March 20 – “This Old House”

I know now that we are well on our way into the painting phase of the external house restoration process.  For one thing, I have spent parts of the last two days scraping peeling paint off of the side of the house.  (There is something insanely satisfying about seeing the old paint peel back and fly off).  But that could be just a momentary fancy.  No, the real indicator came last night as we watched a little of the Baylor basketball game.  Well, as I watched the game.  See, Chris was busy.  Not sewing this time, for she was seated on the couch right next to me.  This time she had her little iPad out and was doing research.  That’s it.  That’s how I know we have reached critical mass … when Chris begins her internet research. 

This time she was on the website associated with that TV show, This Old House.  I suppose our house qualifies as “old,” since our entire neighborhood received “historical” status after Hurricane Ike.  It’s what allowed us to rebuild without tearing the houses down and starting over with the homes on stilts.  I was interested to hear what they had to say.

For one thing, they nixed the idea of power washing.  Apparently there is too much that could go wrong on an old house.  I think, reading between the lines, that it must mean some houses are probably held together by the layers of old paint and accumulated dirt.  If you wash away too much, the whole house might fall down.  I don’t think that would be the case with our house, but … noted.  The website recommended doing scraping the old-fashioned way (like I have been doing), then spraying with a garden house to remove dirt and cobwebs and the like.  Oh, and use a bristle brush that is not metal to brush away any remaining paint flecks.  Then when that dries, sand down the areas to make for smooth transitions on the wood.  The only part of all that I question is the non-use of the power washer.  Seems to me that if the house can handle it, the power washer would be the easiest way to go.  One of our go-to guys at church (who owns a lumber yard/hardware business) mentioned doing the power wash, as did Nathan and his buddies.  Of course in their case it would be another opportunity to operate a power tool.  And I certainly can’t fault them for that.  But whatever we do, stage one is still scraping the loose paint away.  And that means more hours in the beautiful (hot) sunshine.  Can’t wait.

1 Timothy 6:12 says, “Fight the good fight of the faith.  Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

Father, thank you for the many resources available on virtually any topic.  Information is an amazing thing.  Amen.