April 5, 2025 • 39 mins
In this episode of the RepcoLite Home Improvement Show, sponsored by Benjamin Moore, Dan discusses various topics including how to achieve flawless results with orbital sanders, the benefits of Wooster Jumbo Koter roller systems, and he answers a listener question about weirdly green walls. Listeners also get insights into choosing the right paint colors and improving their painting techniques. CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction and Show Overview00:34 Orbital Sanders: Avoiding Common Mistakes04:00 Exciting Sales on Painting Tools05:06 The Convenience of Wooster Jumbo Coder System10:59 Wooster Sherlock Extension Poles14:49 Pelican Paint Pail: A Handy Tool for Painters18:32 Conclusion and Teaser for Next Segment19:44 Removing the Finish: A Personal Anecdote19:56 Dealing with Swirl Marks: Lessons Learned21:54 Orbital Sander Tips: Start Right23:46 Orbital Sander Tips: Correct Speed and Pressure27:09 Orbital Sander Tips: Working Through Grits and Dust Extraction29:41 Final Tips for Using an Orbital Sander31:31 Listener Question: Solving a Color Reflection Issue38:12 Conclusion and Contractor Appreciation
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Well, good morning everybody. You're listening to the Repical Light
home improvement show sponsored by Benjamin Moore, and yeah, on
the show this week, I've got all kinds of stuff planned.
It's a spring break week. I get that it's the
first week of spring break for a lot of people.
A lot of folks are heading out, probably not catching
the show. But that doesn't mean I'm going to phone
(00:23):
it in. I'm still delivering a grade material here, or
at least high bees. High bees. It's passing grade stuff.
And that's what I've got for you. We're going to
be talking about orbits orbital orbital orbital sanders and how
to get the best results possible with those. If you've
(00:44):
ever used one and gotten all done with your project
and noticed maybe when you applied stain or maybe when
you put paint on, you noticed all these little swirls,
little pigtail swirls, it's really really frustrating and it kind
of drives you nuts. And in the past it's made
me think that orbital sanders are just something that I
can't use on projects that really matter. It turns out
(01:08):
I was just using them wrong. What a surprise that was.
We're gonna talk about that. I can walk you through
how to get flawless results with an orbital sander. So
we're gonna do that. I'll probably have to sneak something
else in there. I'm not sure what that's gonna be yet.
We'll wing that segment. It's gonna be great though. Right now,
I want to talk about something that i've well, I
(01:32):
guess i've annoyed is probably the right word all of
my coworkers with I've annoyed them with this for the
last week or so, probably the last few weeks. Let's
be honest, Dan, Let's be honest. It's been a while
that people have been a little bit annoyed with me. Basically,
I've just gone on and on and on about this,
(01:52):
and I've watched their eyes glaze over, you know as
I talk. Has that ever happened to you? Have you
ever had that? I'm sure some of you have. I'm
sure some of you some of you have spoken with
me and you've had that. Let me tell you you've had
that happen. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. That's not
very nice anyway. You know what It's like you're saying
something that you're crazy wrapped up in you create you know,
(02:15):
really believe this stuff. You're really pumped, and you can
tell that the person listening would rather, you know, peel
their fingernails off with tweezers than listen to you talk anymore. Right,
have you been there? I've been there. But here's what
separates me and probably you. I can't quit. I can't,
(02:36):
I can't quit. My eyes. They're working. They see the
tears forming in my listener's eyes, and they send that
message to my brain. They do a great job getting
that message sent my brain. This beautiful complex machine. My
brain starts running diagnostics. Is this person sad? Are they
(02:57):
having a deep emotional crisis? Are they hurt? And then
lightning fast, This beautiful, beautiful complex machine, lightning fast. It
tells me that the problem is none of those things.
The problem is me. I am the cause of the tears.
I'm still talking. So my brain drafts a cease and
desist letter to my mouth. But the problem is my
(03:19):
mouth never ever gets that letter, or it ignores it,
or it just doesn't care. Maybe it's a rebel. I've
got a rebel. Mouth just doesn't care, so it keeps going,
which brings us here. To the moment where I say
that I'm about to share the very same thing with
you that's made my coworkers cry. And if that doesn't
peak your interest and really make you want to hang
(03:39):
around for a full segment, I don't know what will.
It's good stuff. It's a little bit salesy, a little
bit more than normal. I don't mean it too. I've
really tried to take the edge off of that. But
I do have to pay the bills. You know, we
don't do do this just for fun. But anyway, the
things I'm going to talk about little sales, but they
are good, good, good things. These will change how you pay,
(04:00):
ain't all right? This month, that Repcolite, We've got a
sale on Wooster Jumbo coder roller frames and Wooster microplush
four and a half inch jumbo coder roller covers. Now
it's a really good sale. These things aren't terribly expensive
to begin with, but right now the roller frame is
fifty six percent off. I mean, we picked some ridiculous
percentage numbers. Most people would go with, you know, fifty
(04:23):
percent off, sixty percent off. It's not how we roll.
We like to be very very specific, you know, dial
it in to the very best possible percentage, and so
we've got a fifty six percent off price, fifty six
percent off the regular price on the roller frames, so
that's great. The covers are sixty eight percent off, almost
(04:45):
seventy percent off the normal price, so it's a huge savings.
And there's no limit on how many you can buy.
You can come in and buy as many as we've got.
We'd love that. Please come in and buy as many
as we've got, all right, So why would people cry
about that? Why would I talk about that for so long?
To make people cry? Well, I talk about these things
for so long because I love them so much. The
(05:07):
Jumbo Coder system is something that I talk about all
the time on the show. I use them all the
time at home when I'm painting. They're just so crazy convenient.
To clarify if you're not familiar with what a jumbo
coder is, it's actually a mini mini roller system. So
they're small, four and a half inch roller frames, and
(05:27):
the covers that go with them there are six and
a half inch covers. The covers that we're selling on
sale are four and a half inch covers. And this combo,
you know, this Jumbo Coder system. These rollers they fit
into all kinds of tiny spaces, tight areas. They're great
for cabinet repaints, for touching up, for applying samples on
the wall. In fact, I usually find a way to
(05:49):
use one on every single paint job that I tackle.
They're just that convenient. And while there are a ton
of mini rollers out there, you know, if you go
to different stores, which I can't imagine why anybody would,
but should you perchance wander into another store that sells
paint and you just happen to look and see the
roller covers, you're gonna see. There's all kinds of different,
(06:12):
you know, mini roller systems out there, but the Jumbo
Coder system from Wooster is my favorite of all of
these for a number of reasons. First off, it's a
high quality tool, and that really does matter. A lot
of the other mini rollers they're just kind of chinsey
a little bit, you know. The Wooster Jumbo Coder system
is super solid. You know, it's got a really nice
(06:32):
roller frame. It's going to last and last if you
take care of it and clean it, you know, after
each project. It feels great in your hand, which is
maybe nerdy to say, but if you use roller frames
on a regular basis, or even just a few times,
you'll know one that feels really good. This is one
that feels really good. It's just nice to hold, easy
to work with. It's got a good weight, it's got
(06:53):
a good rigidity to it. You know. Like I said,
it's not chinzy, it's not wobbly, not in the least.
It's a professional tool and it really does feel like it.
And I know that sounds crazy and dumb, but really,
the cheap roller frames, once you use one and feel it,
you know, you get what I'm talking about. Those cheap
ones don't roll well. They've got all kinds of little
issues that happen. These Jumbo coder frames high quality stuff.
(07:17):
I love that. So that's cool. But as cool as
that is, maybe cooler than that, the main reason that
I love these things, this entire system, is that the
entire line of Jumbo Coder roller covers matches the full
line of Wooster nine inch covers and up. You know,
for the most part, whatever roller cover you're using as
your main roller cover, if you're using a Wooster cover,
(07:39):
there's going to be a matching cover in the Jumbo
Coder line and That's important because when you keep those
covers exactly the same, even though you switch to a
smaller or a bigger version, the look of your applied
paint on the wall or whatever surface is going to
stay the same. You know, if you switch from one
roller cover to another one that doesn't match, even if
it's the same nap you know, but it's not identical
(08:02):
to the other cover, you run a real risk of
being able to see all of the places that you
used that different cover. So many of those mini roller
systems out there don't match the bigger roller covers that
you're using for the rest of your project, and that
canon does lead to problems down the road, So just
be aware of that. The jumbo coder system from Wooster
fixes that entirely. And that's again, like I said, that's
(08:24):
one of my favorite things about it. It's super cool
in that regard. And like I said, it's on sale.
The frame is under three bucks, and so are the
two packs of microplush roller covers that go with it,
So it's really inexpensive normally, even it's not that bad,
but especially right now, super cheap. But wait, there's more.
(08:45):
And yeah, that's where the infomercially part comes in. But
I told you I love these things, and the reason
my coworkers are so sick of me talking about them
is because I get all nerdily, get nerdily nerdally. I
get nerdally excited, you know what I'm talking about. I
get excited about all the cool different components that work
(09:06):
with this system. And that's why I drive people nuts.
