Let's Paint!

[Space Voyager]

Z, you've obviously changed profession! I mean, is there any original work left in your hands or is construction (renovation) your prime job?

 

You're obviously enjoying this so yeah, Thors reference is great!

 

BTW, what kind of polyurethane did you use for the cracs? Is that the same one you used for tables?

[Zombie]

Z, you've obviously changed profession! I mean, is there any original work left in your hands or is construction (renovation) your prime job?

 

Oh, no. All the painting and fixing I do is kinda a sideline operation when I finish with my other daily tasks or projects. I try to not let it interfere too much with my normal responsibilities but it sometimes cannot be helped. Thing is, our building is pretty old and requires maintenance (sometimes significant) so my goal is to minimize those big "Oh crap!" moments where something really bites the dust.

 

BTW, what kind of polyurethane did you use for the cracks? Is that the same one you used for tables?

 

Yup, same stuff. Polyurethane floor enamel. Wears like iron assuming you get it to stick and then dry properly.

 

Before I forget, if you are wondering what the counter top looked like before the polyurethane coat, look at the red "marble" strip above the counter top. First thing I did the other day (when I had time) was put the final coat of polyurethane on the counter top and remove the tape.

 

 

Nothing else was going on so I decided to touch up some of the woodwork in the kitchen. You know me, one thing led to another and I ended up just painting all the baseboards, doors and frames. (Except for the bathroom door which was pristine so I ignored that). I even painted one of the gas pipes sticking out of the floor to make that not look so bad. The black air vent I painted a week ago.

 

 

The only issue I encountered was that I needed to tape the floor to protect the finish from the woodwork paint. That's all fine and dandy but removing the tape was a real bear as it pulled up some of the floor paint. Not a huge problem as I just brushed over those few areas at the end. The kitchen turned out nice all things considered.

 

Here's the rolling tables sitting in front of the small garage door I fixed up last year.

 

 

I have a nice little garden going there on the outside (from left to right: asparagus fern, sweet potato vine, rosemary and red dracena spikes). The next room has the long table:

 

 

Yeah it looks a little dark, but I run without lights in the backroom quite often if it's sunny enough out during the summer. Might as well save some electricity. Too bad we don't have skylights, that would brighten things up without any electricity. But hey, I'm happy I finally switched out almost all the incandescent bulbs to LEDs now. The only thing I'd like to do yet is change out the fluorescent lights to LEDs. Someday.

 

The other day I started to work on the other red door into the building in the back. I took the kickplate off to reveal rust, and quite a bit of it on the metal door. First came the wire cup brush in the drill to remove some of the paint and rust. Any big chunks of rust were chipped out with a putty knife and hammer. Then I ran through the grades of sandpaper till I hit 100 grit. Just for giggles I hit some of the bad areas with some rust reformer. Surprisingly I had a can of red paint + primer spray so I used that to just to make it look a little bit nicer until I can paint it. I'll see about getting a pic of that up.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

When coming out of the woodwork, Zombie does not muck about, restoration almost seems to sprout!

 

In hindsight, I suppose painting the wood bits (baseboards, etc) first before tending to the flooring might have saved you some bother and would make better sense, as any paint dripping to the floor would be fine at that stage.

 

But, as you said, the wood just got a lucky break being tended to, as you happened to have the time to spare on it. And, no question, that kitchen got one heck of a makeover by your hand.

 

Moving along, thanks for naming the plants, it's always nice to put a name to a fa... I mean, stalk.

 

Looking at the backroom, I'm sure you can tell just how contrasting that glossy table looks against that poor neglected wall? Just saying...

[Zombie]

In hindsight, I suppose painting the wood bits (baseboards, etc) first before tending to the flooring might have saved you some bother and would make better sense, as any paint dripping to the floor would be fine at that stage.

 

But, as you said, the wood just got a lucky break being tended to, as you happened to have the time to spare on it. And, no question, that kitchen got one heck of a makeover by your hand.

