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Zombie

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Have you tried using a roller? The door seems to have quite some area that could be painted much faster with it. I try to use it whenever possible as brushes are a pain in the arm...

 

I rarely if ever use a roller for a prime coat (unless it's like a ceiling or wall or floor). In the case of this garage door, there are way too many intricate areas (hinges, springs, metal bars) that need to be brushed anyway. The few areas on the flat panels that need primer can be done by brush pretty quick. For the areas that don't have any paint on them, it's very difficult to achieve opaqueness with a roller - the coat is always too thin. With a brush, you can "float" a layer of paint on those areas and achieve near total concealment (there will be some light brushmarks though). Also, when you use a roller for priming there's the possibility you'll pull up flaps of paint and deposit them elsewhere. That will show on the final coat. So could I have used a roller for the prime coat? Well, sure. You just have to weigh the pros and the cons and go from there. Now for the final coat, I'll probably use a roller for the panels as coverage will not matter and you can achieve better looking results with a roller due to the lack of brushmarks. sorcerer.gif

 

And I see you like extra challenge: painting the frame around the windows freehand, without taping - you daredevil you! grin.gif

 

Thing is, taping takes a considerable amount of time. By the time I tape everything up I could have had it painted already. You just have to take your time and be careful. For the top part of the frame I might just tape that as it'll be easier to maneuver the brush in there without getting paint on the windows. secret.gif (IE, gravity will be working with me for the sides and bottom, but against me on the top. Hope that makes sense).

 

- Zombie

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I worked a little more on the garage door the last couple days and I think I'm done with the prep and priming. Yesterday I taped up the top part of the windows and got a coat of primer on the muntin bars (the strips of wood that hold in the glass... in this case, polycarbonate. And I don't mean mutton bars or Muton bars either muton.gif). After that, I went to the hardware store to get some stain blocking primer (for the water stains) as I just had a little bit left in my two cans. You can get the stuff in a quart can, but I found it is a little bit easier to get it in a spray paint can as you don't have to worry about cleaning up a brush. So I sprayed those water stained areas and it looked much better. Since I was on the ground I put another coat of latex primer on the lower row of panels, the hinges and metal bars (as high as I could reach anyway). Today I put another coat of primer on the muntin bars and touched up the stuff I couldn't reach yesterday. Here's a pic of what it looks like currently:

 

2018-07-18 154921.jpg

 

Not sure if I'm going to prime the panels as most appear to be in sound shape now. And I don't think I'm going to mess with replacing those square nuts either, I socked enough primer on the nuts and ends of the bolts that they probably can't loosen up anymore. tongue.png

 

Here's a pic of the two items I used:

 

2018-07-18 155046.jpg

 

The stain blocking primer (on the right) is from Zinsser and is ~$5 usd for a spray can. It's not a shellac based paint. There is a shellac based primer from the same company called B-I-N and that's ~$10 usd. I got a can of both and tried them out. The BIN was great, you just have to remember to shake up the can a ton as the pigment really settles out fast. The Bulls Eye also worked great. It covered the water stains just fine so I might opt for that in the future as it's cheaper than the BIN and is also listed as Indoor/Outdoor which makes it more versatile. dwarf.gif

 

Now you are probably wondering what that orange bottle is. Well, the short of it is to condition latex paint. Here's the deal, I swear by the stuff. I normally use excellent paint for all my paint jobs, the only issue being is that the paint is usually exceptionally thick. You need paint that's thick so it covers decent. Most people will just add water to thin a thick latex paint down. The issue with that is the paint is now diluted and doesn't dry very good. The conditioner contains the base (or carrier) of actual latex paint plus some other additives. This thins the paint without diluting it. Mix a few tablespoons of the stuff in a gallon of paint, stir, and the consistency is just like cream. Now when you apply the paint, you virtually eliminate brush and roller marks and on top of that it helps the paint dry better in humid conditions. Let's say you are painting out of a can. If the can is open for a long time the paint can get a little too thick. Well, put some conditioner in it and it's like new again. There's a ton of benefits.

