Deal with wood resin before it becomes a problem – here’s how.

• Whenever you’re painting bare wood, you first need to seal the knots to prevent the resin in them from bleeding through the paintwork and ruining it. To do this, use knotting solution, which you should find in the wood-treatment section of your local DIY store.
• To start with, scrub the knots with white spirit to remove any excess resin, then leave to dry. Always ventilate the room when working with white spirit.
• Fill any holes or cracks in the wood with wood filler and when this has set, sand the repairs until smooth and also lightly sand the rest of the wood to provide a ‘key’ for the paint so it adheres better. Wipe clean with white spirit and allow to dry.
• To seal the knots, apply the knotting solution with an old paintbrush, covering the knot and the area around it so there’s no danger of resin seeping out. Unless the manufacturer’s instructions state otherwise, apply two coats – they should dry quickly. Paint on wood primer and undercoat or primer-undercoat when the solution’s dry, then your topcoat.
• There is an alternative to using knotting solution – Ronseal Knot Block Wood Primer & Undercoat. This, as the name suggests, is a primer-undercoat that seals the resin in the knots, so you can miss out the knotting-solution stage altogether. It’s just like any other primer-undercoat – it goes on easily and is a quick-drying, low-odour paint that’s nice to use. Apply two coats before doing your topcoat. It claims to be the only primer to stop wood resins staining through paint permanently, and you can use it on both bare and previously painted wood.

DIY news bulletin

Clas Ohlson’s new autumn/winter 2011 catalogue is out and it contains more than 10,000 products, including 900 new ones.

As well as home, multimedia, electrical and leisure products, the catalogue has a large DIY section, with an extended plumbing range.

The company’s offering a new 10-year guarantee on all own-brand CoCraft hand tools and a new five-year guarantee on all CoTech power tools.

Clas Ohlson has also just opened its 12th UK store in Newcastle. Find out more at www.clasohlson.co.uk

Show your support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month next month with the help of The Little Greene Paint Company. It will make a 15p donation from each tin of paint sold during October to Marie Curie Cancer Care and is aiming to fund one of their nurses for a month.

Specially labelled tins will be sold through stockists nationwide and on the Little Greene website – www.littlegreene.com – during October.

Little Greene has also collaborated with English Heritage on a soon-to-be-launched range of paints called Retrospectives, comprising 32 authentic colours from the 1960s and 1970s.

The colours were inspired by important events in the UK during those decades, including the increasing affluence of the baby boomers, the pop generation, immigration from the Indian subcontinent and the West Indies, the expansion of air travel and the increased availability of holidays abroad.

Little Greene will make a donation from sales of Retrospectives to English Heritage. Prices start at £14.50 for 1ltr of acrylic matt emulsion.

Ask the expert…

Q: Do you have any tips for removing scuff marks from floors?

A: Try the JML Doktor Power Magic Eraser, £4.99. It works on scuff marks and all sorts of other marks and surfaces, including wood, paintwork, chrome and vinyl. It’s like a big sponge – you wet it before using it to rub off the mark, and you can cut it into pieces if you need something smaller to work into nooks and crannies. Non-abrasive and reusable, it’s great for cleaning and DIYing around the home.

Seasonal task…

Before the weather gets too autumnal, check whether you need to repaint your home’s exterior woodwork before winter. If you do, use a good-quality wood paint suitable for exterior use, such as International 10 Year Exterior Satin in Brilliant White, £13.99 for 750ml, which dries to a flexible finish designed to resist cracking and flaking and is touch dry in a few hours. White is usually the best choice for exterior woodwork, apart from your front door, where a spot of colour looks great.