 

True, the usual way of painting is top-down: ceiling first, then walls and doors and finally the floor. That way any drips are covered up as you go along. In this instance though I already had the floor done and figured it would be far easier to clean up latex trim paint on an oil finish (just use water) than it would be to clean an oil floor paint off of latex (with paint thinner). Besides, it's dirt easy to tape a floor as it's completely flat as it would be to tape the quarter round molding which covers the joint between the baseboard and floor. Taping that could be done but it would take a long time and require you to lay on the floor to see if you covered enough of the molding. I don't know about you, but I'm not getting any younger and would much prefer to kneel than to lay down on the job (unless you are sleeping in which case that would be ok). .

 

Looking at the backroom, I'm sure you can tell just how contrasting that glossy table looks against that poor neglected wall? Just saying...

 

I thought you were going to say something about the spider webs around the window. But yeah the walls are just ugly concrete block. The reason for lack of any work on that is a couple fold. First, the concrete blocks are really thick and so they do block out the cold, but they aren't energy efficient by any means. Would make no sense to paint the walls if we insulate them. Secondly, block walls take a lot of paint to fill all the voids so I'd need a block filler paint first, then 2-3 coats of latex over that (can skimp on price for the first coat or two by using a lesser grade/mis-tinted interior paint and then a decent top coat). Then there's the issue of all the electrical panels in the room (directly to the left of where I took the picture) - those would be a nightmare to paint due to all the conduit. So I've thought about it in the past - it would just take too long which would mean the backroom would be all torn up for weeks on end too. Honestly I'd rather affix some lumber strips, insulate between them with foam board then cover it over with drywall, paneling or thin plywood.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

It's definitely true, Zombie, you're not getting any younger. *ducks throwing knives*

 

Then again, neither am I, and having recently painted a gate with narrowly spaced bars on its bottom-half sporting interleaved spherical features while crouching for quite a while, through all that detailing, it wasn't overly long before I resorted to sitting zen-like on the floor instead.

 

Therefore, I can absolutely see the fun it would be taping the joint between the baseboard and floor on that kitchen...

 

As for the concrete block walls, I now fully register from your explanation just why you hadn't already tackled that. Depriving the use of the backroom during such a lengthy intervention would most likely not be worth it. Ultimately, though, I suspect applying some panelling would make it look oodles better.

 

Brownie points from me all the same, for the fact you still considered the whole undertaking.

[Zombie]

Then again, neither am I, and having recently painted a gate with narrowly spaced bars on its bottom-half sporting interleaved spherical features while crouching for quite a while, through all that detailing, it wasn't overly long before I resorted to sitting zen-like on the floor instead.

 

There's no way I can sit like that. In my hayday back in '94-95 when I was in a weight training + conditioning 1-credit college course where we would do intense stretching at the start of each class in preparation for the planned activity which ranged from weight lifting, running, circuit training, aerobics, you name it - yeah but that took weeks. I've been blessed with crappy legs. Count yourself lucky.

 

Therefore, I can absolutely see the fun it would be taping the joint between the baseboard and floor on that kitchen...

 

I don't think you can totally appreciate the difficulty in that. Quarter round moldings are a quarter of a circle and therefore nowhere is actually flat. You have to make absolutely sure that the tape adheres to the bottom of the molding so that the paint will not get behind and with it being circular you can't use a putty knife to press down on the tape, you gotta use your fingers which isn't ideal. Add on the fact that you'll be laying on the ground makes it even worse.

 

As for the concrete block walls, I now fully register from your explanation just why you hadn't already tackled that. Depriving the use of the backroom during such a lengthy intervention would most likely not be worth it. Ultimately, though, I suspect applying some panelling would make it look oodles better.

 

Well, that area could still be used while the painting/construction commenced but because the room is a converging area there would be disruptions in traffic flow. Not only that, but if I did one side of the room, I'd be expected to do the other side too and that side is much more difficult as there is a homemade shelving unit bolted to the wall plus the small cooler is pretty close to the wall as well (can't walk behind it or even squeeze in there to do any work).

