When we bought the house 3 years ago, it needed to be painted.
Now, it really needs to be painted and the great prep has begun! Tackling the easy to reach behind the house let’s get this job started, Number Two Son and I were a very effective team. The dogs were delighted to have us hang out in their yard and the peeling paint came off easily. I was lulled into a false reality that this massive prep job wouldn’t be so bad after all.
With the return of hot weather, I chose to work on the shady side of the house and I’ve been there for days. All I can say is…porches…porches with years of paint jobs on them…most of the spindles and posts look like this…
Another coat of paint is not going to make it look better…
My Loving Spouse and I determine the porches need to be done ‘right’ and we’ve got to get the paint off of them…
This calls for at least one trip to the store for more paint remover. While we are checking out I point out the cute photo of Prince William, Kate and the little ones. No less than 5 minutes later My Loving Spouse says,
“They are a cute family”
‘What?’
“Prince William…they do look like a cute family”
‘Oh, I’d forgotten about them and thought you were talking about my cows!’
Yesterday armed with paint remover, a pressure washer (that fights me when I operate it and I have the bruises to prove it), a heat gun, scrapers and a link to listen to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone I was set to tackle the railings on the front porch. I made quite a lot of progress…on the book listening to the first 12 chapters! The porch spindles show signs of progress, but it is a daunting task. In some areas it peels off in wonderful strips of paint, but in others it clings and only comes off taking wood bits with it…
The kitchen porch has 31 spindles.
The front porch has 35 spindles.
The ‘other’ front porch has not been counted…there is only so much bravery in me at any given time, I don’t want to know how many more spindles are over there.
I started dreaming of having Dear John here to help, as he is the ‘family wood worker’. I do believe however, he’d just build new ones to look like the old ones as these seem to not be salvageable…and so this morning…
after extensive research and on-line shopping…
new wooden spindles will be arriving in a week or so…
Harry Potter and I will return to scraping, sanding and prepping the porch posts and the rest of the 2000 sq. feet or so of house. It looks worse every day, which is progress I guess. I keep telling myself to do the job right and hopefully you won’t need to do it again…
Sounds like it’s a good thing that Dear John is hiding in the mountains of SW Colorado! Sorry…
Enjoy Colorado! This project could do you in! And the wind is blowing so hard the Scamp could end up in the pond! Have fun.
For me, scraping paint off walls or spindles ranks right up there with having a root canal. I would rather not do either. My hat is off to you!
That is why I am trying to do such a good job, I really, really do not want to ever do it again!
It’s definitely going to look much, much worse before better but I know the splendor of your home when it is done will be beautiful payment for all that hard work!
Thanks Lorie,
It is looking much, much worse and we’ve paint chips everywhere! At least the chickens do not eat them or we’d have sick chickens as well! I look forward to the end result!
The cows ARE such a cute family. I did some porch prep this summer, too. I, however, didn’t have to do the sanding/paint removal (Jan had that lovely job before I arrived). I got to paint primer on porch spindles. Much more fun! Wish I could be there to help out.
Well, I will be working on it all summer…so come on by!