Let's Paint!

[Zombie]

Ok, so this other project I mentioned before is to address the service door next to the small garage door (if you look back to my posts from last year about the small garage door exterior you can see how bad it was then already). There's a few things that need fixing:

1. The paint is really faded.
   
2. The kick plate is scuffed up and unsightly with rust stains.
   
3. The door in back of the kick plate is starting to rust where the screw holes are.
   
4. The sill plate has some rusty screws.
   

 

That's the before picture. The brighter spots of paint exist because I touched up the door later in the year I painted it with a different type of paint which held up better (pro tip: don't use Rust Oleum in high sunlight conditions - it'll fade). First thing is to remove that kick plate.

 

 

Now you can see how bad it really is. Because this is a west facing door, it will get wind blown snow against it in the winter and rain when it's above freezing. All that water has to go somewhere, and I think what's been happening is the water gets between the kick plate and the door and then works it's way into the screw holes which hold the plate on causing the metal door to rust. Gotta do something about that or else we'll be looking at a replacement door. I wanna fix that kick plate up so let's start with that.

 

 

The before picture obviously (don't mind my big feet). It's made of stainless steel so it'll never rust, but it'll get rust stains on it. Kick plates normally have a brushed finish to them to hide scratches and the last time I painted the door I just sanded it lightly which worked out good. Over the years though, it got dinged up, scratched, stained and oxidized. First step is to sand to get rid of as much of the deep scratches and oxidation as possible. Trick is to use long parallel swipes while sanding to prevent the lines from showing later. In this case I used a sanding sponge (a sponge of sorts with a sandpaper covering over it) for this step (not sure what grit it is, but my guess is 150-ish).

 

 

Wow, just that little bit of sanding and you can already start to see me taking the pic. The next step (I didn't show this) I used a Scotch scouring pad to scour the surface of the plate to give it a more uniform finish (this is where I left off the last time I did the door). Wasn't happy with it this time, so I used the scouring pad and some polishing compound in combination.

 

 

(Accidentally took the pic looking at it from the other side). While it looks great in the pic, I still wasn't impressed. There were still scratches and dings present. I know it's not going to be perfect when I get done with it, but I want it to look a little shinier otherwise it'll look like I didn't do anything to it at all. Looking back, I probably could have went back to the sanding sponge at this point but the scratches and dings were not really deep enough to warrant it. I ended up going to the hardware store to pick up a few different grades of fine sandpaper. Please pay attention to what you can see in the reflection of the metal.

 

600 Grit

 

 

Took quite a few passes to get it to this point. Should have really got a 400 grit to start - you live, you learn.

 

1000 Grit

 

 

This is where you can start to see some detail. I think it probably would have been good enough but I still had another grade. Might as well give that a go.

 

1500 Grit

 

 

It's a little "cloudy" around the edges so I might hit those areas again, but otherwise it's awesome. It's deceiving - it looks like a mirror finish, but in reality there are still fine scratches present and that's fine. I'd much rather it have some fine scratches to hide the inevitable onslaught heading it's way. Sure wouldn't want to jump to 2000 grit.

 

So the plate is nearly finished at this point. Now it's time to work on the door so stay tuned for that...

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Service door under the weather? Zombie keeps it together!

 

Of course, something must come apart a little first and you can't be faulted for the care you're sparing that so often assailed kick plate.

 

Long parallel swipes for uniformity, noted. Good thinking there.

 

One could very much start to see a significant difference in surface reflection at the 1000 grit point. And then you went for vanity, mildly cloudy as it may marginally remain in the end. When that thing is back in place and the sun hits it, though, the boss may have to grab himself some shades.

 

Let it not stop you - carry on in your pursuit of excellence!

[Space Voyager]

DAMN IT, I'll need to do some work around the house, too! This can't be allowed to continue, Zombies are taking over the handyman-world!

 

Bah, currently I can't compete. I'll be back!

[Zombie]

When that thing is back in place and the sun hits it, though, the boss may have to grab himself some shades.

 

Very true, though the only time where reflection may be an issue is late in the day when the sun is low in the sky. At that time we have a van parked in front of the door and most likely we are closed too.