 

The same company also makes a conditioner for oil based paints as well. I do use this sometimes for oil paint that is "stringy" when you roll it. Mix some of that in the paint and there's no stringyness and you don't have those unsightly brush and roller marks anymore either. assassin.gif

 

Since I'm just about done with the back garage door, I started work on another garage door which is peeling heavily. So far, so good. When that's fully scraped I'll take a pic of it too. smile.png

 

- Zombie

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No need to shy away from the spray, eh, Zombie? wink.png

 

And them muntin bars are lookin' right fine, podnah! grin.gif

 

Appreciate the tips on that conditioner use as that can really make a difference, not having to worry about covering up brush marks, all without compromising paint quality or drying time.

 

Well, I see you're feeling outright unstoppable, already eyeing another garage door. The show must go on! cool.png

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The garage door I'm currently working on is the one you can see in a previous picture with the rolling tables. Here's a link to the post (the first pic with a table in it). Anyhow, the frames around the panels were peeling a little bit so I scraped those off first. While I was scraping the frames I noticed that the panels may have loosened up at one time as the paint was cracked along the edges. I can't have any loose paint so the edges were scraped. When I was using the putty knife to get some of the loose paint off, I lightly scraped against one of the panels and a big flap of paint appeared. I started pulling and next thing I knew the whole panel was completely devoid of paint. In fact, it looked brand new underneath. And that was just the beginning. Eight more panels did the same thing. Here's what the top looked like:

 

2018-07-19 170812.jpg

 

The bottom panels were holding decent so I didn't muck with them for fear of making anything worse. No pics of the bottom as there was nothing really to see.

 

Now, I painted this garage door, so it's baffling how the paint peeled off so easily from the panels. You try to remember: "did I use a primer?" or "maybe I just slapped on a bunch of top coats" or "maybe I used a crappy primer" and to be quite honest, I don't remember anymore (it was nearly 15 years ago when I painted it).

 

So now what? The panels are made out of hardboard (aka HDF... High Density Fiberboard). While I was just reading the wiki article to make sure this was what I had, I noticed that there is a type called tempered hardboard which is normal hardboard treated with linseed oil and baked to make it stronger, tougher, harder. Had I known this earlier today, I would have treated the panels with some linseed oil, but oh well. sad.png

 

Obviously, whatever paint was on the panels didn't stick properly. That high quality latex primer I've been using was my first choice as it'll stick to just about anything (including ceramic tile and even glass). If it'll stick to glass, it'll certainly stick to HDF. But, I still had doubts about latex. I wanted something that would soak in and create a uniform bond. I ended up using an oil based primer from the same company since I had some left from a project last year. Here's a pic of the door primed:

 

2018-07-20 170018.jpg

 

I know, I know, it's brown. In a perfect world, I'd have a white primer, but beggars can't be choosers. When I opened up the half-full can, I was amazed. The paint had settled out, but after stirring the thing looked like the day I purchased it. The only thing I added to it last year was some oil paint conditioner (this is from the same company-"Flood" as the latex stuff but it's called Penetrol) and possibly a little turpentine. Not much of either I imagine as I wanted it to dry a little slower (Penetrol) and soak in easier (turpentine). So I experimented by applying this primer to one panel as a test. It soaked in and dried decently so the whole door got this treatment. Needless to say, I'm pretty confident I chose the correct primer for the job. grin.gif

 

More to come! wink.png

 

- Zombie

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Whatever you applied to those hardboard panels actually did the trick just fine, Zombie, even if it didn't adhere as well as it was supposed to.

 

We keep judging paint jobs from an aesthetic point of view but what they're truly meant to do is protect the material it's being applied on. And, on that count, as can be seen in the picture you took, it absolutely did keep that wood in pretty much pristine condition.

