CHAPTER XXIII
KITCHEN COSMETICS
Like women, kitchens must be made up continuously to be kept up. Like women, the fairer and even blonder they are the more attractive they seem to be; but unlike women, they must never be applied with powder (as a beautifier) or with oils, varnishes and paints which for any reason disintegrate into powder.
Every Domiologist (the author’s coinage for home scientist) likes a light, clean, glistening kitchen. Oils, paints and varnishes and their relatives, enamels, shellacs and lacquers, do the trick.
This article is not going to teach you to be a painter, but ought to give you the salient facts of kitchen “make up,” which every Domiologist should have in her mental, if not actual, filing case.
Furthermore, in the maidless or maided house the basic supply of to-be-cleaned-things must be as nearly self-supporting as possible. Hence a smoothly varnished wood-work and un-peeling painted wall or ceiling will go a long way to simplifying the care of the kitchen, yea the whole house.
Briefly, paint, according to Wood, is any liquid or semi-liquid substance applied to any metallic, wooden or other surface, to protect it from corrosion or decay or to give color or gloss or all of these qualities to it. Note the stress on the protective quality.
According to Heckel: Paint is a mixture of opaque or semi-opaque substances (pigments) with liquids, capable of application to surface by means of a brush or a painting machine, or by dipping and forming an adherent coating thereon.
House paints are made of pigments, drying oils (volatile or thinners), driers or “Japans” and varnishes. Pigments are divided into white bases (like oxide of zinc, the most important), inert reinforcing pigments, natural earth colors, chemical colors, pigment lakes, etc.
Varnish enhances the beauty of surfaces, protects them from injury, increases the luster or hardness of other coatings, excludes moisture and gases, vapors and other atmospheric agencies of decomposition or decay.
PREVENTIVES OF DISEASE
Paint and varnishes in the main have been thought to be beautifiers only, but in reality they are much more than this, for they are very complete means for the maintenance of sanitary conditions in the kitchen and are made for application on metals, cement, concrete, plaster, wood, etc. Therefore, there is nothing in the kitchen that cannot be re-surfaced if necessary.
Cracks and holes spell vermin and germ traps, which make efficient distribution centers for disease. Here is where paints and varnishes and the adjuncts not only fill the cracks, but fill the bill before the physician has time to send his.
The best blanket dictum to remember is that: Cleanliness is next to hole-iness. Fill up the holes, cracks, splits, roughnesses and unevennesses. Render all surfaces non-porous by application of liquid paint fillers. But before all else, scrape and pumice and wash surfaces with good old soap and water. Benzine is very often not sufficiently efficient in preparing for paint applications. Evenness, cleanliness, non-porousness, these three, and, to be Irish, the greatest of these is elbow grease--the best of all kitchen cosmetics applied in preparation and in brushwork.
CHOOSE THE MANUFACTURER FIRST
“What criterion have we,” asks the Domiologist, “in the choice of paints?”
The answer is, “Choose the manufacturer, then choose the paint.”
No household has a laboratory, and the widest advertised paint brands have stood the test. Consequently, a can opener, the paint, and an all-seeing eye to keep abreast of the advertisements are the requirements for the pocket laboratory. But, the standard for any paint is the overworked word “service.” If the paint you and your friends have used does not wear, get another make. But by all means, do not use these things blindly any more than you would use face powder without knowing the brand. Buy the best. In no other household commodity is this advice more important.
Sometimes the best paints and varnishes deteriorate in storage or transit, by being kept in too cold a room, and may be explosive if treated with too high a temperature.
PAINT RULES
In buying paint it will do no harm to bear in mind:
1. That one gallon of paint should be distributable over an area (in two coats) of 300 square feet.
2. A good paint should produce a surface that is neither too hard nor too soft. Surfaces that are too hard are prone to chipping and cracking or splitting. Sometimes they remain sticky if they are too soft, or chalk or powder or flow.
