Let's Paint!

[Zombie]

It's been a little quiet on the painting front unfortunately. Had to take a few days to do some major weeding/cleanup around the property - then another part of a day to clean the small garage. Plus my normal chores. Seems like everywhere I turn there's something that requires my attention. So I do what I can. Yesterday it looked like it was going to rain so I ended up pulling together and sorting all the used, loose plastic flats from the planting season which were strewn about the greenhouse.

 

Since I was in there, I looked at the bottom of the boards I painted last year. Some looked like they needed another coat of paint to fill in the cracks or cover over some scratches. Might as well address that before it gets too cold again.

 

 

Piled on another couple coats and I think that should be good enough. It's been a bit cool over here the last few days (20C) so I left the west door of the greenhouse shut to keep some heat in. Hopefully that will allow the latex paint to dry decently overnight. If I have time I might put on the polyurethane red paint to the boards tomorrow outside.

 

Had a little bit of time leftover so I scraped and primed the frame of one of the red doors which got chewed up from the snowplow in winter.

 

 

I love how nice and reflective the kickplates still look. After the paint dries I need to do a little bit of caulking and then it should be ready for the top coat of brown. Again, hopefully tomorrow.

 

I have another big job coming up - painting parts of the inside of old bossmans house as well as touching up on the outside (it's on the market to be sold due to the fact that old bossman and his wife are both dead). So keep your eyes peeled for updates and pictures of that when the time comes.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

If Zombie has you seeing red, you'll learn that's reason to be glad.

 

Your extra jobs seem to crop up as much as them weeds. Fortunately you're doing the rounds like it's nobody's business, keeping everything pretty much in check.

 

You did real fine sanding those kickplates, to be sure. Multiple passes, different grain for just the right kind of shine as I recall it.

 

You're proficient enough to achieve great results almost by default. Just don't let yourself be tempted by the pursuit of absolute perfection.

[Zombie]

Well I thankfully found some time today to touch up the primed area on the door frame (after caulking of course). Turned out pretty good.

 

 

I'll probably have to redo the entire frame again as the fresh paint doesn't exactly match the sun-scorched stuff. No big issue there of course.

 

And I also made some time to paint those boards in the greenhouse with the red polyurethane (applied by brush as I didn't want to break out a foam roller cover until I have a bunch of things to paint at the same time).

 

 

Temps were a little higher today so the paint dried almost instantly on the sun-warmed boards. Everything got a coat except the edge away from the aisle, those can be touched up quickly so I can fit that in between other projects.

 

Had to pick off a bunch of tiny insects from the latex paint job from yesterday - apparently they took a liking to the wetness overnight. If the tables in the greenhouse look a little dirty, well, you're right, they are. Those will be cleaned at some point and then the boards and tables will be rolled with the final coat of red polyurethane paint. See, there's a method to the madness.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

A fly in the ointment? Not if with Zombie you've made an appointment!

 

Regarding the door frame, the caulking did the trick alright. As you say, though, there's a slight difference in coloration which may have to do not only with the fact you're applying a fresh coat of paint but what you're applying it over (wood may soak up/interact with the paint one way, and caulk another).

 

Meanwhile, feel free to go mad with red anew on those boards in the greenhouse. No complaints here.

[Zombie]

Took a little field trip to the new paint store today (old paint store closed in April, the paint brand is now being sold by a different company 10 miles away). Anyhow, picked up two pails (gallons) of base color and one pail of trim color for old bossmans house which should be enough to get me going. Also picked up a gallon of paint thinner (you can never have too much paint thinner on hand, trust me on this) plus a somewhat decent 2 1/2 inch angled paint brush (the bristles felt decent and the price was good). You can skimp on brush quality if you are applying primer, but for the finish coat always spend the extra cash on a better brush.

