 | Marvin Niedens is owner of Texturite, LLC. He has been involved in every facet of the construction industry since his childhood when his father was a general contractor in the ‘50s and ‘60s. He enjoys working with his hands to create something people enjoy using, as well as being appealing to the eye. He also likes to work on projects often times neglected by others. Such was the case with ceilings and walls of residential and commercial structures. This is how his company, Texturite, came into existence. You may contact Marvin at 316-393-0836, or by e-mail at marv1096@msn.com. |
Home Improvement
1969-12-31 18:00:00
Where did the light go?
Question: I have heard from various places that flat paint and ceiling textures that have been in place for a number of years can absorb the light that is available in a room. Is this true? How much does that affect things?
Answer: The answer to your first question is absolutely yes they do. The main reason that the loss of light occurs is the settlement dust that accumulates on the rough surface of these areas. Now you might think that a wall, being a horizontal surface, would not collect much dirt and pollution. While they do not get as grimy as a surface facing up, they can be dirty if they have been there for a while. The light reflecting from these surfaces is like the reflection in a foggy mirror.
A good way to test the walls in your home is to take a clean, damp, white cloth and reach up on your own wall as high as you can reach and lightly wipe a one foot by one foot area. Then, imagine what you see on the wipe cloth times 400 (the wall area in a 12’x 14’ room excluding the ceiling area). That is the amount of light absorbing pollution and dirt on just walls in your room. Flat paint used on most walls and ceilings is really nothing more than gloss paint with talcum powder added. The talcum comes to the surface as the paint dries, thus giving you the “foggy mirror” look.
The obvious comment would be, “In order to get more light…why don’t I just go wipe down the walls and ceilings?” The answer is, you will never get it all. Further, you can never change the talcum coming to the surface after the paint dries.
Cleanliness on ceilings is a little tougher to check unless you have a smooth painted ceiling. Most people don’t. We have estimated that since ceilings usually have some sort of texture, the pollution collected on them is at lest twice that of your walls.
The amount of light absorbed or lost on these surfaces can vary depending on how dirty they are but it can be as much as 25% of the light in your room.
