Thursday, June 4, 2009

School's out for the summer....

Okay, really I have three more days, but I can dream, right?  We took a short break in house project spending to blow some money on a new computer, as the one we had (with the Obama sticker) refused to charge properly anymore.  Here they sit while we are busy working on the house on Saturday, happily transferring data.  I have to say one thing about Apple, and then I will start writing about the house, I promise.  The process of switching to a new computer was effortless.  They hung out in the living room all day, and at the end, it was like using a newer, shinier, hipper version of my old computer.  Everything was in its place.

Okay, we now return to the house blog.

The siding project has been going on steadily.  We decided, even though we have all those fancy tools, that hand scraping the clapboards is the way to go.  I spray it down with the hose, then scrape, in an attempt to keep the lead dust at bay.  

Why, you ask did we decide to scrape by hand? The paint failure on the clapboard was significant, meaning on most parts with a little muscle, the paint kind of flies off (goggles are a must).  The Paint Shaver, though integral to the trim, seemed like overkill for the siding itself.  About 2/3 of the house is scraped, and Kevin is much further along on the beadboard soffits. This photo was taken before we began work on Saturday.  I would go out and take one now, but it is dark and it would be hard to see.  Picture most of the gray paint and most of the white paint gone and you'll get the idea.  We plan on this being our last paint scraping weekend.  Funny enough, we've had people lining up to help paint, but no one wanted to help scrape.  I feel like the Little Red Hen. 
Last, I give you a helpful tip we've discovered: 

This is our tool basket.  Everything for the project (that doesn't have its own case) goes into the basket.  I have yet to go hunting for a tool during the project, and carting things in and out is a breeze.