Let's Paint!

[Zombie]

Last couple days we had rain so no work at the house (I thought about going over there today and bleaching the boards underneath the eaves but decided against it). Instead, I painted the flashing around the base of the back cooler.

 

 

It's looking pretty rusty in back of there in spots. I could see replacing that next year with maybe aluminum or even galvanized sheet metal. The aluminum I could do myself as it's easy enough to cut and bend, but for the sheet metal I'd need a HVAC guy or something to do the bending. Ah well, something to think about.

 

And you know me, while I have a brush wet I might as well paint something else, right? So I did the top of one of the rolling tables and the table next to the back cooler.

 

 

Did they need it? Well, they would have been fine, but it's always good to freshen them up. Plus it's easier to keep them clean if the paint is nice and glossy instead of matte. And with COVID, I've been cleaning them at least once a week depending on use. The other rolling table and the table in the back room will have to wait for a little bit unless we have more rain.

 

Btw, the weather has been unseasonably cool (record low high temps were set for this day), and I've seen some extended weather reports saying the Midwest might be getting into a polar vortex in fall so painting may be limited.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

I too had noticed from your previous pics that rust on the base of the cooler was coming to get you, Zombie.

 

I expect it slowly crept in at first, but now it's clearly done with being coy.

 

Aluminum is certainly easier to bend to your will and you won't then have to worry about rust anymore, but if there are going to be things that go bumping into it on a fairly regular basis it'll get "bruised" easily.

 

And, of course, I'm not at all surprised to find that the Fastest Brush In The Midwest dispatched two more table tops while we blinked.

[Space Voyager]

You do have a global audience, Zombie, so it's nice of you to so consider your devout following - going the extra mile to deliver!

 

He he he, that's putting on extra pressure! Z, stay safe!

 

Looking good so far.

[Jman4117]

It seems as though you've come across some serious extremophile, living in a can of paint?! Powersuit really is in order... A chemical reaction of a sort seems more likely though, I can't imagine any living creature thriving in any of the regular paint solvents - unless the colour is water based, naturally.

 

Things can live in paint if the solvent can't kill them. Basically it's a water based paint and that doesn't kill the mold or whatever is in there. I've come across some seriously rank smelling paint at work that had things growing in it. Always latex, never in oil.

[Zombie]

Worked a little at the house today. Started on the West side again because it was cloudy. Finished the scraping under the window and took out the rotten piece of windowsill to get a better measurement. Freebie of me in the window reflection.

 

 

There are about three boards under the window that are badly cracked down the middle and are loose so I think I'll try to drive some decking screws in them to get them tight again. If I'd leave them as they are, they would pop loose eventually. And again, the whole side should really be replaced, but that isn't in the budget and the next owners can deal with it in about 8 years when it needs repainting again.

 

I wanted to start priming on the West side but got side tracked by the boss so I made the front of the house a little more presentable by painting the boards above the front door as well as the red fascia.

 

 

The paint was still a little wet when the pic was taken but it was drying surprisingly quick. The trouble with colorful paints and stains is that they almost always show bleed-through due to the small amount of pigment, so the red is going to need a second coat obviously. I might try to use some of that red mistint latex paint I got last year by thinning it down a bit with latex paint conditioner. That will probably help prevent too much bleed-through from the light colored primer.

 

Since I had the brush wet with the red I also painted the second window on the South side, then went around to the East and slapped a coat on the two windows there.

 

 

When I get the time I'll be rolling on the final coat of tan on the East and South sides. I did manage to paint the frame around the front door and the spot above the house number plaque and light so rolling should go quicker. But priming is going to have to occur early next week on the West side because I need to fill in those big chunks of missing wood with water putty. Oh the joys!

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

More presentable indeed, Zombie, it's nice to see a fresh dash of colour on the front of the house!

 

Looking at the East side windows in your last pic, with the new coat on, one can even see the wood grain, which is pleasant, but what I'd argue is less so, is that on the upper part of the red frame of the window closest to us - the wood surface seems a bit "rocky" ?

