Let's Paint!

[Space Voyager]

This house better sells HIGH. Unless the boss decides to move in as it looks so damn NEW afterwards.

[Zombie]

I really didn't have much time last week to do much painting at the house due to my brother visiting and it being cold (6-7 C) and rainy. That changed today however. The weather was really nice (shockingly compared to last week) so I was able to knock out some things. But because of the nice weather the asian lady beetles were out in full force - there must've been a few thousand on the brick chimney on the West side and they were aggressive as heck biting me nonstop. Frickinfruckindamn! At least they sorta moved on in the late afternoon.

 

Started out by sanding and brushing off the dust from the spots I scraped last week. After that I decided to brush on some of that mistint red latex paint I am using for the boards in the greenhouse on the right part of the fascia. Not even close to being the right color, but at least it was red. Chucked some on the frame of the window as well. Then I jumped over to priming the spots I sanded and dusted.

 

 

I wanted to get that fascia somewhat squared away so I painted the spots on the left side with some of that mistint red, then pulled out the proper trim color and started at the right. I figured that by the time I'd get the right side and the window frame painted then the left side would be dry. Worked out great.

 

 

There are some areas on the fascia which look strange - I think this is because the paint was a little bit wet yet and some of the mistint red is peeking through. No big deal, it's still going to need another coat yet which should cover. Didn't do the peak with the red as I couldn't reach that off my 8 foot ladder safely. Going to borrow an extension ladder for this part.

 

While I was painting the window I decided to do some more caulking. Used up the rest of one tube and another full tube by cauking around the window, some boards and the space between the boards and the capstone.

 

 

Since I still had the red out I decided to put on the final coat on the fascia behind the gutter to the far left. Looks pretty good now!

 

 

If you have good eyes you might be able to see some spots on the gutter and brick, those are the asian lady beetles I was talking about earlier. Have I mentioned they are annoying?

 

I was looking for spots that need water putty and found another area on the North side which has caved in.

 

 

So I'll need to chip that out somehow and repatch that with some water putty along with the spot under the window and possibly the chunk of frame to the upper right of the window (unless I can find a piece of brick molding frame wood to patch it with. Dunno where that would be so I have to do some searching at the store.

 

So overall, I at least got the fascia covered and the area between the capstone and boards caulked. Those were the two worry some areas. The priming was an added bonus. While I was at the store this morning I also found the gallon of greenish mistint I was using as a first coat for the concrete block walls. Last year I toned down the green quite a bit by adding some normal white to it and I figured I could use some of that as a first coat for the boards on the West side. At least, that's the thought - have no idea what the color looks like on the wall yet so I'll have to do a test spot.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

It's true, Zombie, so you can now say it - the ladies are all over you!

 

I mean, thinking about it, you went to them, so who's messing with whom?

 

On the caulking side of things, it seems to me you have to stay on it as it looks fine along the connection to the capstone, but the space between the boards almost certainly requires your further attention.

 

Final coat on the fascia behind the gutter - approved - beetles or no beetles.

 

Now, there can be no "let it be" on that last North side area. It looks nasty and the way I see it the more you dig there the more you'll find. So don't prod overmuch, for the sake of budget conservation.

[Zombie]

On the caulking side of things, it seems to me you have to stay on it as it looks fine along the connection to the capstone, but the space between the boards almost certainly requires your further attention.

 

Trust me, I'm all over it.

 

 

Dumped about 2 tubes worth into the cracks and spaces between the boards. It was kinda slow going because I was trying to use up two partially used tubes and the caulk must've dried in the spout. I was able to get to the good stuff by driving in a 3" drywall screw into the spout and then pulling it out with a pliers (the threads in the screw scraped the inside of the spout getting rid of some of the dried stuff). Didn't want to open up another tube and having it dry on me overnight so I gave that a rest. At least I got most of the cracks done as far up as I could reach without the ladder.

 

Now, there can be no "let it be" on that last North side area. It looks nasty and the way I see it the more you dig there the more you'll find. So don't prod overmuch, for the sake of budget conservation.

 

Very true, but the only area that really needs attention is the spot along the North West side of the garage. The rest of the North side actually looks pretty good yet - all it needs is a brush to knock off the spider webs, dead insects, leaves and junk and it should be fine.

