Painting the House

The dreaded task is house painting, on the exterior! I always put this off as long as I can which is about 5 to 6 years. I don't mind the part where I go around and tighten all the siding, trims, and caulk in all the gaps. I can even handle going up and down the ladder. But I must admit that I hate the brush work.

I used to believe that the only way to paint a house is with a brush. I have painted plenty of houses that way. I always argued that you would get a better job. And to a certain extent that is still probably true. But when you are painting textured siding, brushing is a major pain. For some reason that liquid paint does not want to flow into the deep recesses of the texture. So the solution seems to be to brush, and brush, and brush. Gotta work that paint in.

It appears to me that today's exterior paints are made for spraying. that makes sense since about 90 percent of house painting jobs are done that way. So I can rent a sprayer or buy one. I usually don't like to rent. That's why my garage, shed, and truck are full of tools. After all "why rent when you can own?" Well, it's not like these tools appreciate with age like a house. Oh, wait, are houses still appreciating?

Anyway, when I am done my right arm will definitely be stronger than my left. My arches will ache from standing on the ladder. My skin will either be a nice tan or beet red. And most of my spare time will be used as will my spare change.

Just so there is enough spare change for Starbucks. And we thought oil was black gold! Well, so is Starbucks' Pike Place.