I already drove you nuts, but there's more that I
do that makes it even worse. And we're going to
do that on the other side of the break. And
just hang with me, because if you do any amount
of painting at home, I Am going to make it
much easier than it has been previously with all of
these things. So just hang around. There's more good stuff
(09:27):
coming and we're back. You're listening to the repco Light
home improvement shows sponsored by Benjamin Moore, and the last segment,
I told you how I've been boring my coworkers to
tears because I'm really pumped about some specials that were
running at Repcolite this month. Jumbo Cooder roller frames from
(09:50):
Wooster and microplush covers that go with them. They're on
sale and I'm excited about those things. As dumb as
that sounds, I'm excited about them because they're so convenient.
You know, as a marketing person, you know you've got
to make things sound good and every now and then.
It's not easy to make paint sound exciting. It's just
not you know, Primer's primer. It's hard to make that
(10:12):
sound really fun and exciting. But these things are so convenient.
I know how much they're going to change just how
you work, because it's changed how I work when I'm painting.
So I love talking about them for that reason. But
I also love talking about them because there are so
many components that Wooster makes that work so flawlessly with
these tools. In fact, if you do any amount of
(10:33):
painting at home, you owe it to yourself to at
least consider some of these items. Just look at them once,
you know, think about if that would help you. You know,
they're gonna make your work easier to do, They're going
to help you get better results. And I really wouldn't
be surprised if they took some of the yuck you
know that you may feel if you don't like painting.
They're going to take some of that out of every
single project, all right, first, one of these components that
(10:55):
I want to talk about that work really well with
that jumbo coder system that's on special right now. First
thing is a Wooster Sherlock extension pole, and I talk
about them all the time on the show. They've got
huge extension poles that contractors use, you know, twelve foot
and more, but they also make smaller ones. My personal
favorite being a smaller person, my personal favorite is the
(11:16):
two to four foot one. And if you can google
it right now while I'm talking about it, that will
help a lot. You know, radio it's not really terribly visual,
you know, it's probably an understatement, so if you can
google it, that's going to help. Anyway. The Sherlock extension pole,
it telescopes from two to four foot, and that alone
is really handy, you know, working in a hallway for example,
(11:37):
I was doing that not too long ago, and I
needed that four foot reach to be able to get
up to the ceiling. You know, this area had to
higher than normal ceiling, so I needed that extra reach
on the extension pole and that was great. But then
as I was working my way lower down the wall,
that four foot pole was pretty much almost hitting the
wall directly. Behind me. With that pole, I could move it,
(12:00):
I could adjust it, I could make it. You know,
now it's four foot. Now, I could shrink it down
to two foot quickly and easily. If I'm using a
wooden extension pole, I can't do that. I'm gonna have
to unthread it. So I love them for that. But
there's an even cooler future, and I kind of just
hinted at it. They've got a quick connect system. These
Wooster Sherlock extension poles have a quick connect system. Now,
(12:21):
most extension poles, when we think about them, they're threaded,
and lots of you right now, I know how this works.
I know people, a lot of you right now. Some
of you at least are thinking that, you know what,
I don't need an extension pole because I'm going to
just use the handle from the push broom or something,
you know, one of those threaded four foot five foot handles,
(12:41):
And yeah, you can do that. It absolutely will work.
But these Wooster extension poles that I'm talking about, the
Sherlock ones, they don't have those threaded ends on them. Now.
They actually, I guess they do. They've gotten a little
attachment that you can snap on to the extension pole
that gives it threaded ends if you need them, but
typically speaking, the main extension poll has a smooth, quick
(13:03):
connect post and locking system. It's kind of tough to describe,
but basically, you just slide the Wooster shairlock handle onto
it and it clips in. It stays in place, and
because of another feature that I'm not going to go into,
it won't rock back and forth, it won't work its
way loose at all. It's locked in place and it
does that almost instantaneously. And then when you want to
(13:23):
switch to another Wooster sharelock roller frame, you just push
a little button, pop off the old frame, and pop
the new one in place, and it locks right back in.
It's brilliant. You're gonna be switching roller handles so fast
it'll be like the old West, like wide Up. It'll
just be switching them in and out the quickest straw,
no more unthreading or anything like that. It's super, super cool,
(13:44):
And I'm sure there's people saying, why in the world
would I switch roller handles. Once I get the roller
handle on the frame, I don't need to switch it out. Well,
that goes back to the jumbo coder frames and the
roller covers that whole system. Those Jumbo Coders have that
Wooster sharlock locking system built into their handles. Now you
can use them on any extension pole, even just the
(14:05):
boring threaded ones. But they also work beautifully on the
Wooster Sherlock extension poles that I just talked about. Now.
I've been on a number of different projects where I
would use my nine inch handle for most of the
work and then quickly swap it out for the smaller
Jumbo Coder handle and then swap everything back again. It
is really really cool. I don't know how else to
(14:25):
explain it. It's a game changer. That's just such a
dumb way to say it. It's slick. I don't know
if that's any better. It simplifies the process. It's really
cool stuff. So with the Jumbo Coder, you've got that
cool extension pole to at least look at. You'll love it.
You'll thank me later if you buy one, but at
least look at it. Push the buttons, just see what
it does. Take it for a little bit of a
(14:46):
spin in the store. You'll like it. So there's that.
But there's also something that we sell called a Pelican
paint pail like the bird Pelican Pelican Paint pal It's
just a paint bucket designed to be held easily in
your hand. It's super easy to hold. It's got a
little strap that goes around your hand. It looks like
a great big coffee mug, like an enormous coffee mug,
(15:07):
like the kind of coffee mug you want, you know,
on a Saturday morning, or more like a Monday morning.
But it's got a nice little handle goes around your hand,
a little strap that goes around your hand, easy to hold.
You fill it up with your paint and then you can,
you know, just easily carry it around to do your
cut in work or your touch ups or whatever. It's
got a magnet built into one side on the inside
(15:30):
of that little pail. Again google it Pelican Paint Pale.
That will help a lot. But there's a magnet on
the inside and you use that to hold your brush
in place, either with the tips suspended in your paint
or just above it. You know, that alone makes these
really cool to have. You know, if you've ever been
working out of a small cut in container and then
you set it down for a minute, you know, so
(15:51):
you could I don't know, get a drink, go to
the bathroom, whatever. You set it down for a second.
You kind of prop the brush up. Oh, it's perfect.
You walk away, You come back and you find that
the brush didn't stay there. It kind of slipped right
into the container. Now it's submerged in the paint and
you can't really work with it until you wash it
out real paint in the neck. Well, the Pelican paint
(16:11):
pails won't let that happen. The magnet holds the brush
upright and keeps it out of the paint. You know,
it's perfect. So they're really cool in that regard. But
the Pelican paint pail is also built specifically to work
as an easy handheld roller tray for the Jumble Coda
roller frames. It's so handy. It's come in so handy
(16:32):
on so many projects for me. You know, you're on
a ladder. You know I've been on a ladder. I
can't talk about you. I can talk about me. I've
been on a ladder holding that little Pelican paint pail
and I can roll into it with the little Jumbo
Coder roller frame and roller cover and I can do
my rolling. You know whatever, I'm doing up there. But
oh wait, wait, wait, I need to brush something, so
I can put the little roller frame back in that
(16:54):
pelican pail. It hooks on the side so it doesn't
roll into your paint and become a mess. You know,
it just kind of sits there. I can grab the
brush that's magnetically attached to the other side of the pail,
do my brush work whatever I got. Then I can
hang that brush back up on that magnet and go
back to the jumbo coder, all without leaving the ladder.
Google it pelican paint pail. If none of that makes
(17:14):
sense and you have no idea what I'm talking about,
and you're just waiting for my brain to get the
message to my mouth to shut up, just google it
pelican paint pail. You'll see what I'm talking about. It's
really cool. Or if you don't want to google it,
come into Repcolite and ask about it. The thing is
not expensive, you know. Just come in, grab a jumbo coder,
(17:35):
grab some covers they're on sale, save a bunch of money,
all kinds of different percentages off. Remember the crazy percentages
I talked about, not even going to go over them again.
Big savings get those, and then check out the Pelican
paint pail. Check out one of those extension polls, you know,
take a look at them. Oh and one last thing,
I almost forgot about those Pelican paint pails. There are
(17:56):
tray liners available for those as well. You know, tray
liners that just drop in and then when you're done painting,
you just toss them and you don't have to spend
all this time cleaning that Pelican paint pal out. It's
all really really good stuff. All right. I apologize. I
have made all of your eyes water, I have brought tears,
and I'm sorry. But the items that we've got on
(18:16):
sale this month are just so handy. Absolutely stop out
at any Repcolite and check them out, ask about them.
I use them all the time. There's no gimmicks with
these tools. These things are the real deal. Check it out.
Jumbo coders at Repcolite on sale. Now, all right, that's
enough of that. Let's take a break. When we come back,
I want to talk about orbital sanders. If you've ever
(18:38):
sanded something kitchen cabinets, maybe a furniture piece, and then
you stained it or painted it and noticed these little
swirls coming through, if you notice that you were really
bummed they happened because you were using the sander wrong.