 

Brownie points from me all the same, for the fact you still considered the whole undertaking.

 

I've been working at this job for long enough to have probably identified most, if not all, the potential projects (say that three times fast). Identifying a project is only part of the issue because you also have to determine if you undertake it how will you do it? Would you need specialized tools? How much would it cost? How fast can you get it done? When could I do it? Do I need help with it? Would the boss or other employees complain or shoot the project down before it starts? All that has to factor in at some point. If it's do-able, then you have to decide if you are going to start on it first or pitch it before the boss. Sometimes it's better to start the project if it isn't busy and doesn't require much materials. Other times I'll run it past the boss to see if he'd want it to get done - especially if it would take a long time or cost a lot.

 

I have to apologize for the lack of before pictures on most of my projects. Trouble is, I'll normally have a bunch of stuff running concurrently. Some will be in a state where not much has been done and I don't know if I'll get to them. Other projects will be active but only being worked on a little bit each day - OR - I worked on it and made decent progress before I get the camera out. Sometimes I'll have an emergency project I need to finish first where I can't be bothered snapping a lot of pics. So a lot of these pics will be at the tail end of project.

 

Case in point: you may remember that I painted a cart and had that sitting in the greenhouse (it's usual spot). The problem with that cart is that the back wheels are worn through the rubber down to the plastic which makes it tough to push sometimes. It's easy to say "replace the wheels then", but it's never that easy. No sir, these wheels are welded on to the frame. So unless I bring the cart into a metal fabrication shop to have the welds ground down those wheels aren't coming off anytime soon. We have an identical cart where the wheels are not welded to the frame so I started working on that a while back. Got the wheels off, but had a hell of a time with it because of the rust (never used, never painted). Can't reuse the wheels because one of the axles is jammed inside the sleeve. Found old casters when cleaning that lower flat, decided to use those. Took them apart, cleaned and painted them. Likewise primed and painted the frame of the cart. That happened little by little over the last few weeks. Today I found some time to attach the wheel assembly to the frame of the cart - needed to drill 4 holes for each as these wheels mount differently. Lost the key to the chuck of the drill somewhere in the greenhouse, needed to go to the hardware store three times to figure out which one fit correctly Then ended up using the bit in the drill anyway. I'll get pics of my progress tomorrow hopefully.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Consider me enlightened about the potential backroom 'project', Zombie.

 

Not only that, I've got to hand it to you for fleshing things out, like you just did, with regards to the realities of actually getting things done, which evidently is never as easy as it seems at first brush when our silly brains are not really engaged with the task itself and stepping through the issues one finds then and there.

 

The problems with the cart you get into are a prime example of just the kind of obstacle course one must navigate to, one way or another, eventually come to a workable fix at some point down the line.

 

So never you mind 'before pictures'. We get the true picture from your descriptions perfectly fine.

 

And enjoy your proverbial cookies, because you've sure as heck earned them!

[Zombie]

So I took a pic of the second red door and the work I did to it.

 

 

The bottom part has the paint and primer in one and I didn't sock it on the door heavily. A light coat is fine as I'm going over it with the proper red paint sometime.

 

So onward to the cart. Here's a pic of the front of the cart (tipped on it's side to show the details).

 

 

The front has the swiveling casters so you can turn it. I actually guessed where to drill the holes and got it correct as you can see. The bolts can go in two ways: head of the bolt underneath or head of the bolt on the top. My only worry with the head of the bolt being on the top is that if there's excess length of bolt sticking down then that might interfere with the swiveling casters. Plus you'll have the lock washer and the nut at the bottom where those could interfere as well. Ended up playing it safe and installed the head on the bottom and the nut+lock washer on the top which is kinda opposite how bolts wold normally be installed. Found my bottle of thread locking compound and put that on the end of the bolt to hopefully prevent the nuts from working themselves loose from the constant vibration. If you look at the table you can see a bunch of turnings from drilling all those holes. Here's a pic showing the bottom:

 

 

I had no trouble with the back as the cart just had a flat piece of metal to bolt through. The front was a little bit more difficult as someone welded on a plate (probably to beef up that section where the frame of the caster attached). The plate wasn't as wide as the cart frame so I tried to make up the difference with a couple of washers to bridge that gap. I could have probably went with three washers but I needed it to be a little shy of level. Why? Because I really wanted to horse those bolts down tight to bend the metal of the caster frame over the lip of the plate so that the heads of the bolts were a little low (for clearance issues). Worked out good.

