Stucco, Priming and Framing - Painting Day Four

I was home again today for today's work. The main thing Armando focused on was our front porch railing. It took quite a while to get the old stuff ripped out. I would guess in part to be careful not to compromise the posts that needed to stay to support the overhang.

Since we had already purchased the ribbing for the railing, Armando said that to get the most use of the wood it would be best to reduce the gap of the railing from top to bottom. I think it only is a difference of about a quarter an inch, but it means the difference between getting two or three ribs from each length of wood. When Jim was preparing to purchase the wood, he became aware of how uneven the framing was so it will be nice to know that Armando has made it all straight.

The picture below not only shows the start of the framing, but our new house color. So that can be your little teaser.

Another major accomplishment today was the beginning of repairing the stucco. A lot of priming was done as well, particularly in the spots where the paint had come off from the power washing.

For a little more teaser, our paint samples are in the picture below. The color in the middle is the Pigeon Gray which we chose for the entire house. The color on the left is Wooden Peg and will be the color on the new siding put on Josh's wall. (The color on the right was rejected.)

The next picture is some of the stucco work and priming.

More priming

There also was a lot of sanding today. A. lot.

Josh's north window - sanded

The bathroom window - sanded

Josh's east window - sanded

Our bedroom window was sanded too. It was a rough day for Josh's naps. There just was work and noise surrounding the house all day.

And the debris continues to accumulate.

Armando anticipates they will be done next Thursday. There is just so much prep work for our poor little house. But the more detail they pay attention to, the better I am going to feel about our house when it is all said and done.

I also discovered a pretty big crack in the wall inside Josh room on the same wall where the siding was replaced. Armando was surprised and concerned about that and said he would fix it and paint up the patchwork.

Construction - Painting Day Three

We came home to lots of stuff accomplished.

Our roofing contractor had pointed out how poorly the back patio covering was supported. So while we were aware of this, we had not specifically spoken with our painting contractor about it. Jim had wondered yesterday if one of the posts should be replaced. Well, our painter had already started the work on stabilizing the covering. I guess it was pretty comical how Jim found him working on it and asked about it costing more money.

We knew it needed to be done, so we weren't upset he already started work on it. Especially because we have a lot of confidence in this guy.


The crew tends to make a big mess throughout the day, but it is always cleaned up real well before they leave. Our neighbor said the guys were working their butts off all day. And we can tell.

The new siding is installed on Josh's room

Just waitin' for that fresh coat of paint

Slow and Steady - Day Two of Painting

Painting work progressed today, it just didn't seem as noticeable - no shocking changes. If I hadn't been home, I might have questioned why they got so little done. But I saw first hand how hard they were working.

We did have one little incident where some of the power in the house went out. I had to find the key to unlock the breaker box so the switch could get flipped.

The most evident work took place on the wall outside Josh's room.

Here is the wall completely exposed.

Since the wall was going to be opened up, we took advantage of this time to put some insulation in. This house was built with no insulation. We've opened up one other wall from the inside amidst our home improvements and we threw some insulation in there too.

Insulation installed

And the black protection stuff

(no, I don't know what it's called)

One guy spent the bulk of the day scraping and sanding the trim around the garage.

Wood supplies just waiting to be used.

I think some of this is for the new front porch railing.

These are the wood pieces Jim bought for the front porch. He and his dad got them all primed.

I can't wait to see how the house looks when I get home tomorrow. I expect that Josh's wall will be done with the new panelling.

VANDALS!! (or House Painting Day One)

We moved into our house Labor Day Weekend 2006. We bought a red house. Barn red. Campbell Soup red.

What we noticed shortly after moving in was how bad a paint job was done on the house. There were several different random shades of red. Fixtures clearly weren't removed and there were splotches of red paint where there should be no red paint.

We knew it would be a while before we could afford to repaint the house. We optomistically hoped two years, but here we are at four. I think I'm actually a little surprised we're getting to it this soon. But we had our roof replaced last month and that just made us anxious to get the painting done and feel good about the house.

So here we go. Prep work started today. They powerwashed the whole house and it looks like a war zone! We're having the wood on the front bedroom replaced and changed from vertical to horizontal. You can see that it's removed already in the picture below. We also are having the railing around the front porch rebuilt. Jim and his dad ripped it all out a couple weeks ago.


It's been a little confusing to know what color(s) the house was before. It's looking like it really was a tannish yellow.

What a mess!



I keep wondering if the neighbors are happy to know the red is finally going away. Our house has certainly stood out like a sore (and very red) thumb.

The garage

The back patio

I'll try to keep posts updated throughout the week so you can see the progress.

Word of the Day: INNOCUOUS

I’m introducing a new feature on my blog. It’s called “Word of the Day” Click here to understand the fun!