Sunday, August 08, 2010

The priming is under way

It's long and tedious work. But we're not paying somebody else to do it. Still, it's long and tedious work. I got the first third of the attic space taped and primed on Saturday. The taping was done on Friday, but I didn't start painting until Saturday morning.

First coat of primer on the left, no primer yet on the right. Looking up at the ceiling.

I spent a little more than three hours doing the corners and baseboards with a brush then finishing the large surfaces with a roller. I was up and down from the scaffolding countless times. I moved the drop cloths around a lot. I still spilled paint on the floor. And I promptly cleaned it up.

The north end of the attic has its first coat of primer. Yippee!

The primer is very thick. I was complaining about it when Ken brought up a jug of water and said, "Thin it down!" That worked better. I think I'm going to put a second coat on with the roller just to be sure that it covers well. We still haven't picked a color for the room. And there are still two thirds to do. Taping. Corners. Baseboards. Rolling. I think Ken will help, so it should go a bit faster.

Then we have to paint it all.

I just did some rough calculations. The floor area of the space is about 65 square meters or about 700 square feet. The wall area (what we're priming and painting) is roughly 130 square meters, or about 1,400 square feet. Oh my.

11 comments:

  1. It's interesting that your primer is thick: we used Bricodepot placo primer, which is really thin and goes on looking like water, which you thnk it will never look any good. You leave it 3 days and by that time it is a solid white colour.

    Another good thing about it is the price - €7 for 10 litres.

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  2. It will be worth all the effort - when it's all finished and looking fabulous, you will forget how much hard work it was. Perhaps !!

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  3. Simon, I foresee a trip to BricoDépôt. There's one in Vineuil (Blois Sud). Thanks for the tip. We paid 36 € for 12 liters of the stuff we are using.

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  4. It's looking nice. I always love painting. Need a hand?

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  5. So far so good! The prep always takes the most time. Just think what a job it would have been without that nice scaffold!

    Bon courage.

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  6. Ditto what Evelyn said about the scaffold! Just think of the immense satisfaction you'll have when it's all done :)) (easy for me to say). I guess now we understand why the quotes are so high for hiring out the priming and painting, eh? It looks great already.

    Judy

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  7. Walt,

    In a couple of years, you will be brave enough to try doing 3D painting on the ceiling to simulate the blue sky with some clouds....Bon courage, the work is tough but the satisfaction of doing yourself ... priceless :-)

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  8. It's looking good! 700 square feet is a big space.

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  9. Yippee, Skippee!

    It looks great, Walt, you are a very good painter. I'll bet your thigh muscles are complaining today.

    Darcy aka BettyAnn

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  10. what about the ghosts, or in this case, the lutins? Do I have the word right?

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  11. simon, I think this merits a trip to Bricodépôt! Thanks for the tip.

    jean, you're absolutely right. It feels good to actually have gotten back under way after our pauses over the last few weeks.

    cubby, hurry.

    evelyn, one of these days the contractor is going to want it back...

    judy, n'est-ce pas!

    beaver, 3D painting? Does that mean I'll have to wear those funny glasses? ;)

    diogenes, yes, and lots of corners.

    bettyann, more like my arm muscles, what's left of them. Why "Darcy?"

    michael, that's one word! Another is fantôme.

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