Blue Never Felt So Good

Pardon my melodramatic writing for this one post.

We started painting this old house 24 months ago. It started during our kitchen remodel. Painting was something cheap that we did to keep us busy while we watched the contractors work inside. Since then, we've been chipping away at the project, side by side. Each side took about 3-6 months to complete. Winters and summers also slowed us down.

One added detail to the painting project - I also decided to refinish/replace each shingle before the paint. Anyone can paint a house, but most aren't willing to go to the trouble to scrape, refinish and caulk every nook and cranny.

This year we finished the south wall, and in a rush to finish the front of the house, I elected to hire a contractor to replace all the old shingles with new.

I would say this was the most difficult and physically demanding project we've taken on. I went through 4 orbital sanders, 14 boxes of shingles, 50 tubes of caulk, and thousands of sanding pads.

We're happy with the results, and more happy to say we're done! Enjoy.

The carpenters started on the left edge and worked to the right, bottom to top, sections at a time.

Carpenter's progress at end of day 2. We had to buy 11 boxes of shingles for the front.

Completed shingles before paint. I stripped the window trim and fascia boards after they left.

This type of project definitely requires a helper. The porch roof really helped them out with easy access.

Pregnant wife helping me out with painting. Worst husband or best wife ever? 

Painting done, with a lovely lady at the door.

Kinda looks like a ship at this angle.

A month before we bought the house.

4.5 years later.

Before/after.

Painting Progress: Three Sides Done

Look what we finished this weekend . . . .

Current painting status is three sides done, as well as the front porch - leaving just the front 2nd and 3rd stories to sand and paint. I'm starting to believe this project might actually end some day . . . .

Shingle Refurbish - South Wall (Side 3 of 4)

Before and after Mount Etna blue Duration Paint from Sherwin Williams.

The weather finally turned to spectacular this weekend. Our March and April were unusually rainy and cold, so we've held off on typical outdoor stuff.

I'm about 70% done with this project. The last 30% might be the most difficult, as my motivation seems to taper with house projects as they span in time. Thankfully, I've found a new source of motivation in a pregnant wife. I've got about 6 months to put this project in the books.

If you're keeping score, I started the south side last Fall. After this past weekend, I'm happy to say the bottom half of this side is done. I'd love to put up a new post in June with the entire South wall complete. Fingers crossed.

Looking up, you can see what work I have ahead of me.

We'd like to replace the middle window asap. You can see it's pretty beat up. The paint in this section of shingles were really blistered and came off swimmingly.

Some shingles just aren't worth the effort of stripping. The old paint is secure and smooth, so I've learned to embrace a little bit of irregularity. 

Slowly but Surely

We're continuing with progress on the house exterior. Summer was unusually hot, so we took July off from sanding and painting.

With great repitition, the actual sanding has gotten easier. The end result is a smooth, fresh shingle. Painting is the easy part, and takes only a fraction of the time.

We're close to being completely finished with the North face of our house. Next step: South side this fall.

It's finished!

I'm happy to announce we're done with the back of the house. I'm working on an animated gif that will show the entire process, but until then, you can see the final results below. We rented an airless paint sprayer for the final coat, Expensive, but time saving.

Our turning walnut tree leaves inspired a final yellow coat on the attic vent window. Overall we're happy with the results, and even more happy to be done.

Paint Progress

Fall has been nearly picture perfect around KC. The cool dry season has proven perfect for house painting. With each week's passage, I find myself getting more and more nervous about getting everything done before the end of the "painting season."

Thankfully, today we were able to finish the 1st coat of paint on the entire back of the house. We even broke out some orange paint for the attic vent area, which was like a cherry on top of all the progress.

We used to live on a screet in KC affectionately called "Nutterville" by locals, in which every home was painted with a wild pallet of colors that you really don't see anywhere else in the city.

We jokingly called our orange vent an "ode" to our previous hood, and we like it - (hopefully the neighbors do too).

Our last step for the back of the house is to rent an airless sprayer and cover all the blue shingles again. We used rollers for the 1st coat, but there are too many valleys to fully cover with a roller. Anybody have some advice on how to pick out a good sprayer?

Climbing the Ladder

We're almost done sanding the huge back wall of shingles at our house. Once this wall is done, we're hoping the rest will feel a lot easier. Needless to say, this project was harder than we anticipated, but we think that the work will all be worth it in the end. Jay and Alex pitched yesterday to help us speed up progress. Results below.