 

As for that oil based primer, yeah, it's kind of hard to overlook how richly brown it is. wink.png

 

Still, I'm sure you'll overcome the challenge of covering it easily enough by laying a nice, thick coat, of fancy white paint on top of it.

 

The thing is, fifteen years from now, when you decide that door needs scraping again, you'll once more catch yourself scratching your head wondering whose bright idea was it to put a brown primer underneath white paint. tongue.png

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Whatever you applied to those hardboard panels actually did the trick just fine, Zombie, even if it didn't adhere as well as it was supposed to.

 

We keep judging paint jobs from an aesthetic point of view but what they're truly meant to do is protect the material it's being applied on. And, on that count, as can be seen in the picture you took, it absolutely did keep that wood in pretty much pristine condition.

 

I think those panels were fine even before I painted them years ago. The reason I painted them was to make it look better and to brighten up the room (so basically aesthetics). What protects the inside more was my careful maintenance of the outside of the door which takes the full brunt of scorching sun in the summer and snow in the winter. I touched up the outside almost every other year.

 

As for that oil based primer, yeah, it's kind of hard to overlook how richly brown it is. wink.png

 

Still, I'm sure you'll overcome the challenge of covering it easily enough by laying a nice, thick coat, of fancy white paint on top of it.

 

The thing is, fifteen years from now, when you decide that door needs scraping again, you'll once more catch yourself scratching your head wondering whose bright idea was it to put a brown primer underneath white paint. tongue.png

 

Hopefully I will not be around there in 15 years to worry about it. Though the next guy will certainly have a fun surprise. wink.png

 

Here's a pic of the lower part of the door just for reference:

 

2018-07-20 170028.jpg

 

First of all, when I paint I usually cover things up with cardboard. That's one thing we have an overabundance of at work. I don't care how clean of a painter you think you are either, you are always going to make a mess. I try to keep the drips and splatter to a minimum though. Anyway the panel on the lower right I replaced a while ago but never got around to painting it. It had some sort of paint on it, but it was partially soaked away on the lower part so I primed the whole panel. The molding which holds in the panel will need to be caulked as well.

 

With the majority of the door primed, I turned my attention to the muntin bars around the windows. The bottom ones looked like they were a little loose and were peeling heavily. I made the executive decision to carefully remove them. I put these bars on the last time and used some tiny brad nails about ¾ inch long. I've found the best way to remove the bars is to ignore trying to get the nails to come along with the piece. Carefully pry the bars up and the nail heads should pull through the molding and stick in the frame. How to get the nails out of the frame? Easiest way is to grab them with a Vise-Grip (or locking pliers) and they pull right out with a little twisting. There's no sense in keeping the nails either - just toss them and use new ones.

 

Now that the bars were off, I could sand them with some 50 grit sandpaper to remove the majority of the loose paint then went over that with 80 grit to smooth things out. After that, there was hardly any paint on them anymore so I decided to use the same brown oil primer on them for protection. Here's where it get's tricky. How do you paint the whole bar and have it dry without it sticking to something? My favorite option (if the piece has a hole in it) is to take a piece of wire and stick it through the hole, paint the piece, then hang it up to dry on the wire. Because the bars are small, it's hard to grip them while painting so I opted for lightly putting a drywall screw into one of the brad holes at the end of the bar, then wrapping a wire around the screw. Hard to explain, maybe a pic or two will do:

 

2018-07-20 170227.jpg 2018-07-20 170242.jpg

 

That was the aftermath of my handiwork - the bars look pretty good. Oh, but I was not finished! The same treatment I did to the bars I also did to the lower part of the frame where the bars nail to. Scraped, sanded with 50 grit, wire brushed, 80 grit, and finally brown oil primer. It all dried splendidly before I left work yesterday.

