Blogging Painters recommend Erecta Rack
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Blogging Painters recommend Erecta Rack for its practicality and efficiency, and on the strength of their recommendation, many painters in the USA have been happily using this simple stacking system for a while now.
UK painters and decorators looking for an edge, should take note.
What is Erecta Rack?
Erecta Rack comes in a bag, in pieces like grown-up lego.
Photo courtesy of Martin Guest
Unpack it, and set up shop in a room, garage, a quiet place on site. Stack all your painted full size doors, kitchen doors or lengths of trim in one place, keep organised, keep stacking, keep painting. Then quickly pack it away into the bag at end of the job. Off to the next one.
The first time…
A couple of years back I ran an article, summarising painters’ door racking systems on the market, and Erecta Rack did seem to be the best of the bunch. I didn’t pursue it though, because… I missed a trick!
I made the classic decorator mistake of thinking I could get by without one. As an oil painter at the time, why would I stack doors horizontal, I have my own way of stacking and yadda yadda, a string of excuses not to part with my money. Doh! Should have saved the energy on “Why not” and expended some effort on getting one.
Erecta Rack – second bite of the cherry
A few Traditional Painters picked up on Erecta Rack a few months ago, after coming across it online, but when looking in to buying one, we discovered that the sole UK stockist only carried the version suitable for joiners. What we needed was only available in the USA.
While we went through the process of finding out who was interested in having one, how to purchase it, we encountered a familiar line of resistance amongst decorators… Don’t need one, can make one if need-be…
I contacted Chris Haught who runs Blogging Painters and double checked that we weren’t insane, and they really are the real deal? I asked her for a bit of background. This is her grounded answer…
As you may know, I was one of the first painters to start promoting the Erecta racks a few years ago, as well as Scott Burt at Topcoat Review. (He would have good advice). Anyway, a lot did think they were gimmicky, it took a while for the guys to accept. A lot of it was “I can build a wood rack cheaper“, but can you stow it in a bag and put it in the backseat?
The barrier was cost for many, and as you are experiencing, love it or hate it! They were great for us, because we did New Construction and they were perfect for stacking doors and trim. Some of the guys that are using them for cabinet doors are loving them.
They are well made, very simple to assemble and break down and very versatile.
I am sure you have seen the reviews on Top Coat Review and Blogging Painters, as well as the threads on Paint Talk, if not, check them out.
Cheers!
Long story short, resistance is futile! Very demanding and trusted picky American paint contractors were cautious at first, but then liked it a lot. All the excuses have already been made!
MyPaintBrush hooked up with Erecta Rack CEO, Curt Scadden, and now all UK decorators looking for an edge, have easy access to the super * 10-stage pack-in-a-bag Erecta Rack.
This is one development that will improve efficiency and work flow and provide an added level of professionalism for kitchen painting, general decorating, sitework, posh work, for anyone who has painted bits and bobs left propped up against walls or scattered around on paint tins and trestles.
Our Martin Guest picked up on its benefits straightaway and is already tweeting his pleasure!
* 
It can go up to 10 levels high.
Stack doors in a space just a bit bigger than the size of a door
And it can handle 16 feet lengths.
What next?
Goodbye to balancing skirting boards and architraves on paint tins; leave your improvised clothes racks at home; stop building your own bulky wooden racks, or systems that aren’t particularly mobile. Goodbye tractor boy, hello professional painter ahead of the game.
*Erecta rack for painters is available in UK exclusively from MyPaintBrush, and coming to many Traditional Painter hand painted kitchens near you.
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4 comments to “Blogging Painters recommend Erecta Rack”
Glad to hear your guys are giving the Erecta Rack a chance! Thanks for sharing.
Looks like a useful bit of kit. Can it handle the heavier exterior doors? And am I right in saying that one paints items on another trestle, then move them onto the rack to dry?
Further input direct from the designer / manufacturer of Erecta Rack confirms – In regards to the heavy exterior doors, our standard answer is 50 lbs per level for a total of 500 lbs for a 10-level kit. However, there are things that can be done to increase the load capacity. The first and simplest is just to add a third support section at the center of the door. This will help distribute the load across 3 support sections instead of two. This assumes that the user is finishing one side at a time.
I will post some very interesting modifications that have been used to effectively enable painting both sides of doors at one visit
Charles, we have stained hundreds of heavy alder doors using a trestle system and then stacking them on the rack to dry completely and keep out of the way while painting. We use a second rack when doing two story homes, the crew really appreciates not having to move the doors up/down stairs or out to the garage. Also great for stacking trim and cabinet doors.