 

DAMN IT, I'll need to do some work around the house, too! This can't be allowed to continue, Zombies are taking over the handyman-world!

 

No worries, it's tough sometimes to get anything done at home because (at least for me) I'm usually too tired to do more after a long day at work. But if you break a project up into smaller steps you might be able to fit those in. Before you know it, you'll be done.

 

I did manage to do a little bit of work on the door the other day (no pics for any of this unfortunately). I sanded it down with some rough 50 grit sandpaper to knock down any glossiness and to give the new paint something to grab on to. After I sanded it, I ran my hand across the door to feel for any high spots and everything was smooth, however, my hand was blood red from the paint particles. Because of that, I washed the door off with some soapy water.

 

I spent way too much time on the sill plate though. I thought I'd be able to get that fairly clean rather quickly with a wire cup brush on a drill, and it did, but there are grooves in the plate which were caked with hard grit and oxide (the plate is made of aluminum). Ended up scraping them with a putty knife, then wire brushing them by hand. And it still didn't end up looking decent due to the wire brush. So I might just spray it with a primer. Not only that, but there are three screws which hold the plate down which were a little rusty (not terrible though). My original intention was to replace the screws with stainless steel to prevent the formation of rust. Unfortunately the two screws on each end are so tight I can't possibly get them loose either by hand or a drill (probably would get them out with an impact driver but we don't have that). Also, the head of the center screw is so chowdered up there is no way of getting that out. Bummer. Well, those will just have to stay in place for now. Will update more next week.

 

So for a change of pace, how about a planting project? Remember the wall of the small garage I painted last year? Well, there is a small planting bed between the wall and the walkway and since we had some perennials left I decided to plop some in there to beautify that portion of the world. The thing was a weedy mess though, so I yanked it all out.

 

 

I got 4 big piles out. The only thing I salvaged from that mess was a couple stems of Rudbeckia (black-eyed Susan)... you might be able to see it in the middle. That sheet metal pile has been sitting there at the corner of the garage since May when the HVAC guys removed a rooftop unit and didn't take along the scrap. Time to move that out of the way! Now, I could have just planted straight into the soil there, but there are a couple issues

1. There were so many weeds that the soil was all clumpy from the roots
   
2. There were probably a lot of weed seeds in the soil which were just waiting to sprout once I gave it some TLC.
   

My decision was to dig out approximately 4 inches (10 cm) of dirt and replace it with some composted cow manure. I also added some soil-less planting mix to loosen things up and top dressed the whole shebang with some 5-10-5 garden fertilizer granules.

 

 

That was quite a bit of work but it turned out looking nice and clean. Now for the plants. I didn't have a huge selection to pick from, so I had to choose some varieties that can take nearly full sun conditions. I had 3 white coneflowers (Echinacea) so that would work as centerpieces. To fill in between those I had 6 Canterbury Bells (Campanula) and 8 Corkscrew Rush grass (Juncus). Plus that black-eyed Susan - so a total of 18 plants. Plopped those in, watered them and washed the concrete walkway.

 

 

Beautiful! The wilty plant closest to the camera is the black-eyed Susan, but it'll bounce back now that it's watered in.

 

So there you go, a little non-painting home (urm, business) improvement.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

That sill plate handful sounds familiar, Zombie.

 

Both the part imagining one can get away with using an electric tool only to end up doing it the hard way by hand, and the bit regarding screws losing their head grooves and ending up dug in as is.

 

video on YouTube provides some possible solutions to the screw predicament (including the impact driver one).

 

Also, my congrats on your planting project, as the outcome already makes a world of difference. Once the plants settle in and start growing and blooming it will make what once was a space of some neglect into a bright spot people will be happy to walk by once again.

 

Business improvement indeed!

[Zombie]

That sill plate handful sounds familiar, Zombie.

 

Both the part imagining one can get away with using an electric tool only to end up doing it the hard way by hand, and the bit regarding screws losing their head grooves and ending up dug in as is.

 

video on YouTube provides some possible solutions to the screw predicament (including the impact driver one).