 

Had a little time at the end of the day to fill in some of the joints in the capstone with mortar. First is the West side under the window, second is the South East corner and the third is directly to the left of that on the South side.

 

 

Looks a little rough, but I still need to go over the joints with a brick or piece of concrete to "sand" down the high spots when it cures completely.

 

While going into the house from the door in the garage I noticed that the handle was loose. Got out the screwdriver and tightened everything up. And of course, when I'm looking at the door I notice all sorts of paint specks on it so I carefully scraped them off. The paint on the frame would be difficult to remove so I think the best bet would be to slap on another coat of paint - found a quart can of paint I used for the space between the windows and screens at the house which is sorta a tan color which might be good. Also found a pint can of varnish though I don't think there's enough to do the entire door. Anyhow, the door and frame were filthy so I scrubbed everything down and rinsed it off. Looks better now.

 

 

The line going up and down door by the handle is an area with missing varnish (maybe someone used some tape on there in the past). Going to check inside that pint can of varnish to see if it's still good yet, if it is I can touch up the mark with it. No rush on this but I can always do it at the end of the day if I run out of work.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Today I picked up an extension ladder from home to work on the peak on the South side. Let me tell you, it's a heck of a lot easier doing work off the ladder than trying to balance on the small roof. I had a little more scraping left to do and then I addressed the big cracks by driving a screw in on either side to stabilize the wood. The two cracks in the boards running down from the peak were easy-peasy as I found a nailer in back of the boards. But the other cracks didn't have a nailer (as far as I could tell by digging around) so I ended up driving the screws into the metal flashing behind the boards. It's not ideal, but at least the boards are a little more stable. After all that I primed everything.

 

 

Next up is to caulk this section, slap on some red trim paint and a first coat. At some point I'm going to paint the flashing too - there isn't much paint left on it anymore.

 

Since I had the primer out, I painted the bottom of the window frame inside the garage, and also the quarter round molding that goes in the frame.

 

 

Latest word is that we aren't going to replace the window anymore so I need to put that back together the best I can.

 

Didn't want to start any more projects so I painted the frame of the door going into the house from the garage with that leftover tan paint.

 

 

I don't know about the color, but at least the unsightly dried paint marks are covered over. If the door was painted the same color as the frame the color might start to grow on me. Don't think I have enough paint for that and I'd hate to cover over the nice wood with paint.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Somehow that whole area above the small roof suddenly seems to me far larger to cover than was apparent in your pics before, Zombie.

 

You've got things well in hand though, as your outlined game plan demonstrates.

 

As for the garage window I can't say I agree with the "powers that be"; that crack is rather ugly and I can't imagine it would be so outrageously expensive to arrange for a replacement. That glass doesn't even strike me as being of the thicker variety, but it's hard to estimate just from the snap you took.

 

Frame of the door: well done. Door itself: wood grain or not, that varnish tone is just not my cup of tea. Not that it matters in the grand scheme of things.

[Zombie]

Somehow that whole area above the small roof suddenly seems to me far larger to cover than was apparent in your pics before, Zombie.

 

It's mostly just long, the max height is approximately 1 meter so the area isn't ginormous. Putz work mainly as I can only reach 4 boards without moving the ladder.

 

As for the garage window I can't say I agree with the "powers that be"; that crack is rather ugly and I can't imagine it would be so outrageously expensive to arrange for a replacement. That glass doesn't even strike me as being of the thicker variety, but it's hard to estimate just from the snap you took.

 

Totally agree, if it would be up to me I'd just replace the window outright. I think he's just getting anxious to relist the house on the market again and doesn't want to spend the time on it. Will that detract from the look and precipitate a lower offer? Maybe, but unlikely as it'll be hard to see unless you are right next to it. I guess it all depends how close it is inspected.

 

Frame of the door: well done. Door itself: wood grain or not, that varnish tone is just not my cup of tea. Not that it matters in the grand scheme of things.

 

Depends how much time I can spend on it, but I can always pick up another quart of paint and then I'd have enough to paint the entire door. Think I'm just going to try touching up the spots on it first with some varnish. If it still looks like crap then I'll get out the primer and paint.