We're going to talk about the right way to use
it so you avoid all of that. Coming up next.
Stick around and we're back. You're listening to the Repco
(19:03):
Light Home Improvement Show sponsored by Benjamin Moore. And right now,
let's talk about how you can avoid a crazy common
sanding frustration. Those swirls or those little pigtails that you
end up getting in your surface in your wood when
you're using an orbital sander. Now, it might not seem
like a big deal when you're working on the wood.
You know, we've all been there sanding away. You see
the little swirls. Maybe you see them and you think, ay,
(19:25):
no big deal. Then you apply the stain and suddenly
you know, every single mistake is magnified. And really, this
isn't just a problem that happens when you're staining and
finishing wood. It's not unheard of for these little swirls
to really make their presence known when you're painting as well.
You know, I did my kitchen cabinets years back. I
had smooth poplar doors and I decided I was going
(19:47):
to remove the entire finish, you know, all that old finish,
bring it all the way down to bear wood. That's
how I roll clean burn start start from bare bones here,
So I sand it them all down, and I noticed
the whirls when I looked at the wood, but it
all felt smooth, So I figured I was fine, right,
figured that was gonna be no big deal. Then I
(20:08):
got my paint on and I could definitely still see
them through the finish. Now it wasn't horrible, but it
was bad enough, right, I mean, who in the world
wants to go through all that work and then end
up with all these little swirls. I do remember being
really really bummed about that. You know, lots of my
projects end previously, you know, many years back. Now I'm
(20:32):
much smarter, but many of my first projects ended with
this sense of disappointment. So if you're in that boat,
you know, quick segue here. If you're in that boat
and you feel like I'm just not cut out to
do home projects or painting or anything. You know, not
that I'm necessarily the gold standard or anything, but many,
(20:54):
if not most, of my projects, my first projects, second
and third tries, sometimes did with little elements of disappointment
or being bummed. You know, I didn't produce the perfection
every single time that I set out to do, But
I kept going, and you get better and you get
better and you get better. So if you are feeling
(21:14):
bummed at the end of a project, it's just part
of the learning process. You're going to get better, all right.
So that was a quick segue back to where I
needed to go get my kitchen cabinets done. I see
these little swirls, and I'm bommed, you know. But once
the paint is on, fixing the problem is way tough,
so tough that of course I didn't bother. I didn't
bother to fix it. Some poor sucker somewhere bought that
(21:36):
house and now they've got those swirly cabinet doors to
deal with. It's not my problem anymore anyway, Happily. The
reason those swirls were in my cabinet doors and maybe
in some of your projects too, is because we're using
the orbital sander incorrectly. It's not the tool's fault. It's
the right tool, we're just using it wrong. So I'm
going to walk you through I think eight simple tips
(21:57):
that will help you eliminate swirls before the ruin your project.
And if you're using a high quality sander like the
festival sanders that we carry out Repcolite, you've already got
a leg up. But these tips are going to help
you improve your results no matter what brand sander you're using.
All right, Tip number one, You've got to start right. Okay.
The first mistake a lot of people make is they
(22:18):
power on the sander before it's on the wood or
on the surface that you're sanding. You know, half the
fun I think previously dumb Dan used to find half
the fun of sanding with an orbital sander. Half of
that fun was turning it on and letting it spin
in the air, you know, kind of like Thor's hammer.
You know, your arm starts moving with the momentum because
(22:40):
it's spinning so fast. You feel the power building, building, building, building,
and then at its peak you slam it down and
watch it chew through whatever is on the surface that
you're trying to sand. Right, that's actually not the right
way to do it. If you're doing it that way wrong,
bad don't do that. I am exaggerating a little bit
(23:02):
for effect. But here's the deal. The orbital sander spins fast, right,
we know that really fast when it's in the air.
If you set it down while it's already running at
full speed, it can skip, it can gouge, it can
leave swirls. Before you even you know, really get sanding,
you know, on your project, before you're really even moving,
you've already caused problems. The right way to do it
(23:22):
is to start the sander flat on the surface. First.
You apply a little bit of pressure just to hold it,
you know, in place, so it's not going to run
all over or kind of walk over the board. When
you turn it on, a little bit of pressure to
hold it steady, and then turn it on. Turn it
on while it's on the surface. That keeps the disc
spinning at a controlled speed, and it gives you a
smooth start instead of a bumpy one right off the bat. Okay,
(23:43):
start right. Tip number one. Tip number two, You've got
to have the correct speed as you're working, not so
much how fast it's spinning, how fast you're moving, because
a big reason for swirls is that we move too fast.
A lot of us tend to sand back and forth
pretty quickly with our orbital sander. Very quickly. In fact,
I generally would use that orbital sander as if it
(24:05):
were a motorized piece of sandpaper, as fast as I
could zip sand paper over a surface. That's what I
was doing, or trying to do with my sander. And
many of you are groaning right now. I know that.
I know that because I get the emails. You're groaning
right now, and you're thinking, he's not really that dumb,
or maybe you're begging or or pleating. You know, he
can't be that dumb, right well, I'll tell you this.
(24:28):
I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a liar.
I am that dumb at least I used to be.
That's how I used an orbital sander years back, and
that's not how you want to use one if you
want really good results. They're not designed to be zipped
all over the surface that you're sanding. They're designed for
even steady removal. So a good rule of thumb, this
(24:48):
is really solid. You can easily remember this and put
it into practice the next time you're using a sander.
Good rule of thumb, move about one inch per second.
That is way slower than you think, way slower than
you want to move. But it's going to give the
sander time to do its job, and when you try it,
you're going to be surprised. It's going to do a
better job, generally speaking, then zipping it all over the
(25:12):
place quickly. It just works. So one inch per second,
move that way, move at the right speed. Tip number three,
you've got to keep it flat. Here is another tip
that I was breaking all the time. If you tilt
the sander, you know, trying to put more pressure on
a stubborn area, you're actually making things way worse. You know,
that leading edge digs in and now you're not only
(25:34):
getting squirrels, but you're also risking gouges. So instead keep
it flat. Let the whole disc work evenly. All right,
so far I'm kind of stinking at least dumb Dan,
Old Dan is stinking I didn't do any of these
things right. Well, here's another one that I always did wrong.
And if you thought I was dumb or lying about
being dumb earlier, buckle up. Tip four is this use
(25:55):
light pressure. This should not need to be said. It shouldn't,
but maybe somewhere out there someone like me is listening.
Here's the scoop. If you hear the motor slow down
while you're sanding because you're pushing so hard. That is
not a sign that you're really getting the most out
of the sander. That is not the sound of a
(26:16):
quality sanding job. That is not the sound of accomplishment.
I literally used to think that once I hit that zone,
you know, when the motor slowed down, that's where the
rubber was really meeting the road. Now I was really
working that sander. That is so dumb. I am almost
embarrassed to say it out loud. Almost. I've talked about
so many dumb things that I've done on this show,
(26:39):
on other things that I, you know, do on the radio.
It's just nothing's embarrassing anymore. So you think I would
be embarrassed, but I'm not. It's not how you do
it with a sander. If you hear the motor slow down,
you're pressing too hard. Don't do that. Use even pressure
and keep it light. Let the sander do its thing.
The more you try to force the issue and speed
(26:59):
it long by applying more pressure, the more likely you're
going to end up with swirl marks or worse in
your surface. So light pressure, steady pressure, even pressure, all right.
Tip number five. Work through your grits. You know, a
lot of people think they can go straight from eighty
grit to two twenty grit and be done, but standing
is a process. Each grit is going to refine the
(27:20):
scratches left by the previous one. Skipping grits leaves behind
rough marks that show up in the finish later. So
a really solid progression looks like this. Start with eighty
or one hundred grid. You move from there to the
one twenty grit. From there you go to one fifty,
then to one eighty. You finished with two twenty. Now,
if you're staining, don't go past two twenty. Sometimes even
(27:41):
two twenty might be too much. You might need to
check that. But if you go past two twenty, there's
a really good chance that the wood's not going to
absorb stain evenly. So two twenty is usually the max
four staining. You might want to still test that out,
like I said, with a one eighty and see once
if that was enough for you. And I know that
if you do this it means you're going to be
going through a lot more sanding discs. But taking the
(28:03):
time to step through each grit is definitely going to
save you frustration down the road, so it's worth it,
all right. That's tip number five. Tip number six get
the dust out of there all right. Even if you're
doing everything right, swirls can still show up because of dust.
Fine sanding. Dust gets trapped under the disk from time
to time, and when that happens at x just like sandpaper,
scratching the surface instead of smoothing it. The best way
(28:26):
to handle that is to use a sander with dust extraction.
