To scrape the house, we purchased an insane 3 or 5 or 47 in one tool that seems capable of just about any household chore short of babysitting my kids. But we haven't used it. Why? Because it's too much tool for the job. Turns out I'm not actually trying to strip my house of all prior paint before repainting it, so my 52 in one tool is too much muscle. Instead, we've scraped with a plain old wire brush. It has seemed to do the job.
One can of primer looks like it is probably going to do the job too, since I am only priming areas of bare wood... or, as I look carefully at my siding... bare cardboard. Wow, it's pathetic material. Moving on.
I find that my house is growing. It seems that every time I think I have completed all of the priming on one side of my house, I walk by it the following day to find an entire section of bare wood (or cardboard) that must have sprouted overnight (there's no WAY I could have missed that much, could I?!).
The caulking is quite another issue. I caulked. It cracked within a week. I caulked again with a fresh tube. It cracked again within a week. Colorado has a way harsh climate, but something had to work. My husband informed me that my dad (the DIY guru) swears by Marine 5200 caulk. Yes, marine as in, for use on boats. WATERTIGHT. So. I've caulked a third time. So far, so good. I am not going to bash products here that I find aren't working for me, I'm just going to tell you what IS working for me, and so far the 5200 is doing great. Added bonus: in the event of Biblically proportioned flood, PARTY AT MY PLACE!
Most of the scraping, priming, and caulking is done. I would say I'm at 75% completion right now, after hubby's help with caulking this past weekend.
Of course, we did find another slight obstacle this weekend.
"Did you see the nest?" Todd called to me from outside on Saturday morning.
Can you see it? Right there atop the brick pillar? Would you like a closer look?
Well, I can't rightly displace a little growing family! This is going to set me back some, I think.
