External Painting Completed

Rupert finished the external painting of the house yesterday.

We were very, very lucky with the weather and there was no interruption to the work due to the weather.  The nights have become cold would show up at the house after 9 AM to allow things to warm up a bit.  He managed to do the job in a span of 10 days, generally working along but with the assistance of his son Sasha for some of the scaffold work.

Rupert's brief was to paint:

1. The new fiber cement siding all around the house
2. The wooden eaves running along the N and S edges of the roof
3. The metal rain down pipes and exhaust fan cowlings

Rupert with son Sasha steadying the ladder

Painting South Side

North Side, Cowlings at Right

Rear, Wooden Window to be Painted

He put 3 coats of paint on the siding: 1 coat of "Spring" brand (made by Dulux) acrylic interior/exterior undercoat, followed by 2 coats of British Paints "4 Seasons" low sheen interior/exterior paint tinted to "Light Rice", now the color of the house.  The undercoat had also been tinted to Light Rice.  The BP paint has a 25 year guarantee, for whatever that's worth.

The eaves were painted mostly with the Light Rice paint but the ends of the rafters were painted with British Paints "4 Seasons" low sheen exterior paint, with the off the shelf color of Brunswick Green, which matches the roof.

Eaves After Painting

In a project like this one becomes immersed in the day-to-day activities, temporarily putting aside the broader context and perspective.  Yesterday after Rupert left I stood back, looked at the house, and it hit me that wow! the house was now insulated, cladded, and painted.  At the beginning of April I didn't know what material I would use for the house siding, who could install it, and if the work could even be done before the winter rains.  And here I was at the end of May staring at the completed job, painting and all.

The key has always been in finding the right persons for each task and I've been lucky every time so far, with the roofing, interior of the house, brick paving of the driveways, and now the house cladding.  Every one of the contractors has been a winner and has exceeded my expectations. 

Rupert did a great job and came in under quote, which had been $2100 lower that a second quote that I had obtained.  I gave him a $200 bonus which brought the painting cost to $3750, very good value for me.

That brings the total cost of the renovation to date at $100,000 ($99,341.3l according to the spreadsheet).

In the next few weeks I will paint the 4 large wooden windows and Paul and I will spend a few days fitting wooden architraves around the windows to give the house a finished look.

In the spring or summer I will tackle the verandah, which will involve belt sanding the posts and rails then painting them, followed by the sanding and oiling of the jarrah floor. 

Re Varnished Rear Room

The last big thing remaining will be the renovation of the bathroom, and young Paul will be the man for this because that is his specialty.  Perhaps I can get this done before my visit to the USA next year, but it is more likely that the work will be done in 2017.  I'm in no great hurry anyway, because it bathroom is still in pretty good shape.

While Rupert was doing his work I spent a few days attending to tasks that I did not expect to do until the end of the renovation.  One of the things that I did was to sand and re varnish the back room which leads to the bathroom and the rear French doors.  It is a large room and I plan to make good use of it in the future.