 

Maybe it's just the fact the painting is so recent that its reflectiveness makes it sort of jump at you.

 

Staying tuned for the results of playing with putty!

[Zombie]

Looking at the East side windows in your last pic, with the new coat on, one can even see the wood grain, which is pleasant, but what I'd argue is less so, is that on the upper part of the red frame of the window closest to us - the wood surface seems a bit "rocky" ?

 

Maybe it's just the fact the painting is so recent that its reflectiveness makes it sort of jump at you.

 

You guessed it. Because the paint is wet it reflects light back more than it normally would. This will disappear as the paint skins over. The finish for this stain is flat so there should be very little shininess after it dries. I'm sure I'll get a pic of that.

 

Staying tuned for the results of playing with putty!

 

It's not fun, but it's better than playing with cement or plaster of paris. Back in the day, I used to be the guy to mix plaster of paris at work for holding artificial plants in containers. Mind you, I did this with my bare hands which would dry them out like you wouldn't believe. I eventually switched over to using a hand shovel which saved my hands from dryness and excess cleanup. The trick with plaster of paris is you can make it a little thinner (runnier) if it's going into a container, but keep it thicker if it's going on walls.

 

For water putty it says 3 parts powder to one part water, but I never follow that. There's no way I'm going to waste time measuring out exact quantities and having it turn out too wet or dry anyway. I normally dump in a quantity of putty I think I need, guesstimate the water and if it turns out too runny I'll slowly mix in more powder until it's the consistency I want. It's far easier to fix a runny mix by adding dry powder than it is to fix a dry mix by adding small quantities of water. You'll almost always overshoot, I guarantee it. That's my pro tip.

 

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

It's far easier to fix a runny mix by adding dry powder than it is to fix a dry mix by adding small quantities of water. You'll almost always overshoot, I guarantee it. That's my pro tip.

 

- Zombie

I agree completely, though I always try to add just the right amount of water. And end up at both sides - either not enough or too much...

 

I never worked with plaster of paris though. Googled it and it is not your ordinary plaster. Interesting.

[Zombie]

When I last painted at the house it was Friday and that night it rained. Not heavily, but it was a steady rain almost all night long (wasn't on the forecast otherwise I wouldn't have painted anything). So you guessed it, the red I painted washed off in spots. But, I can fix that obviously.

 

 

Sorry about the second pic, didn't realize the sun was so low in the sky.

 

Today was priming day.

 

 

It wasn't too bad working in the sun because the sky was really hazy today. This was due to the smoke in the atmosphere from the gigantic wildfires on the West coast of the US. Kinda unsettling. The pic above was facing North East where it was spotty with blue sky one minute and white haze the next. Must've caught it at the rare time it was blue.

 

Here's a hint: oil paint (like the primer I'm using) usually skins over when there is air space above it. To get the skin out, run a wooden paint stirring stick around the skin and side of the can till it's loose being careful not to submerge the skin. Then get the paint stick underneath it and try to lift it out. What do you do with it when it's out of the can? I use those plastic grocery/Walmart shopping bags - they are deep and wide enough to set a paint can on one side and still have room to dump the skin in next to it. Then leave the top open so the skin can harden and you can put another skin on top of that, lather, rinse and repeat till the bag is too full or falling apart.

 

After I primed I actually started painting the red (so the second pic) plus I painted the windowsill on the West side, part of the fascia, and the bit behind the gutter at the far side (new board so it was primed white). That pretty much used up the last bit of old red paint. Still have a brand new gallon though. And I also trimmed a juniper "tree" on the other side of the garage door which was overgrown and above the roof. Got a whole garbage can full of trimmings out of it.

 

 

You can see the sky was pretty white in this pic. Anyhow, it wasn't a perfect job, but it's better than it was. Really it should be completely removed, but again, not in the budget. In the meantime I decided to caulk along the board and wall inside the garage. After that I figured I could slap on a coat of paint (still had part of a gallon from the last time I painted the garage). Had a hell of a time trying to get the can open (luckily no explosions!) as there was rust all along the lid of the can. When I finally got the lid off, I found the paint was pretty hard. Somehow the moisture in the air had worked it's way inside the lid and rusted the can out. Bugger. Well, I gotta go to the paint store anyway so I'll just buy a new can.

