MANILA, Philippines - It’s summer, and home renovations and exterior painting have started for people trying to get ahead of the rainy season, which inevitably interrupts and delays home projects.
Home improvement tends to be expensive and the key is to do it right at the right time and with the right materials, especially if you’re painting your house’s exterior. So where do you start? Let’s ask the experts.
Nippon Paint Malaysia Group, Group General Manager Gladys Goh was in Manila recently to launch Nippon’s colors for the year and to talk about exterior painting.
“The biggest mistake people make when painting their house,” Gladys says, “is that they think it’s okay to use just one kind of paint for both interior and exterior. Just like men and women’s skin, they have different textures and needs.”
The issue with exterior walls is obviously the elements they are exposed to — rain, sun, pollution and humidity — all of which cause fungus, algae, color fading and cracks. On the other hand, interior walls are more about the people living in the house, the quality of air, and the washability of the walls.
“If you have a young family, the dirt inside the house is mostly caused by children who draw on the walls; outside it’s the harsh and extreme weather, especially in the Philippines.”
When Nippon Paint entered the local market, they were on a mission to educate people. Gladys says, “A lot of international paint brands are in the market but they’re not suitable for here. The climate in the US is so different from here where you have typhoons, extreme heat, and humidity. Water is so essential to life, but it’s the worst element for your house.”
Nippon designed its exterior paint Nippon Weatherbond especially for our kind of climate.
One of the issues with exterior paint is color fading caused by UV rays that the color pigments. The colorant in Nippon Weatherbond has UV absorbers to make it UV-resistant. “Again like a person’s skin, Weatherbond has sort of a ‘sunblock’ so the pigments remain bright after many years. It absorbs UV rays but doesn’t damage the paint. At the same time, it can also withstand humidity, making it fungus and algae-resistant.”
Gladys says that for paint to last, one must use the full system of exterior coating. “You need a primer — think of it as serum for the skin to prepare it for makeup — before painting on the topcoat. One of the reasons you see patches of white color on walls is because of alkaline that’s in the cement used, which usually contain sea salt. Because of the weather in Southeast Asia — hot, cold, hot, cold — water is both absorbed by and coming out form the walls, so you need something to neutralize the salt. Primer is protection from the elements coming out of your walls; topcoat is about protection from UV and the elements.
What about when you’re just repainting? Gladys says to use the same system — primer first, because you don’t know what was used before the topcoat or the protection may already be gone. “You need to start fresh.”
We tell Gladys that the Philippines, for some reason, is very dusty. Even when you have all your windows closed, your interiors accumulate a layer of dust so what more for your exteriors? How do you clean your walls outside?
“The paint technology that we designed is resistant to dirt and pollution. So when it rains it just washes the dirt away. It’s practically maintenance free.”
Gladys adds, “The technology also focuses on vibrancy of color. Nippon Paint may be slightly more premium in price but you get better quality and you know you don’t need to paint your house for five years or more. That warranty, of course, assumes that you use the right system. There’s no point in doing something half-heartedly.”
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Visit www.nipponpaint.ph for a complete list of outlets.