 

Today I decided to spray the bars with some of that bullseye 1-2-3 stain blocking primer as these bars got wet from rain seeping in around the windows and undoubtedly had some water stains. Perhaps the brown oil primer would have been good enough to block water stains but I need the bars white eventually so I figured I might as well hit them with bullseye. That 30 minute dry time is a good sell as the bars were dry before I even had a chance to put the cap back on the spray can. ohmy.png

 

I also took off the side muntin bars as there were a few that looked loose and yeah, they were peeling a little too. Here again, these got the same treatment as before with the scraping, sanding, wire brushing and primer. Ditto for the frame. The bars didn't dry as fast as I would have liked (probably because I put on a heavy coat) so I tried to speed the drying along with a heat gun. While that did work, I didn't want to chance putting on a coat of bullseye with the brown primer possibly still a little wet underneath. That'll have to wait till Monday. sarcastic.gif

 

While painting the side frame today I noticed that some of the polycarbonate glass panes were loose in the frame. I did use glazing on the windows when I replaced them years ago, but it looks like that glazing has dried up and pulled away from the windows. To really do a proper job I would need to take the last muntin bar out, scrape all the old glazing off, reprime the frame, apply new glazing, put the window back in and reattach the bars. Then I got to thinking. Why bother doing all that work only to use the same old, yellow, opaque polycarbonate glass? I ran it past Mr Bossman and got the approval for 3 new panes of crystal clear Lexan. Now I can do a proper job! yahoo.gif

 

- Zombie

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Zombie declares: "Hang 'em all!" ;)

 

That was a good call. Looks like the bars turned out just fine and all the more so since you didn't cut any corners, what with the proper sanding, wire brushing and leaving no stone unturned - whatever needed attention got it.

 

And I couldn't agree more with the preemptive covering of nearby surfaces. Paint always seems to find a way to drip somewhere while you've gone on to the next area, or you inadvertently brush up against yet undry paint which then gets spread around to the whatever else you touch. Soon it's like being back to kindergarten all over again. :P

 

You clearly put in the effort all the way, so it's only fitting upper management listened to your recommendation to splurge a little, greenlighting those new panes. :cool:

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Today I was able to spray a couple light coats of that stain blocking primer on the side muntin bars. Those dried almost instantly and they look really good now. No pics of them yet I'll provide one maybe tomorrow.

 

With that little project out of the way I moved on to the garage door itself. We left off with a brown oil primer on the top panels and parts of the frame. Let's hide that with a coat of white latex primer:

 

2018-07-23 164112.jpg

 

It's not perfect as you can still see hints of the brown primer underneath but it's at least not as noticeable anymore. How did I apply it? With my trusty 3" latex brush. For the bottom part of the garage door, I first caulked anything that resembled a crack sorcerer.gif and let that dry for about 30 minutes. Once it skinned over I was able to prime the lower part:

 

2018-07-23 164125.jpg

 

Much better. The day was not over yet, so I decided to take off the top muntin bars from the windows (leaving the windows without anything to hold them in besides the decaying glazing). As before, they got the usual scraping, sanding, brushing, sanding, dusting and priming. Then the top part of the frame where the muntin bars fit was primed also.

 

But there was one problem: the windows were not very secure in the frame due to no muntin bars anymore. Can't just leave that the way it is overnight, someone could push the glass and get right inside. So I cut some pieces of wood and nailed them in place as temporary muntin bars (you might be able to see them from the pics - I had a hard time getting a clear shot due to it being so bright). Now that the windows are secure I can breathe a little easier. sweat.gif

 

So what's going to happen tomorrow? If I have the time, I want to spray the top muntin bars with that white stain blocking primer so that all the bars will be ready to go. I'm running a little low on primer now so I need to stop by the paint store to get both types (might have them tone down the brown to maybe a tan or something, ahem). sarcastic.gif I also need a topcoat paint for both garage doors. I want to use an exterior paint on the inside due to occasional water infiltration, and I want it to be somewhat glossy. Exterior and gloss are two words that do not go together - maybe I can get it in an eggshell or semi-gloss finish instead. I'll have to run that past the pros to see what they recommend. And of course I need to order the three new panes of Lexan. :)

 