 

Checked the primed spots and they were dry so I did a little filling along the capstone with the water putty.

 

 

The areas above the deep spots are almost dry in the pic, but the darker spots still felt damp so it will take a while for it to dry out sufficiently. I could probably sand it tomorrow though - water putty gets rock hard when it's dry so sanding is possible but difficult. The consistency I made the putty was kinda like thicker peanut butter. I was afraid of a thin mix because the putty might sag out of the holes, so I made it nice and thick (no lumps either)! There was just enough moisture present to spread it out with a wide blade putty knife (3 1/2 inches).

 

I investigated the cracks in the boards below the window and found out there is a nailer (a long piece of wood) in back of it which is about an inch and a half thick. The boards themselves are about 3/4 inch thick so that means I can use a 2 inch decking screw to affix them back to the wall. I'll have to predrill a pilot hole in the outer board so it doesn't split again, and I'm probably going to countersink the heads below the surface of the boards so I can cover it over with caulk.

 

And I decided I'm going to clean the boards under the overhang by using my garden sprayer. Put some bleach in the container, add some bucket soap and thin it out by half with water, then pump up the tank with air and spray it on. It'll be a lot less messy than brushing the bleach on with an old paintbrush and will take less time too.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

With Zombie there is no strife - you'll avoid the lumps in life!

 

So, priming day at last on the West side and putty time. While admiring your progress I saw something I hadn't noticed in previous pics - that the corner board has some sort of hole/depression/deformation? Just one more to join the long line of filling/sanding candidates.

 

I wasn't aware there were hedges, bushes or what have you that close to the house. From what's on the pic before last in your post I imagine you're either going to have to do some more trimming or start doing some painting of the exterior from inside the house.

 

Finally, more spraying, less delaying bleaching method - approved!

[Zombie]

So, priming day at last on the West side and putty time. While admiring your progress I saw something I hadn't noticed in previous pics - that the corner board has some sort of hole/depression/deformation? Just one more to join the long line of filling/sanding candidates.

 

Yeah, it's a knot in the wood that popped out. Easily fixed with caulk obviously. In fact, I always caulk all knots in wood as I'm afraid they will pop out.

 

I wasn't aware there were hedges, bushes or what have you that close to the house. From what's on the pic before last in your post I imagine you're either going to have to do some more trimming or start doing some painting of the exterior from inside the house.

 

That hedge needs to be trimmed badly. I helped the bosses wife pick out and purchase an electric one a few years ago. Did a great job. Not sure where it went after the house was cleaned out but the current boss is going to check at home. I have a suspicion it was either thrown out or "sold on the side" by the guys who did the cleaning. I think I have one at home I can borrow to trim the hedge. Honestly though, the paint looks pretty good in back of the hedge as it's blocked from weather by the overhang and trees. When I painted that the last time I think I could stand sideways and shuffle along one foot in front of the other between the hedge and the wall. Wasn't fun.

 

Caulkpocalypse 2020™ officially started today. Went to the paint store to pick up 8 tubes of caulking, 2 rolls of blue painters tape and a gallon of paint for the inside of the garage.

 

 

You may be wondering why I got exterior paint for the inside of a garage. Well, for a couple of reasons: first, the garage sometimes saw some weather like rain, snow or sunlight if the door was left open, and second, any extra paint I have left I'm going to take back to the store to use and exterior is more useful than interior. I got the paint store to match the exact color with an old color chip book but they couldn't mix it in a eggshell finish so I told them satin was fine. If anything it'll make it easier to clean up.

 

One tube of the new gray caulking was defective. The bottom "pusher" was actually wedged in the tube sideways and the caulk was kinda hard behind it so I'm going to have to return that. Anyway, I used up the last tube of the almond color caulk today along with my own tube from the store of gray "Big Stretch" brand plus I polished off one tube of the new gray.

