Questions for Icequeen

[Icequeen]

I bet it was the humidity that screwed me up. The paint would take days just to get tacky.

That will do it.

We painted the kids busted up lion that he bought at an estate sale for $1 a couple of weeks back (patched up the chips, and cracks and made him into a panther)...really shouldn't have painted him that week, but he was impatient. Took most of the week to dry properly. 

[El]

OK, I have given up on the idea that spray painting will be feasible. 

I think I just want to start by making my computer desk- which has a grayish top- have a black top instead.  That seems like a big enough project.  It's a genuinely tiny surface to cover (one side), all pre-painted, albeit years ago.

Main concern isn't durability of the paint- if it chips or something, NBD- it's the potential enduring tackiness/stickiness of it.  Have seen this be an issue with what were probably ill-informed paint jobs other people have done.  Seeing as I will be putting electronics on this thing, AND generally eat at least breakfast on this thing (if not other meals), it needs to remain a non-sticky surface.

Looked this up:

http://www.californiapaints.com/Project-Guides/Painting-Basics/Before-You-Begin/Choosing-Paint-Type.aspx

It looks like latex paint is probably ideal for my project?

Hyke:  When you say water-based acrylic paint, did you mean latex, or something else (or more specific)?

Also, looking at the weather forecast:  It looks like this week (which is a week I took off, which is why the heightened interest now) is about the worst possibly week for painting.  Hot and humid as fuck.  Damnit.

[WolFish]

The mice are orphans. If the mouse is bold enough to walk around when I am making noise then it may be bold enough to bite me.
The kids will likely die - lots of tiny squeaks last night, but nothing today so far.
I'm hoping they will eat each other as they die so that there isn't a really bad smell that requires moving the stove.

['andersom']

Hyke:  When you say water-based acrylic paint, did you mean latex, or something else (or more specific)?

The the language gap comes in sight. I do not mean latex. But a proper paint that can be used on furniture and windowsills, or even baby cribs. I have no idea what it would be called in English.

Maybe that is where you can start looking for. Fast drying paint suitable for baby cribs. Little kids bite everything, so paint suited for that has to be non sticky, and non toxic.

[Icequeen]

Hyke:  When you say water-based acrylic paint, did you mean latex, or something else (or more specific)?

The the language gap comes in sight. I do not mean latex. But a proper paint that can be used on furniture and windowsills, or even baby cribs. I have no idea what it would be called in English.

Maybe that is where you can start looking for. Fast drying paint suitable for baby cribs. Little kids bite everything, so paint suited for that has to be non sticky, and non toxic.

Latex is actually supposed to be less toxic than acrylic. Sometimes hard to find anything else in the stores anymore here.

http://www.differencebetween.net/object/difference-between-acrylic-and-latex-paint/

*Remembers helping my dad paint the basement floor with some toxic government surplus stuff when I was 10.

Had a headache for a week, and the stuff would not come off my skin.

Probably lead based, which would explain a lot. 

['andersom']

Could be language gap again.

Here latex is what is used on walls. It rubs off a bit if you try to rinse a spot.



What is called water based, or acrylic paint here is what professional house painters are now obliged to use if they work indoors, and often also when working outdoors, because there were too many cases of painters disease. (brain damage because of years and years working with paint with more aggressive solvents).

Former neighbour of mine is a bit batty and incoherent because of all the solvents he inhaled in his job as a painter too.

[WolFish]

The mice are orphans. If the mouse is bold enough to walk around when I am making noise then it may be bold enough to bite me.
The kids will likely die - lots of tiny squeaks last night, but nothing today so far.
I'm hoping they will eat each other as they die so that there isn't a really bad smell that requires moving the stove.

the mice didn't die, apparently. they did take a piece of chocolate out of the other trap without setting it off.
should i just take apart the stove and get their nest? would that discourage them?

[Gopher Gary]

Discourage them from what? 

[Icequeen]

I would try to get the nest if I could get to it easy enough, just because they can make some massive nests...and maybe give the stove a good visual check while I was at it, because they will chew wiring.

The only thing that will discourage them is lack of food though. I am totally freaky paranoid and have so many glass jars for food storage it isn't funny. Quite a few neighbors at the old house had rats, one two houses down said he woke up one morning with one the size of a kitten sitting on his chest.

Used to laugh at my grandmother who went nuts breaking out the vacuum every time a crumb hit the floor...but after seeing the rats running down the alley going to the next house when my kid was a toddler I became the same way.

[Queen Victoria]

When I was born, we lived in a garage converted into an apartment.  Mom said she could live with the rats climbing in my crib to get at the milk bottle, but when we had a flea infestation, she called, "MOVE".

[Queen Victoria]

Is all-purpose ammonia the same a non-sudsing ammonia? 

['andersom']

I would try to get the nest if I could get to it easy enough, just because they can make some massive nests...and maybe give the stove a good visual check while I was at it, because they will chew wiring.

The only thing that will discourage them is lack of food though. I am totally freaky paranoid and have so many glass jars for food storage it isn't funny. Quite a few neighbors at the old house had rats, one two houses down said he woke up one morning with one the size of a kitten sitting on his chest.

Used to laugh at my grandmother who went nuts breaking out the vacuum every time a crumb hit the floor...but after seeing the rats running down the alley going to the next house when my kid was a toddler I became the same way.

I grew up in a house that had mice in winter. In the middle of the woods.
Couple of years ago I had a mouse infestation here. And, I turned into my mom. All my storage ended up in big plastic crates with lids and locking system. My mom does it more fancy though, everything is in old big tins. The tin she had cookies and other sweet stuff in was a massive old rat poison tin.
 

[MLA]

Get a cat

['andersom']

Get a cat

When my house was infested a few years ago, out of the blue, probably because of a very dry season, so finally the mice could tunnel, my cats caught what was in the attic. The caught a few that were on the second floor. The ones down-stairs, I caught, barehanded. The mice did not like any of my traps.

I googled a lot about mice that year. Found out they can live and breed, only having access to a bit of water and a bar of soap. Any other food makes them even more prolific. Also was intrigued by this system:

[Parts]

Get a cat

My cat that goes outside seems to have some sort of deal with the mice that live in my shed only rarely going after them and concentrating on the birds especially cardinals.  I have to put dryer sheets and moth balls in all the drawers of my tool boxes or I find mice in them when I open them