09 Nov 2016

Over the years, painting has been an integral component of the African culture.

In Botswana, painting was used as a form of art, communicating or expressing important messages that were documented to this date. Most paintings depicting history of various tribes of Batswana are found in hills or rocks.

These paintings also had the value of beautifying the environment and this art was later incorporated in housing as the evolution continues.

In traditional mud houses, the builders used soft rock powders and different types of soil as paint.

That was the norm until the invention of modern paints.

Of the two common types popularly known as water paint and oil paint, many people got accustomed and trusted oil paint to apply on the inside of their houses, due to its characteristics of being durable, shiny and washable.

As a new development, oil paint got recognition for those reasons and it became the household item for years. But, because technology evolves, recent research results show that oil paint has more pros than cons.

Paint consultant at Builders Warehouse, Mr Orapeleng Mokgethi said oil paint was still one of the trusted and probably still widely used type of paint in the interior.

Mr Mokgethi however said, “Oil paint is flammable making it a highly contributing factor in the event of fire outbreaks in the house, hence the increased extent of damage.

“The wall is like a human being, it breathes. Oil paint is therefore influenced by the weather condition. If it is hot, the paint expands during the day and contracts in the evening, producing an awful smell that may cause lung diseases over a period of time.

And this effect occurs throughout the span of the paint,” Mr Mokgethi said.

He noted that oil paint may cause eye problems when used in the interior of the house because of its shiny-reflection character. When used with bright lights it is even more dangerous as it causes strain to eyes.

Notwithstanding that innovation has presented opportunities for rehabilitation of old-school oil paint.

“With the PVA acrylic paint suitable for indoor and outdoor painting, one can still get their house beautified with their colour of choice, that’s safe, durable, shiny and able to withstand harsh weather conditions,” he said.

Contrary to PVA paint that gets worn out easily by weather conditions, PVA acrylic is an equivalence of traditional oil paint.

The paint expert, Mr Mokgethi adamantly warned that “the most important thing about painting is wearing protective clothing when handling this rather mood engaging substance.

Painting is more than just smearing a substance on the surfaces, but following steps on how to paint is as important for optimum results.”

“The surface must be 80 per cent dry. You can use the traditional method where you stick the plastic on the wall over a night and observe the moisture next day. Presence of moisture means that the wall is not ready for painting,” he said.

Elaborating on the process, Mr Mokgethi said all cracks on the surface must be filled then smoothen or sand plastered before being cleaned.

The next step, he said was applying the suitable priming substance for the particular surface whether, wood, glass, wall or concrete.

A tip to consider when choosing paint, Mr Mokgethi said was how reliant the paint was on the environment of a particular area. He maintained that some modern paint has waterproofing mechanisms, making it appropriate for wet areas.

However, he said paint plays a major role in protecting the wall from harsh weather conditions. ENDS