Painting projects for nursing homes are always trickier than for most other settings. This is due to several reasons but most importantly the health considerations of the residents, many of whom have weakened immune systems and can’t combat the excessive pressures of irritants associated with paints and other forms of disturbances.
Then there is the problem with the selection of colors, paint type used, seeking professional services instead of unskilled laborers, and observing decent practices to ensure minimal disturbance. In short, painting a nursing home can be a nightmare for the unprepared. The biggest mistake you can make with your painting project is to get unprofessional and unskilled workers on board to save just a couple of dollars.
You’ll also need to go through every aspect of the project and ensure that you’re following all the best practices for your painting project to ensure complete comfort for your residents, most of whom are subject to long-term care and very sensitive. This article covers all the information that you need to get started with the work and to ensure that you get the best possible results.
Seek Professional Painting Services
Your residents at the nursing home deserve nothing but the best as they go through long-term care. You must create a nurturing and caring environment for them. This is only possible with having finely painted walls and not calling over painters again and again for repainting.
Thus when you put up a coat, it better stay there.
Professional painters will make sure that this is the case. They will help you with every aspect of the process including the paint selection, color choice, schedule customization, and much more. You’ll be able to maintain the serenity of the environment and avoid disturbances.
Just remember this one thing: a couple of bucks saved by hiring non-professional workers won’t be worth it in the long run.
Colors Are Very Important
Many people criticize the association of colors with emotions and human psychology. They point out that these links are arbitrarily defined, inconsistent, and affected heavily by one’s culture, political orientation (red, for instance), and other factors. They debate that colors themselves have no emotional value and should not occupy any space in our minds.
Feel free to pick your side on the debate, but the ground realities are pretty clear: people like certain colors better than others, and these colors communicate messages in a language of their own. Our bodies respond to the messages, involuntary, meaning that the response triggered is not dependant on whether we want to respond or not.
Light and inspiring colors such as blue, green, yellow, and white tend to soothe the mind and soul. This relaxing effect passes onto our immune system which then readies itself to fight the disease better. Even beyond immunity, the visual stimulus unleashes a cascade of biochemical processes which can make the body much stronger.
The opposite is also true for this case. Dull and uninspiring colors can leave our minds in a state of panic which can weaken our immune response and disturb overall bodily function. Thus you should always be extremely careful about the types of colors you choose to display and the message associated with those colors – you must find shades that inspire healing and strengthen our bodies.
Professional painters will help you pick the most appropriate colors for your painting project and thus ensure that the interior looks as serene as possible.
Use Low/No-VOC Paints For The Residents
All paints are, more or less, toxic when wet. However, certain paints are more dangerous than others because they are toxic even when dry (while some lose their toxicity after drying). These toxic paints have certain “volatile organic compounds” (VOCs for short) in them. Upon decay, these compounds release certain fumes that are dangerous to inhale.
While these gases are not as dangerous on their own and pose no direct life-threats, they can cause complications for people suffering from respiratory distress. Moreover, some of the residents may be allergic to such fumes, and the exposure may cause serious reactions in their bodies.
VOCs are thus unsafe for the interior of nursing homes.
Fortunately, you can find several low-VOC paints in the market as well. These are far safer and help keep the indoor air quality at a maximum. While a minor fraction of VOCs continues to linger on, it is so minute that it doesn’t pose any serious threat.
However, if you wish to eliminate the VOC threat, you can try out the no VOC paints which are the safest of the lot. Of course, this safety and protection comes at a cost: these paints are comparatively pricier, but if you prioritize the quality of your nursing home’s environment above all, you can rest assured that you won’t go wrong with one of these.
Schedule Your Painting Job Effectively
The biggest problem with painting a nursing home is that there are no off-hours. You have an endless list of patients and residents to deal with 24/7. Thus having a painting crew over will be tough. As mentioned earlier, wet paint is dangerous for the patients as many of them have compromised immunity.
Moreover, the areas most frequented by the residents will be the ones in the most need of a repaint. This again creates a problem because you’ll want that area empty when the crew’s at work there to avoid any issues.
You can circumvent this problem by scheduling the painting project so that the crew works on every area when the traffic is usually minimum so that making the area off-limits won’t be a problem. This is another reason why professional painters are preferable: they will adjust their working hours according to your schedule.
Avoid Unnecessary Delays
Your painting project is important, and there should be no compromise on quality. However you have to avoid unnecessary delays as well. Why? The longer it takes for the project to near completion, the longer you’ll have to run things a bit below optimal level.
This, of course, is not an ideal state of affairs.
Thus, you’ll have to ensure that the project does not take any longer than it needs to. Of course, you can’t rush things if you wish to preserve the quality of work. But you can try out a couple of things that will help you cut down the time needed for the project, such as creating reasonable deadlines and asking the painters to work overtime to deliver the results on time.
Professionals will have no problem with this.
Be In Sync with the Progress
The one thing you can’t do in a painting job is to distance yourself from whatever is happening. Your job does not end with giving instructions and letting the painters take care of the rest. Instead, you should jump in from time to time to ensure that things are going according to plan and that things are turning out as you expected them to.
Minimize The Disturbance
The residents of any nursing home are mostly old people. They need their rest and peace of mind to keep their health at optimal levels. Loud noises, messy painters, wet paint all over the place, and screeching sounds made by dragging the step ladder are some of the disturbances which can ruin the serenity of your nursing home’s atmosphere.
The same also applies after the painting project is done you can’t have powdered paint residue all over the place and your effects stained by paint marks. This is why professional painters make it a point to stay low-key throughout their work and ensure that things look as clean as they can after they’re done.
Zero disturbances, there can be no compromise here.
Interview The People You Hire
Lastly, notice everything about the people who show up at your door. You want the best workers to take on your task, and it is your right to check whether the workforce before you accurately reflect the website descriptions that their company had posted.
If they are clean and tidy, are well-equipped, and seem sensible enough, then it’s all good. You can ask them about how they plan on doing things to avoid any problems later on. This way, you will better be able to align your expectations with the project, i.e., the timings, protocol, etc.
And remember you should be in complete control.
re:fab Will Help You Get the Best Out of Your Nursing Home
Your nursing home will only be as impressive as it looks. The first thing that people are going to notice about the place will be the aesthetics. Before moving on to all the other stuff such as the environment, compatibility with long-term care for the residents, and so on.
However, the colors and the looks are the first thing they’ll notice. So you’d better make sure that they’re the best they can be if you want your nursing home to be reviewed well. We, at re:fab, use our years of experience to ensure that we deliver the best results with all of our painting projects.
Our team never fails to deliver a smooth finish in all the colors that people love and adore. We always take the high road and make sure that our work does not create any disturbance or troubles for you. Once you hire us, all of your problems end there, we’ll see to it that the results go beyond your satisfaction and that everything is suited perfectly to your specific needs.
Just contact us today, and we’ll handle the rest!
