The Scenario

Your client has requested that you specify paint for the exterior walls of their home. The walls are uncoated fibre reinforced cement boards. The boards on one side of the building have been subjected to UV light over a period of time and have become powdery.
After viewing the building you decide to use Resene EzySpec to develop a coatings specification for this project.

Step One - Start Resene EzySpec

Start your computer and launch your Internet browser in the usual manner.
(Resene EzySpec supports both Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers. Version 4 or later is recommended.)

Type http://ezyspec.resene.co.nz in your browser's address bar or location bar.

The main Resene EzySpec splash screen will appear. Click on the Start EzySpec button. Wait for a few moments as Resene EzySpec is initialised and prepared for your computer. You will be forwarded to the next page when initialisation is complete. If you aren't automatically redirected, read the current page for more information (Problems may be encountered if you are using Netscape 6 - click the link at the bottom to continue).

Step Two - Create a personal profile

Once EzySpec has started you will see a grey menu on the left hand side and the first question on the right.
To create a new profile click on New User Profile in the upper part of the grey menu. The screen will change to display a Registration Form.

Complete all the relevant details in the registration form, ensuring that at least the fields marked with the red asterisk are completed.

Once you have finished click the Submit button.

You will automatically be logged into your profile once your profile has been successfully registered by the system.

Step Three - Create a Project

To create a project you need to be logged in. You can check to see if you are logged in by observing the text in the upper blue box of the grey menu. If this box contains your full name, this indicates that you are logged in.

Click the button labeled New Project in the upper part of the side menu.
Enter the details of your project into the relevant fields. You do not necessarily need to complete the Project Location nor the Project Notes fields, however the Project Title must be entered.

Once the fields have been completed, click Ok and your project will be added to your profile.

After creating a project, the new project will automatically become the current project. This can be verified by checking the current project title in the grey side menu.

Step Four - Create a Specification for the Exterior Walls

In this tutorial example, one side of the building to be painted is at risk of mould and the other sides are not.

You have now created a profile for yourself and a new project. The screen will display the first question on the right hand side, What substrate do you wish to coat?. If this is not displayed, click Start a New Spec in the menu.

The exterior wall substrate is Fibre Reinforced Cement Boards, so select this from the substrate list.
With the correct substrate highlighted, click Continue.

The next question asks whether the boards are in an interior or an exterior environment. As these are exterior walls, click on Exterior.
Click Continue.

Select the required paint type either by existing preference or by using the notes below the question to determine the best product type to use. Since the text below the question suggests that waterborne paint has excellent durability and flexibility, this would be an excellent choice.
Select Waterborne Paint - Painted Finish and click Continue.

Select your preferred gloss level.
Select Semi-Gloss for the purposes of this tutorial. Click Continue.

The surface is not prone to mould.
Select No, and click Continue.

Is the surface powdery? The scenario stated that one wall was powdery. Select No, and then create a separate specification later for the powdery wall.
Select No, and click Continue.

The surface is not smooth or glossy.
Select No, and click Continue.

In this example we would prefer a primer/topcoat system.
Select No to a Self-Priming System, and click Continue.

A complete coatings specification is now displayed.  This is the most appropriate paint system for the fibre reinforced cement boards based on the responses given to the questions. The recommended paint system is Resene Quick Dry primer, Sonyx 101 topcoats and an optional Multishield+ glaze coat.

Step Five - Add the Exterior Walls paint system to your project

A new menu will appear on the right hand side of the final paint systems page. In this menu click the button labelled Add this Spec to your Project.

A new window will open to enable you to add current specification to your current project.

Complete the fields for the surface that you are wishing to paint (the Exterior Walls), ensuring that at least the Project Element name is filled in.
Click Add to Project.

Step Six - Create a Specification for the Powdery Wall

The paint system screen will still be displayed.

Click the browser's Back button, to go back to the Risk of Mould question.

Once the question titled Is the surface powdery? appears, select Yes.
Click Continue.

A new paint system will appear.

Notice the blue text at the top. These are assumptions that have been made by the Resene EzySpec system. Carefully check these assumptions to verify they are correct:

• The surface isn't smooth or glossy.

• The surface isn't suitable for a self-priming system.

Both assumptions are valid, therefore the displayed paint system is the best system for our project.

The specified paint system for the powdery substrate has substituted Resene Sureseal in place of Resene Quick Dry.

To add this paint system to your project, click the button on the right hand side menu Add this Spec to your Project.

Complete the fields for the surface that you wish to paint (the powdery exterior walls), ensuring that at least the Project Element name is filled in.
Click Add to Project.

Step Seven - Print a Full Specification.

On the grey menu on the left hand side, click View Project.

The View Project page will appear, displaying the basic project information.

A button will be present at the bottom of the page, titled Full Specification.
Click to display the full written specification in a new window.

To edit this specification in Microsoft Word 2000 or later, click the Edit button at the top of the browser window.

Step Eight - Update Project Details.

The View Project button allows you to see a summary of your current project. Use the Edit Project mode to update project details.

Click the Edit Project button, at the bottom of the View Project page.

Assume you wish to add to the project notes some information concerning the powdery wall. Edit the Project Notes text directly from the Edit Project mode by typing the information required.

When you have finished click Done. The information will be updated and displayed in the View Project page. You will be automatically returned to the main EzySpec page.

Step Nine - Print Page/s.

At any time while answering questions or viewing paint systems, you may print the current page.

Use the Print Current Page button.

Click this button to open a new window with the current page formatted for printing.

Click OK to print the page.

Close the window by clicking the in the corner.