House Painting

We had this house built in November of 1988. Since then it has been painted four times, the last being about seven years ago.  It wasn't a very good paint job because he wasn't a professional painter, but he needed work and we thought, "What could go wrong? It's not exactly rocket science."  Well, it turns out that today's paint requires a fairly good understanding of the paint itself, the prep work, and the application technique.  And as with all painting jobs, it requires patience.  I meet none of the requirements to do the job myself so we contracted with a professional, 20-year experienced painter.  He started last Thursday, first by repairing some rotting wood and replacing some porch posts that needed replacing due to warping.

He returned to pressure wash the outside of the house, brick and all, with a mild solution of water and bleach.  We were not particularly satisfied with how the porch roof turned out so we did it again ourselves yesterday using a water/bleach solution fortified with JoMax, a chemical designed to not only kill mold, but greatly delay its return.  That's important here in Houston where mold is a major problem.  Anyway, it turned out great and will be ready for the painter after he finishes up the brushing, caulking, primer coat on new wood and anything else that needs doing before the paint can go on.

This should be the last paint job we have to do as we get closer and closer to the decision sell and move to a condo or something on a beach.  We've already put on a new roof, new energy efficient A/C, new energy saving windows, installed water-saving toilets, installed granite countertops, installed tile back-splash in the kitchen, upgraded the kitchen appliances, remodeled the master bath, built a garden plant stand, built a storage shed, installed a deep sink and counter behind the garage, installed lawn drainage lines, replaced 200' of privacy fencing, installed a hot water circulating system, installed new flooring throughout, installed windows and an A/C unit in our garage, installed a new motor and control panel for our 54 jet therapy spa, built a very large flagstone patio and covered porch area, installed award-winning landscaping, and built an outdoor kitchen that includes refrigerator, lighting and hot/cold water.  There are a few other things we've done that may appeal to a buyer when the time comes.

Maybe after this little, but expensive, adventure is through, we can begin to look for that magical place where we can live out our lives.  And who knows, with all that we've done here, we could already be there...