Bogged Down In The Painting Department

Discussion in 'Home Improvement' started by Allie Seay, Jun 11, 2015.

  1. Allie Seay

    Allie Seay Veteran Member
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    It's not so much an improvement as it is a maintenance project, but this year is a year for doing all the exterior painting and staining. (Well, the interior could use a color update as well, but that will have to wait.)

    Ken and I have managed to get the stain on the pool deck and around our back porch and back step rails. We still need to stain THE BIG ONE. That is, the horse barn. Plus there is some paint work yet to be done on the inside of the back porch, the front porch and around the windows.

    Problem is, we have this varying chance of rain quite nearly every day anymore. I t doesn't necessarily rain very much, but only enough to mess up the twenty four hours between that we need. It looks like the pattern for the summer, too; and not a bad one if we weren't trying to paint and stain.

    Sooner or later, though, I'm sure we'll get a break.:)


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  2. Dave Sun

    Dave Sun Veteran Member
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    It looks like your barn doesn't get a lot of sun, with all the trees around it, so it probably takes longer to dry out to get ready to stain. I like your pool setup. We had something similar years ago.
     
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  3. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Allie, I just love your pool setup, too !
    I can't climb up those ladders that you have to go up, and then down the other side; so we have one of the small Intex pools that is about 3' tall, and I can step over the side and get in and out.
    It is not large enough to really do much swimming in; but I can paddle around and around, and it is great for keeping cooled off.
    Bobby has been cleaning ours and just filled it up today. We are supposed to be in the 90's all next week; so we may be out there testing it out.
    Last summer was a chilly one (as summers go), and we really didn't use the pool very much. It was just a cold and rainy summer here last year.

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  4. Allie Seay

    Allie Seay Veteran Member
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    Wow! Yvonne! All those trees. It's a wonder you ever see the sun. Of course, you don't need to see the sun very much to still be hot in the summer.

    Last year was relatively cool and wet for us, too, and our pool didn't get the use it normally does. The pattern is somewhat the same this year except reversed in that if there are really dry days they are on the weekends. Last year the only dry days came during the week and I felt sorry for everyone waiting for the weekends to do anything because all they ever had to look forward to was rain.

    It looks like we'll get to actually do some of our painting and staining tomorrow. But of course! It's Saturday (the weekend) so we have a chance at a nice dry day. Sunday looks dry, too; but Sunday is Sunday and we don't do things like that on Sunday.:)
     
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  5. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    We do have a lot of trees, Allie; but the ones you see in this picture are just over the back fence. There is an empty lot behind ours, which no one takes care of and it is overgrown with vines and brush, as well as the old trees.
    We have a sloping lawn, so finding a place that was close to level was hard to do; plus we thought that having it in the shade would be good in the hot summer weather. Little did we know that it was going to be a chilly and wet summer !
    Bobby thought about moving it out into the sun; but that would take a lot of leveling, plus it would get too hot to swim in if we have another one of those really hot summers.
    There are trees all over this property; and that makes it hard for gardening. Not only is it shady; but the tree roots make it almost impossible to dig or rototill the dirt. Mostly, I have been planting our tomatoes and cukes in containers where I can use good dirt and set them in the places where it is sunny.
     
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  6. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
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    Yvonne, don't be blue....your pool is blue enough for both of you! Enjoy the shade, enjoy the pool, enjoy the garden....and stay away from all that ground-breaking, back-breaking work!;)
     
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  7. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Joe, I will most certainly do my best not to be blue. Wouldn't want to end up like this poor fellow did.....

     
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  8. Jenn Windey

    Jenn Windey Supreme Member
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    So far we have had a mix of sun and very severe rain followed by some cold air. Personally I like it a bit cooler especially in the evenings. But I know what you mean as far as getting stuff outside done. Last week we finished the fascia that came down over the winter and I did manage to get in a bit of serious gardening. This week we will get to do some house stuff, last night I focused on a few indoor chores, I hope that today I can get to some of the out door stuff I need to do before the rain returns. It is sad when I am leaving for work on a beautiful day and I think about the stuff I need to get done around the house.