- Zombie

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So I sprayed the last three muntin bars with stain blocking primer today and now all of them are done:

 

2018-07-24 165843.jpg

 

Just about the only thing left to do is to fill in the nail holes. They really turned out nice! smile.png

 

I had some time before work this morning so I stopped by the paint store. Picked up another gallon of that premium latex primer, and also a gallon of that oil primer - this time tinted to a light tan. It wasn't the color I was expecting as I was after a 1/3 formula tint instead of the 1/2 formula tint (which was the dark brown color). Turns out the guy used a different (lighter) formula and then added 1/3 of that tint mix to the primer. So now it's pretty light, but I can still work with it. wink.png

 

What I settled on for a top coat for the garage doors was a semi-gloss exterior latex paint in pure white. I'm not a fan of painting with semi-gloss as it has a tendency to get "stringy" when rolling and it highlights any imperfections, so I'm going to tone down the stringy characteristic with some of that latex paint additive (which should also help prolong the dry time) and after the door is painted I'll turn on a fan to keep the humidity down. As for dealing with imperfections, I'm pretty confident that the back door is smooth enough now and the other one is getting there. happy.png

 

While at the paint store I also picked up a spray can of their own brand of white stain blocking primer. I actually used the same type of paint before just in a gallon which worked good so I figured I'd give this a shot. The biggest plus was it's price: $4 usd. I had to try it out today and it's ok... light on the pigment and it's a strange yellow-ish color (even after shaking to 5+ minutes) but it dries fast though which means you can respray any areas almost immediately.

 

Yesterday we had the back garage door open for some ventilation and when I went back there today to look at it, there were cracks in the primer where the panels meet the frame. I know these panels are meant to "float" in the frame loose, but that's bad news for a good paint job. To combat this, I caulked all those joints today with an excellent white caulk that really stretches. Hopefully the caulk will prevent any more cracks by still allowing the panel to move a little.

 

With all that caulking finished, I touched up a few spots on the back door where there was water stains peeking through yet. I then applied another coat of primer to the top panels of the other garage door:

 

2018-07-24 165645.jpg

 

I only had a little bit of primer left in the can though. The garage door was in full sun at this time and the paint was almost insta-drying on the panels which was not good. So because of the fast drying I added a good swig of the latex paint conditioner to the can and stirred it up well. I just barely had enough to finish the top part of the door down to the frame below the windows. For the rest, I'll have to pop open that new can. Wish I could have finished all the priming today, but at least there isn't much left to do and the job looks decent enough. sweat.gif

 

- Zombie

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Looks decent enough, he says. Very modest of you, Zombie. :)

 

The issues you mention of the appearance of cracks and direct exposure to the sun significantly affecting drying times are, obviously, the bread and butter of dealing with wood of different sorts - one can never quite anticipate how much paint a certain kind soaks or how much the material gives at any given time.

 

As it is, it's already quite an improvement from the initial state that door was in.

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I was pretty busy yesterday doing other things at work so I didn't have any time to paint. And I didn't want to start removing the windows as it was supposed to storm late in the evening. I'm glad I did wait as it rained heavily. Today was a completely different story: beautiful weather, nice breeze, low humidity. Perfect for painting but unfortunately somewhat busy again. In between projects I was able to work on the windows.

 

I started by carefully removing all the panes. Then the lengthy process of scraping off all the old glazing from the frame began. The glazing was pretty hard so it took a while to pry it away from the frame. All of it had to go, every last piece as I need to have a clean flat surface to mount the new panes and also I wanted to make sure I had the proper measurements. When most of the glazing was removed, I started to sand. This is where I found out that the rain we had managed to get between the glazing and window and soak the wood. What a mess, the wood was really damp and wet so I had to be careful to not gouge anything. As it was, just the process of lightly scraping raised the grain of the wood in areas causing it to shred. To get rid of that I sanded, and sanded and sanded using a light touch, and determining which direction to was best (I had to use a circular motion to remove the shreds, with the grain to the right on the inside and with the grain to the left for the molding on the outside). I still didn't get it all off, but the inside is at least tolerable. When the wood dries more I'll be able to sand easier.

