Latest / Repcolite Home Improvement Show / Preserving Charm in Home Design & Innovations in Paint Technology

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Preserving Charm in Home Design & Innovations in Paint Technology · Repcolite Home Improvement Show

0:01
Speaker 1: And here we are again. My goodness, how the week slide?
0:04
Speaker 1: Good morning. You're listening to the ripcle like home improvement
0:07
Speaker 1: shows sponsored by Benjamin Moore, and this week, let me
0:10
Speaker 1: assure you, I have taken so much information and I
0:14
Speaker 1: have shoehorned it into the chunk of time that they've
0:16
Speaker 1: given me. You know, there's barely room to even turn
0:19
Speaker 1: around in here. I've got so much content crammed into
0:22
Speaker 1: the next forty minutes. So rather than explain everything that's
0:26
Speaker 1: coming up on the show today, I want to just
0:29
Speaker 1: jump right in and start with this. We were recently
0:33
Speaker 1: on vacation, and if you listen regularly, you know that,
0:36
Speaker 1: and you are probably sick and tired of hearing about it,
0:41
Speaker 1: but I do need to talk about it briefly one
0:44
Speaker 1: more time, because it makes the paint point for the week. Anyway,
0:48
Speaker 1: we stayed on Mackinaw Island for a couple of nights
0:50
Speaker 1: this year, and we stayed at a great hotel, an
0:53
Speaker 1: older hotel that had a lot of charm. You know,
0:56
Speaker 1: you're on Mackinac Island. There's no cars. There's horses everywhere.
0:59
Speaker 1: You'll lo and wagons and carriages, people on bikes, lots
1:04
Speaker 1: of people. I wish there were less, but lots of
1:06
Speaker 1: people on bikes. The whole idea is that you kind
1:09
Speaker 1: of stepped back in time, you know, to a simpler era,
1:12
Speaker 1: to a bygone era. That's the idea. Well, we've been
1:15
Speaker 1: there many years in a row. It's kind of our thing.
1:18
Speaker 1: We're a little bit boring when it comes to vacations
1:21
Speaker 1: and a lot of things. You know, we find what
1:23
Speaker 1: works for us and then we do it until they
1:26
Speaker 1: ask us not to come back anymore. And so far
1:29
Speaker 1: we have not been given that request to stay away,
1:33
Speaker 1: so we keep coming back. Anyway. This year we arrived
1:37
Speaker 1: on the island and the hotel had been renovated, you know,
1:41
Speaker 1: new paint colors, new wallpaper, new bathroom fixtures, new carpet,
1:45
Speaker 1: and on and on and on. Now we knew this
1:48
Speaker 1: was happening ahead of time. They ran it past us.
1:51
Speaker 1: You know, we are pretty regular over there, and we
1:53
Speaker 1: do carry some weight. It's from all the fudge that
1:56
Speaker 1: we eat, but we still carry some weight over there.
1:59
Speaker 1: And you know, they let us know what was happening.
2:01
Speaker 1: We gave them our blessing and they went ahead with it.
2:04
Speaker 1: So we knew it was coming and we were actually
2:06
Speaker 1: kind of excited to see all of the new. You know,
2:09
Speaker 1: in previous years, we'd always liked the hotel and the rooms,
2:12
Speaker 1: but the new, you know, the new stuff sounded pretty good.
2:16
Speaker 1: So we arrived and we made our way to the room,
2:19
Speaker 1: the same room that we've stayed in for several several
2:22
Speaker 1: years running. Now, like I said, we don't deviate when
2:26
Speaker 1: we find something that works, we don't deviate. Everything is
2:29
Speaker 1: exactly the same every single time. So we walk into
2:32
Speaker 1: that room, same room we've had for years. And when
2:36
Speaker 1: we walked in, honestly, we were weirdly disappointed, all of us.
2:41
Speaker 1: Well we didn't say it, you know, out loud until
2:44
Speaker 1: later when we were talking, but we were all a
2:47
Speaker 1: little bit disappointed. The room looked great. It had a beachy,
2:51
Speaker 1: you know kind of vibe. It's probably tricky to say
2:54
Speaker 1: on the radio, beachy b ea c h y beachee,
2:57
Speaker 1: like at the beach kind of vibe, which made a
2:59
Speaker 1: lot of sense. You know, we're on an island surrounded
3:02
Speaker 1: by Lake Michigan. The wallpapers, they were modern and cool.
3:06
Speaker 1: The paint colors and the carpet were great. The bathrooms
3:10
Speaker 1: were nicely redone and new, fixtures, new tile, all of
3:13
Speaker 1: that was in there. That all a good, but we
3:15
Speaker 1: were still a little bit disappointed. And it was funny,
3:19
Speaker 1: you know, we all said it later. The room it
3:22
Speaker 1: just didn't have that old fashioned charm, you know that
3:24
Speaker 1: it previously had possessed. Nothing had been changed structurally, you know,
3:28
Speaker 1: it was just new paint, wallpaper, carpet, furniture and so on.
3:31
Speaker 1: And it was really nice, you know, it was really clean,
3:35
Speaker 1: all this new stuff, but if I'm honest, it was
3:37
Speaker 1: all a little bit boring. You know. It felt like pictures.
3:40
Speaker 1: That's what I kept thinking. It felt like pictures that
3:42
Speaker 1: I've seen of other resort type places. You know. The
3:46
Speaker 1: colors were the same as the colors in those pictures.
3:48
Speaker 1: The paper was the same kind of a thing. You know.
3:50
Speaker 1: It just felt like everything else I'd ever seen. Gone
3:54
Speaker 1: was the small print, the old fashioned wallpaper, Grama's wallpaper,
3:58
Speaker 1: Grandma's Grama's wallpaper or whatever it was, gone, where the
4:02
Speaker 1: soft pink or whatever color had been on the walls.
4:04
Speaker 1: The furniture, you know, the old furniture I can't even
4:07
Speaker 1: really remember. That's all been replaced with modern versions that
4:12
Speaker 1: really all work. All of the new stuff work. Together
4:15
Speaker 1: to take us out of the element. You know, it
4:17
Speaker 1: transported us back to modern day when we were, in
4:20
Speaker 1: fact trying to catch a bit of the old fashioned vibe.
4:23
Speaker 1: So long story short, the new look killed some of
4:27
Speaker 1: the old charm. And that's the paint point for the week.
4:31
Speaker 1: And this one's kind of personal and may not apply
4:34
Speaker 1: to you at all, but it does apply to me.
4:37
Speaker 1: Here's what I'm getting at our homes, especially the older homes,
4:41
Speaker 1: they have a certain charm. You know. There are a
4:43
Speaker 1: lot of reasons for that. I'm not going to go
4:45
Speaker 1: into those right now, but the fact stance, old houses
4:48
Speaker 1: have charm and character, and often they have more charm
4:52
Speaker 1: and character than newer homes.
4:53
Speaker 2: Do.
