Still More on Painting your Home
"Still more on painting your home" also contains buttons for the first two articles I wrote about doing this myself and everything I could think of sharing that I learned while doing it.
This is having my "More patient and more mechanical" boyfriend of my 23 year old daughter who loves to rebuild his antique VW Camper Van from around 1971 engine. So, right there he has a lot more patience for taking the time to paint something right than me. So, I had asked him about a month or two before if he was interested in Painting my house. He didn't give me an answer right then because too much was going on for him to jump right into it. But, he was at a Hatha Yoga retreat in Grass Valley in the Sierras which is only about 3 to 5 hours from where I live on the coast of California by car or van and he called and said, "I would like to paint the front of your house like you offerred a month or two ago." So, my wife and I were really happy to have someone we both knew and trusted to paint the front of our home for us.
His attention to detail was hard for me to watch but the other side of it is that everything he did he did right and not in a sloppy way at all. He decided after listening to the kinds of problems I encountered to do preparations first (sanding, caulking, wood putty of any small holes or uneven areas and taping around areas you don't want to get paint on). After several days of preparation which for him included unfastening all our downspout drains from the roof from the outside walls of the front of our house, he began to paint. However, just like with me everything took about 3 or 4 times longer than he expected. But, he decided since everything was already taped up to do 2 coats one on one day and one on the next of the area he planned to finish before he had to go to a wedding in Oregon. Then he would come back and finish the front of the house. So, he started with the gate which goes through to the back yard and worked along outside our den and our 2 car garage and high attic above that and did a really beautiful job of painting with no drips at all anywhere. (Which isn't something I'm very good at). So, I am really pleased at the way it's turning out. By going online to Youtube.com he saw some good videos that taught him good techniques like covering your wet paint rollers that you might want to use tomorrow with saran wrap so the paint doesn't dry out. This way you don't have to wash them after you finish that day.(However, you have to be careful that you carefully clean away any paint where the roller mechanism touches the metal rod or that could freeze up if the paint dries unless you are covering that too.
We also bought at home depot a ladder that cost about 300 dollars or so that extends up I think 22 feet. But, you have to be careful moving it up and down because it can be sort of like a guillotine for your hands and fingers unless you are very careful. The best way to unfold it for the full 22 feet is to put it on the ground while you are working with it because otherwise the weight of the strongly reinforced Aluminum ladder can be dangerous for your hands and fingers while adjusting it. However, it will easily carry a 300 pound person and is the most stable ladder of it's kind I've ever seen. But watch your fingers and hands while adjusting. My daughter's boyfriend has two fingers that aren't very happy with cuts on them from not thinking enough before adjusting it vertically. But luckily, he will heal up okay.
Many people I would worry about being up 20 feet on a ladder but he is very coordinated and can jump a Snow Board 60 feet into the air and be okay. So, this is someone exceptionally coordinated.
Since he was busy working on the Outside of the den and the area of our 2 car garage and attic I decided to work on the chimney. So, I got out about 100 feet of rope that was about a dollar a foot that is basically for tying up sailboats and power boats to a pier (so it is very strong) and tied myself onto the chimney so I wouldn't have to worry about falling as I painted it (I'm 64) and know enough not to stay untied up high like that (for more than 10 or 20 minutes) because over 50 most men have to think about multi-tasking more than once on a ladder or a roof with a good slope. So, as a precaution I tied myself in so if I fell off I would just be dangling in the air sort of like the rock climber I used to be when I was young in Yosemite and not on the ground with a broken head or back or worse. Then, the outward facing face of the chimney I did from the ground with an extension with a roller screwed onto it. (I have one that can reach about 22 to 25 feet I think.)
This all went fairly well and all I have to do now is wait until it dries tomorrow or later and go up and tape the bottom of the chimney so I can finish the detail where it meets the roof.
No comments:
Post a Comment