 

Well, it was too bust at work to tear myself away to go to the house so I tried to tie up some loose ends at the store instead. Those 4 plywood pads for under the metal table legs still needed another coat of gray polyurethane so I brushed another coat on one side.

 

 

There was only a little paint at the bottom of the pail so I thought I should probably use it up before it completely hardens over. One of the rolling tables by the back cooler needed another coat on the top so I did that.

 

 

I put an orange traffic cone in front of the table to warn of the wet paint. It was drying pretty quick though because I added a splash of paint thinner to make the last bit easier to brush. There was still some left though so I went back to the standby: the threshold to the one red door. It wasn't in bad shape - just some cracks and a couple spots with loose paint. Figured another coat should give it a little more protection from the upcoming snow, ice and salt the winter will bring.

 

 

Much better. Stuck some traffic cones on either side of the door (inside and out) to warn of the wet paint (not expecting anyone to step on it except for maybe the bossman if he comes in late and doesn't smell the fumes). To finish off the last bit of the pail I brushed on a coat on the bottom of the galvanized metal tub and part of the sides. Still have a full pail of the stuff I got at the paint store to use on the table in the backroom, cooler floor (though I have some in another container with sand in it for traction) and the new tabletop I installed by the front a couple years ago (the top still looks almost brand new but it could use a freshening up and I never got to the bottom yet). Oh, and the lower shelves of the rolling tables could use another coat too.

 

Hopefully I can swing over to the house and get some caulking done. I have part of the West side to do as well as the South so there's plenty left. Thankfully I have about 7 tubes of caulk which should be enough to finish whatever I need to do there and still have some left for the store (used up about 3 tubes of my personal stock which I like to keep enough on hand for emergencies - can never have too much caulk).

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

A hodgepodge of projects at the house today (didn't really expect it to turn out like this, but things needed to get done). First thing I did was reinstall the molding for the window inside the garage - made sure to lay down a heavy bead of caulk before. After I pounded in the nails to secure the molding to the frame I caulked the joints.

 

 

Throughout the day I worked on caulking the West side. Got pretty far but there's more to go yet. When I used up my second full tube I decided to stop as I didn't want to open another and have it dry out. Made that mistake more than once. It was nearing quitting time anyway.

 

 

Basically the only caulking left on the West side is above the window and one joint to the left of the window (the 3rd joint). I figure about a tube and a half for that and maybe another half a tube for the rough areas. You may notice that I finally filled in the space underneath the window frame with water putty. Since I was doing that I made some extra to do the two areas on the North side.

 

 

For that ledge in the 2nd picture, I dug out all the old putty and completely rebuilt it. It's not perfect, but I still need to sand it when it's dry which should make it look like a ledge again. Caulk will fill in any low areas after the sanding. Jumped to the inside of the garage to work on the big gouges and holes in the wall where the new piece of drywall was installed. (Apologies, the pic is a little washed out because it was so sunny).

 

 

Dunno why I thought I should use water putty to fill in a hole, but what's done is done. If anything it should make the transition a little more robust. Filled in the rest of the areas with drywall compound. Still have to tape and mud the joints of the new piece of drywall and then that wall should be ready for priming and paint.

 

The last project I did was paint some metal vent plates for the ducts inside the house. (Sorry no pic of this, I pressed the button on the camera but maybe I didn't press hard enough). The two I did were rusty or had tape residue and were chipping in areas. I sanded them down a little and sprayed them with a primer. The original plan was to spray them with an almond spray paint, but I noticed that the original color of the paint was very similar (if not exactly the same as) the color I used to paint the frame of the door inside the garage. That makes it easy, so I brushed on a light coat of that. I'll make sure to get a pic of them tomorrow.

 

I took stock of caulking and realized I have 4 full tubes left. Not sure it's going to be enough to finish the West side and the South side too so I'll probably be going back to the paint store to get some more. This time I might get a mixture of colors, but heavy on the gray of course. Plus I know I'm going to need another gallon of the siding stain for rolling on the final coat. And my water putty supply is steadily shrinking too. And I might order another gallon of the red polyurethane for the boards and table tops in the greenhouse.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

The last project I did was paint some metal vent plates for the ducts inside the house. (Sorry no pic of this, I pressed the button on the camera but maybe I didn't press hard enough).