 

 

Filled in the rest of the spots above the capstone with the water putty today so at least that's done. I also fixed up the broken boards below the window by drilling a pilot hole, countersunk hole and driving in a 2" deck screw (same as the ones I used on the greenhouse) on either side of the crack into the nailer. Finished that off by caulking over the countersunk holes so it was flush with the surface. Totally invisible repair. Plus I caulked the cracks between the boards so water can't get in back anymore.

 

I was able to sand the water putty areas I filled in yesterday so there were no high spots anymore. Still looks dark so it's going to need more time to properly cure and dry. Was only able to caulk 4 joints on the West side and the two joints on the South next to the garage door, but I did do the joints underneath the window.

 

Gotta do more caulking the next time I'm over there, Plus I want to put in the new chunk of windowsill that was rotten. Have to take off the shutters because some paint is peeling next to them and I'm worried the paint will be flaking off behind the shutters. Better be safe than sorry. The drywall guy is supposedly coming on Monday to fix the bad piece of drywall in the garage and a couple spots inside the house. Once he gets that done I can prime that (tape and mud the joints if he doesn't) and roll on a coat of paint. So that's the news.

 

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

What is that hedge made of? The bushy growth looks like something with leaves but the actual tree looks more coniferous, like a yew? Coniferous trees are a pain to have in a hedge as they tend to get "hollow" inside, so the hedge gets wider and wider. I once cut the whole western side of my cypress hedge off and only left a thin green layer in the East. Which, due to the hedge trees tendency to lean the growth to West meant like 80% of the width, leaving the original trunks exposed to the West.

 

My mom freaked out but this was the only option IMO. In the winters so much snow gathered on the top that I had to get out every time it snowed and shake the snow off, otherwise the trees soon leaned to the limit of breaking - and I'd be left with no hedge at all. It's now like 5 years since and the trees have completely covered the western side, looks much nicer.

 

ANYway, caulking the whole house?! I hope the cracks are few and far between or the tubes you bought will one be the beginning. BTW, what kind of caulk are you using? Silicone based is probably not the best option here as the colour won't stick well to it. Acrylic?

[Zombie]

What is that hedge made of? The bushy growth looks like something with leaves but the actual tree looks more coniferous, like a yew? Coniferous trees are a pain to have in a hedge as they tend to get "hollow" inside, so the hedge gets wider and wider. I once cut the whole western side of my cypress hedge off and only left a thin green layer in the East. Which, due to the hedge trees tendency to lean the growth to West meant like 80% of the width, leaving the original trunks exposed to the West.

 

Yes, the tree in the corner that I trimmed and the hedge are both yews. It's a bit difficult to keep hedges full looking especially if the person doing the trimming doesn't know what they are doing. I recall seeing a This Old House episode detailing this. Edit: found it.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eW78-k6wDE

 

They are pruning cedar trees which is a little bit different from hedges but you get the idea.

 

ANYway, caulking the whole house?! I hope the cracks are few and far between or the tubes you bought will one be the beginning.

 

Not the whole house, just the West side because it's always in such bad shape. Hopefully it'll prevent water from making it's way behind the boards and rotting it out.

 

BTW, what kind of caulk are you using? Silicone based is probably not the best option here as the colour won't stick well to it. Acrylic?

 

It's "siliconized acrylic sealant" so it's basically a water or latex based caulk with some sort of suspended silicone product in it. It's fully paint-able (before I purchased anything I had to really read the entire packaging instructions but I'm 100% positive this is the right stuff). Besides, I used the same caulk on the East side and I painted over it just fine. If it was fully silicone it would smell like vinegar and the paint would sheet off the caulk.

 

----------------------------------------

 

Couldn't really make it over to the house today. Didn't bother me much as there were 3 different workmen over there: HVAC, drywaller/painter and a crew to remove the HAM radio tower on the East side. Had other things I did at the shop like installing those plates around the door handle on the small garage. Outside, and inside.