 

Other than the field trip, I flipped the boards around in the greenhouse and sanded the tops down as there were some bubbles or high spots. Plus the sanding will allow the final coat of polyurethane to stick better. Have no idea when this will happen but it should be soon.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Today I started work on old bossman's house. I figured the East side would be the best place to start as there were masonry guys occupying the driveway and West side. Unfortunately though, the East side needs a lot of work. Not that this matters. So the bottom 3 feet of the house is brick and above that is 1-foot wide wood panels. Because of the trees and facing East, the brick and capstone (made of limestone) are all full of mold. I used straight bleach (5.25% concentration) and applied that starting on the capstone.

 

 

Just applied it with an old paintbrush. You can see that the capstone looks a little yellow and that's because the bleach has already started to attack the mold. Take note of how dirty and moldy the brick is underneath too. After applying the bleach to the whole length of capstone, I started back at the beginning and first scraped the top with a sharp putty knife and then wire brushed it making sure to keep the stone wet at all times.

 

 

Took a bit of elbow grease, but looks better. Since that did the job, I applied bleach to the upper 6-7 courses of brick. While I was waiting for that to work and the masonry guys to hang it up for the day I started scraping on the wood.

 

 

After the masonry guys left, I hooked up the hose and blasted off the brick with a penetrating stream of water to get rid of as much of the loose dirt from the last 5-6 courses of brick then applied bleach to that and let it sit. After about 10 minutes passed, I blasted everything off with the hose again.

 

 

The brick looks a lot brighter now. Granted, the bottom few courses is still a little brownish but it's not bad. And of course, the mortar joints in the capstone must have dissolved with the rain water and left gray marks behind. Might be able to get rid of that with powerwashing or maybe careful applications of muriatic acid (aka HCl or hydrochloric acid). But I don't know how much time I'll have to spend on this aspect.

 

BTW: that blue/gray thing on the ground is a natural gas meter - have no idea if I'll get to that, but I might paint that with some almond color oil paint from the shop just so the thing doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. Next up though is to finish scraping the East side and to prime the bare spots with some oil primer. Oh, and caulk too. Might need a couple tubes just for this side.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

High or low Zombie will show he's on the level for any tall order.

 

That house looks like a bit of a handful with all those inter-brick bits and assorted creases in the wood to mind. Still, certainly nothing you can't handle.

 

If you do get around to painting that natural gas meter, I'd probably be careful about it as you don't want paint covering up anything that would best remain visible for inspection, like any deterioration in the connecting bits and pipes - just saying...

[Zombie]

If you do get around to painting that natural gas meter, I'd probably be careful about it as you don't want paint covering up anything that would best remain visible for inspection, like any deterioration in the connecting bits and pipes - just saying...

 

When I used to help my dad paint, I always got the task of what I called "bush work". What that means is I had to go into the tough to access areas like between bushes and the building, behind trees etc to paint. Normally, this included things like the utilities: electricity, water, gas and air conditioners due to these being eye sores they are hidden by plantings or landscaping. So I've probably painted over 100 gas meters in my life.

 

The paint that's on the gas meters is usually good quality, but it has a tendency to fade over time and any little chip of loose paint will lead to rust. Gas meters are rarely inspected anymore because "meter readers" (aka those people tasked with walking the neighborhood and jotting down usage values to calculate how much you will pay) have been eliminated in favor of radio frequency transmitters where you can stay in your vehicle and drive through the neighborhood gathering the numbers by computer. That's what the thin gray rectangular box is at the top right of the meter.

 

There really isn't any issues with painting the gas meter or pipes except for keeping the serial number tag free from paint, not obscuring the dials and not pushing paint into the gas relief pipe (that's the pipe with the flared end sticking down from the circular piece on the left side). The best thing about this meter is it's location because it's easy to access. And due to it being so conspicuous it just screams to be painted to get it to blend into the brick. Any paint you put on it is going to extend the meter's life and prevent problem areas like rust from spreading.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

I guess I just got schooled on the whole matter. Thanks for the brief, Zombie.

 

Given your rundown I suppose that meter can only benefit from the attention and so will the house's potential buyers.