    I to have a tree lot and for that reason I never got a pool. Besides that the warm weather is so short up here- the effort was not really worth it. I did not want to be forever scooping out leaves and stuff. If you research your garden zone you may find that there are many planets that do well under the trees. It took awhile but I did find some shrubs and perennials that look great. Solomon Seal looks amazing in the shade and come back every year. You can always consider a raised bed as well.
     
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  9. Pat Baker

    Pat Baker Supreme Member
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    The trees around the pool will keep it cool but full of leaves, a very relaxing space.
     
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  10. Allie Seay

    Allie Seay Veteran Member
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    Yvonne, The Little Blue Man is hilarious. And Jenn, If I lived up north I might not want a pool either. Probably wouldn't. But in the deep south it is a real blessing to have water to get into without having to stand under your shower two or three times a day. It's not quite a necessity, but it sure makes things a lot more pleasant.

    We did get to work on some of our painting and staining yesterday. For most of the day, in fact. Ken took the barn and stained until he ran out of stain, which was quite a bit of staining. And I took the porches with the painting. I got one coat on all of the back porch except for the windows. And one coat on a good portion of the front porch, too. The front porch is...well, a bit tedious. There are a lot of little posts to paint.

    Mostly though, on the front porch, I just did the overhead stuff and the supporting posts--all the monkey things. And I did get all the little posts on one side.

    But that's just the first coat.

    Much more to go.
     
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  11. Allie Seay

    Allie Seay Veteran Member
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    The weather has been good to us this week. I've finished painting the porches and Ken has knocked out a big chunk of the barn staining. Of course, there's still a big chunk of barn yet to go as it's a big barn. Plus there are the window frames all around the house to be done. Even so, we both feel it's been a productive week and hopefully we can now take a little break after today and get back to it sometime next week.

    The thing is, now we've had a little reprieve from the rain I can already hear the grass crunching when I walk on it. Doesn't take long to burn up pretty much everything with temperatures well into the nineties. Whew! Balance. Now a day of rain would be much appreciated before we start back with our brushes. Guess I'd best talk to the head weather man.
     
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  12. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Allie, that is about the same weather as we are having here, and we have been in the 90's all week. Either Bobby or I has been out watering the flowers, veggies, and the lawn once or even twice a day.
    We have even been out cooling off in the swimming pool; so it was good that bobby got it ready.
    There is supposed to be a chance of thunderstorms tonight (unless the weatherman changed his forecast), and even more likely on Friday or Saturday.
    Hopefully, you have been taking a break and swimming in your nice swimming pool, too ?
     
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  13. Allie Seay

    Allie Seay Veteran Member
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    Absolutely, Yvonne. I manage to get in my pool almost every day. At least when we're not camping I do. And, of course, we haven't been camping since we started trying to get the painting done. I tend to like to get to the pool late in the day anyway. I enjoy the last bit of sunshine on the little deck before the sun goes over the house. Which puts me out there around five in the afternoon most days. I enjoy the sun for about half an hour and then swim. Sometimes I swim again right at dark. The water actually feels best after dark right now.

    We've had our soaker hoses working overtime on the veggies and flowers. You just about have to here when the weather is so hot. Especially in the veggie garden as it basically sits on a large slab of limestone.
     
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  14. Corie Henson

    Corie Henson Veteran Member
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    The thread title reminded me of our experience in repainting a house. When we rented the house of a friend, we promised to have it repainted. To help us, the owner of the house sent a guy to do the painting. And so we let him since we all have to leave for office. When we returned that night, the ceiling and walls of the living room and dining room were all done. That guy was so fast in that painting job.

    But my story doesn't end there. The floors, whoa, what do we see there? The floors were replete with paint droppings and some looked like puddles of paint. Oh well. It took that guy one day to do that paint job and it took my husband 2 days to clean up the mess.
     
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  15. Allie Seay

    Allie Seay Veteran Member
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    Whoa, Corie! The owner of the house must not have had any prior experience whatsoever with the guy he recommended. That's terrible. And to be sure much of the time involved in painting is simply making sure that areas you don't want painted are protected. I tend not to do that a lot, though. I'm very slow and careful enough to be able to get away with it most times. Only in tricky areas do I make sure things are covered.
     
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