 

 

Scraped, sanded, primed and painted the area around the handle that had loose paint first.

 

Had a heck of a time trying to figure out how to get the plates in the proper spot and to make the central connector piece hole. That piece was about 1/2" wide and the biggest drill bit I had was only 3/8". I enlarged the hole a bit by using the flutes of the drill bit but that only got me so far. Plus some part of the turning mechanism was supposed to fit inside the hole in the door for the handle, but putting a metal plate prevented it from seating. So I had to figure out how to make a 1 1/2" hole in the plate. Didn't have a big enough drill bit for that obviously, but I was able to fit the tip of an aviation snips inside the center hole to roughly cut out the hole, then used my rotary metal file bit for the drill to fine tune the fit. The inside plate needed a bigger hole for the center turning piece but not huge because there wasn't a turning mechanism to get in the way. Used the 3/8" bit to make the initial hole, then plunged the file bit in to widen it. Worked like a charm.

 

Didn't have a chance to caulk behind the plates but now that the handle is in place that shouldn't be too hard as I can just loosen up the screws to allow me to get the spout of the caulk tube behind the plate. The door looks pretty bad on the outside too. I'm going to clean it first to see if it's mold. If bleaching doesn't do it, then I may repaint.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Had a shortened day at work today because I had to take my dad to the hospital to get his gallbladder removed. I'll remind you all to wear a mask, wash your hands, practice extreme social distancing as you don't want to go to the hospital with COVID still around. Not fun.

 

Anyhow, the painters were there working on the family room among other rooms, but they did manage to put in a new piece of drywall in the garage.

 

 

It's up to me to tape, patch, sand, prime and paint the new joints. No big deal. You may notice there are two shutters in the pic. Yup, you guessed it, I took off the shutters on the West side to gain access to the wood behind. It wasn't too bad thankfully, not much scraping was necessary there. But above that is a different story.

 

 

So I accomplished a bunch of different things which may not be apparent in the picture. Obviously I removed the shutters and scraped the boards. I also scraped the mold/lichen off the top of the capstone, scraped the window frame, and sanded the water putty patches. Managed to remove the caulk and putty between the window frame and wall boards on the left side and part of the top. Need to do a better job scraping the bottom of the frame tomorrow along with priming the bare wood spots. And probably continue with the Caulking Olympics.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Talk about patchwork, Zombie.

 

It must have taken a little doing from you indeed in the garage as that bottom part of the puzzle is not exactly level with the wall.

 

And that West side story continues to have much to tell. You're two-thirds of the way there by the looks of it though and the window bit is the most demanding of your special brand of reconstructive surgery there.

 

Caulk callisthenics for the win!

 

 

p.s.: I expect all went wall with your father's procedure. Be safe!

[Zombie]

First things first, before I even loaded the truck with my painting gear I measured and cut that piece of cedar for the chunk of windowsill which was rotten. I was worried about the length being off so I cut the board just slightly longer than I needed and figured I could sand the edges till it fit. Got there and checked the length and it was literally perfect - no modifications necessary! So the chunk of new windowsill is 2 inches wide and my idea was to drill a pilot hole through the width to tie in to the existing windowsill and countersink. For that I'd need about a 3 inch screw. Didn't have that, but I did have some galvanized 3 1/2 inch screws and that seemed fine. One wasn't enough and neither was two so I drove in three which stiffened things up considerably.

 

 

This was a rough sawn cedar board so I sanded it till it was sorta smooth, I don't have to be exact here. Will have to prime this board yet, and I'll probably end up using water putty to fill in those big holes around it. To do a decent job though, it'll have to come back off so I can prime all the sides and when it's dry I'll pile in the caulk to either side so water can't make it's way in. By this time it was pretty hot on the West side so I took a break from that and did some more scraping on the South side above the hedge.

