Rehab (House): Priming

The house has dark stained trim and dark luan doors.  While the doors can be tossed out (and the busted holes in them are a testament to the turbulence in that household) the trim will be cleaned, primed and painted.   My daughter (22) was helping me.  My instructions were to carefully prep the windows which involved using a deglosser and a steel wool pad.

While I was painting, I was lecturing about the importance of prepping the finish.  Specifically, any trash that was left on the surface was a blemish that paint could not cover up.  She started out well and finished badly.  She then wanted paint.  Our painting was simply putting primer on these "cleaned" surfaces.  I was using a roller to speed the process along with a brush to fill in the crevices.  I gave her some instructions--less is more when it comes to this coat.  I told her that I would come behind her and paint the crevices.

 Her less was not adequate coverage, so I suggested to her that she should stop and let me do it.  She yielded easily knowing that she was not doing a good job.   She acknowledged that she was very tired and sore from the previous day ripping nails from trim. Working while overly tired does not yield good results.

My husband came later in the day as their work is on summer hours for Friday.  There is a huge problem underneath the house caused by a perniciously pervasive water works caused by oxidized copper pipes.  I'm not sure how they did not run the well dry given how much water leaks from the bathroom as well as the water underneath the house.

In addition to the oxidation issue and the water spraying underneath the house, the front steps have settled causing rain water to flow from the stoop to underneath the house.  The band board is suspect in that area and their are two joists that have seen their final days.  There is also a high spot on the top end, that is likely caused from some of the settling where the joists are weak.

Mark put a floor jack underneath to support the area--gently he was cautioned by a bricklayer friend as it may cause drywall to crack.  The stoop will need to be jackhammered out and re-poured.  Naturally, the joists will have to be replaced.  We have elected to let our contractor friend do that work.  Some aggravation is worth doing yourself--other aggravations (this one!) are worth paying others to do.  Mark also ripped out the soaked insulation.  There was much cussin' and fussin' accompanying this task.

A day's worth of priming the dark trim has given a glimpse of how much lighter things will look when finished.  There is still much to do to include the pine cabinets' deglossing.  An expert painter (professionally) has suggested Wil-bond. I'm debating between stripping and sanding v using this.  I applied another deglosser, but I still feel like there is too much residue on the cabinet to get a clean finish.    I may go into empirical mode and try both ways--I have lots of cabinets to do so there is not problem with getting a sample size.

Off to put Kilz on the subfloors that supported the nasty carpet.