately, environmental regulations have led to the use of very low VOC paints, as well as paints with zero-VOC, which is great for your health and the smell of your house.

Even with low VOC’s, there can be a lingering paint odor which can be offset by utilizing odor-free paints or by using fragrance fillers, which can be added to the paint before it’s applied.

Rayco’s favorite odor free zero-VOC paint is Natura from Benjamin Moore.  Natura is virtually odorless and is a great choice for any interior in San Jose.

If you would like to talk in more detail about low and zero-VOC paints, as well as odor-free paint products for the interior of your home or business, contact Rayco for a free painting estimate.

Washable Matte Paint is perfect for the busiest areas in your home like hallways and living rooms

In the past, when choosing what type of paint for the interior of your home, your only two choices were flat paints or enamels.  Flat paints look great but attract dirt quickly and are hard to wash. Enamels on the other hand are easy to clean but don’t contain the aesthetic appeal of flat paints.

But you don’t have to compromise anymore because now you have a 3rd choice with washable matte paints.

Washable matte paints (Rayco uses Regal Classic from Benjamin Moore) offer a beautiful matte finish, but unlike regular flat paints they create a hard exterior that fends off stains and doesn’t allow them to penetrate thanks to the new special cross-linking technology.

With washable matte paints, maintenance becomes a breeze because now most household stains can be easily wiped off using just some water or a little soap. You won’t have to worry any longer about leaving marks or fading the color.

Check out Benjamin Moore’s homepage for more information on Regal Classic

http://www.benjaminmoore.com

Benjamin Moore Aurora Exterior Paint is offered in thousands of colors and protects against cracking, peeling and fading and is also mildew and stain resistant

When getting ready to re-paint your home’s exterior you need to consider what is the best exterior house paint?  Here at Rayco Painting Company we have used a lot of different exterior house paints in our years painting and have dealt with every painting issue possible. That being said, there are definitely different paints that will work best in different situations, but if you want to know whats the best overall exterior house paint, without a doubt it would be Aurora Exterior from Benjamin Moore.

Benjamin Moore Aurora Exterior offers self priming, one coat coverage (on similar colors), interlocking technology, and a lifetime warranty at a very reasonable price.  What we notice when we compare Benjamin Moore Aurora Exterior to other exterior house paints is that Aurora Exterior seems to cover better in one coat.

Another reason Benjamin Moore makes number one on our list of types of exterior paint is their commitment to their customers. Warranty issues with Benjamin Moore have always been extremely easy for us to deal with. With almost no questions asked, Benjamin Moore always refunds or fixes the problem. There is a reason that Benjamin Moore continually wins Consumer Choice awards every year.

Check out Benjamin Moore’s homepage for more information on Aurora Exterior

http://www.benjaminmoore.com

There is nothing worse than a smoke smelling room

Before painting walls that are stained from nicotine smoke, some prep work is highly recommended. To paint over these surfaces without the proper prep work, will likely cause the nicotine to bleed through the final coat of paint, and the smell will remain.

First, we like to clean up the surfaces with TSP or an equivalent cleaner and then wipe the surfaces and rinse. We are trying to get a lot of the surface stuff off there. Then we allow the surface to dry before we prime.

Priming the walls and ceilings properly does two key things. First, the primer will prevent the nicotine from rising to the surface. Second, a good primer will seal in the smell.

For primer Rayco recommends using a product called “Kilz”. You can get it at Home Depot, Lowe’s, and most local paint stores in the East Bay. It is available in both oil and water base.

Masterchem Industries, the company that makes Kilz has a very informative home page that will help answer a lot of questions.

http://www.kilz.com/company/.com

When you find that you have a dry rot problem you absolutely need to address it immediately in order to prevent permanent damage to your property.

As we head into the rainy season, many of the HOA communities in the East Bay have realized that they may have dry rot repairs that still need to be dealt with before it rains. If not fixed, these spots of rotted wood can lead to further water damages. Apartment managers and homeowners need to be aware that the rains are coming and any repairs need to be started soon.

Rayco’s dry rot removal process is six steps. First off we eliminate the source of the moisture because there is no point in repairing an area that is certain to get damaged again. Then we dig out as much of the dry rot area as we can so the filler that we use will stay in place.

After we finish digging out the infected area, we drill shallow holes around the margin of the wood, creating tiny cups that will hold liquid. We then fill the holes with a wood hardener liquid that protects the surface and gives the filler something to hold onto. We either use a one step treatment or an epoxy blend.

Next we choose premium wood filler and carefully mold it to the area, pressing it into place. In the case of most HOA’s the dry rot area is large so we have to cut a piece of wood a bit smaller than the area, embed it in the filler, and nail it in. Finally we fill the space around it with putty until the area looks as it did originally. The putty allows the
wood to expand and shrink naturally without forming cracks in the repaired area.

If you are in the East Bay and need help with dry rot or water damages, Rayco Painting Company can help in detecting, and fixing these problems. We specialize in this sort of repairs and have quickly garnered the reputation as the best dry rot repair contractors in the East Bay.

Check out our reviews on Yelp and see what past customers have said about Rayco

http://www.yelp.com/biz/rayco-painting-oakland

Depending on the direct sunlight and moisture, Rayco recommends you repaint your iron railings every six years

Take a look at some iron railings Rayco just painted for an HOA in San Jose.

Whenever Rayco paints iron railings we always want to start with a clean surface. Using a scrub brush, we scrub away the grime using a cleaning solution and let it dry completely. Then we protect your surrounding area by covering it with a drop cloth.

After the surrounding area is protected we like to scuff the entire railing using a wire brush or drill with a sanding pad. This way we can eliminate all paint bubbles and other textural inconsistencies to give your iron railings a smoother surface and allow the paint to bond.

Before we paint we always use a roller or an aerosol can to apply two coats of rust inhibiting primer.

After the primer has dried we are ready to start painting.

For this iron railing in San Jose, Arturo chose to hand-paint the entire railing, making sure to apply the paint evenly and fill all crevices.  Occasionally, when the job calls for it, we also like to use double rollers.

To learn more painting tips and techniques friend Rayco on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/#!/rayco.painting?fref=ts

Painting over old wood cabinets is a great way to restore a new look to the kitchen

The easiest paint to work with when it comes to painting kitchen cabinets is latex based enamel paints.  Latex based enamel paints wash up with water and usually have a lower VOC content than oil and lacquer.  The trick to great kitchen cabinets is in the prep work.

You want to make sure you are covering or removing all hinges prior to painting. Then using a high quality roller make sure to apply the primer and finish paint evenly and in the same direction. Most professional painters will spray the paint for a more even finish but operating an airless sprayer for the first time is not recommended for cabinets due to level of detail. Most of the time only the cabinet doors and frames are painted, not the insides of the cabinets.

Rayco recommends using a Premium Enamel Paint like Kelly Moore’s Durapoxy or Behr’s Ultra Line for painting kitchen cabinets (in semi-gloss finish). Our reason for this is that these premium grade enamel coatings will give you a professional looking finish and it is pretty easy to use.  And nowadays most companies are releasing low VOC enamel finishes which make painting “green” simple.

Take a look at some photos of cabinets Rayco just refurbished in Cherry Grove http://www.houzz.com/projects/136847/Cherry-Grove-Turnover-Project