What people ask before they book a patch

Mineral paint, also called silicate paint, is made with a potassium silicate binder. On a mineral surface such as plaster, brick or stucco it reacts with the wall and becomes part of it, instead of drying to a film on top. It dries to a deep, even matte.

Limewash is slaked lime and water with pigment. It dries into lime as it takes in carbon dioxide from the air, and it bonds best to lime plaster, brick and stone. It goes on in thin coats and dries paler and softer than it looks wet, with cloud-like variation by design.

Not directly, in most cases. Both need a surface they can bond to, and sealed latex is not one. Either the old film comes off, or we use a product the maker says will go over sound old paint. The test patch shows which your wall needs.

No. Limewash is cloudy and brushed by nature, and mineral paint is a deep, even matte. If you want a uniform satin finish that scrubs clean, latex is the right paint and we will say so before you pay for a patch.

Mineral paint and limewash are for mineral surfaces. On drywall they need a special primer and the result is different from plaster, so we say so before taking the job.

About the size of a door panel, in a spot you choose, such as the back of a closet or a low wall behind furniture. We apply it in the same coats the wall would get. It shows you the color in your light, and it shows us whether the wall takes the coating.

Not until the paint is off. The method depends on the paint, and the wrong one damages the brick face, so we test a small area first. We do not use sandblasting, heat guns or dry sanding on old paint.

Federal rules apply to paid work that disturbs paint in homes and child-occupied buildings built before 1978. Tell us the year when you book. The firm's EPA lead-safe certification number is under Credentials, and on those houses we use lead-safe work practices: plastic containment, wet methods and a HEPA vacuum, never dry sanding, a heat gun or an open flame.

In writing, after we have seen the walls and, when you want one, after the patch has cured. The price follows the surface, the preparation, the number of coats and the height of the work. How pricing works has the full list.

In dry weather, above freezing, which in Madison usually means late spring to early fall. Interior plaster work runs all year. The calendar on the brick and stucco page shows the months.

No. We mask the room, cover floors and close doors, and work one room at a time. Preparing old plaster makes dust, so we clean with a HEPA vacuum, not a broom, at the end of every day.

We buy and mix it. You choose from the maker's colors or bring a sample, and the patch confirms it before we order the whole job. Ask for the product data sheet and we send it before we order.

Terms, limits and exclusions are in your written warranty, and we go over it with you when we give the estimate.