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HOME IMPORVEMENT
SECTION
Home
care is a family affair
By
Meg Olson
“Now
we have room to grow,” said Pacific Building Center
co-owner Bob Christianson, stretching out in the new store
on Bell Road at Peace Portal Drive. “The first thing
we did was decompress. Now our aisles are wide enough to
meet code!”
After
four years cramped into a leased space at the Blaine International
Center, the Christianson family bought the Crystal Palace
tavern and banquet hall. After an extensive remodel, they
moved into the shiny new store in November 2000 with the
help of 40 friends and community members.
“We’ve
had nothing but enthusiasm,” Christianson said. “We
had everything at the other store but nobody knew we had
it. Now people know what we have and they can see where
it is.” He added the store’s new location put
them in the center of their market area, as easily accessible
to Birch Bay and Semiahmoo as it is to downtown. “I’ve
known for years this would be the perfect spot. Since we’ve
been out here, our traffic count is up almost 25 percent.”
The
new store’s bright interior offers more space and the
three-acre property has room to expand. “We’re
expanding in all directions,” Christianson said, pointing
to a nearly complete 2,400-square foot warehouse that will
house everything from moldings and sheet rock to conduit.
The building center has added concrete and masonry products
and is bringing in new dimension lumber products.
“We’re
a do-it-yourself center for homeowners,” Christianson
said. “We’re trying to make sure we have everything
they need, so people don’t have a reason to leave Blaine.”
He added they provide small-scale material pick-up for local
contractors. “We can bring in pretty much anything
but we aren’t about to start unloading packaged houses.”
A true
family business, Pacific Building Center offers the expertise
of four Christiansons. Bob’s wife, chamber of commerce
president Pam Christianson, has a special knack with wallpaper
and window treatments, but defers to daughters Stephanie
and Kim on paint. “They have a better eye for paint,”
she said. Kim also manages the office work, while Stephanie
is the store’s delivery driver. “We all do a little
bit of everything,” Bob Christianson said.
While
the building center has plans to add landscaping materials
in coming months, Christianson said they have no intention
of bringing in plant material, a role he said Spooner Creek
Nursery already fills. “In a little town we’re
far better off working together and networking,” he
said. “If someone needs something for their chainsaw,
I send them to Mather’s Mowers. If they need plants,
I send them to the nursery.”
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Painting
tips from the pros...
Masking
Tape On Glass
Don’t do it. Chances are you won’t
get it off. Go ahead and get paint on the glass, and take
it off later with a single-sided razor.
Closing A Paint Can
Get the excess paint out of the rim
first. (Some people punch small nail holes in the rim so
the paint drains back into the can.) The more paint you
have there, the greater the amount that’ll go flying
out when you pound the lid back on. (And paint in the rim
also makes removing the lid more difficult later.) Pressing
it with your palm is usually all you’ll need to do;
definitely cover it with a rag if you’re going to pound
it shut.
Tape Screws To Hardware
You won’t
lose the screws for your wall plates, and any other fixtures
you remove, if you keep them together.
For Heat Registers And Grills
A small-size flexible
foam paint pad comes in handy to reach the crannies. Aerosol
spray painting works well on them too, when they’re
not blowing air at you, of course.
Don’t Overbrush Enamel
It will harden full of ridges. Apply
generously with light strokes and avoid brushing over it
again once it’s on. Don’t procrastinate on finishing.
For strong adhesion between coats, don’t let more than
two weeks go by between applications.
Old Newspapers vs. Drop Cloths?
If using newspapers was any good, there
wouldn’t be such a thing as drop cloths.
Use Roller Sleeves One Time
They’re inexpensive.
And they’re ineffective once they start disintegrating,
which is likely to happen if you try washing them. Make
sure you’ve got plenty around if you’re going
to be doing the work piecemeal over a number of days.
Be Firm With Your Four-Footed Friends
Careful, or your Siamese cat will become
a calico and your baseboard will have a beard. Much as you
love having your little sweeties around, and well-behaved
as they might be, a room with paint trays and wet walls
is no place for animals. So make sure they’re secured
in another part of the house while you’re working,
or that wagging tail might hit the wall and become a hapless
paintbrush. In homes with small children the same advice
holds true (but if you have small children you already know
that).
Courtesy of www.pacificbuilding.com
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Easy
steps for a bright new look
Follow these basic
steps to paint your interior for impressive results.
Step 1: Prime time
Unless the existing finish is flat,
you’ll need to apply a prime coat to make the new paint
adhere. On flat-painted walls with minor repairs, you may
simply choose to spot prime. For walls with larger areas
of patching plaster, it’s advisable to use a sealer
or primer/sealer. Priming doesn’t require as much care
as painting, but it’s done the same way; follow the
next three steps, which you’ll repeat with the paint
after the primer dries
Step 2: Ceiling brushwork
Start with the ceiling, first covering
the perimeter and unpainted areas around the fixtures.
Step 3: Ready to roll
You’ll want
to begin with the ceiling (moving widthwise), in sections
about six feet square. Use a series of overlapping “W”
strokes from right to left, then back from left to right.
If using any other finish than flat, go over the entire
ceiling (for very large ceilings, two square sections at
a time) once again with one-directional, overlapping, non-diagonal
strokes to blend the paint. Next, repeat the same steps
with the walls, covering to within 1 1/2 inches of all edges;
the final non-diagonal strokes here should be from top to
bottom.
Step 4: Wall brushwork
Unless you’re very skillful or
you’ve got an edging tool, mask the perimeter of the
ceiling with painting tape and paint the upper perimeter
of the walls, as well as all areas that cannot be covered
with the roller.
Step 5: Back for seconds?
If the ceiling and walls need a second
coat, you can do it after the first coat dries; check the
label for the manufacturer’s recoating guidelines.
Step 6: Trim, baseboards, doors,
and windows
With painting
tape or a paint edger, protect newly painted wall surfaces
while you paint the woodwork. Doors can be wedged open with
a rolled-up newspaper; be sure to put a drop cloth underneath
them. A roller saves time on a flat door; a door with panels
requires a brush. With double-hung windows, pull the top
sash down and paint the bottom part of it first; push it
back up and paint the top part of it, then the bottom sash,
then the jambs and frame.
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