Paint and decorating problem solver and safety topics

This section deals with some typical painting problems and situations you may find when decorating. There are, however, painting situations that we can not immediately address on the Internet. So if your problem is not addressed below ask our technical expert for advice. We will reply with professional advice and recommendations.

Safety topics

Select a topic you'd like to know more about:

• Asbestos
• Blistering
• Block resistance
• Blocking
• Caring for your Resene paint finish
• Chalking
• Cleaning up
• Colour blindness including a quick colour blindness test
• Cracking and flaking
• Dealing with graffiti
• Dealing with paint spills in vehicles
• Delamination
• Efflorescence
• Excess moisture
• Fading
• Fire hazard - oil soaked rags
• Grease removal
• Gum in timber
• How much paint do I need?
• How to touch-up paint
• Lead-based paint
• Levels of finish (plasterboard)
• Lime burn
• Maintaining exterior painted surfaces
• Matching paint to ink
• Moss and mould problems
• On a roll - measuring, cutting and hanging wallpaper and borders
• Overcoating of mineral oils - Disclaimer
• Paint blisters back to substrate
• Paint systems for earthquake damaged buildings
• Painting during pregnancy
• Peeling
• Picture framing
• Pigment transfer
• Recommendations for coating CCA timber
• Repainting flood and storm damaged buildings
• Rotten timber
• Rotten timber repair with Resene Repaircare
• Salt staining
• Skinning in paint
• Smoke damaged surfaces
• Spalling or concrete cancer
• Spreading rates 
• Surfactant leaching
• Tannin staining
• Timber movement - primer appearing under new paint
• Tips for dealing with spills
• Using reflectance values
• Waterblasting
• Waterborne or solventborne?
• Wet area and service area sealer options
• What gloss level should I select?
• What's in a can of paint?
• Get expert advice:
  • Ask a colour expert
  • View colour expert q and a
  • Ask a technical expert
  • View technical expert q and a

Select a safety topic you'd like to know more about:

• Asbestos
• Fire ratings
• Glove up campaign – solvent safety
• Hazards in the preparation for painting
• Hazards of surface coatings
• How to clean brushes and rollers without polluting the environment
• How to dispose of leftover paint without polluting the environment
• Ladder safety
• Lead-based paint
• Methods of removing paint safely
• Organic solvents
• Polyurethane paints and lacquers
• Protecting your eyes
• Respirators and breathing apparatus
• Safety information brochure for parents
• Spontaneous combustion
• Volatile substances
• View Resene Putting your safety first brochure. You will need Acrobat Reader.

For information on paint related problems such as chalking, blistering and crocodiling, visit the Paint Quality Institute website.