 

Found out what happened. There's a folder where the pictures are saved to in the memory card, and when you use up all the unique memory spots the camera creates a new folder and starts saving pics there. That's why I didn't see the picture as it was in a different folder. So here's a pic of the vent plates.

 

 

Compared to what they looked like before, it's 100% better. Even better is that the sheen is perfect: the satin finish isn't super shiny and isn't flat either. Plus it's easier to work with than a semi-gloss.

 

Today there was a chance of rain forecast in the late afternoon/evening so I decided not to do any painting outside whatsoever. But caulking is ok as long as it skins over before the rain comes. Started with the peak on the South side above the front door.

 

 

Kind of a pain in the butt because it was so windy it was blowing the putty knife and canvas off the roof and blew the hat off my head too. Powered through it and got it done. Took about a tube and a half of caulk. Since I had leftovers I decided to go to the West side. Dumped the rest of that tube into the wall. Found a partially empty tube in the garage which I was going to throw out because the caulk got hard in the spout and squeezed out the back behind the plunger. Cleaned the back out by scraping the sides with a paint stick, and cleaned out the spout by cutting the opening bigger to allow a screw to be inserted and pulled out. Somehow that worked, so I dumped the rest of that tube into the wall as well.

 

 

The only part I didn't caulk yet is the joints between the boards above the window. Have two full tubes left so that should be enough for the time being. I also used the extension ladder to reach the red area at the top of the peak. Scraped that off partially. (I never really noticed this before, but the window is not centered under the peak - it's offset to the South. Odd).

 

Here's a pic of the garbage barrel in the garage.

 

 

Must've got something done as there are 6 empty tubes in there. Btw, the vinyl gloves in there are not mine, they are from the HVAC guys. I caulk with bare hands as cleanup is really easy with just warm water.

 

Dunno what's going to happen tomorrow, as flowers are coming so I have to process them before anything else. After that (and if time permits) I'll try to swing over to the house to get the rest of the caulking done and maybe even some painting.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

One should have gotten used to your work ethic by now, but, time and again, you still manage to blast past all expectations Zombie!

 

That's a lot of ground you've covered in the past couple of days all around, including some more demanding tasks like outright partial reconstructions of entire sections.

 

Definite thumbs up on the outcome with those painted vent plates. The finish looks really smooth.

 

So, it's plain to see in the end, ladies and gentlemen, right there - six in the barrel. Fun and games, but only for the Top Gun!

[Space Voyager]

and cleaned out the spout by cutting the opening bigger to allow a screw to be inserted and pulled out. Somehow that worked, so I dumped the rest of that tube into the wall as well.

 

That's how I do it too - for some reason, closing the spout never works well enough to prevent the hardening.

 

It all looks like ten tons of work, man.

[Zombie]

I really put the hammer down today and got some things done at the house. There was a chance of rain forecast for 5PM so I wanted to get any painting done by 3PM at the latest otherwise the rain might wash off the stain. Started off on the South side and mopped out the peak area quickly.

 

 

Didn't do the red fascia as that type of stain has a tendency to bleed if it gets wet. I did notice that the paint was drying fairly quick so I was confident enough to forge on. So I continued on to the West side and started painting by the chimney first working my way to the window. It took a little to get it covered but looked like it was hiding most of the "imperfections" in the wood. When I got to the window I had to do some caulking on the joints and boards themselves. Figured I'd start caulking to the upper right and work my way left to meet the newly painted area. When that was done I painted in the same fashion so that the caulking I applied first was painted first (so it has a chance to skin over).

 

 

Just about the time I finished painting the West wall there were a few raindrops that fell, but it soon stopped. I know when to cut my losses so I cleaned up outside and started messing around with the wall inside the garage. Here's what it looked like after some sanding and scraping.

 

 

For the top coat I first put down some fiberglass tape over the area which was bad, then mudded it as best I could. Even did the piece of new drywall. Swept up the mess too, so it looked better for the people coming to see the house (had 3 groups come through today so there's plenty of interest in the property and house).