4:53
Speaker 1: You know, nothing against newer homes, but there's just this
4:56
Speaker 1: charming character about an old home. But those of us
4:59
Speaker 1: who live in the old homes, sometimes, you know, we
5:02
Speaker 1: get our eyes set on a more modern look, you know,
5:05
Speaker 1: a more updated look. Let's say we see a trending
5:07
Speaker 1: color scheme somewhere, maybe in a magazine, maybe online, maybe
5:11
Speaker 1: at a friend's house, and then we get excited to
5:14
Speaker 1: bring something new and fresh like that into our space,
5:17
Speaker 1: or we find that we're drawn to furniture that leans
5:20
Speaker 1: more modern or more contemporary, or maybe we find certain
5:23
Speaker 1: wallpaper styles that are outside of our home's architectural style.
5:27
Speaker 1: Now we can see these things, we envision them, and
5:30
Speaker 1: we think that we absolutely need to have them in
5:33
Speaker 1: our homes. You know, we sometimes assume that bringing them
5:35
Speaker 1: in is going to bring about the changes and the
5:38
Speaker 1: facelift that we feel the space needs. So we take care,
5:41
Speaker 1: you know, we get those colors, and we take care
5:43
Speaker 1: to make sure that they all work well together, and
5:45
Speaker 1: that the styles and the patterns complement each other. But
5:48
Speaker 1: sometimes sometimes we may be tempted to forget about the
5:52
Speaker 1: need to make sure that all of those new colors
5:54
Speaker 1: and patterns and styles not just work together, but they
5:57
Speaker 1: will compliment our home itself. It may be surprising, but
6:01
Speaker 1: it's certainly possible to lean into colors and wallpaper and
6:03
Speaker 1: furniture styles that together all look great, you know, that
6:07
Speaker 1: complement each other perfectly, but also which can negatively impact
6:11
Speaker 1: the original charm of our homes. Now, if you choose
6:14
Speaker 1: colors that are too modern, too trendy, too inconsistent with
6:17
Speaker 1: the era in which your home was built or the
6:19
Speaker 1: architectural style of your home. If you do that, you
6:22
Speaker 1: can end up creating a look that's kind of disjointed
6:25
Speaker 1: or you know, just weirdly wrong, If that makes sense.
6:29
Speaker 1: There are always going to be certain design elements that
6:32
Speaker 1: more naturally complement certain architectural styles. It's just the way
6:36
Speaker 1: it is. There are certain things that just work well
6:39
Speaker 1: with certain styles. Now, of course, you can find wide
6:42
Speaker 1: ranging colors and patterns that will work across all kinds
6:45
Speaker 1: of different architectural styles. It certainly can be done. It
6:48
Speaker 1: just takes a little more intentionality to pull it off.
6:51
Speaker 1: All right. With all of that said, if you're living
6:53
Speaker 1: in an older home, or really if you're living in
6:56
Speaker 1: any home with a distinctive architectural style and you're thinking
6:59
Speaker 1: of making some renovations some changes, here are four quick
7:03
Speaker 1: things to keep in mind to help you make sure
7:05
Speaker 1: that you don't inadvertently cover over some of the inherent
7:08
Speaker 1: charm of your home. First off, let's look at color.
7:11
Speaker 1: And it's not surprising, but paint color, you know that
7:14
Speaker 1: has a huge impact on the atmosphere that we create
7:17
Speaker 1: in a space. The hotel is a perfect example of this.
7:20
Speaker 1: The color scheme that they picked was beachy and bright,
7:24
Speaker 1: and that vibe just didn't mesh well, at least not
7:27
Speaker 1: to me, not to my family. It didn't mesh well
7:30
Speaker 1: with the overall atmosphere that's created by the age and
7:33
Speaker 1: the style of the hotel itself just didn't work. That's
7:35
Speaker 1: that weirdly wrong thing I was talking about a little
7:38
Speaker 1: bit earlier. So keep an eye on the style and
7:41
Speaker 1: the vibe of your home as well as the colors
7:43
Speaker 1: and the color schemes that you're picking. Now, if you're stuck.
7:46
Speaker 1: Neutral or classic color palettes usually have way more flexibility
7:50
Speaker 1: across lots of different styles. Soft grays, whites, beiges. They
7:54
Speaker 1: can work in both modern and traditional settings. Now, bold colors,
7:58
Speaker 1: they can be used as accents or focal points really easily.
8:01
Speaker 1: Just make sure that you choose them carefully to either
8:03
Speaker 1: complement or intentionally contrast with the architectural features of your space. Now,
8:08
Speaker 1: one last practical tip when it comes to color, check
8:10
Speaker 1: out Benjamin Moore's Williamsburg Color collection and their historical color collections,
8:14
Speaker 1: especially if you're working with an older home. If that's
8:17
Speaker 1: the setting you're in, there are a lot of great
8:19
Speaker 1: options in both of those color collections, and they'll help
8:23
Speaker 1: you find a contemporary option that kind of bridges the
8:26
Speaker 1: gap between the modern and the past. So check that out,
8:29
Speaker 1: all right. Wallpaper second thing that I've got When it
8:32
Speaker 1: comes to wallpaper patterns, there are some that are going
8:34
Speaker 1: to be just more versatile, you know, think geometric designs
8:37
Speaker 1: or subtle textures. These can blend into a variety of
8:40
Speaker 1: different settings. More ornate patterns, you know, like Victorian florals
8:44
Speaker 1: something like that. They might feel out of place in
8:47
Speaker 1: a minimalist modern home. But remember again, these can work
8:52
Speaker 1: if you bring them in in small doses or maybe
8:54
Speaker 1: as a statement wall. And really they can work in
8:58
Speaker 1: large doses as well, and in spaces that don't lean
9:01
Speaker 1: into those styles architecturally, you know, you can still pull
9:04
Speaker 1: it off. It just takes a little more effort and
9:07
Speaker 1: more intentionality as you're making your choices. Now, looking at furniture,
9:11
Speaker 1: the same thing is true. Mixing modern furniture in a
9:14
Speaker 1: historical home or historical furniture in a modern home. That
9:17
Speaker 1: can work if it's done intentionally to create an eclectic look.
9:21
Speaker 1: The key is to make sure that the pieces have
9:23
Speaker 1: a unifying element, you know, color, material, or form. Make
9:27
Speaker 1: sure there's a unifying element to tie the space together. Now, Finally,
9:30
Speaker 1: one last thought to sum up all the other thoughts,
9:33
Speaker 1: kind of put a bow on it all. Look for balance.
9:36
Speaker 1: You know, if you want to introduce contemporary elements into
9:38
Speaker 1: a classic design or vintage elements into a contemporary layout,
9:42
Speaker 1: do it subtly and do it with purpose. Mixing these elements,
9:46
Speaker 1: you know, the old and the new, whether it's colors, wallpapers, furniture,
9:50
Speaker 1: or really anything else. Mixing those elements is a brilliant
9:53
Speaker 1: way to create a unique and personalized and dynamic space.
9:57
Speaker 1: But you've got to make sure to select elements with
9:59
Speaker 1: some care. You know, make sure they contrast in a
10:01
Speaker 1: complimentary manner, or that they share some kind of common
10:05
Speaker 1: thread that ties the whole design together. Like we just
10:07
Speaker 1: talked about, It's all about making sure there's balance, all right.
10:10
Speaker 1: Bottom line, you can do anything that you want when
10:13
Speaker 1: it comes to designing your home, and the space is
10:15
Speaker 1: within it. You know, no color, no wallpaper, no furniture,
10:18
Speaker 1: no floor covering, no element is really technically off limits.
