Who's painted their own house?

[atgcpaul]

Factory finish on the masonite, no lose paint? Get a color filter for the wive's glasses. A lot easier on your back and wallet... ;-)

Trust me, I already tried that.

[atgcpaul]

Gone paintin'. See you all in a couple of years

[billwmeyer]

Looking good. Good luck.

[atgcpaul]

I finished painting the front porch wall as well as the screened in porch wall to the left of the first picture. I did need two coats but the second coat went on fast. All the trim near the ceiling, around the door, and the porch columns, railings, and balusters need to be painted, too. Oh yeah, and the rest of the house.

The porch is the easiest painting I'm going to see on this project. I just need to use a stepstool to get near the ceiling. Everything else will be off the ladder. I'm going to go against convention and I think I'm going to paint the lower section of my house first and then finish the top last. I figure it'll help me develop my ladder legs for when I need to work up high. I put down a tarp yesterday but found I was pretty neat with the brush.

I really like the color my wife chose. It looks a little purple in this pic, but it's more a blue/grey.

My right arm felt like I'd just received 5 tetanus shots last night. I took an Aleve and it feels a lot better today but it's threatening to rain so I'm going to take a break and work in the shop instead.

OK, I've got a what would you do question. The windows are less than two years old. The frames are wrapped in this colored aluminum coil stock that matches the color of the old trim. It's called Galaxy Grey. I'm painting all the wood trim basically a slightly bluish shade of white--let's just say white. My wife said to me yesterday, you're painting the windows, too, right? Well, I hadn't planned on it. She didnt like my response that if she wanted them white, she could do them herself. There are 30 windows! The less trim I have to do the better. Otherwise I'm going to suggest everyone invest in 3M blue tape stock. The wife isn't always right, right?

If the three color look doesn't work when I finish the porch, then I guess I'll bite the bullet.

[charliex]

Thought

I needed to stain the cedar siding on my house several years ago. Went up ladder with brush and stain bucket. At top I got situated and ready to dip my brush, looked down, got off ladder and rented a scaffold for a week $125.00 delivered. Stained siding, cleaned and replaced some gutters, trimmed some branches and was done in less than 3 days. It would have taken me the whole week just to do the staining. I can also mention that it was much safer and made the job easier.

[kdaustin]

I've painted my house as well as a couple others when I worked for a guy that had a number of apartment and rental houses. Used a brush on my two story house and used both brush and roller and airless sprayer that drew from a 5 gal. bucket on the rentals. Most of my time was spent on prep, the actual painting time was far less than the prep time. Spraying is quite a bit faster than using a brush but doesn't push paint into every variation in a surface the way a brush will. I much prefer the result of using a brush.

[dkerfoot]

I have always painted my own homes. I agree that the prep is much harder (and more important) than the painting itself.

The actual painting is the fun, rewarding part of the whole process.

.

[phrog]

A professional painter told me to always use good paint brushes such as Purdy - they will save you time and money in the end. He was right.

He also told me to buy a paint can opener, a gizmo that looks a little like the old "wire" type bottle opener but it has a little hook on the end which catches the underside of the paint can lid. They're about 50 cents at Walmart and work like a charm.

The third suggestion he made was to buy one of those little plastic lips that fits around the top of the can after the lid has been removed. It has a pouring lip. It allows you to pour the paint without getting it all over the can and in the little groove the lid seals into. Thus the lid does not get a lot of fresh paint on it (where it ain't supposed to be) and keep you from opening it easily the next time. All were good suggestions.

[atgcpaul]

A professional painter told me to always use good paint brushes such as Purdy - they will save you time and money in the end. He was right.

Check. They had another Made in the USA brand of premium brush at HD, but I just stuck with the Purdy. It's the animal I know.

He also told me to buy a paint can opener, a gizmo that looks a little like the old "wire" type bottle opener but it has a little hook on the end which catches the underside of the paint can lid. They're about 50 cents at Walmart and work like a charm.

