Fresh Paint

While our neighbour was having all the fun laying sod in our backyard, Tom & I were repairing and then repainting the wood above and below the front bay window.

When we first replaced the wood and painted - almost 3 years ago (I had to look back) - we ran out of time to finish the area above the neighbour's window. We were using a 20 foot ladder at the time and the weather was starting to change - windy and rainy almost every weekend. Tom decided to retire the ladder for the year, and then it was a case of out of sight, out of mind.

But we would remember once in a while, so we decided to just get it done. Over the last three years the paint has started to peel a bit, so it all needed fresh paint anyway. Those windows are exposed to all of the elements, and we've had some pretty harsh winters these last couple of years.

This time Tom decided to rent a Genie lift instead of messing around with a ladder. Technically it's called a "trailer-mounted Z-boom." You can rent it on a Friday night, return it on Sunday (when they're closed) and they only charge you for one day. The boom goes up to 55 feet and holds two people, plus you can move it around while you're up there, so we were able to get the work done many times faster than we would have with a ladder.

Fun side note: Tom just parked the lift in our driveway the first night - with the support legs down of course. In the morning he decided to move it over so that he could reach both windows without having to reposition it. He engaged the parking brake, lifted the legs, and...the whole thing started rolling down the driveway into the street (and possibly up into the neighbour's driveway on the other side). Apparently the parking brake was just for show.

Tom was holding on tight, trying to slow it down and I'm running beside him asking, "What should I do? What should I do?" What could I do? He got it slowed down enough that it stopped in the street and didn't hit any cars, but I'll admit that my heart was racing for a good long bit afterwards. And you can be sure that the wheels were chocked at all times after that.

This is Tom bringing our little runaway back home.

So, on with the show. We scraped off all of the loose paint from below the windows, then I puttied and spackled wherever it was needed. Tom was the main painter so he spent most of the weekend in the air. I went up a few times to sand and to take pictures. We even went up above the roof to get an aerial view of the neighbourhood.

Tom gave the windows a good three coats of fresh paint and they look new again. Now I just have to touch up the garage door frames and we'll be done with the front (I think).