10:23
Speaker 1: There are no hard and fast rules, you know, for
10:26
Speaker 1: the most part. But with that said, keep in mind,
10:29
Speaker 1: while that freedom is limitless, there still are real life
10:33
Speaker 1: results and choosing colors or other design elements without keeping
10:37
Speaker 1: a sharp eye on your home and the vibe and
10:40
Speaker 1: the field that it exudes kind of can leave you
10:43
Speaker 1: sometimes feeling underwhelmed or maybe even surprised at the new
10:46
Speaker 1: atmosphere you ended up creating. You know, our favorite hotel
10:50
Speaker 1: is a great example of this. It went from being
10:52
Speaker 1: this charming escape that gave you a taste for the
10:54
Speaker 1: nineteen hundreds, it went from being that to just being
10:58
Speaker 1: you know, any new beachside result. It's clean, it looks great,
11:02
Speaker 1: and it's kind of without a soul. So keep that
11:04
Speaker 1: in mind when you're designing and pulling colors for your home.
11:07
Speaker 1: Beauty and soul in the home isn't always about a
11:11
Speaker 1: great color scheme and great furnishings. It's about finding the
11:14
Speaker 1: right color scheme and the right elements and furnishings. And
11:17
Speaker 1: when it comes to color, we are here to help
11:20
Speaker 1: at Repcolite. That's one of the things we do on
11:22
Speaker 1: a regular basis, and all of the Repcolite stores have
11:25
Speaker 1: color experts on hand, ready to help you even if
11:28
Speaker 1: you're completely lost in the process, even if you've got
11:32
Speaker 1: no idea where to begin. Hailey has been gone from
11:35
Speaker 1: the show for a while now and We always were
11:38
Speaker 1: going to explain what was happening. She just kind of
11:41
Speaker 1: disappeared and we never said that much about it. Here's
11:44
Speaker 1: the deal. Haley left the radio and all of the
11:46
Speaker 1: things that her and I were working on so she
11:48
Speaker 1: could start training all of our store personnel on color theory. Now,
11:52
Speaker 1: we were always good at helping you find your colors
11:54
Speaker 1: and all of that, but now we've got somebody who's
11:56
Speaker 1: absolutely in love with color and everything that color will do,
12:00
Speaker 1: and that person's training the employees. It's super exciting for us,
12:03
Speaker 1: and I know it's going to benefit everybody out there
12:06
Speaker 1: who comes to us looking for advice. All right, that's
12:09
Speaker 1: the paint point for the week. Now we're going to
12:11
Speaker 1: take a break, and when we come back, I'll be
12:13
Speaker 1: sitting down with the vice president of sales at Benjamin Moore.
12:17
Speaker 1: It's a big time interview. You're not going to want
12:19
Speaker 1: to miss it. It's all coming up next. Stick around
12:25
Speaker 1: and we're back. You're listening to the Repco Light Home
12:27
Speaker 1: improvement show sponsored by Benjamin Moore. And one of my
12:30
Speaker 1: favorite things about doing the show is that I get
12:32
Speaker 1: to meet a lot of people, a lot of people
12:35
Speaker 1: that I never would have met outside of the show.
12:37
Speaker 1: You know, I'm thinking specifically of Andrea Magno from Benjamin Moore.
12:41
Speaker 1: She's the person behind Benjamin Moore's Color of the Year
12:43
Speaker 1: every year. I was able to interview her a few
12:46
Speaker 1: months ago and that was just a ton of fun. Well,
12:49
Speaker 1: today I'm here with somebody else who I probably never
12:51
Speaker 1: would have met without the show, Ken Saizadlow, the vice
12:54
Speaker 1: president of sales at Benjamin Moore. Ken, thanks for being here.
12:58
Speaker 1: Good to be here. Dan. Now, now you've been at
13:01
Speaker 1: Benjamin Moore for how long now?
13:03
Speaker 2: Twenty two years?
13:04
Speaker 1: Twenty two years at Benjamin Moore, and you're the vice
13:07
Speaker 1: president of sales, correct, And you've been doing that for.
13:10
Speaker 2: Just about almost nine months, okay, almost nine months.
13:13
Speaker 1: What were you doing before that? So?
13:15
Speaker 2: I was a regional sales director out of the sort
13:18
Speaker 2: of western part of the United States, and then prior
13:20
Speaker 2: to that, an area sales manager. But I started with
13:22
Speaker 2: Benjamin Wore twenty two years ago as a sales associat
13:25
Speaker 2: or a sales trainee.
13:26
Speaker 1: All right, all right, So you've been in the industry
13:28
Speaker 1: for a long time, right, I've been I've been in
13:30
Speaker 1: the industry for twenty seven years, twenty six years, twenty
13:34
Speaker 1: seven years. So look at now you that should make
13:37
Speaker 1: you nervous. Look at all this experience that I bring.
13:40
Speaker 2: That you know what it is a little bit I'm
13:42
Speaker 2: shaken a little bit.
13:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely shouldn't be.
13:45
Speaker 2: But also I'd like to add I was a paint
13:47
Speaker 2: contractor for five years leading into prior to Benjamin War
13:50
Speaker 2: and then I was also behind the paint counter through
13:53
Speaker 2: high school and college.
13:54
Speaker 1: Right, so you on me one up to me and
13:56
Speaker 1: now who's shake? Yeah, now I'm shaken. I was shaken
13:58
Speaker 1: to begin with. I want to talk about all kinds
14:02
Speaker 1: of things. I've got all kinds of questions and we're
14:04
Speaker 1: going to just walk through them and see what we get.
14:06
Speaker 1: But let's just start with you know, the industry as
14:09
Speaker 1: a whole. You know, you've seen a lot of things.
14:11
Speaker 1: You've been in it for ages. You you just laid
14:14
Speaker 1: that out, and I'm just curious, what are some of
14:17
Speaker 1: the biggest changes you've seen take place throughout all of
14:20
Speaker 1: the years. And you know, you're looking at it from
14:23
Speaker 1: kind of an interesting perspective. You've seen all of it,
14:26
Speaker 1: you know, the whole gamut. You put the paint on,
14:29
Speaker 1: you sold the paint in a store, and now you're
14:32
Speaker 1: selling it as a Benjamin Moore employee. What have you
14:35
Speaker 1: seen so much change?
14:36
Speaker 2: You know, everything from application to product development, some of
14:40
Speaker 2: the technology that we have today versus what we had
14:43
Speaker 2: when I first started. It's just unreal and really unbelievable
14:48
Speaker 2: what's gone into a can of paint over these last
14:51
Speaker 2: thirty four plus years I've been in the industry. And
14:54
Speaker 2: you know, it's funny. When I first got started, it was, oh, well,
14:57
Speaker 2: oil based paints are going to be gone in five years.
15:00
Speaker 2: That was thirty five years ago, you know. And then
15:03
Speaker 2: and then you know, oh, it's going to be gone
15:04
Speaker 2: in five years. It's going to be gone in five years.
15:06
Speaker 2: But then all of a sudden booth, you know, we
15:09
Speaker 2: you know, we paid a little bit more attention to
15:11
Speaker 2: the environment. The voc regulations came into play, which I'm
15:15
Speaker 2: all for.
15:16
Speaker 1: You know.
