ListWise

Monday, August 06, 2007

Painting Outside

Well, the old bathroom is officially off the radar screen for now. I just need the marble for the corner cabinet, but that’s going to wait. I’m now moving back out side to finish up the house painting that I didn’t finish last year.

Last year I worked on painting the house for almost 7 months, with a few side jobs thrown in (Pimp My Fridge!). I scrapped everything to bare wood and then painted with 5 colors, doing one coat of primer and 2 top coats. I ran out of weather though, and never painted the skirting. So it’s past time to do that.

I’m not scraping to bare wood this time. It’s just the skirting. Today I spent about an hour scraping off loose spots and pulling old nails and hooks that were used for various cables and wire. When I bought the place, the outside was streaming with phone and cable TV wires. It was an absolute rats nest of wires encompassing the house.

I’ll work my way around the house scraping and pulling. Once that is done I’ll sand a section at a time. I think I’ll probably end up doing the skirting in 6 or 8 sections. I’ll sand and clean with 100 psi compressed air. Then prime and paint. I’m not a big fan of the power washer. Wood, water, and paint just don’t mix in my book. True, I could wait to let the wood dry out first, but what’s the point. Why use a power washer and then have to wait. The compressed air cleans the wood very nicely after sanding.

Anyway, sand, blow, primer, paint. There will be some puttying in there some place. I think I can get it done in 3 to 4 weeks, which means 6 to 8 in reality.

12 comments:

Jayne said...

The exterior of my house is also a "rats nest" of phone wires--when we moved in there was a phone jack in every room, including both bathrooms! Only one of the jacks actually worked, though. Did you just rip them off the outside of the house? Did you use a tester to see which were live? I could use some good advice. Thanks, Jayne

Greg said...

I think I had 9 cable TV lines and 6 phones lines on the outside of the house. The cable drop came across my front yard and was hooked up to the front porch. I ripped them all off.
I had the cable company come out and give me a new drop to the side of the house. I then hooked up one phone line and one cable TV line inside the house. As I work on the house I add hookups where needed.

Omar said...

Hi there! I've been lurking for a while (after reading pretty much from beginning to end) and have to say I love your house and the work you've done to it. Your exterior paint work alone makes me quiver with fear.. :)

Greg said...

Omar,

Thanks for the kind words. You know, the thought of painting my house AGAIN makes me quiver with fear. That was a big job.

Anonymous said...

I really love the glass towel bar (previous post) and the robe hook. The entire bathroom is beautiful.

Will you show us the kitchen towel bar when it is hung?

Greg said...

kathy,

I was hoping the kitchen towel bar would be here by the weekend so I could install it and then show it off.

Katherine said...

Hi greg,
I started working on my exterior paint. First time ever. Now I know why you divided the house into sections. How many sq. ft were they, and did you have an estimated time to complete each step of the task, and how much scraping could you do in a sitting without losing it?

Greg said...

Alicia,

I totally never saw your post. I’m sorry I didn’t respond sooner.

But, those are tough questions. I sort of broke the sections up sort of by the architecture. The different bends and corners in the house defined the space I worked on. My biggest mistake was make the first section too big. It took forever.

It is not a pleasant job, but it is very rewarding.

Katherine said...

Hi Greg,
No problem not seeing email. I assume that you are working under deadline on something profitable...
Yeah, I really here you about making the first section too big.

Gary said...

Anyway, sand, blow, primer, paint. There will be some puttying in there some place. I think I can get it done in 3 to 4 weeks, which means 6 to 8 in reality.

4 weeks have passed and I have Petch House withdrawels!

"I'm melting! I'm melting! I'm meeeelllllttting.... ahhhhh!"

Greg said...

Soon my pretty....very soon.

Anonymous said...

So did you fall off your ladder and break all your fingers leaving you unable to type? I think there should be a rule that housebloggers have to post once a week, even just a hello, so we all know you're OK. I really really miss you.

One of my favorite bloggers, Notes from the Trenches, recently posted a picture of the claw foot tub in her boys bathroom. She has an oar hanging on the wall above the tub! When I saw it I thought of you and your boat of tub.