Most of them already have something, you know, they've got
the little bags. A lot of them can have shop
vacs attached to you know, you remove the little collection
bag and you can attach a shop bac to that
to aid with the extraction. Whatever you're doing, make sure
you use something with dust extraction. If it's your livelihood,
(28:48):
you know, your painting contractor or something you probably want
to look into at least look into festuol sanders. You
know we carry them at Repcholite and the dust extraction
on Festual tools, you know, any of the fest tools equipment,
the dust extraction is renowned. It's probably it's one of
its main features. They're absolutely brilliant at keeping dust out
(29:09):
of the work environment. So If you do this regularly,
look into the right tools, it's going to help. If
you don't do it regularly, at least make sure you're
getting that dust out of there, and then also make
sure you're cleaning between grits. You know, we talked about
switching grits and working through that whole system. Every time
you switch, you want to make sure you get that
surface free of dust. So vacuum it, blow any of
the remaining dust off, use a soft brush, whatever you've
(29:32):
got to do to get all the dust off the
surface before moving on to your next grit. All right,
So dust extraction surface cleaning, that's tip six. Tip seven.
You've got to stop right. You know, we talked about
starting right, but how you stop matters just as much.
If you turn the sander off while it's still on
the surface, it's like slamming the brakes on a moving car.
The momentum stops suddenly, and it's just like tire marks
(29:55):
on the pavement. You're going to get these swirl marks
in the wood. So the right way to stop lift
the sander off the surface first, and then turn it
off right, not complicated, pick it up, turn it off
all right. One last tip Tip number eight. Before you
reach for your stain or your top coat, do a
final check because nothing is worse than finishing a project,
you know, applying your stain, paint, whatever, and then realizing
(30:18):
that you missswirls by that point. Like we said earlier,
they're way hard to fix. So take one minute when
you're all done standing to check the workover. You know
two ways to do it. You can wipe the surface
down with mineral spirits. That's going to evaporate quickly, but
it's going to reveal swirl marks right away, you know,
before you apply your stain, or you can just use
a flashlight or led worklight. Hold it at a really
(30:38):
low angle and any misscratches are going to stand out instantly.
Trust me, taking this extra step is going to save
a ton of frustration later. There you go eight tips
to help you get the best results possible with your
orbital sander. And I've got a full list of all
of these at repco light dot com backslash sand right.
That's all one word sand so repco Light dot com
(31:01):
backslash sandwright ri Ight. You can go and check out
everything that I just went through so that you've got
a guide and you get great results every single time
you're using that orbital stander. All right, let's take a break.
When we come back, I'm gonna wing it. I don't
even know what I'm going to talk about yet, but
I'll figure it out over the break and it'll be
(31:21):
gold on the other side. That's next. Stick around, and
we're back. You're listening to the repel Light home improvement
show sponsored by Benjamin Moore. And I said last segment
that I was gonna wing this one. What am I
going to talk about? What am I gonna blander on
(31:43):
and on about? Well, I dug up a listener question
that I received in an email, and I am going
to go through that and answer it here. We'll kind
of walk through it. It's a great question. The listener
wrote in I would love for you to come and
take a look at my kitchen, and which appears puke green?
Her words, not mine. It appears put green because of
(32:05):
the reflection from the carpeting in the next room. It's
a pale gray blue. No matter which oatmeal paint I
put on the walls, the kitchen turns green. The rest
of the house is that same off white oatmeal shade,
and it looks fine, but in the kitchen puke green.
I love to cook and spend time there, and honestly,
it gets me down. I've even had a couple of
decorators come to help and nothing's worked. What do I
(32:27):
do now? First off, I totally get this. She's done
everything right, or at least it seems that way. She's
matched the color to the rest of the home, she's
getting advice from a decorator, she's trying different recommendations, and
none of it's working. That's really really frustrating. On top
of that, you have a space that you used to
love being in a place where you did things that
(32:49):
you love to do, cooking in this particular instance, and
now all of a sudden, the color on the walls
is making it worse. It's making it feel like a
place you don't want to be, and that's the opposite
of what paint should be doing. It should be enhancing
those spaces, not turning them into something that you don't
want to spend time in. So we got to figure
out what's going on. And it seems like it's complicated,
(33:12):
but actually, you know, I haven't seen it and I
am just winging it here. But it does seem like
there's kind of a simple explanation, and it's all about
color reflection and undertones. Color reflection and undertones. See, the
pale gray blue carpet that she's got going on in
the adjoining room has cool undertones, blues, maybe greens, whatever,
(33:32):
cool undertones, and the oatmeal color that she's using on
the walls likely has warm undertones, yellows or soft browns.
When the light bounces off of that cool toned carpet
and hits the walls, it's interacting with that warm paint color,
and visually it's creating this weird greenish cast. But wait
a minute. She seemed to be saying earlier that the
wall color in the carpeted room is the same as
(33:54):
the wall color in the kitchen. They're both oatmeal colors.
Why does it look green in the kitchen but fine
in the room with the actual carpet in it? Isn't
that contradictory? You know, that's certainly something to ask, And
you know, again, it could be any number of things.
It could be that the oatmeal colors are not exactly
the same. You know that it's a neutral or kind
of a beige color, but there are different undertones going on,
(34:16):
and one is you know, leaning more green. You know,
that's definitely possible. But light also reflects differently in every
room in the carpeted space, so you could have furniture,
softer lighting and room layout and that might minimize color reflections.
But in the kitchen, that room likely has harder surfaces,
you know, fewer absorbent materials, and possibly cooler natural light.
(34:36):
You know, all of those things could be happening. So
when light bounces off the cool toned carpet, it carries
those blue gray tones into the kitchen, and when they
hit the warm undertones and the oatmeal paint, Bam, there
you go. You got that green. So it's not about
a bad paint color necessarily, it's just the science of light,
surface and context. So how do you fix it. Let's
get to that first thing. You could look at switching
(34:58):
to a new paint color with more neutrals or grayish
undertones in the kitchen, you know, something like Benjamin Moore's
classic gray pale oak edgecomb gray. These soft grays and
topes will likely hold up better under the color influence
of the carpet, So that's definitely something you could look at,
you know, and there could be a many other colors.
You know, we'd want to see more samples of everything
(35:20):
going on before you just dish out colors on the radio.
But there's probably a good color that you could go
to that's going to minimize or work better with the
influence coming in from that carpet. Second thing you could do,
this is super easy. Take a look at the lighting
that's going on in your situation. You know, if you're
using cool toned led or fluorescent bulbs, they're only going
(35:40):
to make the effect worse. You could try switching to
warmer toned bulbs and see what happens. That might shift
the feel of the room immediately. Lighting makes a huge difference,
and the wrong temperature bulb can really really change things,
So check that out. That's probably the first place to start.
That could be the easiest fix. Third, if you don't
want to repaint and it's not the problem with the lighting,
(36:03):
you could try introducing some warm tone de core, you know,
a warmer toned rugs, some soft based curtains, art with
golds and creams to offset the influence from the carpet.
All of that might help warm that space up. Sometimes
just a small change like that will make a big difference.
So check all of those things out. That's where I'd start.
By all means, swing out to any Repcolite and bring pictures,
(36:25):
maybe even get one of our color consultants out to
your house and we can analyze the situation a little better.
But that's the best I can do winging it and
you know, without seeing it. Finally, last thing I'll say
for everybody out there, test always, test, always sample. If
you try new color, hold the color sample up next
to your carpet, to your furniture, and do all of
(36:47):
that in your space, in your lighting. Better Yet, rather
than just rely on one of those little color chips
that we've gotten the stores, buy a Benjamin More color
sample and actually get some paint applied. You can put
it on a piece of foam boards, you can move
it around, or you could use one of those jumbo
coders that we talked about at the beginning of the
show to actually roll some onto your walls. Either way,
(37:07):
sample that color. Make sure you're sampling the color, See
how it feels over the course of the day, see
what it looks like in your space. Make sure it
does what you want it to. Do and feels the
way that it should before you buy your paint. And
also I already said it, but by all means, remember
that we have color experts at every Repcollite waiting to
help you find the right color. Even if you're not
sure where to begin, just stop out. We'll help get
(37:28):
you moving. Thanks so much for the question. I think
it's one that a lot of people can relate to.
And if you out there listening, yes you, I'm talking
to you. If you've got a question that you'd like
discussed on the air, just reach out. You know. I'm
not set up to take phone calls. That might be
interesting someday, but I see what's left on the cutting
room floor when I record the shows, and I don't
(37:51):
think I'm cut out for live radio, so might not
be best to take phone calls live. But I certainly
can handle emails, and I will respond to those by
all means, even if they don't make the air. I'll
still respond to your questions, every single one of them.
So send your questions to radio at Repcolight dot com.
Make them good, maybe they'll be on the show someday.
All right, that's all the time we've got before I
(38:13):
wrap it up. Though. Last thing I want to say
is that April is contractor Appreciation Month at Repcolite. It's
a whole month where we do what we can to
thank all of the painting contractors who make us successful.