15:16
Speaker 2: It's it's something where paint's a great thing, and we're
15:19
Speaker 2: always going to need paint, whether it's to change our
15:21
Speaker 2: mood in the house or protect our investments that we
15:24
Speaker 2: invest more money in than we do anything else with
15:26
Speaker 2: our real estate and other properties. So I think that
15:30
Speaker 2: seeing that that transition, that evolution of paint has really
15:34
Speaker 2: been interesting to watch and see how these technologies have
15:37
Speaker 2: really taken hold and did not only hit the regulatory
15:42
Speaker 2: you know, requirements that are necessary within the paint industry
15:45
Speaker 2: and what's better for the planet, but also really increased
15:49
Speaker 2: the longevity between maintenance coats and really setting up that
15:54
Speaker 2: that paint when you want to paint, not when you
15:57
Speaker 2: need to paint.
15:58
Speaker 1: Now, now you talk about talked about technology, and I
16:01
Speaker 1: think that's interesting because we do, you know, we those
16:06
Speaker 1: of us in this industry, you know, we talk about
16:08
Speaker 1: technology and we put that together with paint and that
16:10
Speaker 1: makes sense to us, right. But really, when I started
16:13
Speaker 1: and they started talking about technology, I thought, really, there's
16:16
Speaker 1: nothing technological about this can of paint at all. It
16:19
Speaker 1: doesn't seem so, and yet it is. What are you
16:22
Speaker 1: know you mentioned you kind of talked about that technology
16:25
Speaker 1: was a big part of the change. What specific technological
16:28
Speaker 1: changes have you seen over the years that really changed everything?
16:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think in addition to the to
16:33
Speaker 2: the voc you know, goals that we've set for ourselves
16:36
Speaker 2: to be lower in VOCs and comply with some of
16:38
Speaker 2: the regulations, I think it's also the performance aspect, the
16:43
Speaker 2: application properties and the the like sort of the features
16:46
Speaker 2: and benefits you know why. You know, paint has become
16:50
Speaker 2: it's much different than it was back up a second,
16:53
Speaker 2: so much different than it was on an application side.
16:55
Speaker 2: You know, thirty thirty five years ago, it was all
16:58
Speaker 2: brush and roll. You know, there was no spraying. The
17:00
Speaker 2: technology hadn't caught up to you know, there wasn't that
17:03
Speaker 2: need yet. But now we've moved into an environment where
17:07
Speaker 2: the spray technology has really advanced, and as a result
17:11
Speaker 2: of that, we need to make the adjustments to the
17:13
Speaker 2: products to make sure that you can not only brush
17:16
Speaker 2: and roll them so they flow and level, but also
17:18
Speaker 2: they lay out and they dry properly when they're sprayed.
17:21
Speaker 1: That's really interesting because we've got, you know, technological advancements
17:24
Speaker 1: in the applicators that we're using the sprayers. That makes
17:28
Speaker 1: sense to people, and yet all of those advancements require
17:32
Speaker 1: adjustments and advancements in the coding itself so that it
17:36
Speaker 1: works hand in hand with those those pieces of equipment
17:39
Speaker 1: exactly exactly.
17:40
Speaker 2: And then when we talk about the durability facets of it,
17:44
Speaker 2: it's the different resin systems.
17:46
Speaker 1: You know, we always talk.
17:47
Speaker 2: About like when we do a paint one oh one
17:49
Speaker 2: what's in a can of paint. It's resin, pigment, a
17:52
Speaker 2: vehicle or solvent and additives. And really the advancements with
17:57
Speaker 2: the resins and pigment side of it have really come
17:59
Speaker 2: a long long way when it comes to scuff resistance,
18:02
Speaker 2: when it comes to durability, when it comes to fade resistance.
18:05
Speaker 2: There's a lot of things that go into that process
18:08
Speaker 2: of developing that right balance. Because at the end of
18:11
Speaker 2: the day, when you look at a ten dollars gallon
18:14
Speaker 2: of paint versus a ninety dollars gallon of paint, it's
18:17
Speaker 2: still the same combination of those four ingredients. But it's
18:21
Speaker 2: the quality and the process that goes into that can
18:25
Speaker 2: of paint that really differentiates.
18:26
Speaker 1: No. No, And it's not something that's just it's not
18:29
Speaker 1: readily available, readily visible when you put that and open
18:34
Speaker 1: you look at it. But when you're applying it, that's
18:36
Speaker 1: where you start to see those differences. And then as
18:38
Speaker 1: it's been on the walls and it's as it holds
18:40
Speaker 1: up for years and years, that's where all of those
18:43
Speaker 1: different ingredients and those components, the quality of them really
18:46
Speaker 1: shines exactly. All right, I think we need to take
18:49
Speaker 1: a break right now, and then when we come back,
18:51
Speaker 1: I'll finish my conversation with Ken Sa'sadlow from Benjamin Moore.
18:54
Speaker 1: That's all just ahead, stick around, Welcome back. You're listening
19:02
Speaker 1: to the Repco Light Home improvement show sponsored by Benjamin Moore,
19:05
Speaker 1: and I'm in the middle of a conversation with Ken S'szadlow,
19:09
Speaker 1: the vice president of sales at Benjamin Moore. Now, Ken,
19:13
Speaker 1: you know, let's just keep plowing ahead with this. Can
19:15
Speaker 1: you walk us through the process of how Benjamin Moore
19:18
Speaker 1: develops a new product? You know, what input you gather
19:21
Speaker 1: from professionals, from di wires, you know, what does the
19:24
Speaker 1: product testing process look like? What do you know about
19:26
Speaker 1: all of that?
19:26
Speaker 2: How does it look you know, from from my perspective
19:29
Speaker 2: and my knowledge of it. I'm not I'm not in
19:30
Speaker 2: the labs. I'm not you know, can make something up?
19:33
Speaker 1: Make up something right?
19:34
Speaker 2: I'm good at that. Yeah, So no, I think I
19:38
Speaker 2: think it really does rely on feedback from the field.
19:40
Speaker 2: You know, whether it's our field sales team, whether it's applicators,
19:43
Speaker 2: whether it's our the independent channel that we rely so
19:46
Speaker 2: heavily on to to get our products out into the
19:49
Speaker 2: end user's hands, which is something that can't be overstated
19:53
Speaker 2: the importance of that partnership and that relationship that we have.
19:56
Speaker 2: But but I do think that it really comes down
19:59
Speaker 2: to where can we make modifications are what are the demands?
20:03
Speaker 2: How is the industry evolving, and what are the limitations
20:06
Speaker 2: that we have with application or with you know, with
20:10
Speaker 2: some of the forces that we're working with and against sometimes,
20:14
Speaker 2: you know, to make sure that we're delivering and protecting
20:17
Speaker 2: that premium space within the paint category.
20:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, we make our own paint at Repcolite, so we
20:22
Speaker 1: carry Benjamin Moore. We make our own and that's a
20:25
Speaker 1: big part of our process as well. In fact, we've
20:27
Speaker 1: got a number of products. Well, in fact, probably most
20:31
Speaker 1: of the products come about because contractors came through. You know,
20:35
Speaker 1: they're using this, but they need it to do this
20:37
Speaker 1: instead something different. So we tweak things and then we realize, wow,
20:40
Speaker 1: that's really good. Maybe that's that should replace other things.