 

I had some difficulty getting the nuts off the axles of the older casters. Thought that maybe it was rust. I soaked the bolts in paint thinner to loosen up the dried up grease then wire brushed one to see if I could get the nut back on. Nope. When I looked at the bolt a little closer I noticed that the threads were all chowdered up. That explains it, someone either cross threaded the nut on there or used the wrong nut.

 

Instead of fighting that I'll replace the bolts which hold on the wheels (in this case they also act as the axle). I half expected the bolts to be some strange dimension but when I got out my hardware gauge I found out they were a standard 2" long by 5/16" width size (well, that's a standard size here in the US where we don't use metric much). Surely I had some 5/16" bolts sitting around somewhere, right? Looked through all my hardware drawers with no luck. Found some really long ones and really short ones but nothing 2". Finally looked in a drawer where I keep hardware for the greenhouse and found 4 bolts the size I needed. Wow, no trip to the hardware store, that's gotta be a record! When I lined up the new bolts with the older bolts for a group photo I think you'll be able to see why the threads on the older bolts were messed up.

 

 

That's right, someone forced on a coarse threaded nut on to the fine threaded bolt! That'll do it every time. At least the new bolts and nuts are all coarse threaded so there will be no issues. I tried them out on the wheels to make sure they are the proper size and yes they will work. So tomorrow I'm going to spray the cart frame again with the final top coat and then try to finish it up by installing the wheels. Stoked to finally have a usable cart again!

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

This work is not for dolts, hand it over to Zombie - he'll get down to the nuts and bolts!

 

An apparently straightforward affair with the carts turns out to require differential treatment on each side, accounting for spacing, foreshadowing future wear and just downright finessing to reach the desired outcome.

 

It's like they say, thread lightly and carry the right hardware!

[Zombie]

The bottom of the cart - finished:

 

 

If you look at the left wheel you can probably see how much I tightened the bolts of the caster plate to the cart. The corners are visibly bent down over the edge of the plate - the washers can be seen too.

 

Putting the wheels on wasn't as straightforward as I was hoping unfortunately. I initially bent the forks for the wheels closer together because they were pretty far apart. When I did a installation dry run I soon found out that if you tighten up the axle bolt just enough to get the lock washer to "lock" that's too tight because the wheel will bind between the fork blades. That isn't going to work. Bent the forks more open and tried again. Nope, by horsing down on the bolt it'll pull the blades back together and cause binding again. Hmm, what I needed was a removable spacer to place between the wheel and fork to prevent it from getting too close. I ended up using a couple washers - put some blue thread locker on the ends of the bolts, tightened it up and then pried off the washers with a flat blade screwdriver. This left a little space and allowed the wheels to turn smoothly (you can probably make out the spacing on the right wheel in the picture. Before flipping the cart over I made sure to spray a generous helping of Tri-Flow teflon lubricant in the bearing cavities. Then I finally flipped the cart over and sprayed any parts I scratched up during drilling/installation.

 

 

It's literally 1000% better than the other cart! I used it the other day for the first time and was impressed by how quiet it sounded and the smoothness of the ride with actual rubber tires. Turning was like a race car (not like I know what that feels like). That Tri-Flow lubricant is pretty good for bearings with the only issue being that you have to reapply it every so often to keep it top notch. I normally re lubricate wheels 2-3 times a year anyway so it's not a problem though.

