Other Projects I'm Working On

[MurphCID]

WOW! Amazing job.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

WOW! Amazing job.

Thanks, Murph!

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I didn't do much today. My get up and go got up and went AWOL again this morning so I was a bit slow getting my rear in gear. It wasn't until after 1 PM before I finally left the house to go grocery shopping (I was running out of furniture to gnaw on). I had to go into the store a second time because I filled up the cart before I was finished. Then, I had to go home, lug it up the steps (not the ones I've been working on), and put it all away.

Traffic was the heaviest I've seen it in quite a while. I wish I had a dollar for every time I got cut off today. It seemed like every nut and their squirrel were out today. The wind was rather ferocious. I was going to make another store stop and pick up my snail mail but I didn't feel like dealing with the insane traffic or the wind.

After resting for a bit and having an early supper, the wind had died down enough I went out and sanded everything on the rails with red ScotchBrite pads. I cut six squares from two pads and went to town. It was tedious but I was able to get it done in only an hour, which was faster than I expected. I was expecting the balusters to be a PITA because they are twisted but they actually were the easiest part. Go figure. I was going to start masking things off but the wind picked up again so, instead of fighting it (and my allergies ), I did a quick Home Depot run (actually, I drove) to get some shop towels, acetone, and 20 oz. PowerAde Zero (they didn't carry the flavor I drink in that size at the grocery store ).

I'm at home now (duh!) and I'm going to read for a while, then crash early so maybe I'll get up earlier tomorrow. All need to do is mask everything off (hopefully, that won't take more than an hour, wipe everything down with acetone, then start squirting on the primer and paint. With a little luck, I may even finish tomorrow.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I had another bad bout of dragbuttitis this morning so I didn't get outside until after an early lunch. I figured it would take only an hour to mask everything off. It took 2 1/2 hours. Here's a couple of shots of where I started masking things off.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

And here, I've pretty much finished the masking using newsprint ads and some of the cardboard used to ship the six foot railing and the platform/steps.

I say pretty much finished the masking because, after i took these pictures, it dawned on me that I forgot to mask the two awning posts that might get overspray on them. I cut a large trash bag into two long strips and taped them to the posts before painting (you'll see them after the next photo).

I originally bought this for cutting the panels, etc. on my home's skirting but it worked great for cutting the cardboard.

I love my toys...er...tools.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I didn't particularly want to paint my lungs so I masked up before painting. I have a couple of N100 "stealth' masks (the filters are internal) that I got for Covid protection--I keep one in my truck and one in the house. These are the only masks I've found that sealed well enough to keep my glasses from fogging without having to make modifications to the masks and continuously fiddling with them. Since they have an exhaust valve, I have to wear a surgical mask over the mask so I'm not as likely to infect others should I get asymptomatic Covid. For painting, I decided to go ahead and continue to use the surgical mask over the "stealth" mask to act as a prefilter to extend the life of the internal filters.

I first used black self-etching primer, making sure to get any bare metal well covered. I used SEM primer. It's expensive but it goes on easily without any runs or sags as long as I don't get ridiculous and sticks well. Based on the coverage of the gray primer, which was next, I apparently didn't get enough of the black primer on the rails (other than the bare areas). At least the areas I may not have covered well enough were already painted.

I seriously underestimated the amount of paint this was going to take, so I had to make a frantic trip to an automotive paint store for more of the gray primer, then rush to Ace Hardware to get more of the color. Traffic on the freeway near me was even worse than it was yesterday. I've never seen it so heavy, especially on a Saturday! Where did they all come from and where were they going? Yeesh!

I used to use Krylon's Dual, a combination primer and color coat that worked well over the SEM self-etching primer without having to use a separate nonself-etching primer first, but Krylon discontinued it (mutter, mutter, mumble, mumble). They replaced it with one called Fusion. I never liked it much and it gets bad reviews so I tried using Rust-Oleum's 2x primer and paint instead. It's not as easy to squirt on as the Dual and took some getting used to to avoid runs and sags.

This is after I finally finished with the gray primer.

You can see the little two step step ladder I used to get on and off of the platform while painting. The extended handle made it safer than using my little step stool. You can also see the masking I put on the awning posts. It took three cans of gray primer to cover the black. When priming, I like to use black on the first coat. If it's all bare metal, I can easily see if I'm getting proper coverage. By using gray for the next coat, I again can easily see if I'm getting proper coverage. The gray also makes it easier for me to see if I'm getting proper coverage of the first color coat without any "holidays" (missed areas). I had to squirt primer and paint onto the twisted balusters from four different angles to make sure I got all of the surfaces covered.

I hope the guy who invented the trigger handle for use on rattle can paint made a bazillion bucks off of it; he deserves it! My old, arthritic hands wouldn't last through a single can of paint without it!

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I shot three coats of color over the gray. By then, my tired hurt but I didn't want to leave the masking tape on overnight since it can be harder to remove if it it's on too long. I also just wanted to be done with it so I can take a day or few off to recover. This is how the railing look after I got all the masking off.

Kinda anticlimactic, isn't it? I have a barely visible sag in one spot, and a rough area in another spot where I waited too long to fix another sag. It's supposed to take 24 hours for the paint to fully dry but my experience has been that one has to wait much longer than that before sanding and touching up. It will be a few days before I do it since the heat is coming back with a vengeance Monday on with temperatures in the high nineties.

The overspray you may see on the patio is pretty much just dust so it will come up fairly easily with a broom and a blower.