20:43
Speaker 1: And yeah, it's just that feedback and that I don't know,
20:46
Speaker 1: you hate to use the word it seems like such
20:48
Speaker 1: a buzzword, but the community of it, you know, we're
20:51
Speaker 1: all working together and the contractors are really happy to
20:53
Speaker 1: give their input and to see those results come out
20:56
Speaker 1: and you're saying it's a very similar thing, even though
20:59
Speaker 1: you guys are so much better.
21:00
Speaker 2: Right And we and we have a rigorous testing process.
21:02
Speaker 2: We've got our testing where we get it in the
21:05
Speaker 2: hands of contractors and we get you know, side by
21:07
Speaker 2: sides with current formulations or competitive formulations or whatever it is,
21:11
Speaker 2: with sort of a challenge type thing where you had
21:14
Speaker 2: just unlabeled and get honest feedback at honest third party feedback,
21:18
Speaker 2: and bring all that back to the labs, bring that
21:21
Speaker 2: feedback back to the labs, make any adjustments if necessary,
21:25
Speaker 2: and then roll it out into another test area, you know.
21:28
Speaker 2: And and so it is. It's very rigorous, but it's
21:32
Speaker 2: important to always be changing because if your standing still,
21:35
Speaker 2: you're getting passed by.
21:36
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, definitely talk about a few of the products
21:39
Speaker 1: you know that released throughout the years that really got
21:42
Speaker 1: you excited, you know, and we can go back even
21:45
Speaker 1: you know, I don't care how farre you how far
21:47
Speaker 1: back you want to go, right, but I'm talking about,
21:49
Speaker 1: you know, just stuff that came out and you thought, okay,
21:51
Speaker 1: this is really going to be a game changer.
21:53
Speaker 2: You know. We we were at a sales conference several
21:57
Speaker 2: years ago, and our product team went up and they presented.
22:01
Speaker 1: This this drywall board that.
22:03
Speaker 2: It was painted. They had a line down the center
22:06
Speaker 2: so you could kind of see where it is, a
22:09
Speaker 2: black line down the center, and the product manager took
22:13
Speaker 2: a black plastic piece and rubbed it across the one
22:18
Speaker 2: side of it, left a big black mark on there,
22:21
Speaker 2: and then he's like, all right, what's gonna happen on
22:22
Speaker 2: this side? He started there, did a second line, and
22:24
Speaker 2: it's the line stopped in its tracks right at that line.
22:28
Speaker 2: And that was a launch of scuff X. And half
22:31
Speaker 2: the paint nerds in that room stood up and applauded
22:34
Speaker 2: because it was and I was one of them. I
22:36
Speaker 2: may have led the way, but I was. That was
22:39
Speaker 2: so exciting to me to see that type of technology
22:42
Speaker 2: and to see that side by side because how many times,
22:45
Speaker 2: you know, my kids when they would vacuum along the trim,
22:48
Speaker 2: it's like they would just there'd just be that black
22:50
Speaker 2: line across my base.
22:52
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, Wait a minute, wait a minute, when
22:54
Speaker 1: your kids would vacuum. I love that strive for the okay,
23:01
Speaker 1: but still at least their vacuum that's something. But you
23:03
Speaker 1: get that black line across.
23:05
Speaker 2: So so that was that to me, was was extremely
23:08
Speaker 2: exciting and and you know, we made massive strides within
23:13
Speaker 2: you know, not only the facilities market and the commercial market,
23:16
Speaker 2: but also in the residential UH space with scuff X,
23:20
Speaker 2: and it's just been really an exciting time to be
23:23
Speaker 2: a part of that. Now we're interjecting that that resin
23:25
Speaker 2: system with some of the other products that we have,
23:28
Speaker 2: you know, and.
23:29
Speaker 1: The stuff quite like scuff X right the other one,
23:32
Speaker 1: but it's still a nice advancement. And yeah, we felt
23:36
Speaker 1: the same way that was one of those products. You know,
23:38
Speaker 1: I'm in the marketing end of things and felt the
23:42
Speaker 1: same way about it because first I heard about it
23:46
Speaker 1: and I thought, that's ridiculous, you know, I just I'm
23:49
Speaker 1: not going to get suckered into this hype because nothing
23:52
Speaker 1: ever is as good as it's claimed to be. And
23:56
Speaker 1: then we saw it and I thought, oh my goodness,
23:58
Speaker 1: it really did look like it really look like magic.
24:02
Speaker 1: It's like you're saying, you run it across and you've
24:04
Speaker 1: got this other product that's supposed to resist scuffing, and
24:07
Speaker 1: it leaves this big black line across it, and then
24:09
Speaker 1: you hit scuff X and it doesn't we brought boards
24:12
Speaker 1: around to you know, contractor events, and they're skeptical too
24:17
Speaker 1: in the beginning when they were seeing it. And we've
24:19
Speaker 1: still got you know, those boards because we've hauled them
24:21
Speaker 1: around and around and around, but they are beat to death,
24:24
Speaker 1: you know, with dent not dings, but just dents in
24:28
Speaker 1: the dry wall. As people are trying to use the
24:30
Speaker 1: little tool that we've got that will scuff everything and
24:32
Speaker 1: black mark trying to get the black mark on the
24:34
Speaker 1: scuffex and even if they can, it washes off right away.
24:37
Speaker 2: Usually they dig into the drywall. Yeah, you know, it's
24:40
Speaker 2: like you left a mark. It's well, hold on a second, Yeah.
24:42
Speaker 1: It's actually dent and proove in the drywall. So scuff
24:46
Speaker 1: X that was those scuff.
24:47
Speaker 2: X was a big one. And I would say that
24:48
Speaker 2: the recent reformulation of Regal Select interior is a big
24:52
Speaker 2: one because of the way it flows in levels. You know,
24:54
Speaker 2: it's unlike any product out there, you know where you
24:57
Speaker 2: kind of get that with traditional pace, you get a
24:59
Speaker 2: lot of stipple built, you know, and so that makes
25:01
Speaker 2: touch up harder, It makes even cleaning harder because you've
25:04
Speaker 2: got those ridges, you got those peaks and valleys on
25:06
Speaker 2: the coating, and I think the Regal Select. I've got
25:09
Speaker 2: Regal Select Matt in my house throughout my house, and
25:11
Speaker 2: it's just one of those products where it cleans up
25:14
Speaker 2: well and it applies extremely well, and it's just the smoothness.
25:18
Speaker 2: It just has a different look and feel to it.
25:20
Speaker 1: Okay, So Regal Selects, scuff X, anything else that jumps out.
25:25
Speaker 2: You know, I'm partial towards Advance because you know, Advance
25:29
Speaker 2: really came in at a time I sort of grew
25:33
Speaker 2: up within the Benjamin Moore family in Colorado and we
25:35
Speaker 2: went to an OTC two. So all of a sudden
25:38
Speaker 2: we lost Satina Provo overnight, at least that's what it
25:40
Speaker 2: felt like. We went from VOC Compliance skipp OTC and
25:44
Speaker 2: went to OTC two classification for VOCs and we didn't
25:49
Speaker 2: really have an answer.
25:50
Speaker 1: You know, what are we going to do?
25:51
Speaker 2: So we move people into Advance contractors customers, and while
25:55
Speaker 2: hesitanted at the beginning, some of the finishes I saw
25:59
Speaker 2: in Advance, I've seen in Advance in my career are
26:02
Speaker 2: every bit as good as Satin and Provo.