 

I highly doubt any of those solutions would work in my specific case. Sure, for #2 screws it's all fine and dandy because you'll have a multitude of options to pick from and there's a darn good chance of getting it loose regardless which method you pick. The screws affixing the sill plate to the concrete are not #2, they are probably a #4 (I have a very nice #3 phillips screwdriver and that is a little bit small). And the head of the center screw is really, really chowdered up so I don't even know if a #4 would have enough material to grab hold of anymore. I'll try to get some pics of it.

 

I do like that at the end of the video the guy says there's basically no way to remove a 4" #2 screw from wood. You're kidding, right? My method will wreck the wood a little, but you can always fix wood. My favorite way is to dig down into the wood underneath the head to make a little room, then use a locking pliers (aka Vise Grip) to latch on the screw and turn. That works quite often. After that, you can glue a plug of wood into the hole you made. Easy peasy!

 

Also, my congrats on your planting project, as the outcome already makes a world of difference. Once the plants settle in and start growing and blooming it will make what once was a space of some neglect into a bright spot people will be happy to walk by once again.

 

I hope so. I doubt anything will bloom this year yet (besides the white coneflowers) so maybe next year.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

 

Man, whatever happened to Flower Power?

[Zombie]

Ok, I got some pics of the screws and sill plate. The first one is the middle screw (or what's left of it anyway).

 

 

There's a little meat left on the bone so it might be possible to back out the screw with an extractor, but it's so corroded and rusty I'm worried it will not free itself from where it enters the concrete under the plate. I'm assuming there's an anchor under the plate in the concrete where the screw goes into... if it's a metal anchor, I'll bet the screw doesn't back out and just snaps because of the rust. And in that case it isn't going to be "just remove the bad screw and replace it with a stainless steel screw" because the anchor will have the remnants of the old screw in it. So I'd have to completely remove the sill plate in order to get at what's left of the screw.

 

You can see how pitted the sill plate still is. I could sand it for another couple hours and maybe get it somewhat smooth, but the grooves would be difficult to get to the same finish. At least the plate is rough so I probably will not need a self-etching primer on it. See? There's always a bright side!

 

Here's a pic of one of the other screws (the left one if you are looking from the outside, but it's the right one in this pic because I'm on the inside).

 

 

My favorite #3 phillips screwdriver is in the slots and it's still a little loose. Granted, the heads on those screws are a little chowdered as well (due mainly to rust but also a little because of me trying to get them out). However, even if the screw was brand new it looks like it would still be a little big for a #3 driver which is why I believe it's a #4.

 

The sill plate doesn't look too bad here. At least it's shiny. But the pitting is still pretty horrible.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Yeah, that screw has put you in a rather tight spot, Zombie.

 

It's going to be dicey but you'll have to either leave it be, tucked in, comfortable and umoving in its slow decay, or take your chances and deal with the aftermath, whatever it is. The pitting may not be pretty but doesn't scare.

 

For a moment there it almost sounded like dental care. So, the question is, are you up for an extraction - will you dare?

[Zombie]

It's going to be dicey but you'll have to either leave it be, tucked in, comfortable and umoving in its slow decay, or take your chances and deal with the aftermath, whatever it is. The pitting may not be pretty but doesn't scare.

 

For a moment there it almost sounded like dental care. So, the question is, are you up for an extraction - will you dare?

 

I think I'm going to chicken out on the dental extractions Mr T. Thing is, I'll only make it worse by removing. The plate is solid right now even with two screws holding it in place so I'd be stupid to muck with it. (If it aint broke, I'll "fix" it till it is syndrome). I think that by priming everything, caulking in the screw heads and then applying polyurethane it should last for at least another 10 years assuming you keep up with the maintenance (that's the key really).

 

So a slight change of gears for a little bit. Earlier in the year I noticed that some of the mortar joints of the smaller garage were starting to decay for some reason. The section I'm referring to is the part next to the wood paneling I painted brown last year. Fall will be here before I know it so I need to fix those joints and give the new mortar time to cure properly before I can prime and paint it. Here's the before pics (well, after knocking out the loose mortar and wire brushing the joints to remove the loose dust).

