This week I had hoped to have the upper front of the house painted as well as part of the driveway side. However, due to the finding of excessive peeling paint, rain on Wednesday and Thursday, and high temps and humidity on Friday, the job lagged behind. That does not mean all was lost. I used the setbacks to begin working on the back deck under the covered portion. When I could, I worked on the front and when the sun was too hot there, I would move to the driveway, and back to the front in the afternoon as the sun moved around the house.
So what we have now is prep completed on the front, almost half of the driveway side, and the lower back of the house on the deck. I wanted to begin painting that today but the filler I had used to level out the rough peeling spots was taking longer to dry because of the humidity. By that time the temp had reached to 90 so it might not have been a good idea to paint with such high temps and humidity. In order for paint to bond securely the drying process is extremely important. Warm, humid, or wet conditions can severely hamper that process.
So where do we stand now? Now, we have to get painting. It looks like next week should be pretty good. Most of the week looks like it will be in the 80's. As long as the humidity stays down, this should be fine to paint. I will continue to have to move around the house at certain times because the heat can be unbearable as well as direct sunlight can cause the paint to dry too quickly which resualts in an unattractive finish and possibly premature failure.
What is the process I am using?
Ther process is a standard one beginning with scraping loose paint off. Then the resultant areas of rough paint are sanded to allow for less visible peel marks. Then those areas are primed. When they are dry, the rough areas are filled in with Ready Patch wood filler to level them out. When the patches are dry, they are sanded smooth and primed again. While that dries, any cracks needing caulk are filled (areas of special attention are trim boards and around windows and doors). When all is dry a coat of paint is applied by brush, with another coat to follow when that is dry in approx. 4-6 hours or by the next day. The prep stage is by far the longest portion of the painting process accounting for approximately 75% of the time, but it is also the most important and can literally mean the difference between a job that lasts years and a job that may last only one or two years. It is worth the extra time and effort to do it right.
The final area which most non-painters never consider is clean up. While it takes longer to do a good clean up it is another vastly important part of the job. Almost all houses built before 1978 have lead paint. When a house with lead paint is put through the thorough painting process it sends thousands of paint chips into the yard, into the neighbors property, and possibly even into houses. This paint can cause severe health problems if ingested. Lead paint is not just ingested by eating the chip but by breathing the dust and even by being absorbed through the skin. Lead molecules cannot be broken down and when ingested, build up within the body resulting in lead poisoning if the exposure occurs frequently enough. Each year many people are diagnosed with lead poisoning, many of them due to improper handling of lead paint.
Unlike your neighbor who renovated his house a couple years and took no precautions resulting. Ina cloud of dad dust being spread throughout the neighborhood as his worker grinder the paint off. I use tools approved by the EPA for safe removal of lead paint. These include a special disk sander, a HEPA vacuum, and an infrared paint stripper. I have also been trained and certified by the EPA for lead-safe removal of paint. This means that you can ytake comfort in knowing that neither you, your guests, or your neighbors are at risk for ingesting lead paint dust from this job. Thats worth the extra effort as far as I'm concerned.
More updates will follow next week. Thanks for your time!
Ther process is a standard one beginning with scraping loose paint off. Then the resultant areas of rough paint are sanded to allow for less visible peel marks. Then those areas are primed. When they are dry, the rough areas are filled in with Ready Patch wood filler to level them out. When the patches are dry, they are sanded smooth and primed again. While that dries, any cracks needing caulk are filled (areas of special attention are trim boards and around windows and doors). When all is dry a coat of paint is applied by brush, with another coat to follow when that is dry in approx. 4-6 hours or by the next day. The prep stage is by far the longest portion of the painting process accounting for approximately 75% of the time, but it is also the most important and can literally mean the difference between a job that lasts years and a job that may last only one or two years. It is worth the extra time and effort to do it right.
The final area which most non-painters never consider is clean up. While it takes longer to do a good clean up it is another vastly important part of the job. Almost all houses built before 1978 have lead paint. When a house with lead paint is put through the thorough painting process it sends thousands of paint chips into the yard, into the neighbors property, and possibly even into houses. This paint can cause severe health problems if ingested. Lead paint is not just ingested by eating the chip but by breathing the dust and even by being absorbed through the skin. Lead molecules cannot be broken down and when ingested, build up within the body resulting in lead poisoning if the exposure occurs frequently enough. Each year many people are diagnosed with lead poisoning, many of them due to improper handling of lead paint.
Unlike your neighbor who renovated his house a couple years and took no precautions resulting. Ina cloud of dad dust being spread throughout the neighborhood as his worker grinder the paint off. I use tools approved by the EPA for safe removal of lead paint. These include a special disk sander, a HEPA vacuum, and an infrared paint stripper. I have also been trained and certified by the EPA for lead-safe removal of paint. This means that you can ytake comfort in knowing that neither you, your guests, or your neighbors are at risk for ingesting lead paint dust from this job. Thats worth the extra effort as far as I'm concerned.
More updates will follow next week. Thanks for your time!