Layers of Paint and Leaks

Although sunshine is predicted for the next five days, we started this morning by reattaching two of the three rain gutter downspouts that we removed last week.  Anyone who knows Florida summer weather knows that when it rains in Florida, it RAINS.  Our roof line is constructed in such a way that we have a waterfall in front of our front door without rain gutters. The rain gutters are still in place, but without the downspouts, we would have a washout at the corners of the house if it really pours.

I also am not one to tempt fate.  If we kept the downspouts off, we would experience rain for sure.  This way, perhaps we can believe the weathermen and actually use the next few days of sunshine to make further progress on Gladys.

Rick begins removing the paint from the bedroom north side
of the house.

After the downspouts, Rick once again fired up the pressure washer to the bedroom north side.  We knew that some of the paint was loose, but we were both shocked to see the paint peel like a three-day old sunburn.  In other areas of the house, we had some larger chips fly off, but on this wall we watched the paint bubble up like a boil and come off in magazine-sized sheets.  With a little clean-up work around the edges tomorrow, we will be ready to seal the cracks in the wall and apply our sealer coat.

The paint came off very easily from this wall.  This is the
last wall on the front of the house.

While removing the paint, we got more water than we wanted to directed toward our front doors.  We both have said that the double front doors, if confronted with hurricane-driven rain, would leak like corroded plumbing.  The doors are rated to stop a projectile traveling at 130 mph, but as far as stopping moisture, we both had our doubts.

We doubt no more. We now are certain that Gladys will leak if the rain is driven toward the doors.  The double doors come together with one thin rubber membrane between them.  They are on a protected porch; unfortunately, the porch faces west which is where most hurricanes would enter the city.  When Rick first started spraying the area, I checked and the floor inside the doors was dry.  By the time he was finished with the pressure washer, the rug inside was wet and the water was seeping out into the hallway. We will try to make some adjustments with the sill plate; sadly, that will not give us much comfort if a hurricane has the city in its path.  Fortunately, the last time the area saw a hurricane was in 1921.  Locals caution, though, that we are now "due" for one to hit.

This winter has been unusually cold, so we have not been able to use our beach pass yet this year.  The temperatures finally were predicted to be above 80, so we took the afternoon off and went to Sand Key Beach.  After two hours with just our lower legs exposed to the sun (since the breeze kept us almost chilled), our knees and the top of our feet are sunburned while the rest of us is fine.  We still are better off than some of the people we saw who were so suntanned they looked like "before" poster children for skin cancer ads.  We know we should have gotten out of the sun sooner-- stupid us.  But at least we are smart enough to not continually expose our skin to more damage.

Overall, though, our beach experience was great.  We relaxed, watched people swim and parasail, and had time to read our Kindles.  At one point, we watched a persistent sea gull get into an unattended beach bag, wrestle out an unopened bag of potato chips, and peck at it until he was rewarded with a beakful of greasy goodies. The people returned before he could get more; that is probably good because had he eaten more, I am sure that he would be terribly sick (or dead) by this evening.

As the weather continues to get warmer, we will switch to summer hours: work from early in the morning until about 10:00 a.m.  After that, the temperatures generally make working outside too difficult.  After 6:00 p.m., the temperatures get back to a reasonable level for a little early evening work if need be.  That leaves us with the afternoons to shop, to enjoy the library, or to relax under our beach umbrella at the beach.  Springtime is great in Florida.