Lessons Learned

I have not written in the blog for a few days because we have been busy over the weekend painting the south side of the house.  That may have been a colossal mistake.  It certainly was two lessons learned.

When we removed the paint from the house, we went down to the grey plaster in some parts but left the white prime coat if the upper tan coat easily peeled off.  Rick also tried a new type of "paint on" patching material which was a gritty, thick, plaster-like paint that was supposed to seal cracks and fill holes.  The directions said to "feather it out" so that it would blend in with the rest of the wall.  Yeah, right.

We had quite a few cracks and holes on the south side, so we used quite a bit of the patching material.  I should have remembered that paint hides nothing.  When we were finished with the feathered patching, we could still see what was or was not patched.  Feathering out the patching compound also was not as easy as it sounded.  The compound dried to a rubbery texture that is not about to move any time soon.  Sadly, even after a couple of coats in some places, the compound sunk in to deeper holes and still left an indentation.

We put on a tinted masonry sealer and were not too upset to note that the white primed areas appeared lighter than the grey plaster.  The patched areas also clearly showed through.  No problem.  This was just a seal coat with a light tint.  We both really believed that the actual paint would blend the areas of the wall into a uniform color.  That was our first mistake.

On Saturday we added the first coat of paint.  By that evening, the paint had dried.  We came back from our evening walk, looked at the house from the street, and both said, "That looks like $&!%!"  We could see every patch, every white area, and every dark area.  OK.  This is only the first coat.  A second coat is needed to blend it all together.  We had found that to be true using certain colors of paint in the interior of the house, so we figured that the same might hold true for the outside.  What fools we were!

Rough and patched areas still leave shadows on the wall.

On Sunday, we added the second coat of paint and waited for it to dry.  It seemed to be much better, so we went to bed that evening relieved that the paint was going to work out.  Then Monday dawned bright and clear.

Oh, oh.  The bright sunlight cast shadows on the wall, showing every dent and every patch.  Although the light/dark background was not so evident, the patching and uneven surfaces clearly were visible in the southern sunlight.  Once again, we both felt that the wall looked like $&!%.  Steve came over on Monday evening to look at the wall, and he agreed that we would have to do something about it.  Our option at this point are to try to remove all of the paint again, but the new sealer and paint probably won't come off very easily.  Our other option is to see if we can get someone in to do a skim coat or a sand coat of plaster to even out the surface.  In the end, that may be the best looking and easiest way to solve the problem.  Since we just sealed and painted it, though, we may not be able to add a masonry coat of plaster for 6 months.  The south side of the house will be the same color as the rest, so the uneven surface may have to wait until we return in the fall.

From the street, the south side (right) of the house does not look so bad, but
up close, the rough areas show through.  Maybe some creative, large bushes
and eventually a fence on that side will help.

The lessons learned are two-fold.  First, we need to take every bit of tan paint and white primer off of the rest of the house.  It has to be back to the base material.  Secondly, we need to find a different patching compound that will not show up in neon saying, "I'm a crack that they patched."  We might try a patching caulk.  Jim, our neighbor, just finished painting a house for a client, so we might ask him what he used.  Anything has to be better than the patching paint that we tried on the south side of the house.

At this point, Rick is outside blasting the paint off the front section of the house outside the master bedroom.  Every bit of the paint is coming off.  We discovered painted-over screw holes that tell us that at one time, Gladys did have shutters.  We cannot wait until the front is painted so that we can add them to her again.  Shutters on a house are like earrings on a woman.  They are just that added little detail to finish the look and to show the world that you notice and you care.

Rick uses the pressure washer to blast the paint and primer off
the house, taking it back to the grey plaster.  Tarps catch the large
flakes of paint that peel off the house.  Someday, Gladys will be
all one color and pretty again.

I am waiting for the pest control agent to show up to give Gladys her semi-annual bug spray.  Pest control in Florida is not an option.  Either you use it, or your house is crawling with ants, cock roaches (euphemistically called "Palmetto bugs" here in Florida), termites, spiders (some dangerous), and other creepy-crawly things that you do not want to encounter on the way to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  I have to admit that we have a good service.  We have never had live bugs in the house.  When we come back after being gone for 6 months, we may find a few dead roaches in the garage, but our pest control has been very good.  Getting someone who will treat the house even when we are gone was a lesson we learned early-on, and we have benefitted from that lesson ever since.

We will have owned Gladys three years this coming June 6.  What a transformation we have made in her!  The inside is pretty much what we wanted her to be.  Let's hope that we can get the outside and eventually the yard to match our vision also.