 

For a change in pace, how about some automobile painting? One of our delivery vehicles was starting to get some rusting around the rear passenger side wheel well. Enough that it caused bubbling of the paint. So one day I scraped the spots till I had the loose chunks gone then sanded the spots with some 60 grit sandpaper. Sprayed a light layer of rust reforming paint on the spot in the interim. Even with the coat of paint the spot was still pretty low due to all the rust removed. So I mixed up some Bondo body filler and applied that. When it cured more sanding ensued.

 

 

I think the final grade of sandpaper I used was 120 grit or so. Just enough roughness to allow primer to stick:

 

 

I can probably hear some of you complaining that I didn't tape anything up and got primer all over the place. True. I've tried that in the past but found that I ended up with high spots anyway. So I'll just go with the flow and feather the touch-up coat of paint into the regular paint job. I'm not an expert in body work, but it'll at least look better for far cheaper than mechanics prices. I need to get the touch up spray yet, so when I do I'll get a pic of the final result.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

To get your stuff looking the part, here's Zombie to give you a fresh start!

 

That cart looks as if brand new. Even though it definitely took some doing, and there was a stumble here and there, you steered things through to successful completion - with flying colors.

 

Then, straight out of the blue, we find you placing a foot in the automotive industry.

 

You did a good job with that body filler and the sanding alright. Beyond this point, though, actually matching paint color on a car is a whole other ballgame.

 

I guess we'll see how you put that show on the road.

[Zombie]

You did a good job with that body filler and the sanding alright. Beyond this point, though, actually matching paint color on a car is a whole other ballgame.

 

Matching the paint color is not for me - many automotive part stores around here carry touchup paint in a myriad of colors. Can even buy it special order online if you can tolerate the cost and wait. Even if I can't get the exact match, I can probably get something pretty darn close.

 

The wall with the red windows on it had some peeling paint so the other day I decided to see how bad it really was. One thing led to another and next thing you know I have half the wall scraped.

 

 

Sorry for the bad quality of the pic, it was cloudy out which kinda hid most of the scraping. I unfortunately swept up the mess before taking the pic, but there's another half to go yet. I took the next pic after priming all the spots.

 

 

Took a close up of the canvas to show how much came off. Quite a bit. You can probably tell the last part I primed because it's slightly lighter in color as it wasn't dry (yet - it was drying pretty fast though).

 

 

I tried investigating why the paint keeps peeling on the wall, but could find any root cause. The drip edge of the roof is problem free and the gutter doesn't leak. Granted I haven't looked at the wall much for the last few years and in that time we took down 3 trees which overhung the roof causing leaves to clog the downspout and the water to overflow the gutter. So now that the trees are down it's possible the cause has been fixed.

 

Today I had other responsibilities to oversee. so I wasn't able to get much done except a little more priming and to caulk the cracks. Didn't get a pic of this because it was too hard to see what I caulked as it's similar in color to the primer.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

"One thing led to another and next thing you know"... - yeah, Zombie, famous last words. Fortunately, on this instance nothing much got knocked up.

 

So, you got a little carried away, but not without good reason, as usual, given the extent scraped.

 

I can tell already that you'll get this wrapped up in no time at all, should the weather cooperate.

 

By the way, looking at the middle picture thumbnail, it's impossible not to anthropomorphise - just look at that face!

[Zombie]

By the way, looking at the middle picture thumbnail, it's impossible not to anthropomorphise - just look at that face!

 

You must be good at the ink blot test then, cause all I see is spots!

 

I was able to get some painting done today as the weather was beautiful. I still had 95% of that can of mis-tinted exterior paint left. It was kinda dark, and I had some dregs left at the bottom of a can of flat white that needed to be used up STAT, so I ended up mixing some of the white into the mis-tint. Still pretty dark, but after I got done spot painting the wall I was able to mix in the rest of the white so that'll lighting things up for next time.

