All Primed

I call that a pretty successful weekend of work.

I'd hoped to be able to do two coats of primer on all the wood, but in truth, we got one coat on and that was pretty good. We decided to do the second coat of primer when the siding is on the wall.

We still have to install the building paper and flash around all the penetrations in the wall, which will need to be inspected before we can install the siding.

But let's go back to this morning. Here's where we started. Before anybody else got here I got started with priming the backs of boards we'd started yesterday and not finished. A neighbor had parked in the space right in front of our house, so we left the truck in the driveway until she moved her car.

People came and went throughout the day, and we developed some fast methods for getting boards done.

One group of people used a small brush to paint the grooves and tongues of each board, then another crew came along and used a brush to put down a thick blob of paint, and a roller to spread it out. We got pretty fast. A lot faster than yesterday, actually.

First thing in the morning I had Noel run to Pagano's to pick up some more small disposable brushes. They're terrible brushes but you don't feel at all guilty about just jamming them into the grooves, which was the right technique to move quickly.

The real epiphany was after lunch, when we came up with the brush-and-roll technique. That meant that the roller-person didn't have to keep loading up the roller as they worked down the board: just roll out the paint applied by the brush-person. Boards went super fast after that.

In what felt like no time at all (but really was most of the day), we were all done with one coat of primer on every piece. Then we hung out and drank Red Stripe like godless hipsters.

It was also quite the day for animals. George came over (pictured above boring Rosie to tears).

And even Mr Tom came out to watch the proceedings, though Rosie frightened him off.

Much thanks today to Betsy, Paula, Steve, Bob, Kate, and Tim. And of course George. Next weekend will probably be when we start installing this stuff, assuming the building paper goes on OK and we pass inspection.

posted by ayse on 09/07/14