Since March I’ve been painting trim on the house (yes, March, it seem it’s been a lifetime). Each weekend I wake early (remember I can’t help it I just wake up) and at least one day each weekend I paint trim. I have taken two or three weekends off due to other commitments or the weather. I paint early in the morning because it’s summer and the Austin, Texas sun is brutal. At 10:30 to 11:00 AM I’m squinting in the sun, dripping of sweat, exhausted, and I call it quits.
The house is 8 years old and the trim was showing a lot of wear-and-tear. The builder used the cheapest bulk stuff to paint it. The house is brick on three sides and wood siding on the back with wood eaves all around. All the wood needed desperately to be painted. The paint was chalky, cracking or just falling off. Also there is some water damage that will also need repairing, but I thought I’d paint up to the damage first, then do the repairs.
I took a quarter-sized piece of siding off the water-damaged back section that I’ll replace later and went to the local paint store. They scanned it and made me two gallons that match. Little did I realize at the time that the sample had some water damage and a bit of green algae/mold so the new trim color is muddier with a hint of green. What is surprising it that it looks good with the bricks we have. It actually looks better that the previous color. Even the neighbors have commented about how nice the color is, and it was a total mistake.
I bought their best paint. I don’t want to do this job any more than I need to assuming that the best paint lasts the longest. By the way just this weekend I finished those original two gallons, and got two more. This time I used the color specification on the lid of one of the original cans – no more moldy paint chips and a random roulette of colors.
I started on the front eaves, then did both side eaves, and now I’m finally on the wood-sided back. My balance is not as it once was so climbing two stories on an fully extended aluminum ladder has been a challenge, but I’ve handled it. I also have a 6 foot step ladder for lower heights, and I’m even foolish enough to climb on the top step (that’s the one that says DANGER DO NOT STEP HERE – oh well, I’m short and need the added height).
I’ve had to caulk all edges and seams. The builder used cheap wood for the eaves and because I was lazy and didn’t paint earlier, there are numerous knots and cracks to fill with caulk. For knots and cracks I do this by hand, one at a time I squeeze out a bit of cault, and use my finger to smear it into the knot and smooth it. Now my finger tips are sore, because the rubbing has worn the skin off them. As one gets sore, I use another. I’m now onto my left hand.
For edges I caulk them with a caulking gun squeezing a bead into the corner. At the beginning it was awkward and gloppy, now I can stream a bead quickly, evenly, like a pro. [So a side benefit is that I could do this for hire – this thought sends shivers up my spine even considering doing this task again] Edge caulking uses up caulk at an alarming rate. So far I think I’ve used over 40 tubes of caulk. This weekend alone I’ve used on the back of the house 3 tubes left over from last week, bought 10, and now have only 2 left of them.
I’m about 30% done on the back, so it’ll probably be Fall before I’m done. Unbelieveable, but if I try to push to get this chore done I’ll probably get totally sick if it and never return to it so I do it in small incremental steps to keep my sanity. If you ever need to paint trim and a professional painter stops by and bids a few thou to do it, don’t think it’s too expensive because after the energy, and number of hours I’ve spent it’s probably well worth it. However being cheap son of a b@#$% I just keep plunking away at it each weekend. Wish me luck!