I used to have one but can't find it. The house paint is in a 5gallon bucket but I've gotten really good at pouring out of it without making a mess. For the 1 gallons, I just use a flathead screwdriver. Not so funny story (but a little).. my coworker's 3 year old son just stuck one of those in the electrical outlet. He got a good start, but was OK. Earlier that day, same kid knocked over a gallon (closed can) of orange paint in his bedroom and he and their dog tracked it all over the new carpets and the dog got it on their bedsheets.

The third suggestion he made was to buy one of those little plastic lips that fits around the top of the can after the lid has been removed. It has a pouring lip. It allows you to pour the paint without getting it all over the can and in the little groove the lid seals into. Thus the lid does not get a lot of fresh paint on it (where it ain't supposed to be) and keep you from opening it easily the next time. All were good suggestions.

Definitely! I love these things and also the main reason why I haven't bother to replace my paint can opener. These auxiliary lids are genious inventions and so "Why didn't I think of that?" They make the whole process so much neater.

[phrog]

Earlier that day, same kid knocked over a gallon (closed can) of orange paint in his bedroom and he and their dog tracked it all over the new carpets and the dog got it on their bedsheets.

Glad I wasn't drinking a Coke when I read this. I hate that feeling of fizzy soft drink coming out my nose. That's a funny story.

[atgcpaul]

I painted trim for almost 11 hours today. Amidst all that I sprayed our grey front door red using my Earlex HVLP. I thinned it way down and the sprayer did a great job. Prepping the door took longer than spraying the door. I took the door off the hinges and put it on sawhorses. Why is it that spraying outdoors brings out all the kamikaze bugs in the neighborhood?!!! I had to pick out at least four of them and do some spot touch ups.

[atgcpaul]

Thought I'd provide an update.



I screwed a stop block the length of the porch roof to prevent anything from rolling off and it will also brace the ladder feet when I paint the attic section. Working on the porch roof isn't too bad; it's not too steep. For the ends of the porch that slope to the sides (and where I can't reach the eaves or top of the siding), I propped a ladder on the end, bungeed it securely to the roof so it wouldn't slide and then rested an aluminum walk plank on the rung. This gives me the height I need and keeps it level. Just as an extra layer of security, I installed a fall protection system and use the harness and rope when I'm working on the ends.

Last weekend I painted the eaves above the porch and this weekend painted those wall sections with two coats. Thank goodness for Aleve! The fascia board at the upper left corner behind the gutter is rotten. I think I'm to have to cut the gutter off, replace a section of board and patch it together. I have some trim touch up to do up there, too, and also on the porch below. Then comes the fun part of the rest of the house.

I haven't decided yet if I will paint the window trim to match or leave it.

[radhak]

Whoa man! You have been busy! That's a fair sized house. Just reading your note gives me aches and pains!

But please be careful - my neighbor fell off his ladder while painting his upper floor windows, and blacked out for a couple of hours, and nobody knew he was down (wife and kid were out visiting) till he came to and called 911. He took weeks to recover, but is thankfully fully fit now. It put a stop to my own plans to paint my house - my wife is convinced I'm gonna fare worse !

You and I know we are not that clumsy, but still - be careful.

[capncarl]

As Norm says, first a word about safety! You never know. One of my co workers had a nasty fall, his safety belt tangled up with is rope and he nearly choked when he slid off the roof. Another friend was working on his 1880s house retro fitted ac duct in the floor and fell head first into the duct. He was trapped upside down to his waist for several hrs until some missed him. Lucky they missed him. The older I get the less I want to use ladders.
Be safe
Capncarl

[atgcpaul]

Does this harness make my butt look big?

I got two coats of white trim done today. Tomorrow I'll work on painting the siding. The temps are really dropping tonight so we'll see if that's even a possibility.

I removed the two window panes in the attic and also secured the ladder to the window frame with a rachet strap lashed around a 2x4 in the window opening.

At this rate (only painting on weekends), with the temps getting colder, and daylight fading fast, it doesn't look like this is all getting done this year--unless I use some vacation days real soon. I have half the wall done on the left side of the house--the part above the porch. If I can finish the rest of that wall this year, I'll call it a victory.

Paul