 

 

Will need to do some sanding to smooth out the joint compound when it's dry. And I didn't bother mudding the screw holes on the right side of the new piece of drywall - figured I'll caulk them instead as it's less messy. After that's done I'm going to install a piece of wood as a baseboard to match the left side of the wall. Ended everything out by brushing on another coat of paint on the two duct vents. Quite a busy day, but I got a lot done.

 

So I have a little bit of caulk left in one tube from doing the West side, and one extra tube as emergency backup. Found a couple tubes of caulk at the store this morning in my painting drawer- one was white and the other was clear (both latex based, not silicone). Could probably use those for caulking in the garage as they aren't high quality but should hold up fine indoors.

 

As for the tan paint, I have one unopened gallon and about a quart left in the second can. So far I used up maybe a gallon on the three sides I painted so I should be able to squeeze by on the final coat as I'll roll that on and the coverage should be better as everything is now filled in. Still might pick up another gallon just to be safe, can always use the remnants at the store. There's plenty of red paint left so no worries there. Glad I got a full gallon of that though as most areas need 3 coats to cover properly.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Apparently the house is sold to the last potential buyer that visited on Friday! So I basically don't have to do any more improvements. I'm going to finish it off properly though and get the people a nice looking place. I like to think I played a role in getting the sale so quickly as I let the people look around early and they could see me doing improvements and I also eased their uncertainty of installing a gas range (instead of electric) as there is a gas line directly underneath the kitchen. I have a few weeks until the deal is finalized and the keys are handed over.

 

In the garage I sanded the drywall compound over the joints to smooth everything out and brushed all the dust off. Then I used some of that "explosive" latex primer (luckily no surprises this time) to seal the compound.

 

 

Also took the hose hangars off the wall, filled the holes and primed the spots. Got a board for a kickplate at the bottom of the wall - it's not quite as high as the other board, but at this point I don't care if it isn't an exact match, at least it'll be better. All I need to do is cut it to length, prime it, attach it to the wall and caulk the joints and I'll be ready to paint. Spent a good part of the day cleaning out the garage in anticipation of the paint - took the shelves off the wall, scraped and sanded the spots underneath the vertical brackets (aka "standards") and brushed off the cobwebs.

 

Another issue I noticed was the frame of the garage. A few years ago we had the garage door replaced and the guys that installed the trim left some unsightly bare spots along the length, plus the frame itself was looking shabby in spots. Spent some time scraping and sanding the spots and paid particular attention to the bottom of the frame as there was dry rot there, so I really had to take my time and sand all the loose wood fibers off. Then the primer came out.

 

 

I taped up the trim with blue tape - not so much for the primer as it's nearly the same color as the trim, but for the red which will require probably 3 coats.

 

Speaking of red, I didn't do hardly any painting outside today at all. Rain was forecast for 5pm and I didn't want to risk applying latex outside. I figured that the oil primer would be fine so I sanded those two water putty repair jobs on the North side and primed them and also scraped and primed the board underneath the gutter on the Northwest corner by the chimney. It wasn't quite as bad as I thought but still needed attention. No pics of this unfortunately.

 

Tomorrow will probably be trim day: I wanna get all the red areas painted with as many coats as I can safely do. And possibly cut, prime and install the garage wood kickplate. When that's all done then I want to roll on the final coat of paint on the boards outside. That would finish off the outside and the final thing would be to paint the inside of the garage (just going to do the walls, the ceiling looks great yet). Might also prime and paint the door inside the garage going into the house - I think it would look better.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

All told, Zombie went in bold and got it sold!

 

The fast "renovation" work you've done outside absolutely had a part in that in my view. First impressions matter and you definitely did away with the rougher edges, particularly on the West side.

 

That wall inside the garage is coming along right fine and once you put in the section of kickplate and start painting it all things will be as if new.

 

The lower part of the frame of the garage door sure had some shedding to do but it looks quite passable now.

 

Time to deliver with all the trimmings then!

[Space Voyager]

I wonder what the added value of your work was - if the house would have been sold at all without it... Great job, Z! From start to sale, just great.

 

I did do some work around the house, too. I might ever necro a certain thread a bit, being inspired by a certain individual here. I'm pointing no fingers.