3. The average life of a good application of good paint is four years. It ought to last fifteen years, but to-day in our apartments we are glad if it lasts one month. Three years is the minimum, but a simple pigment paint frequently plays out in three years.
4. That paint must be durable in color and should last at least four years under normal conditions. Good floor paints and varnishes can stand dragging furniture, walking, hot utensils, steam, water, even alcohol and greases.
5. That good paints should leave surfaces suitable for repainting, which, being interpreted, means that the old paint should be still unbroken, making paste or liquid fillers practically unnecessary.
Paste fillers with or without color are used to fill deep cracks, etc., not, however, caused by broken paint surfaces, but by faulty construction, warping, blows in plaster, wear, and such injuries.
The common ills which are met with in paint life are:
1. Peeling, cracking or powdering, due to imperfect attachment, probably on greasy, damp or over artificially heated surfaces from which the moisture is driven up through the paint.
2. Blistering, due to underlying vaporized moisture. An excess of volatile oil prevents this. It often occurs on incompletely dried lumber, and often light or some chemical agency is the cause.
3. Alligatoring, incipient cracks due to heavy coats of paint applied to unseasoned wood especially if the paint is drier, tougher or more elastic than the under coats.
4. Wear. This is the only legitimate ill, if it takes place after the allotted period of its life.
The common epidemics in varnish life are bloom (opalescence), blistering, spotting, cracking, sweating, powdering, livering, crawling (refusal to spread), flasking, deadening (loss of luster), pitting, silking (looks like enameled silk), seedy or specky, wrinkling, grain showing, crumbling, all due to imperfect preparation of surfaces and the presence of moisture, greases, poor varnishes, poor application of good varnishes, different brands of varnishes put together, increase or decrease of temperature in drying or storage or transportation, etc.
There are hundreds of kinds of varnishes divided into: oil varnishes, spirit varnishes, japans, enamels and specialties.
In house finishing, oil varnishes, enamels, painter’s Japans and sometimes spirit varnishes (shellac and dammar varnishes).
Lacquers are highly transparent varnishes used on metals to produce a lustrous film.
Japans (decorative) are dark varnishes applied to metals and wood.
Japans (painter’s), are varnishes added to paints for luster and drying.
EMPLOY AN EXPERT
So it can readily be seen that the painting and varnishing of the kitchen should be, if nothing else, given over to experts. The painter should understand these requirements. “The priming coat,” says Heckel, “being the one on which the adhesion of the entire paint film depends, should be most carefully considered. It should be sufficiently liquid to penetrate every pore and irregularity of the surface, carrying with it
## particles of the pigment; but this fluidity must not be obtained at the
cost of the future strength of the dried film. For the priming coat it is customary to add a quantity of oil and some turpentine or benzine or, in the case of cypress, yellow pine and resinous woods in general, some form of benzol. It is easy to overdo both. Only enough of the volatile thinner should be used to avoid a high gloss, to which subsequent coats will not readily adhere. Hard, unabsorbent woods require a thicker priming coat than spongy woods, such as poplar, soft pine, etc. Resinous woods, like yellow pine, again require special treatment--a preliminary varnishing of knots and resinous spots with shellac, and subsequent priming with a fluid priming coat containing a benzol product.
“The second coat, which in many instances is also (improperly) the finishing coat, should be tempered accordingly. If there are to be three coats (as there should be), the paint should be lightly reduced with turpentine or benzine, so as to promote amalgamation with the priming coat, and to reduce the surface gloss. If it is to be the finishing coat, prepared paint of the average consistency can be used without reduction, but a very little turpentine is sometimes desirable to assist penetration and adhesion.
“The third or finishing coat should usually be employed as it comes from the can. In the case of all coats, thorough, hard brushing is essential, and a round brush is always preferable to a flat brush. The failure of paint is frequently due to insufficient ‘elbow grease’ with the brush.
“Every coat of paint should be completely dry throughout before the next coat is applied; but it is a mistake to allow a priming coat to ‘weather’ and become weakened before painting is continued.