 

 

Pretty bad. I wondered why only part of the joints were bad, so I followed the damage up til I hit the gutter. Low and behold, one of the gutter spikes was loose and the metal around it was all chowdered up. This allowed water to get behind the gutter and run down the wall. Ah ha! At least I know what the problem is and how to fix it (silicone caulk). The damage has been done though. Picked up a new bag of mortar mix from the hardware store and tuck pointed the joints somewhat properly.

 

 

What I mean by "somewhat properly" is that in order to do a perfect job I'd need to remove a lot more old mortar with specialized tools (which I don't have) whereas I just used a screwdriver and a hammer. Also my mortar mixing skills are apparently a little rusty as I kept making the mix too dry so I had to add more water which is why some of the joints look almost black. Everything dried nice and light gray so it must be good. I'll see about getting a pic of that before the primer goes up.

 

Today was a gorgeous day so I wasn't about to squander it away by working on other projects. Time to paint that door! In the interest of comparison, I'm including a before picture so you can see what the difference is.

 

 

Not bad at all! The only issue I noticed is that there are some scratches visible yet on the outside (probably shouldn't have used 50 grit for the initial sanding step, you live you learn). But hey, I'm going to paint another door and figured I can put on another coat at that time. The color looks pretty orange in the pictures but I think that is just caused from the sun being so bright. The color is more of a deep brownish-orange/red.

 

Since I had the roller out, might as well recoat the inside of the door too:

 

 

This is closer to it's true color though it's still a little bit dark because I had the doors closed and lights off (to save energy) in the pic. You'll also notice that the finish on the inside is different from the outside. That's because the base coat on the outside was applied with a brush while on the inside it was all with a roller. That's for the best in this situation as those brush marks will hide the scratches better than a shiny glossy mirror-like finish.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

If you can contain and maintain for another decade, Zombie - and your dedication made me a believer - I'll give you a free pass on the sill plate.

 

So, your ever roaming keen eye spotted decaying mortar joints, but I see you got to the bottom of it all pretty quick. Crummy metal really is our bane, this time a gutter spike. Just think of the cascading costs that result from it.

 

Service door: not bad he says? That red is now far from dead! Though I can imagine opening that door only to find the contrasting tones, outside and in, rather odd.

[Zombie]

Service door: not bad he says? That red is now far from dead! Though I can imagine opening that door only to find the contrasting tones, outside and in, rather odd.

 

True, though that's the color scheme on the outside so it's just easier to follow that indoors too. Besides, in case of fire I'd much rather have the door a nice bright red to make it easier to spot.

 

Since I have the door painted properly it would be stupid not to do the windows too, right? I actually found an old can of red from 2012 marked "For Windows", but it was pretty thinned out to work as a base coat. I ended up mixing that with the remainder of the door paint and then it was good to go. So here's the before picture (with screens inserted):

 

 

The windows are pretty washed out but thankfully there's not too much rust. First thing is to get the screens out, then clean out the track they go in which collects all sorts of crap like dust, dirt, dead insects etc. I usually tape off the window glass to make cleanup easier, but in this case I have a somewhat decent brush so I decided to just freehand it. I only made a couple mistakes which were easily fixed with a rag with a little paint thinner on it (using an oil paint btw). Here's the after pic, with screens removed:

 

 

There's a spot on the lower left of the frame which I missed when this pic was taken but it was touched up soon after (there's 4 windows in total). I painted all the screen frames and I think I have 2 coats on them right now. The only thing left to do is put another coat on all the windows, screen frames and doors (2 of these) so they all match. Got another quart from the paint store which should be enough for a final coat on everything plus a little extra for touch-ups.

 

Today I primed all those raw mortar joints which I tuck pointed a while back. Everything looked dry and cured and the mortar didn't crumble when I ran a rough stone over the joints to remove the high spots. Unfortunately I found another area near the downspout where the mortar was crumbling underneath the paint so out came the hammer and flat blade screwdriver to dig them out.

 

 

I'll have to do a little more tuck pointing then. Not a big issue, the biggest problem is waiting for the joints to cure as I want to paint it already. Luckily when I was at the paint store I was able to pick up a gallon of mis-tinted paint for $3 which is the same sheen and type as I normally use, plus it was pretty close to the color. I rarely if ever see mis-tints for flat exterior paint so this was a great find. I'll use this as a base coat, then go over that with the final color and Bob's your auntie.