26:04
Speaker 1: So what do you like about just the flow and
26:06
Speaker 1: level The.
26:07
Speaker 2: Flow and leveling and the hardness of the finish.
26:09
Speaker 1: Anything like going way back, you know when you were
26:12
Speaker 1: in the industry and this new product came out. Anything
26:15
Speaker 1: that you man throwing your curveball there, Yeah.
26:19
Speaker 2: I would, you know, I think, I mean sometimes I
26:24
Speaker 2: think of way back though, you know, that's that's tough.
26:28
Speaker 2: I'm trying to remember some of the get old bonding.
26:33
Speaker 1: It.
26:34
Speaker 2: There's a fuzz that I kind of creep towards something.
26:36
Speaker 1: I just filled things in and make stuff up and
26:38
Speaker 1: the memories are better that. But a bonding primary bonding primers.
26:43
Speaker 2: You know, there were certain things that were just unpaintable
26:45
Speaker 2: for years and and years ago. We came out with
26:48
Speaker 2: a product called Regal Aqua Grip. I mean it's it's
26:51
Speaker 2: kind of you know, it was replaced by fresh Start,
26:54
Speaker 2: and then you know, we got that next generation as
26:56
Speaker 2: we got into sticks, you know, with the Insulux brand,
26:59
Speaker 2: and just things that were never paintable, like tile or
27:03
Speaker 2: countertops or shelves, things that just take the beating of
27:08
Speaker 2: a lifetime, you know every time something slid across it.
27:11
Speaker 2: And some of those bonding primers in the technology that
27:13
Speaker 2: goes into those, yeah, is pretty unbelievable.
27:15
Speaker 1: No, I was working in the paint store. So I
27:17
Speaker 1: did work in the paint store, but that's still in
27:19
Speaker 1: my twenty six years. Okay, okay, all right, so I
27:22
Speaker 1: was working in the Thanks for that qualification. Yeah, well
27:24
Speaker 1: I wanted to. I didn't want you to think I
27:26
Speaker 1: was trying to one up you. Okay, let you one
27:28
Speaker 1: up me. And I'm a bigger person, Okay, though I'm
27:31
Speaker 1: much shorter. You're sitting down and you're taller than me.
27:34
Speaker 1: I don't you got to get a smaller chair in Yeah,
27:37
Speaker 1: I know, I should. I really should. That's a good idea.
27:40
Speaker 1: That would put me in a position of power all
27:42
Speaker 1: the time, all the time. And I should get a
27:43
Speaker 1: chair that I can crank up even high. Anyway, I'm
27:46
Speaker 1: working the counter at the paint store. And I remember
27:49
Speaker 1: when the ceramic paints came out and we we d
27:52
Speaker 1: a washable flat and that was for me one of
27:55
Speaker 1: those big moments. And there's a big moments in my life. Yeah,
28:00
Speaker 1: children being born, all of that that all paled in
28:02
Speaker 1: comparison to the ceram the ceramic paint, Yeah it came out, No,
28:06
Speaker 1: but that was really cool because it solves so many problems.
28:09
Speaker 1: And that's what you're saying about the bonding primer, and
28:12
Speaker 1: then advancements come along the way and these things get
28:15
Speaker 1: better and better. And so yeah, when scuff X came out,
28:18
Speaker 1: I was super pumped because I have five kids, and
28:22
Speaker 1: I could picture all these ways that it could be used.
28:24
Speaker 1: I'm using it in an entryway at my house, like
28:27
Speaker 1: a mudroom kind of an area, and it really is
28:30
Speaker 1: literally a mudroom. You know, the kids would kick their
28:32
Speaker 1: boots off and their shoes off in the walls, always
28:34
Speaker 1: had black marks all over them, and none of that anymore.
28:38
Speaker 1: And that's just in a residential setting. Scuff x has
28:41
Speaker 1: been everywhere. It's really a fun product because it solves
28:44
Speaker 1: so many problems. Let's see here I'm curious about. You know,
28:48
Speaker 1: Benjamin Moore has chosen to sell you mentioned it earlier.
28:51
Speaker 1: You've chosen to sell your paint through independent retailers like Ropcolite.
28:56
Speaker 1: You said, that's a big part of who you guys are.
28:58
Speaker 1: That's a major decision that you've made. You're going to
29:01
Speaker 1: stick to it. You're dedicated to that. You know what's
29:03
Speaker 1: the reasoning behind it? You know why are you so conpient?
29:06
Speaker 2: You know, one hundred and forty one years into it, now,
29:08
Speaker 2: you know with Benjamin Moore, you know, started in eighteen
29:10
Speaker 2: eighty three. It's it's an important piece to what we bring,
29:16
Speaker 2: you know, in terms of that that premium product, that
29:18
Speaker 2: premium service level. You don't get that with company on stores,
29:22
Speaker 2: you don't get that with big boxes, you don't get
29:25
Speaker 2: that with with anything other than when you have that representation,
29:30
Speaker 2: that ownership, the blood, sweat and tears that go into
29:34
Speaker 2: owning a paint store and running a paint store day
29:36
Speaker 2: in and day out. It's just such an important piece
29:38
Speaker 2: to really getting our products out there and in the field.
29:42
Speaker 2: And there's that passion behind the Independent Channel. And it's
29:46
Speaker 2: not just a job, it's it's a lifestyle. And that's
29:49
Speaker 2: something that brings me back. You know, a lot of
29:52
Speaker 2: us have been in the industry for a long time.
29:53
Speaker 2: So I'm twenty six, I'm thirty five, just saying.
29:55
Speaker 1: But go again, I need a smaller chier now for you.
30:00
Speaker 2: But but you know, it's it's it's so important that you know,
30:04
Speaker 2: we continue on with the with the independent channel and
30:07
Speaker 2: and just because that care is there and that and
30:10
Speaker 2: that's something that we plan to do for as long
30:12
Speaker 2: as I'm around.
30:13
Speaker 1: All Right, what can we expect, you know, I guess
30:17
Speaker 1: prognosticate tell me the future. What can we expect from
30:21
Speaker 1: Benjamin More in the coming years in terms of new products, innovations,
30:24
Speaker 1: industry leadership, What do you see coming? You know?
30:27
Speaker 2: I think, you know, we're always in pursuit to be
30:30
Speaker 2: the leader in paint and color, you know, so we're
30:33
Speaker 2: we're always in a constant state of you know, as
30:37
Speaker 2: we talked about formula, you know, based on based on feedback,
30:41
Speaker 2: formula development, formula improvements. So I know we want to
30:45
Speaker 2: continue on. And I guess I'd be remiss when we
30:47
Speaker 2: talk about things that have gotten me excited over the
30:49
Speaker 2: years and some of the changes I've seen, and that
30:51
Speaker 2: really comes to colorant, and I think just leveraging the
30:54
Speaker 2: gen X colorant and the differentiation that that really gives
30:57
Speaker 2: our products really does does set the table for future
31:03
Speaker 2: advancements in technology.