 

 

Some big cracks in the boards so I'll need to address that somehow. I tried poking behind the boards through the cracks with a putty knife to see if there is a nailer behind it but couldn't find anything. This might just be a "dumb luck" kinda fix: keep driving screws in random locations to see if any catch. Did I mention that scraping this part was not fun? Well, it's not fun. The roof is only about 2 feet wide so I basically had to scrunch up my 6'4" frame to fit and after a little while I got stiff. Might have to borrow an extension ladder from my dad so I can maybe paint off the side instead. Oh, and caulk too. This section is going to need about a tube's worth.

 

Speaking of caulk, when it got too warm on the South side I went back to the West side and emptied a tube into the spaces between the boards to the right of the window. I only caulked as high as I could reach off the ground.

 

 

Oh, and I also sprayed some bleach+bucket cleaner soap underneath the eaves to see if that helped with the dark spots. Yup, turns out it was mold.

 

 

I'll still need to scrape a little and roll some stain on there, but it's almost good to go. I mixed up a little more bleach than I needed so I sprayed the rest on the gutters and fascia along the rest of the South side. They needed it.

 

Tomorrow I might not be at the house depending on how many flowers we get in. I'm hoping I can swing over there and get some priming done and maybe some more scraping and caulking. If not, it'll have to be Friday.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Talk about getting it flush, Zombie.

 

Now, while it is pretty much perfect lenght-wise, it does seem somewhat thicker than the windowsill to the left of it. But that could just be the close-up effect of the pic bloating the significance of the difference.

 

Regardless, there's bound to be a whole lotta fillin' goin' on around there before long.

 

I see the South side isn't exactly cracking you up. It really didn't seem as bad as your scraping has now made bare. The crevaces are real, yet with a tad of loving care caulk will all seal!

[Zombie]

Now, while it is pretty much perfect length-wise, it does seem somewhat thicker than the windowsill to the left of it. But that could just be the close-up effect of the pic bloating the significance of the difference.

 

The new piece is wider than the end piece of the windowsill, but not along the whole length. It's wider a few inches to the left. And the reason for that is because the windowsill rotted out before already. I just made that difference up with some caulk, no big deal. It's not rocket science, it just has to pass inspection from 3 feet away.

 

Couldn't make it over to the house today unfortunately, but I was able to finally get the table tops in the greenhouse cleaned off. Plus the park bench.

 

 

There are some hardy mums on the far right - we are keeping this group in the greenhouse as they take longer to open in there and that gives us a little more time to sell what we have on display out in front. There's also my cart with some bags of soil on it, I'll be bringing those bags in the backroom for use during the winter.

 

Oh, I almost forgot, I finally finished painting the boards for the greenhouse. I just had to do one more end which I did the other day. Here you can see their final resting place till next spring.

 

 

When I put them away I noticed that some of them are scratched on the bottom. Not a problem, I'm going to put on the final coat next spring along with another coat on the table tops just to freshen everything up.

 

We have a heavy metal table by the corner red door and over time it has a tendency to sink into the blacktop. So I put wooden pads under the legs to spread the weight and cut down on the sinking. Well, a few years back I tossed out the old pads because they were starting to rot and made some new ones out of plywood. I actually soaked them for a couple days in boiled linseed oil+turpentine to protect them on the inside, then painted them with some Rustoleum black paint. That was kinda a mistake on my part as the paint started to peel off after a couple seasons. Took them inside and set them on the boiler to dry out and promptly forgot about them.

 

Anyhow, I was down in the furnace room a couple weeks back and found them. So I slapped on a couple coats of latex primer to fill in all the cracks and today I put on one coat of polyurethane on 5 sides. It's probably going to need 2 coats on everything, but it's a start.

 

 

It was taking forever to dry outside today (probably due to the humidity) so I brought them inside and turned a fan on to hopefully speed up the process. No dice, it was still sticky when I left to go home but it should dry overnight. Fingers crossed there.

 

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

When I put them away I noticed that some of them are scratched on the bottom. Not a problem, I'm going to put on the final coat next spring along with another coat on the table tops just to freshen everything up.

