August 24, 2012 - House Painting Day One

I'll count today as being day one of house painting, even though I actually painted the garage entry door on Wednesday.

The day didn't start too well.  The window replacement guy came at 8:00 AM to double check measurements and pick up the first half of the money for the job.  They won't be able to install the new windows and sliding glass doors until around the third week in September.  As soon as he left, I headed for Lowe's to get the paint.  One gallon for the front doorway, and one gallon as a trial color for the siding.  I was the only person at the paint counter, and handed the guy my paint samples, both of which had to be custom mixed.  He said it would take about 30 minutes to mix it up.  I asked why so long, and he said "It's not easy mixing up these custom colors".  I informed him I wasn't born yesterday, and knew the computer would print out the formulas in a couple of minutes.  He informed me it takes much longer than that, and I informed him I'd bought many gallons of custom mixed paint in my lifetime, and knew exactly how long it took.  He informed me I wasn't the only customer he had to wait on, and I informed him he didn't have to worry, because I was not going to be his customer.  So much for Lowe's customer service.  I went across the street to Walmart, but of course there was nobody in their paint department, so I headed into town and went into Ace Hardware, where the very nice paint man was happy to mix up the custom colors, and had both gallons done and shaken in less than 10 minutes.

So I got a late start on painting the house.  Mr. Granny and the youngest son had been busy tearing off the old rain gutters, so the front of the house was ready for a good hosing down by the time I returned.  I began scraping old caulk from where the gutters had been removed, and found the facia boards had a lot of dry rot from the leaky gutters.  Those will have to be replaced.  I also found a bit of rot at the bottom of the front entry trim, so I gouged the soft wood out and will let it dry really well then fill it with wood filler and sand it down before painting that bottom six inches or so.  Ugh.  If it isn't one thing, it's another!

At least I got the entire front entry (sans the door itself) painted, except for the small area that is awaiting repairs.  It now matches the color of the storm door, where before it was a couple of shades darker.  It looks much, much better.  Then I tackled the siding above the brick, and managed to get two coats of paint on that before I pooped out.  I still have to dismantle and wash the porch lights, then Mr. Granny can put those back up in the morning.

 With the exception of tearing down these facia boards and replacing and painting them, and some repair to the trim on the bottom left side of the doorway, and screwing the porch lights back up, this part is finished.  You don't even want to know what those three large windows are costing.  Because they are so close to the floor, they have to be tempered glass, which is very $$$.

The new windows will be the same almond color as the doorway, and I'll probably paint the molding around them the same beige as the siding.  The porch overhang won't need to be painted, as it's never in the weather and hasn't faded.  Only the beam and facia boards and the black iron porch supports will need to be done.

Tomorrow I'll tackle the garage.  Not much painting needs to be done here, as the garage doors and entry door won't need it.  Just the siding, the dark trim around the garage doors, and the facia board (luckily this one wasn't rotted).  I should easily finish this in one day.