The right tool for the job (again), or – I’m seeing red
Posted by Rich on 19 Aug 2010 at 08:13 pm | Tagged as: Construction, General
I couldn’t decide which blog title to go with so I’m using both.
I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again: You need the right tool for the job, and besides tools are fun. In this case: Paint Sprayers. No, we are not talking about a little handheld gun. We got one of those gallon at a time at the base pump, a long hose and a handheld gun prosumer models. Reagan bought it a while back and used it on the kitchen cabinets. I don’t know why we don’t use it more often. Know that I’ve dug it out and used it, I may never pick up a brush again.
We took a midday run to Tri-County, our local lumber yard where the help is always smiling. Reagan has to always sign off on any thing involving color choices. Really, how hard is it to turn down “barn red” So, 5 gallons, 20 bricks, a paint mixer, and a soap dispenser later we were on our way home. I loaded up the drill, nail gun, paint, sprayer, and the boy.
Mason first went to work pounding all the nails on the sides of the machine shed. Over a bunch of years, they slightly work out. This just got everything tight again. While he was doing that, I cut a section of siding off the corn crib and put in a couple pieces of plywood and a double hung window. Man, I’m getting good at this stuff.
Here’s the story. No half finished walls. So how do I reach that last 2-3 feet? Hmmm. Well, we have a wagon for the tractor. That would help. Oh, I can put a pallet on top of the sides. Bingo, this pallet had indents in all the right spots so it locked on top of the wagon. Roving scaffolding, check!
Power?! Don’t have any in the shed. 3 extension cords from the crib just reach the far corner. Nice.
Having Macgyver’d a plan. It was time for work. Here is where the boy came in handy. I stood on the roving platform and would spray the upper edges of the shed. A sheet of cardboard made for a good spray shield on things I didn’t want painted. After I did a good 5′ along the roof line, Mason would drive the tractor forward until I reached the next blank spot. Spray – move – spray – move. Super-genius material here, if not slightly redneck.
After a distance, I’d hop off and spray paint all the lower sections. This thing was amazing. I’ve never seen paint go up so even, with good coverage, and most importantly – fast! We got 2 sides done in a short amount of time.
Since I tossed Adobe from my Mac and lost the ability to quickly make thumbnails, here is a link to a bunch of pics from this and a few other local spots. I’ve been taking a Master Conservation series of classes from the Extension, and there are a few photos from field trips in there.