 

 

The paint dried almost instantly on the wall so I decided I could brush on a first coat already. When I was going through my paint supply I found 5 cans off the stuff, all opened. I just picked the top can and started using that. It was in a primer can for some reason and when I applied it to the wall I was surprised to see it wasn't the correct color - just a bit light. Perhaps I mixed some primer with some top coat in the past just to get rid of it, but the dumb thing is I didn't write anything to that effect on the can (I normally label everything in permanent marker so I can grab it quickly). No worries, I'll use the stuff up. Gotta make sure I pick the correct color for the final coat though. Could probably intermix the remaining 4 cans to get enough to roll on the final coat on the wall.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

The eyes are the _windows_ of the soul, are they not, Zombie? And a mouth that gives you no lip but can still make you slip. Then again I may well just be seeing things.

 

What is beyond questioning at this stage is your comfort level dealing with paint mixes - primer with top coat, older paint with new and other very forward intermixes of variable origin - without noticeable concern about possibly ending up with some manner of unqualifiable goop.

 

I mean, I wouldn't discard that happening to me should I foolishly dare it at least.

[Zombie]

The eyes are the _windows_ of the soul, are they not, Zombie? And a mouth that gives you no lip but can still make you slip. Then again I may well just be seeing things.

 

Ah, got it. Honestly, when I look at that wall all I see is primer spots.

 

What is beyond questioning at this stage is your comfort level dealing with paint mixes - primer with top coat, older paint with new and other very forward intermixes of variable origin - without noticeable concern about possibly ending up with some manner of unqualifiable goop.

 

There are only a few "do not try this" tips. First, don't ever try to mix latex and oil based paints together. If you did, chuck it out immediately because that'll be a goopy mess for sure. Don't try mixing, say, a flat paint with a gloss (paints on the opposite ends of the sheen spectrum). You would think you would get a satin finish, but that's not always the case. Plus the consistency of said paint is much different than that of a true satin. And maybe a third would be to not mix strange colors together with different mixing bases (for example a deep base with a pastel base). The result may be an unexpected color. Oh and don't mix interior paints with exterior and then use that outside. Bad news. Vice versa is ok to a point (exterior paint has a higher tolerable level of VOCs so you need good ventilation if applying that indoors).

 

Paints I consider sorta "safe" to mix are those by the same company within the same "line" of paint type. (Say, an interior flat with an interior semi gloss with the same brand name). Usually those will mix pretty well. Another mix which is sorta safe is two paints from two different companies with the same sheen. That should be fine unless one (or both) of the companies have crap paint. Although, what do you have to lose if both paints are crappy anyway? If you know that both companies have decent paint, then you can probably experiment without too much consequence. You can mix a primer with a top coat, but just don't expect the result to be a true primer anymore (unless you only put in a little top coat). I normally use these mixes to get rid of old paint as you don't want to have only a little bit of paint at the bottom of a can drying out. So those are my tips for "mixologists".

 

I think I figured out why that paint in the primer can was so light. I believe I had the paint company mix up a half-formula primer (half the normal pigment of the paint color you are using for the top coat) and then someone put on a cover from a top coat on it by accident. See why I'm a little anal retentive about labeling both the can and the lid so you know what paint is in the can? Heck, I'd probably even label the bottom of the can just in case the label comes off or gets covered in paint.

 

I had a little bit of time to work on the wall today. Opened up the next can in the stack of top coat paint and used that up going over the dark spots, cutting in along the pavement and partially underneath the gutter. Ran out before I could do all the cutting in and touching up the light areas (can see that underneath the left window).

 

 

Any other light spots or areas is the old paint which has been bleached by the sun and elements. Cutting in the rest and touching up the light areas shouldn't take too much time (assuming it doesn't rain). Once that's done I can get out the big roller and go over everything so it's nice and uniform (have to still put another coat of red on the windows and screen frames first). So that's where I'm at right now.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Thanks for the Abridged Alchemical Guide To Safe Pigmentation Concoctions, Zombie!

 

I can see the 'acne' is gone and there's just that scattering of small lighter spots left as you mention. Nothing a little extra makeup at your deft hand won't take care of and that beauty won't be camera shy anymore soon.

