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OK had a new one sprung on me. Cut a couple lemons and leave them in a room when you finish painting. Next morning the paint smell is gone. Person says he heard this really works. Does it? How many lemons do you use?
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Fred,
I've heard that too...I'd guess it probably does work to an extent...but nobody ever cares enough to do it... ;)
What does work if the smell bothers you is add a handfull of drops of vanilla extrat drops to the paint before applying...I've done it a few times and people say it works well. I have to take their word for it, as I honestly don't even smell latex paint anymore, I'm around it so much.
For people who have allergies or just hate the smell, all the majors have a line of zero VOC paints made for use in hospitals or homes with "sensitive" noses...
Q
*An open bowl of vinegar left overnight works wonders. I do this a lot. Light some scented candles. They work well too.James DuHamel
*>An open bowl of vinegar left overnight works wonders. I do this a lot. Light some scented candles. They work well too. James, we call that foreplay.got another question, especially for Q:What is it with painters and hardware, particularly screws. They pull it off, dump it all in a bucket and don't have a clue how to put it back again correctly. And they never put the right screws with the right hardware, blowing all the holes. Why don't painters think this matters?SHG
*don't even think of taking the hardware off for them, they will putty the holes!
*This was one of those out of left field kind of questions someone asked me. Thanks for the info. Won't try that but might the vanilla extract. Any info on how many " a few drops" are?
*Starting to sound like a recipe board
*Hmmmm, guess you're right. Let's see: A passel of 2X's, a truckload of 1X's, nails to match, carefully measured proportions, and a seasoning of paint?
*All of your solutions are better than this:First, I heard this story third-person, but based upon the personalities involed and that I KNOW that the "Boss" in this story ended up BINing and then repainting..."Boss" had a "Painter" who did interior painting for him. Painter did all of Bosses jobs. Painter did good work, but Boss was often late with the Painter's paycheck.Due to infrequent and tardy paychecks, Painter finaly gave his notice, he said "Boss, I can't work for you anymore."Boss was just about done building his OWN house, and asked Painter "Please stick around for a few more weeks, I want you to paint MY house." Painter relented and agreed.Painter wass just about done paining Bosses house. He asked Boss for his pay. Boss told him to "Scr#w off, not only are you fired, but I'm not gonna pay you."Painter walked away.A few days later, Painter showed up at Bosses new house. An unknowing Sub let him in. The house soon began to smell rather...odd. Painter left, but not after rolling a rather suspicious shade of beige paint on the walls in a few rooms of Bosses spankin' new house.Rumor? He pureed the remnants of a bowel movement, mixed them with the paint, and rolled them on the walls.Looked like it.Smelled like it.Painter just grins when asked about it.
*SHG,I believe the answer lies in an anchient curse put on painters by some old witch who got upset when the painters used her broom as a stir-stick...they mistakenly thought they were getting even with the carpenters who ontop of not cleaning up their mess, shot about 3 nails for every 1 needed, and of course wouldn't know what to do with a nail set if you showed them. But alsa, it was the witch's favorite broom and she cast a curse on all painters everywhere.However, you fail to really grasp the true nature of the curse...it's not that we are unable to match screws to hardware at all. No, the problem is much more sinester than that. It turns out, you see, that we suffer from Screw-Dysplacia Absentia...a most frustrating affliction. Perhaps you might best understand it by an example...On the last house we painted, there were 12 shutters, hung by 48 screw. Now being the careful buch painters are, we made certain that all screws were placed in one cut pail, and then that cut pail was places in the garage, hidden on a shelf (we continue to fight against it, regardless of how futile the effort might be). Now at the end of the job, we went to re-hang the shutters...everything seemed fine, untile we got to the last few shutters. Then the usual occurance became apparent, and I heard those all-too-familiar words "Hey boss, looks like we're gonna be a few screws short!"And of course we were...4 to be exact. How's it possibl;e to lose 4 screws, especially 3.5 inchers? Well, we didn't...they just dissappeared, one for each painter on the job. Which incidentally is why you see so many one man painting bands...its an effort to minimize the damage. However, as every good painting Boss knows, we must keep a steady supply of spare screws handy...and indeed, I just happened to have 4, 2 inch interior drywall screws handy that worked fine. I had some nice 3" ones, but they too vanished.Wise Painters have learned how to minimize the cost of this curse over the centuries. It would seem that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction...and we've found that our screws don't really just dissappear, never to be found again. No, not at all...turns out that mechanics and appliance repairmen are the lucky recipients of our lost screws...whenever they take something apart, our screws jump in with their, resulting in many left-overs once the thing is put back together again. That is why painters always drive such old, beat up vans...since we all have close friends who are mechanics, they keep our vans running long past when they shoulda died.But they also keep us fixed up with spare screws...which I think should answer your question. While we always have spares, they're of course from some other painter...so when ours vanish, we just have to make do with whatever has turned up lately. And while they may enlarge the hole a bit (or may need a lille gum to hold'em in), usually the hardware will remain where we put it long enough for us to get paid and be on our merry way. I used to feel bad about it, but once I came to understand the true nature of the situation, I realized that indeed it isn't my fault to begin with. Obviously it is the Carpenters' fault, because if they had just set their nails and not shot 400% more finish nails than needed, why, none of this would've ever come to pass...see?Hope this explains things...ask if you have anymore questions!Q
*I would be real careful about introducing an open flame--heck, any type of flame--in a construction area. For starters, who's gonna' play 'candle monitor'?
*Thank you Q. Now, it all makes sense. And I fully appreciate why that $500 entry lockset has five brass screws and one drywall screw. By the way, I'm too cheap to shoot in extra nails. And I still use a hammer (only because my wife doesn't trust me with power tools).SHG
*i For starters, who's gonna' play 'candle monitor'? Probably the homeowner that lit the candle.For new construction, or major remodels where no one is gonna be in the room for a few days, no one cares about the odor. The methods used to rid the room of paint odor is for people who will be using, or at least be in the room for the next day or two. I am sure they will monitor whatever they use.James DuHamel
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OK had a new one sprung on me. Cut a couple lemons and leave them in a room when you finish painting. Next morning the paint smell is gone. Person says he heard this really works. Does it? How many lemons do you use?