[Zombie]

I wonder what the added value of your work was - if the house would have been sold at all without it... Great job, Z! From start to sale, just great.

 

The house probably would have sold no matter what I did to it, but like you and Mr T mentioned, it sure helped to sweeten the deal. It technically was on the market for maybe a week and we had 3 potential buyers. If it was left on the market for longer it's possible we might have been able to get a better price as all my work would be done.

 

I did do some work around the house, too. I might ever necro a certain thread a bit, being inspired by a certain individual here. I'm pointing no fingers.

 

Looking forward to that. Besides, I'm running out of viable weather and painting projects.

 

Today I was seeing red. Well, red trim paint, and lots of it. The West side got one final coat on the fascia and one temporary coat on the peak.

 

 

You can probably see that inside the garage the kickplate is in place. I cut that to size today and checked it for fit and it was perfect. Needs to be primed yet and the joint needs to be caulked but that's good to go. Anyhow, I ended up caulking the top rotten section of the window on the West side. Water putty would have taken too long to cure and I couldn't find the old piece of brick molding to replace so caulk it was. Just used some tan caulk as it was already open and I didn't want to cut open my final tube of gray. The window then got another coat of red.

 

 

The upper frame needs another coat and possibly the window ledge and also the caulk joint between the window and the frame.

 

Put two coats on the fascia above the front door on the South side today and as a bonus I also slapped a coat on the flashing on the roof as it looked pretty bad.

 

 

Same deal to the garage door frame: two coats.

 

 

The red paint was going on nice and even today so it's possible that only two coats are necessary but I'll have to investigate that after it dries fully to determine if anything is peeking through. My only worry now is that it's supposed to rain in the early morning hours of Thursday with the greatest chance after 6 AM. Hopefully everything dries properly by that time.

 

So besides the little bit of red touchup, the only thing left on the outside is the boards themselves. Roll one coat on them and it'll be finished. Of course, it all depends on the weather. If I can't get to it right away I can always work inside the garage.

 

Talked to the new owner today as he was over at the house to hear what the home inspector had to say about the place. He seemed pleased about me painting the trim and was fine with me painting just the walls inside the garage and the new wood kickplate. His wife/SO was making a little bit of a stink about me taking the shelves down inside the garage, but I mentioned that it was easier to paint the walls with them off and I could leave them to reinstall if they really wanted them back. The owner said what I was doing was fine and that I could take everything back. Besides, everyone is different in how they want their garages set up. Probably dodged a bullet there and it helped that I built a rapport with the owner too.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

A touch of crimson will most assuredly delight, Zombie leaves naught undone as often others might.

 

For one thing, I can tell you the coat on the flashing on the roof did the trick - looks smashing!

 

And congrats on successfully navigating the minefield that can be the husband / wife quirks divide. I guess this means you'll be skipping the possible paint job on that door inside the garage. Their loss.

[Zombie]

I guess this means you'll be skipping the possible paint job on that door inside the garage. Their loss.

 

I wouldn't say that's completely off the table. If I see the new owner I'll ask to see what his plans or wishes are. It'll need a good sanding and coat of oil primer to make sure the varnish doesn't start to peel off underneath (it seemed pretty solid to me when I was scrubbing it). And I think I'd have enough latex paint left to put on a coat, though because it's a satin finish I'll probably have to roll it on and not brush it.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

I kinda decided spur-of-the-moment that today would be final coat on the walls. I had the roller, pan, extension pole, spinner and paint at the ready. Was a tad bit worried that I might not have enough paint to do everything, but that soon faded when I saw how far it went. Started on the West side to make sure that had plenty of time to dry in the sun.

 

 

The window ledge is going to need another coat of red and so is the top part of the frame, but the fascia looks great. While I was at it, I also painted the board underneath the eaves by chimney.

 

 

Also touched up those two spots I filled with water putty on the North side.

 

 

Continuing in a counterclockwise direction, the East side finally got it's second coat.

 

 

You might notice that some areas look lighter like above the windows and along the capstone. That was my bad, I was trying to use up some of the old paint leftover from 2012 and just assumed the color was identical. I don't think it was (unless it dries darker, that remains to be seen). It's easily touched up as I still have plenty of paint left. Kinda the same deal on the South side.