“Too much drier or Japan, or cheap rosin Japans, are at the bottom of many paint failures. The manufacturer of a scientifically prepared paint will introduce the proper kind and quantity of driers into his formula, and none should be added in use.”
A fit condition of surface is obtained by:
(1) By delaying the application of the priming coat until the wood is thoroughly seasoned, unless seasoning has been properly attended to in the lumber; secondly, by seeing that the plaster on the inside of the building is completely dry before painting is begun on the outside. A new house should have been heated some weeks before it is painted. In an old house, leaking spouts, etc., should be repaired and the adjacent wood allowed to dry thoroughly before repainting. Thirdly, by avoiding the application of paint in moist weather or when the atmospheric moisture is high. Fourthly, by selecting a dry, mild season, as late spring or early fall, rather than a cold or hot season, as winter or mid-summer, for the work. Fifthly, by seeing that sappy or resinous spots in new lumber are properly treated before painting. Sixthly, by due care on old work that all loose paint and dust are removed by scraping, sand-papering, wire-brushing, dusting or, if necessary, burning, before new paint is applied.
As a rule, it should always be remembered that two thin coats thoroughly brushed out are better in most cases than one thick coat, and that repainting should never be delayed until the under coats begin to loosen seriously.
Only when conditions are favorable should the householder be his own painter. In any case he should study carefully the directions on the can, and unless they are found to apply to his particular job, should consult either the manufacturer or a practical painter for fuller advice.
Ceilings and walls of the kitchen are improved by the application of flat washes, calcimines, etc., of which there are many on the market. These surfaces are easily kept clean and sanitary and for this reason have been used instead of papers in the kitchen. All discolorations and dirt, grease and dust are removable by soap and water. The best paints are not poisonous and are a great factor in home sanitation.
The kitchen floor is a more difficult problem, as the wear and tear is so much greater than suffered by the walls. However, paint and varnish manufacturers have the problem well in hand and there are paints and stains on the market and varnishes, too, which withstand wear and tear, heat, grease, steam, gases and every other normal nuisance. Of course, this holds good only if they are applied correctly. Floor varnishes should dry in forty-eight hours. Dressings for revivifying linoleums are on the market, but beware of poor ones.
Don’t be afraid to investigate! This is another mandate to the Domiologist!
And bear in mind that floor varnishes and stains should be able to stand dragging furniture and foot wear, should be tough, withstand shock or abrasion, and be unaffected by normal contact with moisture. Good surfaces will give enduring service and will permit the scrubbing and washing of floors almost indefinitely. New coats can be added as the wear and tear demands. In addition to paints there are varnishes and stains combined which give effect of natural stain, and these applied to floors are more than satisfactory. These combinations, too, are useful on linoleums that have aged. These materials are made, it must be understood, to stand wear. Do not ever think of applying a wall stain or paint to the floor, as the floor compositions are made to withstand different use. Before using a stain, etc., on linoleum it is well to get advice from a linoleum firm or a topnotch paint firm.
ENAMELS OR PIGMENT VARNISHES
Probably nothing gives the Domiologist more delight than the effect a fine white enamel gives the objects over which it is laid. Here is a way to keep the kitchen a real blonde!
There are many of these enamels on the market which give the refreshing aspect to the kitchen. Many of them have the appearance of porcelain, and can be kept clean with little trouble. They can be bought in the glossy finish or the flat or dull or mat finish. All the woodwork of the kitchen can be treated with enamels if a charming kitchen is wanted.
The high cost of construction to-day demands the protecting powers of paints. The beauty theory of paint still holds good, but the protective power is predominant and most important.
The use of a good floor oil has been proven by Dr. Wallace Maunheimer to reduce the quantity of dust in a room from 80% to 100%. Flying dust is the aeroplane of disease. Oils, paint and varnish the anti-aircraft guns!
And, finally, read the directions on the can, get the admirable books of directions mailed gratis by the service departments of manufacturers of paint, and _buy the best_.
And do not fail to realize that the kitchen with a good complexion augurs well for the complexion of every one in the house.
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