And one way that you out there listening can do
that can help us is to do something that we
talked about a couple weeks ago on the show. Mike
Cherry from Cherry Painting was here and he said, referrals
(38:36):
make his day. So if you've got a contractor that
you've used and you had a great experience with, remember
to hand out that name. When you hear people looking
for contractors, Handing a contractor the opportunity to land another
job is a great way to thank them. So think
about that. And if you're looking to hire a contractor,
we can definitely help you with that. Just head to
repcolight dot com backslash find a painter all one word
(38:59):
Repcolite backslash find a painter, fill out the brief form
and I'll get you three names within twenty four hours.
All right, that's it. Whatever you do today makes your
paints a part of it. And remember your next project
is easier than you think. Let us help have a
great weekend everybody, and i'll see you next week. I'm
Dan Hansen. Thanks for listening.
Well, good morning everybody. You're listening to the Repical Light
home improvement show sponsored by Benjamin Moore, and yeah, on
the show this week, I've got all kinds of stuff planned.
It's a spring break week. I get that it's the
first week of spring break for a lot of people.
A lot of folks are heading out, probably not catching
the show. But that doesn't mean I'm going to phone
(00:23):
it in. I'm still delivering a grade material here, or
at least high bees. High bees. It's passing grade stuff.
And that's what I've got for you. We're going to
be talking about orbits orbital orbital orbital sanders and how
to get the best results possible with those. If you've
(00:44):
ever used one and gotten all done with your project
and noticed maybe when you applied stain or maybe when
you put paint on, you noticed all these little swirls,
little pigtail swirls, it's really really frustrating and it kind
of drives you nuts. And in the past it's made
me think that orbital sanders are just something that I
can't use on projects that really matter. It turns out
(01:08):
I was just using them wrong. What a surprise that was.
We're gonna talk about that. I can walk you through
how to get flawless results with an orbital sander. So
we're gonna do that. I'll probably have to sneak something
else in there. I'm not sure what that's gonna be yet.
We'll wing that segment. It's gonna be great though. Right now,
I want to talk about something that i've well, I
(01:32):
guess i've annoyed is probably the right word all of
my coworkers with I've annoyed them with this for the
last week or so, probably the last few weeks. Let's
be honest, Dan, Let's be honest. It's been a while
that people have been a little bit annoyed with me. Basically,
I've just gone on and on and on about this,
(01:52):
and I've watched their eyes glaze over, you know as
I talk. Has that ever happened to you? Have you
ever had that? I'm sure some of you have. I'm
sure some of you some of you have spoken with
me and you've had that. Let me tell you you've had
that happen. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. That's not
very nice anyway. You know what It's like you're saying
something that you're crazy wrapped up in you create you know,
(02:15):
really believe this stuff. You're really pumped, and you can
tell that the person listening would rather, you know, peel
their fingernails off with tweezers than listen to you talk anymore. Right,
have you been there? I've been there. But here's what
separates me and probably you. I can't quit. I can't,
(02:36):
I can't quit. My eyes. They're working. They see the
tears forming in my listener's eyes, and they send that
message to my brain. They do a great job getting
that message sent my brain. This beautiful complex machine. My
brain starts running diagnostics. Is this person sad? Are they
(02:57):
having a deep emotional crisis? Are they hurt? And then
lightning fast, This beautiful, beautiful complex machine, lightning fast. It
tells me that the problem is none of those things.
The problem is me. I am the cause of the tears.
I'm still talking. So my brain drafts a cease and
desist letter to my mouth. But the problem is my
(03:19):
mouth never ever gets that letter, or it ignores it,
or it just doesn't care. Maybe it's a rebel. I've
got a rebel. Mouth just doesn't care, so it keeps going,
which brings us here. To the moment where I say
that I'm about to share the very same thing with
you that's made my coworkers cry. And if that doesn't
peak your interest and really make you want to hang
(03:39):
around for a full segment, I don't know what will.
It's good stuff. It's a little bit salesy, a little
bit more than normal. I don't mean it too. I've
really tried to take the edge off of that. But
I do have to pay the bills. You know, we
don't do do this just for fun. But anyway, the
things I'm going to talk about little sales, but they
are good, good, good things. These will change how you pay,
(04:00):
ain't all right? This month, that Repcolite, We've got a
sale on Wooster Jumbo coder roller frames and Wooster microplush
four and a half inch jumbo coder roller covers. Now
it's a really good sale. These things aren't terribly expensive
to begin with, but right now the roller frame is
fifty six percent off. I mean, we picked some ridiculous
percentage numbers. Most people would go with, you know, fifty
(04:23):
percent off, sixty percent off. It's not how we roll.
We like to be very very specific, you know, dial
it in to the very best possible percentage, and so
we've got a fifty six percent off price, fifty six
percent off the regular price on the roller frames, so
that's great. The covers are sixty eight percent off, almost
(04:45):
seventy percent off the normal price, so it's a huge savings.
And there's no limit on how many you can buy.
You can come in and buy as many as we've got.
We'd love that. Please come in and buy as many
as we've got, all right, So why would people cry
about that? Why would I talk about that for so long?
To make people cry? Well, I talk about these things
for so long because I love them so much. The
(05:07):
Jumbo Coder system is something that I talk about all
the time on the show. I use them all the
time at home when I'm painting. They're just so crazy convenient.
To clarify if you're not familiar with what a jumbo
coder is, it's actually a mini mini roller system. So
they're small, four and a half inch roller frames, and
(05:27):
the covers that go with them there are six and
a half inch covers. The covers that we're selling on
sale are four and a half inch covers. And this combo,
you know, this Jumbo Coder system. These rollers they fit
into all kinds of tiny spaces, tight areas. They're great
for cabinet repaints, for touching up, for applying samples on
the wall. In fact, I usually find a way to
(05:49):
use one on every single paint job that I tackle.
They're just that convenient. And while there are a ton
of mini rollers out there, you know, if you go
to different stores, which I can't imagine why anybody would,
but should you perchance wander into another store that sells
paint and you just happen to look and see the
roller covers, you're gonna see. There's all kinds of different,
(06:12):
you know, mini roller systems out there, but the Jumbo
Coder system from Wooster is my favorite of all of
these for a number of reasons. First off, it's a
high quality tool, and that really does matter. A lot
of the other mini rollers they're just kind of chinsey
a little bit, you know. The Wooster Jumbo Coder system
is super solid. You know, it's got a really nice
(06:32):
roller frame. It's going to last and last if you
take care of it and clean it, you know, after
each project. It feels great in your hand, which is
maybe nerdy to say, but if you use roller frames
on a regular basis, or even just a few times,
you'll know one that feels really good. This is one
that feels really good. It's just nice to hold, easy
to work with. It's got a good weight, it's got
(06:53):
a good rigidity to it. You know. Like I said,
it's not chinzy, it's not wobbly, not in the least.
It's a professional tool and it really does feel like it.
And I know that sounds crazy and dumb, but really,
the cheap roller frames, once you use one and feel it,
you know, you get what I'm talking about. Those cheap
ones don't roll well. They've got all kinds of little
issues that happen. These Jumbo coder frames high quality stuff.
(07:17):
I love that. So that's cool. But as cool as
that is, maybe cooler than that, the main reason that
I love these things, this entire system, is that the
entire line of Jumbo Coder roller covers matches the full
line of Wooster nine inch covers and up. You know,
for the most part, whatever roller cover you're using as
your main roller cover, if you're using a Wooster cover,
(07:39):
there's going to be a matching cover in the Jumbo
Coder line and That's important because when you keep those
covers exactly the same, even though you switch to a
smaller or a bigger version, the look of your applied
paint on the wall or whatever surface is going to
stay the same. You know, if you switch from one
roller cover to another one that doesn't match, even if
it's the same nap you know, but it's not identical
(08:02):
to the other cover, you run a real risk of
being able to see all of the places that you
used that different cover. So many of those mini roller
systems out there don't match the bigger roller covers that
you're using for the rest of your project, and that
canon does lead to problems down the road, So just
be aware of that. The jumbo coder system from Wooster
fixes that entirely. And that's again, like I said, that's
(08:24):
one of my favorite things about it. It's super cool
in that regard. And like I said, it's on sale.
The frame is under three bucks, and so are the
two packs of microplush roller covers that go with it,
So it's really inexpensive normally, even it's not that bad,
but especially right now, super cheap. But wait, there's more.
(08:45):
And yeah, that's where the infomercially part comes in. But
I told you I love these things, and the reason
my coworkers are so sick of me talking about them
is because I get all nerdily, get nerdily nerdally. I
get nerdally excited, you know what I'm talking about. I
get excited about all the cool different components that work
(09:06):
with this system. And that's why I drive people nuts.
I already drove you nuts, but there's more that I
do that makes it even worse. And we're going to
do that on the other side of the break. And
just hang with me, because if you do any amount
of painting at home, I Am going to make it
much easier than it has been previously with all of
these things. So just hang around. There's more good stuff
(09:27):
coming and we're back. You're listening to the repco Light
home improvement shows sponsored by Benjamin Moore, and the last segment,
I told you how I've been boring my coworkers to
tears because I'm really pumped about some specials that were
running at Repcolite this month. Jumbo Cooder roller frames from
(09:50):
Wooster and microplush covers that go with them. They're on
sale and I'm excited about those things. As dumb as
that sounds, I'm excited about them because they're so convenient.