 

 

Here's what it looks like around the front door now.

 

 

Apologies, the sun was pretty bright and low in the sky when the pic was taken. I didn't get to the peak above the front door, that's going to require a second coat and the fascia also needs another coat of red (the paint thankfully didn't wash off in the rain it just dried and let the primer spots peek through).

 

Anyway we come back to where I started off - the garage. Did a little bit of priming and caulking today inside.

 

 

Primed that wood kickplate on the front and the sides, still have to do the back - you can see that on top of the garbage cans.Other than that, the garage is nearly ready to be painted. Will have to start bringing some stuff back to the shop to clear it out and then I'll be done. The house deal finalizes at the end of the month pending two fixes but I should be done.

 

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

So... the house was sold, you could've just lifted your arms and look at the flowers, but you came back and did more and more work?! You should change your nick to Saint!

 

On a serious note - your boss doesn't mind the extra work (and funds) going into the house?

[Zombie]

On a serious note - your boss doesn't mind the extra work (and funds) going into the house?

 

Not really, we already had the paint so it's not like there's more money being poured into the place. It's basically just my time. Plus there's a bunch of projects that needed to be finished - not sure if anything was secretly flagged by the home inspector that I don't know about but on the off chance I may as well follow up and finish what I can in the time allotted. Have a few more days till the end of the month and two are going to be off limits due to delivering and cutting flowers.

 

Got some more painting outside done today. Those lighter spots I mentioned yesterday did indeed dry lighter so I had to go over those areas again with the newer paint. Finished off the East side first.

 

 

Much, much better than what I started with. In a perfect world, I would have caulked all the joints on the East side but we'll leave that for the new owner to decide (told him about that last week along with the North side). At least the wood is protected from the elements during the harsh winter. Painted the peak above the front door too - both the boards and fascia.

 

 

Again, very nice. If you are wondering why the red is painted on an angle on the flashing in the second picture, well, from the ground it looks like a straight line due to the roof pitch. Did the frame around the window on the West side and reattached the shutters.

 

 

Thought I lost the screws for the shutters but found them in a pail with other hardware so I got lucky. I also painted the frame around the garage door one more time and finally attached those 2 vent covers inside the house (no pics, I tried but they didn't turn out). With the remainder of my time I primed the back of the kickplate for in the garage, attached it to the wall, caulked all the screw holes and the joint above the board and wall.

 

 

That little blue pail is my discard bucket for previously used screws from when I put up new plastic on the greenhouse. Most of the screws are fine yet as they were coated (some of the heads are chowdered up or rusty which I'll throw away). Waste not, want not. If I didn't have them I'd have to buy some more. It's about half full right now so I'm making a dent in it slow but sure. Anyhow, all that's left is to paint the inside of the garage which shouldn't take too long.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Who needs color correction when you've got Zombie perfection?

 

[Zombie]

Today I was able to whack out the inside of the garage. Luckily it was warm and sunny so everything dried quick which is super important at this time of the year. Apologies, some of the pics may be washed out but I'll try to get some better ones before I'm done.

 

 

Any discolored spots are not really there, just the sun messing things up. It took about 3/4 of a gallon to do three walls, so I wouldn't have had enough to do the ceiling anyway, but it's in great shape yet. I did add a few good splashes of latex paint conditioner so the paint wasn't so "stringy" and flowed better (this usually happens when you apply latex paint with some sort of sheen to the finish - in this case satin finish). I was careful to cut in along the ceiling and not roll too high as the ceiling is a flat finish and a satin would show on that. And along the floor I cut in "freehand" to skip the task of taping up (that is a real benefit if you can handle it).

 

It's funny how when you are trying to prep a surface you'll miss obvious problems and then when you get to painting these issues rear their ugly heads really quick. I missed a spot of chipping paint on the west wall (the wall with the window) and when I went to scrape I removed a big chunk and had to carefully stop to not make the area too large. Then I pre-primed the spot with the satin finish paint making sure to fill in the edges to "cement" any loose areas back down and finally rolled on the final coat after it skinned over. I also noticed that some of the screw holes on the kick plate which I caulked a while back had actually sunk in, so I'm going to need to re-caulk and touch them up. I'll also be painting another coat on the areas I brushed on as you can never get enough paint on those areas with just a brush.