I still have a few minor things to do to the platform/steps. I need to make a splice plate for the miter in the top lock rail of the skirting to tighten up that joint and level it. I need to trim and shoot a couple of screws on the skirting on the space under the first step where it wraps around the end closest to the house. There are four empty rail post pockets that need filling. I can fill them by cutting off some of the original railing to fit in the pockets and put in plastic plugs that I can salvage from the rest of the original railing.

To get the platform/steps flush against the house, the legs on the house side have to overhang the edge of the patio. The "foot" under each leg remains on the patio but I can see that bending over time so I'm going to get some pressure treated lumber to make "shims" to go between the bottom of the legs and the ground below just for insurance.

However, nothing is going to happen for a few days. I'm burned out and need to rest for a while. I also still need to make another grocery run and pickup my snail mail soon.

[Petermint]

Based on your photo, these guys might be relatives. https://www.store.johndynon.com.au/

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Ummm...that's a side of the family we don't talk about.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I've been laid up the past few days with one stupid thing or another. Last night, I couldn't get to sleep for hours. By the time I did get to sleep, then wake up just before 6AM, I had only 2 1/2 hours of sleep. I tried to get my rear in gear but, even after a shower, I was still yawning my face off (yeah, I know, it was an improvement) and nodding off, so I gave up and went back to bed for a couple of hours. I didn't manage to get out until 1PM.

First on the to-do list was to trim off the skirting overhang on the right under the bottom step, then screw it down.

You can also see one of the unused post pockets I wanted to close up. Here is the overhang trimmed and screwed.

Speaking of unused post pockets, here are two of the four that need closing up.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

The easiest way to close up the four open post pockets that would be consistent with the rest of the platform/steps was to cut tubing from the original step rails, then cap them off with the original caps used to close of the exposed ends of the original rail tubes.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Empty post pockets filled.

At this point, I broke off and went down to Home Depot to get an eight foot length of ground contact rated pressure treated 2 x 4 to better support the legs of the platform/steps closest to the mobile home that overhang the edge of the patio. After adding a bit more dirt to get the 2 x 4 a bit proud of the patio, I moved the platform/steps tight against the side of my mobile home.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

In these two shots, you can just see the ends of the 2 x 4 sticking out.

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After shoving the platform/steps into place for hopefully the last time for long, long time, I cut out the remaining long sections of tube from the steps railing I had been cutting shims from to keep for possible future projects, then bagged the scraps. The rest of the railing I leaned against the front of my home and wrote "free" on them; they should disappear in a day or two. I then loosened up any dirt that was stuck to the patio, then blew off all the dirt and dust, paint over-spray, and metal chips from the patio. While I had the blower out, I also blew the tiny, yellow flowers from my neighbor's mesquite tree off my carport back onto his lot (I'll have to do the same when the seed pods mature and drop onto my lot; that neighbor has been too lazy to clean anything up or keep that stupid tree trimmed back ever since Biden took office). I haven't put away the work table yet since I'm hoping to get a new back door soon and I'll want to paint it on that side of my trailer before installing it on the other side of the trailer since the neighbor's mesquite tree on the other side of my trailer sheds too much.

I still need to make a splice plate for where the skirting top trim has been mitered and the two painting boo-boos still need to be sanded and repainted. The painting repairs will have to be done in the morning since we probably have seen the last of 80°weather until Fall and the paint has to be squirted on at under 90°. I worked only 3 1/2 hours today, including the quick trip to Home Depot, but I'm plumb tuckered out so I don't know when I'll get back to it.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I just looked outside and the original aluminum railing I had set against the front of my trailer is gone.

[kenetics]

You are reminding me of all the little projects I've been putting off! I wonder if Ryobi makes a paint sprayer? I have accumulated many of their other tools.

The rails look great.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

You are reminding me of all the little projects I've been putting off! I wonder if Ryobi makes a paint sprayer? I have accumulated many of their other tools...

Sadly, no. Wagner makes some nice 120v airless sprayers, though. Daddy had one but I let my BIL have it.

I have quite a herd of Ryobi 18v tools but there are a few I wish they did make, such as a heat gun, wire connector crimper, and a blind (aka "Pop") rivet setting tool. They also have discontinued a few tools that I feel was a huge mistake, such as the 10", dual bevel, 36v miter saw (it used two 18v batteries), and the original multi-tool body that used the Ridgid Tool Max tool heads (and Ridgid stupidly discontinued the right-angle impact driver head; Ridgid and Ryobi are made by the same company). They discontinued the 5 1/2" circular saws for a few years but eventually brought them back. I love saws ( have two) since they are so light, making them easier for my old carcass to handle.

While I have used spray guns in the past and they do give much better control of the spray than rattle cans, most depend on a power cord or and air hose (and
air compressor) to deal with and are a royal PITA to clean up afterwards.

...The rails look great.

Thanks!

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Well, today was "interesting". I started by sanding the bad spots in the paint on the railings. Here are the bad spots:

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Here they are after sanding:

[Lady Fitzgerald]

After cleaning with acetone and waiting 30 minutes, I shot on the color. After drying for a while, it did not come out well (I was too P.O.ed to take pictures; sorry) so, later in the day, I resanded both areas plus a couple of really faint sags I missed.

The post looked and felt smooth and well feathered out.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

After cleaning with acetone again, I shot the color and let it dry for a while. The rail came out fine.

The post, on the other hand, looked horrible (mutter, mutter, mumble, mumble) .

I think the acetone may be too hot for the paint I've been using. In a day or two, after it has dried enough, I'll have to sand it down again only I'm just going to use an IPA dampened microfiber cloth to degrease and clean it before shooting the color...again.