 

I might have mentioned that you're not paid enough... The tables are so shiny they look wet, but he's gonna freshen them up... Maaaaaaan, I wish I were you.

 

Just to illustrate - I would NOT TOUCH NEITHER THE BOARDS NOR THE TABLES ever again until they look as shitty as they did before you picked them up. Ok ok, perhaps a week earlier.

[Thorondor]

I see beautiful red across the board - good on you, Zombie!

 

But for all that alluring sheen there's by contrast a distinct lack of greenery on the premises.

 

Paint pigment can only go so far to brighten one's day as you no doubt know full well. So when is the greenhouse going to get back some of that truly joyous riot of natural colour ?

[Zombie]

I might have mentioned that you're not paid enough... The tables are so shiny they look wet, but he's gonna freshen them up... Maaaaaaan, I wish I were you.

 

Just to illustrate - I would NOT TOUCH NEITHER THE BOARDS NOR THE TABLES ever again until they look as shitty as they did before you picked them up. Ok ok, perhaps a week earlier.

 

I'll tell you, it's a heck of a lot easier to do touchup painting than it is to start all over from scratch. You have to remember that painting is 90% prep work and 10% actual painting. If I can skip that 90% (or even part of that) it pays for itself.

 

I investigated the table tops this morning and there are some spots which could use a little paint. I'm not sure how much red polyurethane I have left, but if I can manage it I'll roll another coat on now. I'd just as soon do the tables this year as that's one less thing to worry about next spring.

 

I see beautiful red across the board - good on you, Zombie!

 

But for all that alluring sheen there's by contrast a distinct lack of greenery on the premises.

 

Paint pigment can only go so far to brighten one's day as you no doubt know full well. So when is the greenhouse going to get back some of that truly joyous riot of natural colour ?

 

On or around May 3-4 2021. I mean, it's like the last hurrah at this time of the year - the only thing in there is the yellow hardy mums. I guess I can try to get a pic of them before we bring them out for display. Other than that, the outdoor stuff is at it's end. Too bad, but there's always next year!

 

So I emptied another tube of caulk into the West wall today. Then ran over to the paint store to get a replacement for the defective tube, got 3 more tubes and ordered another gallon of gray polyurethane. It isn't in stock, but it should arrive Tuesday. Now I'm second guessing myself and think I should order another gallon on top of that. Heh!

 

When I got back I started by taking off the piece of replacement windowsill, sanded the entire thing down with 36 and then 50 grit (it was smooth enough so I didn't bother with finer grits). and then ran into a snag. I wanted to prime the entire piece but didn't want it to stick to something while drying. I came up with an ingenious work around: I found some small pieces of foam board and screwed them to the ends of the screws, painted, then put it on a old scrap piece of 3/4 x 8 inch wide board to dry.

 

 

While that was drying I worked on scraping out the big cracks in the boards I didn't paint yet as they were filled with water putty and loose. Once I got all the putty out I could determine where the nailer was, then drilled pilot holes on either side of the crack, countersunk holes and drove in 1 3/4 inch coated decking screws (previously used, but plenty of life left in them yet).

 

 

At least now the boards can't move much anymore, so the cracks will stay somewhat the same width apart. After I got that done I checked the replacement windowsill and it was sorta dry (just a tad sticky). Good enough! I went and caulked the areas the board would touch on the old windowsill and put a nice heavy bead down. Got the replacement piece, screwed that back into position and filled in some of the spots with more caulk. Freebie reflection of me in the window, as usual.

 

 

That's not going anywhere. The chunks missing underneath the windowsill will be filled with water putty. That'll work out good because there's a bad area of the window frame that needs to be filled along with some other spots.

 

With that done, I ended the day by priming all the raw wood on the West side and also the areas with dried water putty.

 

 

I really put down the primer on the water putty areas and the spot where the boards meet the capstone. When I come back the next time I can lay down a bead of caulk between the two and it'll be almost ready for the first coat of stain. It's starting to come together now!

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Consider Spring chicken over here slapped over the head for the silly greenhouse occupancy question.