 

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

Yes, sure, it is stupid not to do some more work after doing a lot of it already.

 

 

 

Damn, Zombie, you're unstoppable. The only work I actually did was to prolongue the life of an outside table (with attached benches) by sanding and paiting it. I left the poor table to the elements for too long already and it was either buying a new one (400€) or investing some work and money (cca. 50€). Which I did. I'll post that but first I have to decide for a new provider of web space for pics. I know I can upload them here but still, I like having the pics in one place. Photobucket is suddenly acting up on me and if you look at my AARs, the pics are ruined by watermarks etc. to push me into a monthly subscription.

[Thorondor]

Yep, there's no worrying where the paint may land when Zombie decides to freehand!

 

Those windows seem to have some tough to reach spots on the inside, namely on corners, hinges and the midpoint connections, but you've managed alright by the looks of it.

 

Otherwise, pout as one may at the trouble by the downspout, things are well underway and you'll soon be out and about painting that wall anyway!

[Zombie]

Yep, there's no worrying where the paint may land when Zombie decides to freehand!

 

I splattered a little bit down the wall underneath a couple of the windows which I noticed today. But I gotta paint it anyway so... Freehanding can be really challenging especially with a so-so brush. A pro tip would be to bite the bullet and purchase a decent brush because that makes cutting in around the frame so much easier.

 

Those windows seem to have some tough to reach spots on the inside, namely on corners, hinges and the midpoint connections, but you've managed alright by the looks of it.

 

Yeah, lots of nooks and crannies to poke around in. I actually considered painting parts from the inside, but in the end it wasn't terrible just annoying to paint from the outside.

 

Otherwise, pout as one may at the trouble by the downspout, things are well underway and you'll soon be out and about painting that wall anyway!

 

True!

 

I managed to do a little more work on the wall today in between breaks on a big store emergency project. First I put a coat of that mistinted paint on the primed mortar joints. Turned out the color was closer to a gray-ish army green than the caramel color of the wall. Not an issue really, it just means I might have to put on a couple coats (knowing me, I'll probably brush on a coat of the appropriate wall color on the dark spots, then get out the roller and do the whole wall in one swoop). The tuck pointing was also finished. To top it all off, I emptied an entire full tube of caulk into the wall (a lot of the mortar joints were just too deep to paint over but too shallow to tuck point - very much like the wall I did last year). There was a big crack between the wall and the fascia board so I filled that in too which took quite a bit of caulk. Unfortunately no pics of all this because I forgot my camera at home today, I'll try to get some pics of it tomorrow.

 

 

Might not have as much time as I wanted to paint this year as I hoped - got another emergency project coming up and another big project after that. Still planning to paint the bottoms of the smaller boards for the greenhouse though and get the doors and windows squared away. Have to see how fast I can complete the big project maybe I'll have some time after that.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

 

Ooooh, big, major, mega projects, on the double! Who needs free time, right, Zombie?

[Zombie]

See my previous post as I added a pic to it. Take note of the mortar joints in particular as you can see some are a different color due to all the caulking.

 

So this big project I've been working on is really eating into my painting time. I've made some decent progress on it, but it's just going to take time to finish properly. Luckily the weather is just gorgeous so I can fit in a little painting/maintenance here and there after my normal duties have been completed. Granted, it's not a ton of time, but it's something at least. Since the first (mistint) coat is dry I pulled out an old gallon of wall paint which only had a little left in it and slapped that on over the mistint and caulked areas to lessen the shock value.

 

 

For only one coat the paint did a decent job of hiding everything (that's the sign of a good paint). I painted the lowest course of block while I was down there and also cut in under the fascia board to about 3 inches or so. That means it's basically ready to roll the final coat on. Except for that pesky part I just tuck pointed. I checked on it and it seemed like the new mortar cured properly so I put on a coat of primer and then a first (mistint) coat at the end of the day (still wet when the pic was taken, btw).