31:04
Speaker 1: Talk about that a little bit, because really it doesn't
31:07
Speaker 1: feel like there's a whole lot more boring to talk
31:10
Speaker 1: about than the colorant, and yet that's such a big
31:12
Speaker 1: part of things, and yet I can't think of the
31:15
Speaker 1: last time we've even really talked about it on the show. Here,
31:17
Speaker 1: I've got three hundred and seventy three episodes. How many
31:20
Speaker 1: radio show episodes have have you been a part of?
31:22
Speaker 1: Just asking?
31:23
Speaker 2: None?
31:24
Speaker 1: Okay, still none? Yeah, So three hundred and seventy three
31:27
Speaker 1: to none, that's a lot. That's a pretty big gap there.
31:31
Speaker 2: So some experience, I might I might have a decimal
31:34
Speaker 2: point now in there, because I'm not sure how far
31:35
Speaker 2: along its.
31:36
Speaker 1: Still that's almost more embarrassing, just so you know. But anyway,
31:40
Speaker 1: all of those episodes, and I can maybe think of
31:42
Speaker 1: three or four times where we've mentioned the color, why
31:45
Speaker 1: is that a big deal?
31:46
Speaker 2: You know, we developed that a waterborne coloring system to
31:49
Speaker 2: not only hit the regulatory you know, anticipation of okay,
31:53
Speaker 2: we need to have lower VOC products or zero VOC products.
31:57
Speaker 2: But while we were developing that product, we recognize some
32:01
Speaker 2: of the shortfalls of colorant and that when you add
32:04
Speaker 2: color into a gallon of paint, that means you got
32:06
Speaker 2: to make room in that gallon of paint to pull
32:08
Speaker 2: out resin, pull out pigment, pull out some of the
32:10
Speaker 2: things that give the performance capabilities of that paint what
32:15
Speaker 2: it is. It gives it its identity. So when we
32:18
Speaker 2: develop the gen X colorant system, which is patented technology,
32:22
Speaker 2: that to Benjamin Moore, we thought, okay, how can we
32:26
Speaker 2: make this down on the zero VOC but also replace
32:30
Speaker 2: some of those things that we take out of the
32:31
Speaker 2: paint to make room for that colorant. So it has
32:34
Speaker 2: resin in there, it has dryers in there. It really
32:36
Speaker 2: is almost like tinting paint with a concentrated paint. So
32:41
Speaker 2: we're adding those quality characteristics, the durability, the application, and
32:46
Speaker 2: really more of that resin where when we talk about
32:49
Speaker 2: sun fade, for example, color fade, that's really the resin
32:53
Speaker 2: getting burnt off and exposing the pigments. The pigments start
32:55
Speaker 2: to break down. So with a resin rich colorant system
32:59
Speaker 2: like the X is that adds a little bit more
33:02
Speaker 2: of that protective layer.
33:03
Speaker 1: How many other colorant systems, I mean percentage wise, are
33:07
Speaker 1: a lot of them this way in the industry, or
33:09
Speaker 1: are a lot of them much different from gen X.
33:12
Speaker 2: While waterborne colorant systems have come into the market, like
33:15
Speaker 2: the low VOC colorant systems there, none of them are
33:18
Speaker 2: like gen X because again, patented technology that we've we've
33:22
Speaker 2: invested in and we wanted to make sure that we
33:25
Speaker 2: were we were the standalone So that really does that's
33:28
Speaker 2: a big differentiator for Benjamin.
33:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, gen X colorance, it's it's I mean, like you said,
33:33
Speaker 1: it's it's the core of what we're putting together. Here,
33:36
Speaker 1: got the paint, but when you have to take out
33:38
Speaker 1: so much of the paint to get the color and genre,
33:40
Speaker 1: if the colorant degrades the quality of the paint a
33:42
Speaker 1: little bit, yeah, you know, that's a big deal. That
33:44
Speaker 1: really affects everything down the road. And when you've got
33:47
Speaker 1: a colorant system that actually, you know, bolsters it up
33:50
Speaker 1: a little bit and protects against color fade and all
33:53
Speaker 1: of that, it's a big deal. It's more exciting than
33:56
Speaker 1: I've made it sound. And yet sometimes it's hard to
34:00
Speaker 1: really get people pumped up at eight in the morning
34:02
Speaker 1: or seven in the morning, or whenever they're listening about colorant.
34:05
Speaker 1: But that was a good job. You did a good job. Hey,
34:07
Speaker 1: one last question. This one's super easy. You know, what's
34:10
Speaker 1: your favorite part of your job? What gets you up
34:11
Speaker 1: in the morning excited come to work?
34:13
Speaker 2: Conversations like this? You know, It's just paint has been
34:17
Speaker 2: running through my veins for as long as I can remember,
34:20
Speaker 2: and I do. I like talk painting. I like to
34:23
Speaker 2: talk paint.
34:24
Speaker 1: I like the.
34:24
Speaker 2: People that are in the pain industry, whether it's end users,
34:27
Speaker 2: the Independent channel, or the people I work with. It
34:30
Speaker 2: really is, it really is something that I look forward to,
34:33
Speaker 2: because you know, we talked about it a couple of
34:36
Speaker 2: days ago when when I was traveling with with some
34:39
Speaker 2: other some of the other members of the team, and
34:42
Speaker 2: it's just you never really have the same day twice,
34:45
Speaker 2: and you don't know what opportunities or challenges or problems
34:50
Speaker 2: you need to solve, and it's just always something that
34:52
Speaker 2: keeps you on your toes. And it's a lot of
34:54
Speaker 2: great people in this industry that are just trying to
34:56
Speaker 2: do the right thing.
34:57
Speaker 1: All right, Well, I really appreciate the time that you
34:59
Speaker 1: spent with us today. I'm gonna let you go and
35:00
Speaker 1: talk paint with other people because I know you've got
35:02
Speaker 1: a lot of things planned for your day. But thanks
35:05
Speaker 1: for hanging out with me right away.
35:06
Speaker 2: I appreciate the time and the conversation, Dan, I really do.
35:09
Speaker 1: All Right, it's time for a break. Then when we
35:11
Speaker 1: come back, we're going to finish the show off by
35:13
Speaker 1: talking about air nailers. That's all next stick around, all right.
35:16
Speaker 1: We'll be right back in just a minute with welcome back.
35:26
Speaker 1: You're listening to the repce Light Home Improvement Show sponsored
35:29
Speaker 1: by Benjamin Moore, and my goodness, we are absolutely cruising along.
35:34
Speaker 1: The time is just flying by, you know, at least
35:37
Speaker 1: for me. At least for me, maybe for you, it's
35:40
Speaker 1: crawling by, like grim death. Maybe it seems like it's
35:43
Speaker 1: paused in its crawl, and you poke it with a
35:46
Speaker 1: stick to see if it's still breathing, and try to
35:48
Speaker 1: get it to keep crawling till it's over the road, don't.
35:51
Speaker 1: I don't know your experience with time when it comes
35:54
Speaker 1: to the repe Light Home Improvement Show, but for me,
35:57
Speaker 1: it's flying along anyway. For the last second, we're going
36:00
Speaker 1: to look at different types of air nailers. Now. Last
36:03
Speaker 1: week we talked about air compressors and air nailers in
36:06
Speaker 1: a very broad sense, and I told you that we
36:09
Speaker 1: dig into each one of them, you know, in much
36:11
Speaker 1: more depth in a future episode. Well, here we are.