 

Liked your improv workaround for handling the priming of the windowsill replacement bit - sure did the trick. Almost looks like a diorama with the surrounding debris given your framing even.

 

You've got things moving along at a nice clip. Time to kick into gear and 'smoke' that final third of the West side. Go, Zombie!

[Zombie]

There was a chance for rain in the afternoon today so I decided to start by caulking a little bit on the West side. There were some rough areas above and to the right of the window which required some filling in and also a section of the crack I didn't get to the last time, I also caulked the area between the boards and capstone (as far as I primed at least). While waiting for that to skin over I did some scraping of the old caulk and putty above and below the window.

 

 

And as you can see I did a little bit of painting on the West side too.

 

 

Oh, and scraping too. Didn't get too much of that done but I had a couple dustpans filled with paint flakes, chips, old caulk and putty so I must've did something. I didn't bother taping up the capstone, I carefully freehanded when painting the caulk. I think it looks better with a non-perfect straight line of paint as the boards aren't 100% plumb anymore and neither is the capstone itself.

 

When I painted the red trim on the East side it rained and washed some of the red off the wood and on to the wall and capstone. Decided I should address that and figured that since I had the paint there that I'd brush on a second coat below the windows as it would be difficult to roll.

 

 

Much better. Obviously more scraping, caulking and possibly priming tomorrow although that depends on the weather. If anything, I still need to work on that patched area in the garage so I can always do that if I get rained out.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

A steady hand at the helm, Zombie be. Always ready to rescue ye to again a new home see!

 

As a certain fast food marketing line goes - I'm lovin' it!

 

Oh yeah, it's a sight for sore eyes to finally see the West side turning a leaf from coarse to smooth.

 

The only thing I'd say is perhaps it would be best if you saw to the red part of the equation at the top first, so you don't have to put a ladder against the newly painted wall and potentially leave any marks. Then again maybe I'm just fussing about it.

[Zombie]

The only thing I'd say is perhaps it would be best if you saw to the red part of the equation at the top first, so you don't have to put a ladder against the newly painted wall and potentially leave any marks. Then again maybe I'm just fussing about it.

 

The ladder shouldn't leave any marks as the only part that contacts the wood is the plastic top. Doesn't really matter even if it did because I'm going to be going over everything with another coat (this time rolled on). However, I'm planning on doing the red trim next because that is going to definitely require two coats (maybe even 3 depending on coverage) and I want to get that done before I tackle the wall due to paint drips and such.

 

I went to the house today for a little more "fun". There was a chance of rain again so I decided to just scrape. Got most of the West side done, but then it started to rain. Not heavily, just enough to make the grass (and myself) wet. In the meantime, I switched gears and messed around in the garage - scraped the piece of drywall at the bottom of the one wall, had to pound in some nails to keep the paper backing in place and then I swept up the mess, scraped the concrete floor by the wall and taped it up. So that should be nearly ready to go except for the patching. After I did that the sun came out so I checked the grass - still wet. Ended up scrubbing the two shutters from the West side in the sink to get them clean. Finally when I finished with that the grass was partially dry so back out I went. Got it done too.

 

 

Phew! Glad that's done. Next up is to sand the bare spots and prime them. Then Caulkpocalypse 2020™ Pt 2. Took a closer pic of the unfinished boards and capstone so you can see what I'm up against.

 

 

So I scraped every last piece of caulk out from between the boards and capstone as someone had used silicone caulk for that in the past. Don't ask me why, but it had to go as I want the new layer of caulk to adhere to both surfaces properly. Here's what a semi-finished interface looks like when done correctly:

 

 

Pretty, and it'll look even nicer with another coat on. Here's the area next to the chimney on the West side:

 

 

I had the gutter guys replace the board behind the gutter as it was completely rotten. There's already one coat of red on that, but it looks like the board underneath is peeling badly so I'll need to do a little more scraping there. Par for the course. Took a peek on the North side and there's an area that needs some TLC so I may have to work on that too. It just never ends.

 

- Zombie