You know, as a marketing person, you know you've got
to make things sound good and every now and then.
It's not easy to make paint sound exciting. It's just
not you know, Primer's primer. It's hard to make that
(10:12):
sound really fun and exciting. But these things are so convenient.
I know how much they're going to change just how
you work, because it's changed how I work when I'm painting.
So I love talking about them for that reason. But
I also love talking about them because there are so
many components that Wooster makes that work so flawlessly with
these tools. In fact, if you do any amount of
(10:33):
painting at home, you owe it to yourself to at
least consider some of these items. Just look at them once,
you know, think about if that would help you. You know,
they're gonna make your work easier to do, They're going
to help you get better results. And I really wouldn't
be surprised if they took some of the yuck you
know that you may feel if you don't like painting.
They're going to take some of that out of every
single project, all right, first, one of these components that
(10:55):
I want to talk about that work really well with
that jumbo coder system that's on special right now. First
thing is a Wooster Sherlock extension pole, and I talk
about them all the time on the show. They've got
huge extension poles that contractors use, you know, twelve foot
and more, but they also make smaller ones. My personal
favorite being a smaller person, my personal favorite is the
(11:16):
two to four foot one. And if you can google
it right now while I'm talking about it, that will
help a lot. You know, radio it's not really terribly visual,
you know, it's probably an understatement, so if you can
google it, that's going to help. Anyway. The Sherlock extension pole,
it telescopes from two to four foot, and that alone
is really handy, you know, working in a hallway for example,
(11:37):
I was doing that not too long ago, and I
needed that four foot reach to be able to get
up to the ceiling. You know, this area had to
higher than normal ceiling, so I needed that extra reach
on the extension pole and that was great. But then
as I was working my way lower down the wall,
that four foot pole was pretty much almost hitting the
wall directly. Behind me. With that pole, I could move it,
(12:00):
I could adjust it, I could make it. You know,
now it's four foot. Now, I could shrink it down
to two foot quickly and easily. If I'm using a
wooden extension pole, I can't do that. I'm gonna have
to unthread it. So I love them for that. But
there's an even cooler future, and I kind of just
hinted at it. They've got a quick connect system. These
Wooster Sherlock extension poles have a quick connect system. Now,
(12:21):
most extension poles, when we think about them, they're threaded,
and lots of you right now, I know how this works.
I know people, a lot of you right now. Some
of you at least are thinking that, you know what,
I don't need an extension pole because I'm going to
just use the handle from the push broom or something,
you know, one of those threaded four foot five foot handles,
(12:41):
And yeah, you can do that. It absolutely will work.
But these Wooster extension poles that I'm talking about, the
Sherlock ones, they don't have those threaded ends on them. Now.
They actually, I guess they do. They've gotten a little
attachment that you can snap on to the extension pole
that gives it threaded ends if you need them, but
typically speaking, the main extension poll has a smooth, quick
(13:03):
connect post and locking system. It's kind of tough to describe,
but basically, you just slide the Wooster shairlock handle onto
it and it clips in. It stays in place, and
because of another feature that I'm not going to go into,
it won't rock back and forth, it won't work its
way loose at all. It's locked in place and it
does that almost instantaneously. And then when you want to
(13:23):
switch to another Wooster sharelock roller frame, you just push
a little button, pop off the old frame, and pop
the new one in place, and it locks right back in.
It's brilliant. You're gonna be switching roller handles so fast
it'll be like the old West, like wide Up. It'll
just be switching them in and out the quickest straw,
no more unthreading or anything like that. It's super, super cool,
(13:44):
And I'm sure there's people saying, why in the world
would I switch roller handles. Once I get the roller
handle on the frame, I don't need to switch it out. Well,
that goes back to the jumbo coder frames and the
roller covers that whole system. Those Jumbo Coders have that
Wooster sharlock locking system built into their handles. Now you
can use them on any extension pole, even just the
(14:05):
boring threaded ones. But they also work beautifully on the
Wooster Sherlock extension poles that I just talked about. Now.
I've been on a number of different projects where I
would use my nine inch handle for most of the
work and then quickly swap it out for the smaller
Jumbo Coder handle and then swap everything back again. It
is really really cool. I don't know how else to
(14:25):
explain it. It's a game changer. That's just such a
dumb way to say it. It's slick. I don't know
if that's any better. It simplifies the process. It's really
cool stuff. So with the Jumbo Coder, you've got that
cool extension pole to at least look at. You'll love it.
You'll thank me later if you buy one, but at
least look at it. Push the buttons, just see what
it does. Take it for a little bit of a
(14:46):
spin in the store. You'll like it. So there's that.
But there's also something that we sell called a Pelican
paint pail like the bird Pelican Pelican Paint pal It's
just a paint bucket designed to be held easily in
your hand. It's super easy to hold. It's got a
little strap that goes around your hand. It looks like
a great big coffee mug, like an enormous coffee mug,
(15:07):
like the kind of coffee mug you want, you know,
on a Saturday morning, or more like a Monday morning.
But it's got a nice little handle goes around your hand,
a little strap that goes around your hand, easy to hold.
You fill it up with your paint and then you can,
you know, just easily carry it around to do your
cut in work or your touch ups or whatever. It's
got a magnet built into one side on the inside
(15:30):
of that little pail. Again google it Pelican Paint Pale.
That will help a lot. But there's a magnet on
the inside and you use that to hold your brush
in place, either with the tips suspended in your paint
or just above it. You know, that alone makes these
really cool to have. You know, if you've ever been
working out of a small cut in container and then
you set it down for a minute, you know, so
(15:51):
you could I don't know, get a drink, go to
the bathroom, whatever. You set it down for a second.
You kind of prop the brush up. Oh, it's perfect.
You walk away, You come back and you find that
the brush didn't stay there. It kind of slipped right
into the container. Now it's submerged in the paint and
you can't really work with it until you wash it
out real paint in the neck. Well, the Pelican paint
(16:11):
pails won't let that happen. The magnet holds the brush
upright and keeps it out of the paint. You know,
it's perfect. So they're really cool in that regard. But
the Pelican paint pail is also built specifically to work
as an easy handheld roller tray for the Jumble Coda
roller frames. It's so handy. It's come in so handy
(16:32):
on so many projects for me. You know, you're on
a ladder. You know I've been on a ladder. I
can't talk about you. I can talk about me. I've
been on a ladder holding that little Pelican paint pail
and I can roll into it with the little Jumbo
Coder roller frame and roller cover and I can do
my rolling. You know whatever, I'm doing up there. But
oh wait, wait, wait, I need to brush something, so
I can put the little roller frame back in that
(16:54):
pelican pail. It hooks on the side so it doesn't
roll into your paint and become a mess. You know,
it just kind of sits there. I can grab the
brush that's magnetically attached to the other side of the pail,
do my brush work whatever I got. Then I can
hang that brush back up on that magnet and go
back to the jumbo coder, all without leaving the ladder.
Google it pelican paint pail. If none of that makes
(17:14):
sense and you have no idea what I'm talking about,
and you're just waiting for my brain to get the
message to my mouth to shut up, just google it
pelican paint pail. You'll see what I'm talking about. It's
really cool. Or if you don't want to google it,
come into Repcolite and ask about it. The thing is
not expensive, you know. Just come in, grab a jumbo coder,
(17:35):
grab some covers they're on sale, save a bunch of money,
all kinds of different percentages off. Remember the crazy percentages
I talked about, not even going to go over them again.
Big savings get those, and then check out the Pelican
paint pail. Check out one of those extension polls, you know,
take a look at them. Oh and one last thing,
I almost forgot about those Pelican paint pails. There are
(17:56):
tray liners available for those as well. You know, tray
liners that just drop in and then when you're done painting,
you just toss them and you don't have to spend
all this time cleaning that Pelican paint pal out. It's
all really really good stuff. All right. I apologize. I
have made all of your eyes water, I have brought tears,
and I'm sorry. But the items that we've got on
(18:16):
sale this month are just so handy. Absolutely stop out
at any Repcolite and check them out, ask about them.
I use them all the time. There's no gimmicks with
these tools. These things are the real deal. Check it out.
Jumbo coders at Repcolite on sale. Now, all right, that's
enough of that. Let's take a break. When we come back,
I want to talk about orbital sanders. If you've ever
(18:38):
sanded something kitchen cabinets, maybe a furniture piece, and then
you stained it or painted it and noticed these little
swirls coming through, if you notice that you were really
bummed they happened because you were using the sander wrong.
We're going to talk about the right way to use
it so you avoid all of that. Coming up next.
Stick around and we're back. You're listening to the Repco
(19:03):
Light Home Improvement Show sponsored by Benjamin Moore. And right now,
let's talk about how you can avoid a crazy common
sanding frustration. Those swirls or those little pigtails that you
end up getting in your surface in your wood when
you're using an orbital sander. Now, it might not seem
like a big deal when you're working on the wood.