[Zombie]

I found that almond color oil paint so I decided to start on the gas meter first. Plopped down a canvas because the ground was a little moist due to the rain yesterday. And due to the rain splashing it kicked up some of the dirt and deposited that on the brick and meter which was removed with a corn broom and old dry paintbrush. With everything free from dirt I opened up the can of paint, stirred it up and was a tad dismayed to see the color was quite a bit lighter than the label. The meter is going to require 2 coats though so the first coat color doesn't need to be exact, just close.

 

 

Looks fairly decent actually. The color bothers me a little bit as it's lighter than the brick. It could stand to be a little more gray. While I don't have any gray oil paint at the store, I do have black so I might custom mix the final coat just to get it closer to the brick color. Or maybe I'm just being picky.

 

While the paint was drying, I continued scraping the loose paint from the boards. Got quite a bit done above the window and some more along the cap stone to the left of the meter (not shown).

 

 

Funny thing was, the other day I was looking for some oil primer at the shop for the bare spots and noticed I had a whole gallon of it pre-tinted with 1/3 the color of the wall color at the store. Once I mixed it up, it was surprisingly similar to the color at the house. Maybe a little bit bright and could use some black, but hey, close enough. Here's what it looks like currently:

 

 

Not going to clean up any of the paint chips on the ground till I'm done because there's going to be tons more. The wall looks shabby now with the primer spots, but the wood is at least protected in the interim. This whole side is going to get completely repainted anyway. And I have some plans for the ground in front of the brick, but that depends on the budget and my time. Anyhow, it'll be more painting, priming and probably caulking tomorrow.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Hmmm-hmmm! That gas meter sure looks on the creamy side now Zombie.

 

I wouldn't say it pops against the brick wall, so you'll probably be just as safe once you apply another coat (tinted or otherwise).

 

Besides you're going to have plenty of further entertainment to get moving on to with all that paint scraping on wood before you can see what ended up sticking out in the overall picture. I can only imagine the amount of paint flecks on you when you're done on a stretch.

 

And I know you're not exactly on the short side, but make sure that ladder is always on even footing while you're at it so as to leave as little room for any mishaps as possible.

[Space Voyager]

Bloody hell, a whole new project in the works! Time to learn.

 

What's that oil paint you used for the gas meter? Actually oil paint?

[Zombie]

What's that oil paint you used for the gas meter? Actually oil paint?

 

It's an oil based paint, which refers to the base (or majority) of the liquid in the can. It's not actually a motor oil or crude oil or anything like that, the oil refers to any hydrocarbon base (like kerosene, paint thinner, turpentine, etc). Oil based paints are typically used for things like primers, stains and in this case paints intended for metals as once the paint dries the coating is very hard and durable and protects the metal from further rusting. The paint brand I used is Rust Oleum, a very popular brand here in the US, though I'd much rather use a something by a paint company as their products are marketed to professional or industrial applications and usually last longer. Hope I answered the question.

 

Anyhow, no painting yesterday, I had a landscaping project at the store to complete.

 

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

AH, me idiot, I was thinking oil as in oil painting! Argh... Thanks, it makes a lot more sense now.

[Zombie]

Went over to the house today to do some painting there. Spent maybe an hour cleaning up the spiderwebs, dead insects, blown grass and dirt from the shutters and around the front door. So filthy, ugh! It's a start, once I get everything cleaned I can maybe start painting the red trim in areas.

 

But, first things first - I gotta get that East side scraped and primed. There's a lot of chipping paint and all of that has to come off to get the primer and top coat to adhere properly. Got the big ladder out so I could reach the peak. Before and after pics:

 

 

I cut some cardboard flower boxes down and used those to cover up the capstone - don't want any paint drips on the clean stone or brick! I would have liked to just scrape the whole side but it's supposed to rain tomorrow so I need to prime any raw wood otherwise it'll soak up water and the oil paint will not stick. Once I get the whole side primed I think I'll go over the spots again with another coat of primer. That's for 2 reasons:

1. The spots were down to bare wood and the primer just soaked away.
   
2. I wanna try to "build up" the layer of paint so there aren't rough spots.
   

Little by little I'll get it done.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

How about a little change of pace? While cleaning old bossman's humid and musty basement we found a huge 10 inch (so 25.4cm) wide FTD (Florists Transworld Delivery) insignia cast out of solid brass. Because of the humid conditions, the thing was caked with green tarnish/oxidation and looked in rough shape (unfortunately I didn't take a before pic).