 

 

I might loosen up the downspout to gain access to the lowest mortar joint at some point. The mortar is sound, it's in that butter zone where it's not deep enough to warrant tuck pointing but not shallow enough to ignore it either. Caulking it is.

 

 

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Zombie does not skulk around, he wants all faults made plain and found, even if at multiple points and will promptly see to those joints!

 

I see not many sins in your caulking work so your layered painting is paying off.

 

What did catch my wandering eye, inadvertently, was something else - at the corner, that wall edge looks quite irregular.

 

But you have enough on your hands as it is, so that case of the jaggies will have to wait.

[Zombie]

What did catch my wandering eye, inadvertently, was something else - at the corner, that wall edge looks quite irregular.

 

But you have enough on your hands as it is, so that case of the jaggies will have to wait.

 

That's caused by years of unskilled drivers trying to back in unsuccessfully such UPS, fedex, suppliers, or even the plows in the winter. Thing is, there's no real way to repair the edge with new concrete as that'll just pop off eventually. An option would be to knock out those blocks and replace them with new ones but that's kinda difficult with the wall in place. I could probably bolt on an angle iron to create a new edge of steel but at this point is it really worth the time and effort? Unless a block is crumbling away, I'd just as soon leave it be and address it if/when something happens.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

So that big project I mentioned a few post back... I am tasked with cleaning up the lower flat of a building the boss owns. We've been renting out the upper flat for years and using the lower for storage and that's been fine. However, boss wants to rent out part of the lower flat and that means "spring cleaning" but in the fall. I had to make some tough decisions and throw things out just to make room - items which could probably be used but we suddenly lack the space to store it. "If in doubt, throw it out". The renter will have access to a bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom while we get 2 bedrooms for storage. After shifting everything out of the storage bedrooms, I swept them out and moved stuff back in (at least whatever was still good yet), which left the other rooms bare.

 

The last person to paint in the building was a handyman in 2001 - he used flat paint. That's not bad for a flat used for storage, but for a renter? Nope, that isn't going to cut it. Semi-gloss it is. Spent the better part of 4 days getting the bedroom and living room up to snuff with a fresh coat of paint on everything. Sorry no pics of this: too busy getting it ready as the renter was supposedly moving in on the 2nd of September. Turns out not yet (kinda) - he moved his stuff in but isn't living there yet. Anyhow, the kitchen and bathroom didn't require much painting as the handyman used semi-gloss in there (thanks to my suggestion at the time).

 

The biggest issue was the floor of the kitchen though, the toilet from the upper flat leaked a few years ago and caused the floor to crack and crumble in spots. Plus, a lot of people kept mentioning that the flooring had asbestos in it. Now, I'm not an asbestos expert but I did a little research online and then poked around discreetly in some corners to see what was up and didn't see any fibers or asphalt so it looked to be asbestos free. Still, I'm not going to take any chances just in case I'm wrong. Some online sites recommend either covering the old floor over with new vinyl flooring or to paint the floor to encapsulate any fibers. New vinyl flooring is out of the question so paint it is. There are two paints to use: epoxy (I got a quote for this and it's $100/gallon which is super expensive) or polyurethane floor enamel. Perfect, I always have that on hand anyway to paint the floor of the cooler or various tables around the shop. Started to roll it on but hit a snag with all those cracks.

 

 

Not only was the paint soaking into the flooring in spots but the cracks were sucking it up too. Remembering back to the nightmare I had with the tables in the greenhouse early in the year I decided to check with the folks at the paint store to get their recommendation on how to proceed. They advised against epoxy because it is pretty aggressive and would probably strip the enamel off the floor and could even attack the flooring itself. They were not too keen about me priming with their best latex primer but said it was probably my best bet. Well, for the small cracks at least.

 

The bigger cracks and chunks missing required something else, so I ended up using some floor patching compound (gypsum based). Mixed that up a little on the dry side and troweled that on yesterday. It dried just fine, but then came the unenviable task of sanding the spots so it was sorta level. I really wasn't worried about asbestos fibers getting kicked up because I made sure not to sand deeper than the polyurethane coat I applied earlier. What a mess. But I at least got the floor smooth. After sweeping up, I vacuumed the floor to catch any loose dust, then lightly washed it to get rid if the "fines". Forgot to get a pic of this, plus I was dusty from head to toe and didn't want to expose the camera to that.