 

All in all, it looks a hell of a lot better than it did before. All those scuffs and dirty areas are gone and now with a satin finish it should help to prevent them from happening again. Plus you can wash the walls if you need to. Add to that the new kickplate, new drywall, removal of the shelves and caulking really opened the area up making it look a lot bigger than it was.

 

I might cut off those 2x4s sticking below the beam yet as that is distracting and perhaps fill that hole along the beam against the wall in the third pic. And probably loosely zip tie the cord for the garage door opener up to the ceiling. Other than that and the touch up painting I still need to get rid of all the old shelves and my painting equipment.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Be not surprised to so discover the sunny side of life, for that is why Zombie's work is prized!

 

The garage does look more spacious to me. The sunlight present helps as well, of course, but the uniform coating applied is what ultimately makes it so.

 

Man, you're really spoiling the new owner with the planned detailed finishing touches. He should wise up to that and at least buy you a beer!

[Zombie]

Man, you're really spoiling the new owner with the planned detailed finishing touches. He should wise up to that and at least buy you a beer!

 

Yeah, but not a beer, but a six pack of beer. And not the cheap stuff either, top shelf all the way! (Is there even such a thing as top shelf beer? Where's Slaughter when you really need him)?

 

Today was kinda the finishing touches day. The one thing I really wanted to address was the big gap between the beam in the middle of the garage and the wall.

 

 

This is a huge code violation (which the housing inspector completely missed mind you) because if a fire should start in the garage it could lap into the gap and ignite the framing inside the wall (on the other side of this wall is the dining room wall). Technically I think code is to fill the gap with drywall, but I don't have any pieces of that on hand and don't have the time to do another big repair job, so wood it is. I figured I could cut a piece of 2x4 to the proper length and screw that to the piece of 2x4 on the right side of the beam. So got out the camp saw and cut a piece of leftover green treated wood from the greenhouse (I figured that would not burn as fast as a normal piece). Since I had the saw out I cut those studs off in back of the beam and prime them (can see this in the pic above, and this one too).

 

 

Just used the "explosive" primer as it dries fast. I also primed the 2x4 I cut and a trim piece for underneath the mess. When the primer was dry I attached the pieces to the wall and caulked everything up. No more spaces.

 

 

While I had the caulk in hand I filled in the screw holes on the kickplate again as the caulk seemed to shrink. While that was drying, I did a little more red touchup on the West side. The overhang above the window only had one coat on it so I gave it another plus the top frame of the window. Touched up a few spots on the North and East sides and painted the 4x4 post next to the planting area by the front door.

 

The window on the West side was pretty dirty and had some paint spatter from rolling inside and out so I scraped it with a razor blade and cleaned it. Then I painted the window ledge yet another time (I think there's 4 or 5 coats on it now which should offer some decent protection from the elements till the next paint job). When that was done I painted the area I fixed in the garage, the kickplate, the louvers on a vent cover, and certain areas of the new piece of drywall.

 

Loaded up the van with the shelves, standards and brackets plus some of the painting gear I accumulated there. Washed off the garbage can lids, reattached the garage door opener and stapled the wire to the wall and also stapled the coaxial cable and phone line to the wall to prevent it from getting caught when coming near it. For an extra touch I cleaned off the light switch and electrical outlet and the plastic plate which covers them (dirty plus some old paint on them). Then shifted things to the perimeter and swept the garage out.

 

I took pics of all this but nothing really turned out because it was either too dark or too dusty. So I might try to take some more pics tomorrow if I'm in the neighborhood delivering. Looks a lot better now. I might possibly paint the door at some point if I need a project to finish the day. I think that would help make it look cleaner.

 

It's too bad the house is already sold. If it would have been up to me on when to sell, I would have held on to it for another month and worked on other projects which would increase the value of the place. Like painting the North side, painting all the vent covers in the house, repainting the rooms, bleaching and painting some of the walls in the basement and other small repairs. But who knows, maybe the new owner wants to do things differently (I know he wants to remodel the kitchen so maybe he'll want to fix other areas too).

 

- Zombie