Once we installed our lime based drywall we covered it with a thin coat of plaster for durability.We kept with one base rough coat of plaster to give the walls that barn look instead of adding a finish smooth coat.Bill Hardy and his brother Tim out of New London, NH did both the plaster and the painting.Their work was not only excellent but on time, on budget and they kept a very clean and organized work environment.
Getting contractors to agree to our green criteria is one thing but getting them to follow through on their commitments has been quite another experience.Bill’s team paid attention to every single little aspect.They brought brand new cloth drop cloths to the job site as well as all new paint brushes and rollers.This was to insure that they did not bring any residual non green material from prior jobs onto this job site.They made sure they used approved painters tape and drywall masking tape and even gave me the MSDS sheets in advance on Homasote boards that they needed to use under the scaffolding so as not to hurt the wood floors.For clean up they used the approved natural solvent instead of turpentine or other chemical based cleaners.At the end of the job they were able to reuse the drop cloths and brushes and in a very conscientious manner they insured that the empty paint cans were truly empty as opposed to bunches of them being ¼ full of wasted paint.Big issue for me is we did not have to micromanage their adherence to our green criteria; they embraced it and pushed it further than we asked.It sure does pay dividends to use pros that do quality work and take pride in their profession.
Paint Used
We used AFM Safecoat paints on all of the plastered walls.Safecoat has taken zero VOC paints to another level and specify they also eliminate other toxic ingredients such as solvents, heavy metals, chemical residuals, formaldehyde, acetone, ammonia and harmful preservatives.We stayed with the lighter shades because adding darker colors would add pigments to the paint that would increase the VOC level above zero.
Painting around the beams of a timber frame structure can be quite challenging requiring a meticulous attention to detail so as not to get paint on the wood beams.Couple this with some of the ceilings are upwards of thirty feet high adds to the difficulty of this project.This was not a job for the painter with a few years experience slapping paint on a wall this requires real experience and a strong desire to do a quality work.The pictures below of course cannot show the thousands of feet of beams that had to be painted around but I think you get the picture.Just a side note Bill Hardys company was one of four bidders for this project, they weren’t the lowest bidder but they were no where close to the highest.They did have great references and spent a great deal of time reviewing the project and understanding the requirements before submitting their bid.