36:14
Speaker 1: I'm fulfilling my radio promises, and the goal here with
36:19
Speaker 1: this particular segment is to acquaint you with the main
36:22
Speaker 1: options out there and really just help you figure out
36:24
Speaker 1: which particular nailer is best for the projects that you
36:27
Speaker 1: tackle most often. All right, let's start with fifteen gauge nailers,
36:32
Speaker 1: and we're going to start on the larger side, and
36:35
Speaker 1: we'll work our way down. And before I get really
36:37
Speaker 1: too far into this, I'm going to quickly just take
36:40
Speaker 1: a pause for a second here and talk about gauge. Now, gauge.
36:43
Speaker 1: When I reference that, it's referring, of course, to the
36:46
Speaker 1: thickness of the nail that the different guns are going
36:48
Speaker 1: to fire. The numbering system on gauge kind of works
36:51
Speaker 1: a little bit backwards perhaps than how you might think
36:54
Speaker 1: of it. The thicker the nail, the smaller the gauge
36:57
Speaker 1: number will be. So a fifteen gauge nail is significantly
37:01
Speaker 1: larger than a twenty three gauge nail. All right, That's
37:04
Speaker 1: that's all you need to really remember when we talk
37:06
Speaker 1: about this. Okay, fifteen gage nailers typically they're going to
37:10
Speaker 1: shoot nails that are anywhere from an inch and a
37:12
Speaker 1: quarter to two and a half inches long in length. Now,
37:15
Speaker 1: these nailers, they've got a ton of holding power and
37:19
Speaker 1: they're perfect if you're installing a lot of large casing.
37:23
Speaker 1: You know, the frames for pre hung doors, stair risers
37:26
Speaker 1: and stair treads and so on. Basically fifteen gauge nailers.
37:29
Speaker 1: You're using those for anything that really requires big time
37:33
Speaker 1: holding power. Now, the nails that they fire, they're large,
37:36
Speaker 1: like we said, and they leave a significant hole. So
37:39
Speaker 1: when you're done, there's definitely going to be a little
37:41
Speaker 1: more of a labor intensive process of filling those nail
37:44
Speaker 1: holes before you can paint, all right. That's fifteen gauge nailers.
37:48
Speaker 1: Sixteen gauge nailers. Now, these nailers fire nails that are
37:51
Speaker 1: a bit thinner than the fifteen gage nailers and the
37:53
Speaker 1: nail heads. This is significant. The nail heads are usually
37:56
Speaker 1: a little bit smaller as well. Now, depending on the
37:59
Speaker 1: nailer they you choose, there's a lot of different options
38:01
Speaker 1: out there, but you know, generally speaking, they'll typically fire
38:05
Speaker 1: nails anywhere from three quarters of an inch in length
38:09
Speaker 1: to two and a half inches long, all right, so
38:10
Speaker 1: a little more range with these. They're great for interior trim, baseboards,
38:15
Speaker 1: crown moldings, stair risers, they can do those and so on,
38:18
Speaker 1: but they're not beefy enough for pre hung doors, you know,
38:21
Speaker 1: the frames for that or the stair treads. Now, sixteen
38:24
Speaker 1: gauge nailers. They're a great general use nailer. So if
38:27
Speaker 1: you do a lot of trim work, if that's really
38:29
Speaker 1: the bulk of what you would use a nailer for,
38:32
Speaker 1: then this is definitely the way to go for you.
38:34
Speaker 1: Brad nailers that's next up. These are usually shooting slightly
38:38
Speaker 1: smaller eighteen gauge nails. Now, depending on what you choose,
38:41
Speaker 1: most are going to accommodate a nail from three eighths
38:44
Speaker 1: of an inch long to about two inches long. Now,
38:46
Speaker 1: because the nail and the head are smaller, of course,
38:49
Speaker 1: that means they're going to leave a smaller hole, which
38:51
Speaker 1: makes finishing easy, but it also means that they're far
38:54
Speaker 1: less likely to split thinner wood, which is a real
38:57
Speaker 1: pain in the neck when that happens. Now, ideally you'd
38:59
Speaker 1: use bread nailers, you know, for attaching casing to windows
39:02
Speaker 1: or door jams, maybe for stop moldings, for cove moldings,
39:06
Speaker 1: for small chair rails, things like that, you know, basically
39:09
Speaker 1: all kinds of smaller profile trim pieces. Now, if you
39:12
Speaker 1: do some trim work, but really you find yourself doing
39:15
Speaker 1: a lot more general woodworking than a brad nailer, is
39:18
Speaker 1: probably the option that you'd want to choose. Finally, let's
39:21
Speaker 1: talk about pin nailers. It's the last one on my list.
39:23
Speaker 1: They're the smallest of the bunch, and they typically use
39:26
Speaker 1: twenty three gauge headless nails or pins. Now. They're perfect,
39:30
Speaker 1: you know, for delicate work like attaching thin moldings or
39:33
Speaker 1: other details to wood surfaces. They're a good option for
39:36
Speaker 1: beads and thin stops, and because the nails are often headless,
39:40
Speaker 1: they're usually used with glue to make sure everything stays
39:43
Speaker 1: in place on the upside. The holes that they leave
39:46
Speaker 1: behind are barely noticeable and sometimes don't even need to
39:48
Speaker 1: be filled. But these are definitely not for you know,
39:51
Speaker 1: any kind of serious holding, all right. The key to
39:54
Speaker 1: choosing the right air nailer, of course, is really just
39:57
Speaker 1: think through the projects that you most often are dealing
39:59
Speaker 1: with at home. Pin nailers great for delicate work. Brad
40:02
Speaker 1: nailers perfect for light and you know, smaller tasks like that.
40:06
Speaker 1: Sixteen gauge nailers you're going to want those for more
40:09
Speaker 1: substantial trim work. And then fifteen gauge nailers, well, those
40:12
Speaker 1: are for the heavy lifting. Each tool's got its place
40:16
Speaker 1: and using the right one not only is going to
40:17
Speaker 1: make your job easier, but it's also going to give you,
40:20
Speaker 1: you know, a more professional, finished look. And that's what
40:23
Speaker 1: we're all after in the end, both of those things,
40:25
Speaker 1: an easier process and better looking results. All right, that
40:29
Speaker 1: all sounds really good, But what about electric nailers? What
40:31
Speaker 1: about battery powered options? Do you really need an air
40:34
Speaker 1: nailer or are some of those electric and battery powered
40:37
Speaker 1: options just as good? Well, pretty much all of the
40:40
Speaker 1: nailers that we just talked about do have battery powered
40:42
Speaker 1: and or electric counterparts, and will dig into how good
40:45
Speaker 1: they are in a future future segment, because right now,
40:49
Speaker 1: right now, we're out of time on this one. If
40:51
Speaker 1: you do want to catch it again, and I can't
40:52
Speaker 1: imagine that you wouldn't. If you do want to catch
40:54
Speaker 1: it again, you can find it online at repco light
40:57
Speaker 1: dot com. Just click the on the radio tab on
40:59
Speaker 1: the homepage. All right, whatever you do today, makes sure
41:01
Speaker 1: paints a part of it. Have a great weekend, everybody,
41:04
Speaker 1: and I'll see you next week. I'm Dan Hansen. Thanks
41:07
Speaker 1: for listening.