 

I decided to see if I could restore it to at least showable condition. Watched a couple youtube videos on brass oxidation removal to determine if there was something that could make this process a little easier. Electrolysis was an option but out of the question as I didn't have the necessary equipment.

 

Saw one video where the guy used a poultice of salt and vinegar which seemed to do a decent job. Well, I didn't have any vinegar on hand but I did have CLR (a commercial Calcium, Lime & Rust remover). No acetic acid in CLR but it does have oxalic and lactic acids so I figured acid is acid, right? Mixed up a batch of CLR + table salt, applied that and let it work for a few hours. It loosened up the oxidation a little bit so I let the brass sit in the stuff overnight. Rinsed it off the next day and scrubbed it with a nylon brush which got rid of almost all of the green. But there was some black stuff on it yet which didn't come off with anything water based. Tried paint thinner, nope still black. Stepped up to lacquer thinner and scrubbing and that worked. Apparently this thing was painted either originally or later.

 

The green and black were off, but there was still oxidation and a little paint or clear coat present. I didn't want to scratch the brass too much so I started with a nylon brush. No dice, not abrasive enough. Changed to a brass brush which did a little but was still ineffective. Reluctantly changed to a stainless steel brush and carefully scrubbed the back. It at least did something so I changed to the front and went to town. Way too much work by hand so I switched to a wire cup brush on the drill. Took quite a bit of brushing to remove the stains left from the other processes. Even used a 220 grit sandpaper to sand the rims and flat areas.

 

Leaving cleaned brass sit out in the humid summer air does cause oxidation to form again. So I ended up wire brushing the entire thing the other day, and since it looked fairly good again, I applied three coats of clear lacquer. Here's what it looks like:

 

 

Didn't really get a decent pic of it as the room was dark so I'll try to get a better one on Monday. It's much shiner in person than the picture. Yeah, there's still some dark discoloration around and inside the lettering on the edge. I just didn't have a small enough brush to fit inside those tight areas. At least it's protected from the elements now.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

If you're looking from decay to find delivery, Zombie will so achieve - without price gouging thievery!

 

In for a penny, in for a pound. You went to town on this one to be sure, with all the de-oxidation treatment, brushing and even sanding.

 

Risked a bit with the wire cup brush pass I'd say but looks like it was worth it in the end as it's a rather unique piece.

 

Can't tell if there's an actual sheen to the edges - yet, it turned out very nice indeed thanks to all your efforts and deserves to be on display. Of course, you'd then have to deliver on the promise of shipping flowers to other planets, which might be a bit much, unless you're secretly affiliated with XCOM that is...

[Space Voyager]

By the state of that chipping paint, I'd probably go for a full paint removal. A belt sander and across the whole face of the house. Old paint will continue to chip even if you apply a new layer over it.

[Zombie]

The boards on the house are rough sawn pine. Taking a sander to that would completely remove the rough characteristics. Plus it would take too long, cost too much and create a hell of a lot of dust. Granted, I am sanding the spots I scrape, but I'm using 50 grit sandpaper just to remove any loose fibers of wood and approximate the look of the wood around it.

 

Really, the boards on the East and West sides should be completely replaced. I mentioned that numerous times to old bossman over the years but he didn't want to go through with it (I don't blame him - replacing is expensive too). But we are against a wall here - there isn't a lot of money in the fixup fund and we want to get the house on the market while prices are still favorable..

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

So I took some more pics of the brass FTD insignia:

 

 

The last pic shows the outer edge. It's actually beveled so the bottom sticks out more than the top. I could've spent a lot more time on the edge, it could stand to be sanded till all the low spots are gone and uniform, but nobody really will see it.

 

More work was done on the house as well. Got the East side completely scraped, sanded and dusted and even managed to rake up all the paint chips into piles.