You know, we've all been there sanding away. You see
the little swirls. Maybe you see them and you think, ay,
(19:25):
no big deal. Then you apply the stain and suddenly
you know, every single mistake is magnified. And really, this
isn't just a problem that happens when you're staining and
finishing wood. It's not unheard of for these little swirls
to really make their presence known when you're painting as well.
You know, I did my kitchen cabinets years back. I
had smooth poplar doors and I decided I was going
(19:47):
to remove the entire finish, you know, all that old finish,
bring it all the way down to bear wood. That's
how I roll clean burn start start from bare bones here,
So I sand it them all down, and I noticed
the whirls when I looked at the wood, but it
all felt smooth, So I figured I was fine, right,
figured that was gonna be no big deal. Then I
(20:08):
got my paint on and I could definitely still see
them through the finish. Now it wasn't horrible, but it
was bad enough, right, I mean, who in the world
wants to go through all that work and then end
up with all these little swirls. I do remember being
really really bummed about that. You know, lots of my
projects end previously, you know, many years back. Now I'm
(20:32):
much smarter, but many of my first projects ended with
this sense of disappointment. So if you're in that boat,
you know, quick segue here. If you're in that boat
and you feel like I'm just not cut out to
do home projects or painting or anything. You know, not
that I'm necessarily the gold standard or anything, but many,
(20:54):
if not most, of my projects, my first projects, second
and third tries, sometimes did with little elements of disappointment
or being bummed. You know, I didn't produce the perfection
every single time that I set out to do, But
I kept going, and you get better and you get
better and you get better. So if you are feeling
(21:14):
bummed at the end of a project, it's just part
of the learning process. You're going to get better, all right.
So that was a quick segue back to where I
needed to go get my kitchen cabinets done. I see
these little swirls, and I'm bommed, you know. But once
the paint is on, fixing the problem is way tough,
so tough that of course I didn't bother. I didn't
bother to fix it. Some poor sucker somewhere bought that
(21:36):
house and now they've got those swirly cabinet doors to
deal with. It's not my problem anymore anyway, Happily. The
reason those swirls were in my cabinet doors and maybe
in some of your projects too, is because we're using
the orbital sander incorrectly. It's not the tool's fault. It's
the right tool, we're just using it wrong. So I'm
going to walk you through I think eight simple tips
(21:57):
that will help you eliminate swirls before the ruin your project.
And if you're using a high quality sander like the
festival sanders that we carry out Repcolite, you've already got
a leg up. But these tips are going to help
you improve your results no matter what brand sander you're using.
All right, Tip number one, You've got to start right. Okay.
The first mistake a lot of people make is they
(22:18):
power on the sander before it's on the wood or
on the surface that you're sanding. You know, half the
fun I think previously dumb Dan used to find half
the fun of sanding with an orbital sander. Half of
that fun was turning it on and letting it spin
in the air, you know, kind of like Thor's hammer.
You know, your arm starts moving with the momentum because
(22:40):
it's spinning so fast. You feel the power building, building, building, building,
and then at its peak you slam it down and
watch it chew through whatever is on the surface that
you're trying to sand. Right, that's actually not the right
way to do it. If you're doing it that way wrong,
bad don't do that. I am exaggerating a little bit
(23:02):
for effect. But here's the deal. The orbital sander spins fast, right,
we know that really fast when it's in the air.
If you set it down while it's already running at
full speed, it can skip, it can gouge, it can
leave swirls. Before you even you know, really get sanding,
you know, on your project, before you're really even moving,
you've already caused problems. The right way to do it
(23:22):
is to start the sander flat on the surface. First.
You apply a little bit of pressure just to hold it,
you know, in place, so it's not going to run
all over or kind of walk over the board. When
you turn it on, a little bit of pressure to
hold it steady, and then turn it on. Turn it
on while it's on the surface. That keeps the disc
spinning at a controlled speed, and it gives you a
smooth start instead of a bumpy one right off the bat. Okay,
(23:43):
start right. Tip number one. Tip number two, You've got
to have the correct speed as you're working, not so
much how fast it's spinning, how fast you're moving, because
a big reason for swirls is that we move too fast.
A lot of us tend to sand back and forth
pretty quickly with our orbital sander. Very quickly. In fact,
I generally would use that orbital sander as if it
(24:05):
were a motorized piece of sandpaper, as fast as I
could zip sand paper over a surface. That's what I
was doing, or trying to do with my sander. And
many of you are groaning right now. I know that.
I know that because I get the emails. You're groaning
right now, and you're thinking, he's not really that dumb,
or maybe you're begging or or pleating. You know, he
can't be that dumb, right well, I'll tell you this.
(24:28):
I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a liar.
I am that dumb at least I used to be.
That's how I used an orbital sander years back, and
that's not how you want to use one if you
want really good results. They're not designed to be zipped
all over the surface that you're sanding. They're designed for
even steady removal. So a good rule of thumb, this
(24:48):
is really solid. You can easily remember this and put
it into practice the next time you're using a sander.
Good rule of thumb, move about one inch per second.
That is way slower than you think, way slower than
you want to move. But it's going to give the
sander time to do its job, and when you try it,
you're going to be surprised. It's going to do a
better job, generally speaking, then zipping it all over the
(25:12):
place quickly. It just works. So one inch per second,
move that way, move at the right speed. Tip number three,
you've got to keep it flat. Here is another tip
that I was breaking all the time. If you tilt
the sander, you know, trying to put more pressure on
a stubborn area, you're actually making things way worse. You know,
that leading edge digs in and now you're not only
(25:34):
getting squirrels, but you're also risking gouges. So instead keep
it flat. Let the whole disc work evenly. All right,
so far I'm kind of stinking at least dumb Dan,
Old Dan is stinking I didn't do any of these
things right. Well, here's another one that I always did wrong.
And if you thought I was dumb or lying about
being dumb earlier, buckle up. Tip four is this use
(25:55):
light pressure. This should not need to be said. It shouldn't,
but maybe somewhere out there someone like me is listening.
Here's the scoop. If you hear the motor slow down
while you're sanding because you're pushing so hard. That is
not a sign that you're really getting the most out
of the sander. That is not the sound of a
(26:16):
quality sanding job. That is not the sound of accomplishment.
I literally used to think that once I hit that zone,
you know, when the motor slowed down, that's where the
rubber was really meeting the road. Now I was really
working that sander. That is so dumb. I am almost
embarrassed to say it out loud. Almost. I've talked about
so many dumb things that I've done on this show,
(26:39):
on other things that I, you know, do on the radio.
It's just nothing's embarrassing anymore. So you think I would
be embarrassed, but I'm not. It's not how you do
it with a sander. If you hear the motor slow down,
you're pressing too hard. Don't do that. Use even pressure
and keep it light. Let the sander do its thing.
The more you try to force the issue and speed
(26:59):
it long by applying more pressure, the more likely you're
going to end up with swirl marks or worse in
your surface. So light pressure, steady pressure, even pressure, all right.
Tip number five. Work through your grits. You know, a
lot of people think they can go straight from eighty
grit to two twenty grit and be done, but standing
is a process. Each grit is going to refine the
(27:20):
scratches left by the previous one. Skipping grits leaves behind
rough marks that show up in the finish later. So
a really solid progression looks like this. Start with eighty
or one hundred grid. You move from there to the
one twenty grit. From there you go to one fifty,
then to one eighty. You finished with two twenty. Now,
if you're staining, don't go past two twenty. Sometimes even
(27:41):
two twenty might be too much. You might need to
check that. But if you go past two twenty, there's
a really good chance that the wood's not going to
absorb stain evenly. So two twenty is usually the max
four staining. You might want to still test that out,
like I said, with a one eighty and see once
if that was enough for you. And I know that
if you do this it means you're going to be
going through a lot more sanding discs. But taking the
(28:03):
time to step through each grit is definitely going to
save you frustration down the road, so it's worth it,
all right. That's tip number five. Tip number six get
the dust out of there all right. Even if you're
doing everything right, swirls can still show up because of dust.
Fine sanding. Dust gets trapped under the disk from time
to time, and when that happens at x just like sandpaper,
scratching the surface instead of smoothing it. The best way
(28:26):
to handle that is to use a sander with dust extraction.
Most of them already have something, you know, they've got
the little bags. A lot of them can have shop
vacs attached to you know, you remove the little collection
bag and you can attach a shop bac to that
to aid with the extraction. Whatever you're doing, make sure
you use something with dust extraction. If it's your livelihood,
(28:48):
you know, your painting contractor or something you probably want
to look into at least look into festuol sanders. You
know we carry them at Repcholite and the dust extraction
on Festual tools, you know, any of the fest tools equipment,
the dust extraction is renowned. It's probably it's one of
its main features. They're absolutely brilliant at keeping dust out
(29:09):
of the work environment. So If you do this regularly,
look into the right tools, it's going to help. If
you don't do it regularly, at least make sure you're
getting that dust out of there, and then also make
sure you're cleaning between grits. You know, we talked about
switching grits and working through that whole system. Every time
you switch, you want to make sure you get that
surface free of dust. So vacuum it, blow any of
the remaining dust off, use a soft brush, whatever you've
(29:32):
got to do to get all the dust off the
surface before moving on to your next grit. All right,
So dust extraction surface cleaning, that's tip six. Tip seven.
