New Paint

The process of painting the house turned out to be a lengthy one. We started by having the house power washed. Care must be taken when power washing so that the old wood is not damaged. Washing knocked off a lot of the loose paint but did not leave the house ready to paint. We had to scrape the surfaces before they could be painted. Scraping is very time consuming and not the least bit rewarding.

Looking at the house you can see that it is very tall and that there are a great many surfaces to prepare. The two porches both have ceilings and the handrail and balusters took hours. The new coat of white paint really brings the old house back to life.


This picture illustrates how dingy the house had become. The area under the balcony roof was perhaps the dirtiest of all since it was protected from the weather. These walls had to be washed with bleach water to kill any mildew that had started and to remove dirt that the power washer couldn't reach from the ground. Now it is a pleasure to spend time on the balcony.


The picture below shows the dramatic difference that the paint made as it went on.






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Last modified on May 31,2000