 

For the small cracks and areas where the polyurethane soaked in, I first hit those areas with some of the white primer I had left from the greenhouse escapade - figuring because it was thick it would fill the cracks in better. Worked pretty good overall. That dried almost instantly so I went over the white primer spots and the floor compound with the thinner grey primer so that hopefully I'll only need to use one final coat of polyurethane over the top.

 

 

The brown rectangle is a carpet remnant I'm using to kneel on, you can still see white dust in it even though I pounded it out. Unfortunately it started to rain and the humidity level rose so I couldn't continue with the final polyurethane coat. I left a window open and had a fan blasting into the kitchen to circulate the air to get the floor to dry. Should be good tomorrow, so I'll try to get a pic of the final result.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Should there be any doubt, here plain can you see the wonders Zombie makes come about!

 

Just thinking of the initial state you found that flooring in, and the possibility of asbestos being in the picture... Man, it sure took you some doing, but I believe you found the right answer starting with the floor patching compound.

 

It's already apparent from that last photo that you've pretty much got it sorted at this point.

 

I'd also say to the boss: after all this, a chicken dinner is well in order at the very least!

[Zombie]

I'd also say to the boss: after all this, a chicken dinner is well in order at the very least!

 

Winner, winner, chicken dinner?

 

This time I didn't forget to get a before picture:

 

 

Nice and uniform, just the way I like it! Painting it wasn't hard or anything, just the usual: cut in around the edges with a brush making sure to pile on a thick coat, roll a small area until the film thickness is just covering then load up the roller and go over the area again. That builds up the paint layer so hopefully it will not peel.

 

 

There was a small area that peeled up when I went over it with the roller, so I had to do a little emergency surgery with a flat blade screwdriver as my putty knife was nowhere to be found. Just carefully peeled those loose primer sections up and then slapped on a heavy coat of polyurethane over the top making sure not to press down too hard. Worked great. Oh, and you may notice that the lower drawers are missing - I took them out because they were so low to the floor that it was too difficult to cut in underneath them.

 

And what the heck, since I had the camera out how about a little pic of the doorway leading into the kitchen - this was the living room I painted.

 

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

The right paint at hand, followed as writ on the tin, time and again scores Zombie a win!

 

Really like the way it turned out. Too bad about that peeling hiccup you ran into, but you certainly were up to the task and coverage ended up nice and uniform.

 

Just look at the sheen on that floor. Too bad the place is rented already as a glance at that finish would've justified raised rental cost from the get go.

[Zombie]

Just look at the sheen on that floor. Too bad the place is rented already as a glance at that finish would've justified raised rental cost from the get go.

 

Honestly, the place wouldn't have even been rent-able with the kitchen floor looking as bad as it did. A fix needed to be done or else...

 

Well, since I had the roller in the polyurethane already, yesterday I rolled another coat on the long table in the back room and finally put a coat on the top of those two rolling tables I fixed up last year. I'll try to get a pic of that tomorrow.

 

Today I went over to the lower flat to inspect my work on the kitchen floor. Looked great obviously, and it seemed dry enough to walk on, what with the fan blasting on it all night long. I did notice some skips (just a couple spots). I touched one area up with the brush but missed the other which I'll do tomorrow. Figured that while I was over there I would do a little cleaning to spruce things up, so I washed the kitchen counter (red Formica top). The thing looked like crap with the "brand new floor". So I filled in all the cracks and dents and missing chunks with caulk. While doing that I noticed the formica wasn't sticking to the contact cement in some spots anymore so I pounded in some 1/2" brads to affix it to the counter. Then a coat of primer. And finally a coat of polyurethane to finish it all off.

 

 

I did tape off the metal edge and back of the counter in blue painters tape so I wouldn't make too much of a mess. Might put a second coat on that tomorrow if I have the time. And I'll be sure to get an after pic.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

"Figured that while I was over there", Zombie says, and already you know he'll be getting somewhere.

 

Next thing you know, cleaned, restored, reset, primed and coated kitchen counter.

 

And eyeing a second coat...