You've got to stop right. You know, we talked about
starting right, but how you stop matters just as much.
If you turn the sander off while it's still on
the surface, it's like slamming the brakes on a moving car.
The momentum stops suddenly, and it's just like tire marks
(29:55):
on the pavement. You're going to get these swirl marks
in the wood. So the right way to stop lift
the sander off the surface first, and then turn it
off right, not complicated, pick it up, turn it off
all right. One last tip Tip number eight. Before you
reach for your stain or your top coat, do a
final check because nothing is worse than finishing a project,
you know, applying your stain, paint, whatever, and then realizing
(30:18):
that you missswirls by that point. Like we said earlier,
they're way hard to fix. So take one minute when
you're all done standing to check the workover. You know
two ways to do it. You can wipe the surface
down with mineral spirits. That's going to evaporate quickly, but
it's going to reveal swirl marks right away, you know,
before you apply your stain, or you can just use
a flashlight or led worklight. Hold it at a really
(30:38):
low angle and any misscratches are going to stand out instantly.
Trust me, taking this extra step is going to save
a ton of frustration later. There you go eight tips
to help you get the best results possible with your
orbital sander. And I've got a full list of all
of these at repco light dot com backslash sand right.
That's all one word sand so repco Light dot com
(31:01):
backslash sandwright ri Ight. You can go and check out
everything that I just went through so that you've got
a guide and you get great results every single time
you're using that orbital stander. All right, let's take a break.
When we come back, I'm gonna wing it. I don't
even know what I'm going to talk about yet, but
I'll figure it out over the break and it'll be
(31:21):
gold on the other side. That's next. Stick around, and
we're back. You're listening to the repel Light home improvement
show sponsored by Benjamin Moore. And I said last segment
that I was gonna wing this one. What am I
going to talk about? What am I gonna blander on
(31:43):
and on about? Well, I dug up a listener question
that I received in an email, and I am going
to go through that and answer it here. We'll kind
of walk through it. It's a great question. The listener
wrote in I would love for you to come and
take a look at my kitchen, and which appears puke green?
Her words, not mine. It appears put green because of
(32:05):
the reflection from the carpeting in the next room. It's
a pale gray blue. No matter which oatmeal paint I
put on the walls, the kitchen turns green. The rest
of the house is that same off white oatmeal shade,
and it looks fine, but in the kitchen puke green.
I love to cook and spend time there, and honestly,
it gets me down. I've even had a couple of
decorators come to help and nothing's worked. What do I
(32:27):
do now? First off, I totally get this. She's done
everything right, or at least it seems that way. She's
matched the color to the rest of the home, she's
getting advice from a decorator, she's trying different recommendations, and
none of it's working. That's really really frustrating. On top
of that, you have a space that you used to
love being in a place where you did things that
(32:49):
you love to do, cooking in this particular instance, and
now all of a sudden, the color on the walls
is making it worse. It's making it feel like a
place you don't want to be, and that's the opposite
of what paint should be doing. It should be enhancing
those spaces, not turning them into something that you don't
want to spend time in. So we got to figure
out what's going on. And it seems like it's complicated,
(33:12):
but actually, you know, I haven't seen it and I
am just winging it here. But it does seem like
there's kind of a simple explanation, and it's all about
color reflection and undertones. Color reflection and undertones. See, the
pale gray blue carpet that she's got going on in
the adjoining room has cool undertones, blues, maybe greens, whatever,
(33:32):
cool undertones, and the oatmeal color that she's using on
the walls likely has warm undertones, yellows or soft browns.
When the light bounces off of that cool toned carpet
and hits the walls, it's interacting with that warm paint color,
and visually it's creating this weird greenish cast. But wait
a minute. She seemed to be saying earlier that the
wall color in the carpeted room is the same as
(33:54):
the wall color in the kitchen. They're both oatmeal colors.
Why does it look green in the kitchen but fine
in the room with the actual carpet in it? Isn't
that contradictory? You know, that's certainly something to ask, And
you know, again, it could be any number of things.
It could be that the oatmeal colors are not exactly
the same. You know that it's a neutral or kind
of a beige color, but there are different undertones going on,
(34:16):
and one is you know, leaning more green. You know,
that's definitely possible. But light also reflects differently in every
room in the carpeted space, so you could have furniture,
softer lighting and room layout and that might minimize color reflections.
But in the kitchen, that room likely has harder surfaces,
you know, fewer absorbent materials, and possibly cooler natural light.
(34:36):
You know, all of those things could be happening. So
when light bounces off the cool toned carpet, it carries
those blue gray tones into the kitchen, and when they
hit the warm undertones and the oatmeal paint, Bam, there
you go. You got that green. So it's not about
a bad paint color necessarily, it's just the science of light,
surface and context. So how do you fix it. Let's
get to that first thing. You could look at switching
(34:58):
to a new paint color with more neutrals or grayish
undertones in the kitchen, you know, something like Benjamin Moore's
classic gray pale oak edgecomb gray. These soft grays and
topes will likely hold up better under the color influence
of the carpet, So that's definitely something you could look at,
you know, and there could be a many other colors.
You know, we'd want to see more samples of everything
(35:20):
going on before you just dish out colors on the radio.
But there's probably a good color that you could go
to that's going to minimize or work better with the
influence coming in from that carpet. Second thing you could do,
this is super easy. Take a look at the lighting
that's going on in your situation. You know, if you're
using cool toned led or fluorescent bulbs, they're only going
(35:40):
to make the effect worse. You could try switching to
warmer toned bulbs and see what happens. That might shift
the feel of the room immediately. Lighting makes a huge difference,
and the wrong temperature bulb can really really change things,
So check that out. That's probably the first place to start.
That could be the easiest fix. Third, if you don't
want to repaint and it's not the problem with the lighting,
(36:03):
you could try introducing some warm tone de core, you know,
a warmer toned rugs, some soft based curtains, art with
golds and creams to offset the influence from the carpet.
All of that might help warm that space up. Sometimes
just a small change like that will make a big difference.
So check all of those things out. That's where I'd start.
By all means, swing out to any Repcolite and bring pictures,
(36:25):
maybe even get one of our color consultants out to
your house and we can analyze the situation a little better.
But that's the best I can do winging it and
you know, without seeing it. Finally, last thing I'll say
for everybody out there, test always, test, always sample. If
you try new color, hold the color sample up next
to your carpet, to your furniture, and do all of
(36:47):
that in your space, in your lighting. Better Yet, rather
than just rely on one of those little color chips
that we've gotten the stores, buy a Benjamin More color
sample and actually get some paint applied. You can put
it on a piece of foam boards, you can move
it around, or you could use one of those jumbo
coders that we talked about at the beginning of the
show to actually roll some onto your walls. Either way,
(37:07):
sample that color. Make sure you're sampling the color, See
how it feels over the course of the day, see
what it looks like in your space. Make sure it
does what you want it to. Do and feels the
way that it should before you buy your paint. And
also I already said it, but by all means, remember
that we have color experts at every Repcollite waiting to
help you find the right color. Even if you're not
sure where to begin, just stop out. We'll help get
(37:28):
you moving. Thanks so much for the question. I think
it's one that a lot of people can relate to.
And if you out there listening, yes you, I'm talking
to you. If you've got a question that you'd like
discussed on the air, just reach out. You know. I'm
not set up to take phone calls. That might be
interesting someday, but I see what's left on the cutting
room floor when I record the shows, and I don't
(37:51):
think I'm cut out for live radio, so might not
be best to take phone calls live. But I certainly
can handle emails, and I will respond to those by
all means, even if they don't make the air. I'll
still respond to your questions, every single one of them.
So send your questions to radio at Repcolight dot com.
Make them good, maybe they'll be on the show someday.
All right, that's all the time we've got before I
(38:13):
wrap it up. Though. Last thing I want to say
is that April is contractor Appreciation Month at Repcolite. It's
a whole month where we do what we can to
thank all of the painting contractors who make us successful.
And one way that you out there listening can do
that can help us is to do something that we
talked about a couple weeks ago on the show. Mike
Cherry from Cherry Painting was here and he said, referrals
(38:36):
make his day. So if you've got a contractor that
you've used and you had a great experience with, remember
to hand out that name. When you hear people looking
for contractors, Handing a contractor the opportunity to land another
job is a great way to thank them. So think
about that. And if you're looking to hire a contractor,
we can definitely help you with that. Just head to
repcolight dot com backslash find a painter all one word
(38:59):
Repcolite backslash find a painter, fill out the brief form
and I'll get you three names within twenty four hours.
All right, that's it. Whatever you do today makes your
paints a part of it. And remember your next project
is easier than you think. Let us help have a
great weekend everybody, and i'll see you next week. I'm
Dan Hansen. Thanks for listening.
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