Progress report 2

Front porch and steps,
May 29, 2006

Front porch and steps,
June 18, 2006
(Yes, that's really the color!)

I decided to attack the walking surfaces of the steps today. My logic was that, since there is no mail delivery today, I would get the maximum amount of downtime from the steps after I painted them, allowing the first coat to dry thoroughly.

Hah. My neighbor told me after I strung up the "WET PAINT" sign that the mail comes at 8:30 in the morning. I'll be getting my mail before I head for work. How weird is that?

I had myself on a tight schedule today. 8:00 - 8:45: Church; 9:00 - 9:30: Grocery shopping; 9:45 - 10:00: breakfast; 10:00 - 11:00: Scrape, sand, sweep, and mop steps; 11:00 - 12:00: prime steps; 12:00 - 1:00 purchase Floor & Porch paint from Home Depot while allowing primer to dry; 1:00 - 1:30: Apply first coat of regular exterior paint to left-side vertical boards around porch; 1:30 - 2:00: apply first coat of Floor & Porch paint to steps....

Of course that wasn't how it worked out. It was so hot I had to take a 20 minute water break every hour. Scraping the steps took a very long time, although my cousin's electric sander helped a lot. Add in sweeping, mopping, priming, laying down a first coat of paint on the left-side boards, and taking a few long-distance phone calls, and I didn't head out to the Home Depot until nearly 5:00. Didn't start putting on the first coat of Floor & Porch until after 6:00. Fortunately it takes only 4 hours to dry, but 24 hours to be ready for the second coat, so I didn't feel too bad about only getting one coat on. I might not even be able to get a second coat on tomorrow - it will technically be too soon to start when I get there.

I'm gearing up for Tuesday. I hope the porch repairs are as straightforward as I'm being told.