 

After the sanding headache, I lightly scraped the edge of the molding to remove any old paint or caulk as I needed a perfect 90° corner for the window to fit without any spaces - kinda important to get things just right as you don't want to have giant gaps anywhere as it looks bad when you are done and also you'll end up using more glazing compound to fix those imperfections. Then it was a light sanding to get the edge just right. All that scraping highlighted other areas on the molding and outside frame of the garage door where there was loose paint. More scraping took place on those parts.

 

The final step was to double check my measurements, scrape the old panes to remove as much glazing as possible and then reinstall the old windows with the temporary muntin bars. It's going to have to stay like this for a while because I need the wood to be dry in order to prime with that oil paint. With the lower humidity and baking afternoon sun hopefully it will not take too long. Pic of the windows from the outside this time:

 

2018-07-26_164001.jpg

 

It doesn't look like much was done, but you can see the lower molding is basically free from paint now.

 

Depending on weather, I might forego painting the inside and just focus on the outside of the door for a while. A lot of it needs scraping and after the scraping it needs priming. You don't want to be applying primer after you installed new window panes as cleanup would be be nearly impossible on Lexan or plexiglass. Oh the joys of replacing window panes, it always evolves into a bigger project. wink.png

 

- Zombie

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Miyagi: Hai! [makes circular gestures with each hand]

 

Miyagi: Wax on, right hand. Wax off, left hand. Wax on, wax off. Breathe in through nose, out the mouth. Wax on, wax off. Don't forget to breathe, very important.

 

[walks away, still making circular motions with hands]

 

Miyagi: Wax on, wax off. Wax on, wax off.

- Karate Kid motion picture, 1984

 

It's all in the wrist, right, Zombie? tongue.png

 

Scraping, sanding, priming. But joys indeed: those of a job well done, when you go through all the required motions without cutting any corners.

 

Now that's a lesson worth teaching.

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It's been a busy week at work which didn't give me much time to get a lot of painting done and I'm usually able to fit something in when time permits. Friday was a bit more relaxing and the weather was cooperating so I went to town scraping the outside of the garage door. It didn't need too much attention - basically it was just the frame and the interface between the panels and the frame (I caulked the lower section last year so they were fine, but the top panels had some loose caulk and peeling paint around the molding.

 

2018-07-27 163307.jpg 2018-07-27 163344.jpg

 

I swept up and had a few small dustpans full of paint chips so something got done (you can see those two items on the right of the first pic, on the left is a wood 6 foot ladder and a fiberglass 8 foot ladder). It's a little hard to see, but in the second pic you might be able to pick out hints of red on the right part of the molding around the window. Yup, the molding used to be red ages ago. Of course, back then the garage door was the color of the building (that light caramel color) so the red actually stood out. I changed the color of the door to a brown to match the gutters years ago so now the red wouldn't show up as good... so I'm gonna keep the molding brown. secret.gif

 

You might be able to see that the gasket at the bottom of the door is a little chewed up. It seemed ok when I started but I might have nicked it with the ladder. No worries though, it's been ages since I put a new gasket on it so it's probably time to replace anyway. They are pretty cheap and doesn't take much time to install so it's a win-win. thumbsup.gif

 

The weather was excellent this weekend, so assuming it stays decent, I'm going to apply some wood preservative+linseed oil mix to the bare spots and then hopefully put a quick coat of primer on the door tomorrow. After that dries I need to caulk around the panels, but after that I can start painting the outside. Little by little, I'll get it done. pardon.gif

 

- Zombie

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Ha, great work on that hanging! I usually take the risk of sticking and reduce it by letting stuff dry over... can't find the expression... drying stands?

