Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Doing some painting/staining/sealing

 Well this afternoon we did get our and work even though the temperature was around 95 degrees and it was very sunny where we were working. We tackled the porch first because it was little and we were able to just get it done quickly. Though I don't care to much for the color, it did match what was already on there, we had it on hand (from last time when Ken did it - I think he had got the orange kind of on accident) and so we decided to go ahead and use it up. Hopefully next time we can change the color - maybe a brown? I just am not really into the orange red color.
 After getting the porch done we headed up to the deck. Though the deck is large it looked like the paint/stain was really going a long ways and we were thinking we had plenty. That is until we got all of us busily working on it and it was going down much faster than we expected.

 The kids had meanwhile put it on in all sorts of different patterns (they didn't really get my instructions of starting on one side and systematically working our way towards the stairs). It was looking quite interesting. Thankfully we only need to cover the horizontal sections as the vertical ones were still in pretty good shape.

 Mara cleaned the spot in the carpet and washed some dishes first and then she came out to help in the heat too.
Well, we got partly done with the deck and ran out of stain. What to do now - I didn't want to go buy more of that color, I had just wanted to use that up so that it would protect the wood and so the various parts of the deck would match. And obviously I didn't want to go buy some other color as that would look really bad.

  I decided to see if we had anything else on hand that might work. I found a kind of orangey sealer/stain so I decided to give it a try. Mara and I put it on but it really didn't match. I thought it might look better as it dried but not so. And then we ran out of that too.

 So, we have a rather ugly looking deck right now. Before it looked in desperate need of some tender-loving-care, now it looks weird. Oh well! At least it didn't take that long. My thought is that before to long it will be snow covered anyway - at least the stain we put on will help to protect the wood through the winter, then maybe next summer we can buy a new nicer color (maybe brown?) and stain the whole thing. Meanwhile (tomorrow) I am going to see if I can do a little strategic placing of deck furniture and plants to help make this look better. We can hope so.

This end doesn't look to bad:
 The front porch does look much better anyway.  It doesn't look all worn out anymore.
 
After helping with the deck the kids thought it would be fun to cool off a little. The slip and slide that recently came from Granddad and Nana was enjoyed.
They made a platform of pallets and had it go into the wading pool. Now if we just had a little more of a hill someplace they could really have fun.

  I did also pull almost 2 pallets apart as well. My goal was 2 but the biting mosquitoes drove me in before I could get the last 2 boards off.

 Tomorrow we are hoping to do some insulating in the chicken coop. I also have a goal of pulling 3 pallets apart and I hope to find a way to get rid of the poison ivy that we have all over.

What have you been doing lately?

3 comments:

MrsYub said...

Your deck looks very nice! Our deck is still, as yet, unpainted....but I am not worried, it will happen unless the Good Lord comes first, and then it will not matter, lol!
Is it very hot there? We are In Victoria, Australia, and are in the tail end of our winter and its jolly COLD! Though unfortunately not cold enough to snow, only cold enough to make us all uncomfortable :/
Ugh! I hope you get some relief from the mozzies! We have a lake at the bottom of our street (and across a high way, about ten minutes walk away or so) and it supplies a generous amount of the bitey mongrels in Spring and Auntumn :/
I haven't had the opportunity, as yet, to back read your blogs, but I notice you mention chooks! I love chooks! Haven't any of my own - YET!

Abbi said...

Mrs. Yub,
Thanks for stopping by. It is getting chilly now but it was fairly hot in August - at least some of the time.

When you mentioned chooks I wasn't sure what you where talking about but I googled it and found out that it was chickens.:-) We do enjoy our chickens. I hope you are able to get some sometime.

Unknown said...

It was certainly nice of them to help out, although it ended up with a rather weird finish on your deck surface. Then again, you can always apply a second coat to those areas that need to be remedied. Have a good one!

Leeanne

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