[Zombie]

Last week it rained almost every day unfortunately so not too much was worked on outside. I was able to slap another coat of red on the screen frames for the windows (just the side that's visible from outside). On Saturday there was a break from the rain in the morning-mid afternoon. Due to the cloudy weather I was able to see some bubbles in the old paint on the wall I was working on (the filtered light made those bubbles visible but in straight sunlight you would never see them). To make sure I knew where to scrape I got out a can of spray paint and performed a little graffiti on the spots.

 

 

With those spots marked I was ready to scrape as soon as the weather improved. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday's weather was excellent, but Monday I was busy around the shop. Tuesday though I got out there and did quite a bit of scraping. Much like the other wall I tuck pointed earlier something was fishy because the paint was coming off in big sheets and didn't get any better the higher up I went. I checked the gutter and nails for leaks but everything looked fine. This issue might have been "fixed" a couple years ago when we took down a few trees which overhung the roof and dropped its leaves in the fall causing the downspout to clog and the rainwater to overflow the gutter. At least that's my guess. More scraping was done on Wednesday. The windows got their second coat of red paint on too.

 

 

I didn't have a lot of time to spare but was able to slap on some of that remixed mistinted paint to the areas I could reach without a ladder.

 

 

I added quite a bit of white to the mistint so it's now significantly lighter (still looks a little dark in the picture in the shadow but in the sunlight it's lighter). I figure it's a good 2 shades lighter in the color chip book right now. There's still about 200-300ml or so more white paint in the can yet so I can probably brighten up this mistint another shade if I stir that remaining white in. I'll do that once I paint the remaining bare spots on the wall (need to make some room in the can). Unfortunately a front is supposed to go through midday on Friday bringing rain and cold (not freezing but

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Far more than just scraping by, Zombie shines when paint is in supply!

 

That red really pops already and I expect when you do brighten the mistint it will amplify that perception even more. Are you trying to draw people to come peek in through those bars?

[Zombie]

They can peek in all they want. Not much to see back there except for one of our delivery vans and storage for vases, baskets and supplies along the walls. The back garage is in a perpetual state of disarray as we have supplies coming in through there waiting to get priced, plus it's overflow for things if we need the room somewhere else. I do try to sweep up in there a couple times a month and I clean it if I can't do anything outside. In case anyone is wondering, the windows have a diamond pattern in the glass due to wire being embedded in it to act as a deterrent for thieves.

 

This week was more rain so far and chilly too. In between the raindrops and if the sun started to peek out I got out there and continued to work on the last spot on the wall. The day I tried to prime the upper section I found that I didn't see some spots of loose paint so ended up scraping again. I did get it all primed on that side though, and today I took a pic of it (hey, a before pic for once)!

 

 

Opened up the next can of used paint in the stack and there wasn't much in there. Took a long time to stir that paint up properly as it settled out. I was worried that the paint might not dry properly as there was quite a bit of air space in the can so I poured in some latex paint conditioner and mixed that in. I'd rather err on the side of caution at this time of the year as humidity and rain can come at a moment's notice. Used up that can and still had more spots to touch up so opened up the last can in the stack. This one was nearly full (I believe I picked this gallon up last year when I was painting the side of the small garage - the side where I planted perennials this year). It also settled out quite a bit so I poured a dollop of conditioner in there too. Went on nice and creamy, just the way I like it.

 

 

Sorry about the pic quality, I just snapped it before I left and didn't realize the shadows were getting pretty long. But I think you can see the wall looks a lot better now. (There are two rows of block equal to the lower part of the window which look spotty because the paint was still a little wet). I'm pretty sure the remainder of paint in the can will not be enough to do the wall of the smaller garage plus this big wall so I probably will go to the paint store and pick up another two gallons. That should be enough to roll on a nice heavy coat and still leave a part of a gallon for use next year (I like to keep a bit on hand as I never know if/when I need to touch up an area).

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Even if you're in for a steal, Zombie is there for sharp results!

 

Well, shade or no shade, that stirring and mixing of yours has the appearance of having worked just fine.