 

 

Didn't have enough time to prime the spots so I decided to start painting some red trim along the front. Here's one window done.

 

 

Didn't bother taping anything up, I just freehanded it and it turned out fine. No drips! The windows on the East side will be painted eventually, but I need to get the wall painted first (if a drop of the light wall paint gets on the window frame, the red will cover that up, if the red gets on the wall it might take two coats to cover). The red vinyl shutters need to be cleaned too, so that's another quick project which will make things look better.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Much better lighting on the pics of the insignia this time, Zombie, further make it striking.

 

One can see some imperfections (abrasion/cratering in the metal), but that's like a charming hint of patina after all your fine restoration work.

 

As for that full peeling treatment on the East side wall, I can imagine it gave you a fair bit of a workout having to go high every so often.

 

Now, regarding that window, do tell, Mr. Freehand , what is that semicircular brown mark on the upper right pane?

[Zombie]

Much better lighting on the pics of the insignia this time, Zombie, further make it striking.

 

The pics are better this time around because I brought it outside in direct sunlight. But I think the camera darkened the first two pics as you can't even see I put clear coat on it.

 

Now, regarding that window, do tell, Mr. Freehand , what is that semicircular brown mark on the upper right pane?

 

I think it is/was a round sticker that is still on there. This window is inside a kids room so I assume that's what it is at least. Next time I'm inside I'll check it out and try to remove it.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

More brushing of cobwebs and dead insects ensued today. Finally got around to priming the rest of the East side.

 

 

At least that side is nearly ready to go. A bit of caulking is necessary though. Picked up all those piles of paint chips and debris too. Since I had the primer out I decided to start on the South side (the right window is already painted). Got a little carried away and almost forgot to take a before shot:

 

 

And after priming.

 

 

Must've overlooked to the far right as there are a few boards that need scraping and priming - at least I got one.

 

So I'm going to try to get the rest of the priming and scraping done on the South side tomorrow along with caulking on the East and South. If I have time I might hit the primed spots with the base coat of latex stain (yup, it's solid color latex stain, not regular latex paint as the stain is a little bit thinner and lets the grain and roughness of the wood peek through). Who knows, Maybe I'll work on painting the other window in the front. Not going to have a full day of painting though - my services are required at the shop in the morning.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

You'll just have to pardon me this one time, Zombie, but your very respectable progress prepping the East and South sides for full priming just took a backseat to a somewhat distracting feature in the last snap you took.

 

Is it normal (or even efficient) to make a downspout snake / turn in a 90 degree angle relative to where it starts like that?

 

I mean it would make more sense to me to just have it stick to descending flush with one wall, thus saving on pipe bends and making for more direct drainage flow even...

[Zombie]

It kinda depends on a number of factors. I mean, yeah, it's certainly faster and cheaper to run the downspout down the same wall. But it could be due to drainage issues as well - you want the water to run away from the house and drain to a lower area. The East side is lower than the South and there's an empty plot of land to the East so it's just easier letting the water run that direction. Another reason is possibly some people don't like the look of ugly downspouts coming out in the front of the house. They are a little less noticeable going to the sides. Yet another reason may be that the front yard is more open with no downspouts in the way for children to play, easier to mow the lawn etc. Not every house is like this though, some have downspouts coming out in really strange places.

 

Didn't have much time to paint today due to work at the store, but I was able to put in a few hours at the house at least. Precleaned the shutters on the East and South sides and they look a little better now. Got about half the East side caulked:

 

 

So one full tube for half a side. Looks like I'm going to have to get at least 3 more tubes (probably 4-5) because once I start work on the West side that section is in terrible shape. Got the last two boards in the front scraped and primed today too.

 

 

The horizontal boards under the overhang have some mold on them so I'm going to try bleach first. Might have to repaint the overhang if there are chips and loose paint (didn't really investigate it too close). Other than that, once the East and South sides are caulked I can put on a first coat and get everything at least protected from the elements. I have a peak to do on the South side yet - I'm not sure how bad it is till I get up on the roof. Hopefully it's just the fascia board that needs work, but you just never know.

 

- Zombie