 

I notice there is some difference in the makeup of the upper left corner of the wall (not in paint color, mind), which I guess is merely some sort reinforcement, or creative masonry.

[Zombie]

I notice there is some difference in the makeup of the upper left corner of the wall (not in paint color, mind), which I guess is merely some sort reinforcement, or creative masonry.

 

Not exactly sure for the use of bricks in place of concrete blocks in spots like that, but they are used quite frequently above windows as you can see in the pic (also doors). I think the reason bricks are used above doors and windows is because you need to put a lintel (typically a metal plate) to bridge the gap above them. The lintel isn't a thin sheet of metal, it's thick because it needs to be structural to hold the weight of the wall above it, and the thickness is what will throw off the height of that course of blocks. So you need something that's not quite as tall as a block. Bricks are not as tall as blocks and you can make up the difference in rows by adjusting the mortar joint between them.

 

As for the reason why the masons used bricks instead of blocks for the corner top? I think it's because the big back garage door is around the corner, The garage door has a lintel and thus has bricks above it, and I think the masons wanted to tie those bricks into each wall end. They just interwove bricks at the corners to make it more sturdy. That's my guess

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

So, reinforcement and weight distribution. Makes sense to me, Zombie.

 

I think people actually put a lot more thought into these matters back when construction materials weren't all that foolproof. "Just in case" sort of precautions.

 

Most of the stuff now is pre-stressed from the get-go from what I hear, what with concrete being thrown about everywhere - everything sort of has got to hold its own.

[Zombie]

I think people actually put a lot more thought into these matters back when construction materials weren't all that foolproof. "Just in case" sort of precautions.

 

True! Actually, if we are looking at the back garage I can give another example of this. The rafters in the ceiling are not the normal width apart as you would think, they are actually much closer together than spec. Also the rafters are not the typical 10 inch wide beams, we have a hair over 9 inches. So we probably have twice as many beams as is necessary. Maybe the builders were building for future expansion above? Would make sense as it's just a flat roof in the back so it would be dirt easy to add a second story right on top.

 

Most of the stuff now is pre-stressed from the get-go from what I hear, what with concrete being thrown about everywhere - everything sort of has got to hold its own.

 

Yup. A lot of homes and businesses which have a basement these days are all poured concrete walls, not block and mortar. And for good reason, it takes less time to pour a wall than to construct it with blocks due to all the labor. Plus poured concrete is more sturdy because it's one piece through and through whereas blocks have spaces in them. In fact, I've been seeing basement walls being constructed in panels off site, then trucked in and installed in one go. Kinda interesting to see how things change over the years.

 

Ok - a little update in my painting project. I had about 3/4 of a gallon of paint left. Not enough to do all the walls but I figured I could save a little time by painting the top and bottom courses of block first so all I'd need to do was roll the final coat on later. So that's what I did today, cut in underneath the gutter and painted that last course of blocks plus cut in along the ground and painted that first course on the big garage. Had some time so I painted around the two windows and around the angle iron which secures the fence to the wall. And I figured I might as well do the same for the small garage where I tuck pointed and painted earlier this year. All that's left is to do the other half of the long wall and a little bit of cutting in along the paneling on the small garage.

 

I made sure to do a really nice job of painting the course of blocks under the gutter. Because the only way to reach that is off a ladder, I don't want to be going up there too often. Piled on a heavy coat to make sure all the voids and pores are filled up as you don't want water to snake it's way underneath the paint and cause bubbles again. I was also a little careful along the ground. There is a crack between the wall and the asphalt which has a tendency to collect dirt, flecks of dried paint, leaves, pine needles etc in it. So I scraped as much of that junk out as I could so I didn't pull that into the paint and cause bumps in it.

 

Unfortunately, no pics. The shadows were pretty bad so you couldn't really see what I did anyway. I save the pics for the grand reveal at the end.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." - Benjamin Franklin

 

That holds true today as much as it ever did.

 

Sounds to me, then, like you're dotting your "i"s and crossing your "t"s, Zombie. As is customary.

 

Roll on the grand finale when you will!