 

Sawhorse? Not sure if that's the word you were looking for. Well, if you can't hang something up to dry there aren't many options available to prevent the item from sticking. If it has 4 sides you can paint three of the sides, let them dry, then paint the last side. Gotta be careful with this because even a drop of paint which runs down the last side will cause sticking. Another way would be to place the item on something like a "bed" of nails. The fewer the nails the better. Then you'll only have to worry about those sharp poky bits jabbing into the item. It's viable though. ;)

 

I guess I've been neglecting this topic a little. However I was able to scrape a little more on the smaller garage door, sand the bare spots and then put on a coat of boiled linseed oil+turpentine+paint thinner (1:1:1 mix). Really you are supposed to only use 1 part linseed to 2 parts thinner, but I have the terps and it was cheaper than thinner so... sweat.gif That really soaked in well on the bare spots, and it even dried on the painted spots since it was in the sun. I still had time so I was able to prime all the treated areas with that brown oil primer.

 

2018-07-30 144504.jpg

 

That oil primer dries pretty fast as well, it was good to go in about 30 minutes (again, it helped that the sun was beating down on it). Since it was dry enough, I decided to caulk all the panels.

 

2018-07-30 165004.jpg

 

I used up the last of the tan caulk, then switched over to a cedar colored caulk which matched the paint scheme even more. Took this pic when the sun hid behind some clouds for a few seconds - got lucky. So now the outside of that door is done (in terms of preparation). But there's still the outside of the big door to contend with. It's not too bad, but there are some rotten bits of panel to address. I fooled around with that today. Scraped, sanded, applied a linseed oil coat to the bare spots and finally primed,

 

rsz_2018-08-01_172052.jpg

 

I actually said to myself "Looks pretty!" after taking that pic (except for those white spots which is seagull poop, yuk). sick.gif As you can see, the bottom two rows were the worst, due to rain and snow beating against it. The lowest row had some rotten areas where the bottom of the panel meets the frame. I piled on a nice heavy coat of linseed oil on those spots and didn't skimp on the primer either. Something else needs to be done to harden those areas. Not sure what I'm going to use there, maybe water putty or Bondo. dntknw.gif

 

- Zombie

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You've made some definite progress on both doors, Zombie.

 

Lots to tend to but you clearly paid due attention to just about all the trouble spots.

 

The degraded wood in the panels is a whole other ballgame, but, yeah, special putty is what comes to mind for restoration. Shouldn't entail much sculpting and you can always sand away any imperfections once the stuff dries.

 

Beware those winged bombers though - their precision discharges are about the worst thing that can happen to a paint job. :P

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Beware those winged bombers though - their precision discharges are about the worst thing that can happen to a paint job. tongue.png

 

I have a red vehicle and I swear the darn gulls aim for it on purpose. Last year one of them made a perfect bullseye in the middle of the hood. When I got home, I washed off the poo and it actually ate through the wax and clear coat - right down to the paint. Paint stripper poo? bleh.gif

 

No time like the present to paint, the weather was a little humid and warm, but there was a nice breeze going. Since the outside of the smaller door is ready for a top coat, I decided I'll work on painting the inside because the molding around the window needed primer yet. So yeah, had to take off the temporary muntin bars off and remove the panes again. Then it was just the matter of carefully priming the raw wood without leaving too many drips. Turned out good - nice and smooth:

 

2018-08-03 172012.jpg

 

The primer would dry quick enough with the panes off and a nice breeze blowing across it, so I got the paint ready for the inside. Poured about a quart of that semi-gloss exterior white in a roller pan and added a little latex paint additive and stirred that up good. I had a choice between rollers, I ended up picking a foam roller cover as it was the smoothest. I was secretly hoping for a pretty reflective finish but was a bit dismayed to see the foam roller was leaving a "dimpled" finish. But the finish actually grew on me as I went along and I was happy because it wasn't so over-the-top glossy. Here's the top panels (which were fully primed):

 

2018-08-03 173742.jpg

 

Not bad, it might be a little weak in some spots but I can put on another coat. Then it was on to the bottom panels. The paint wasn't hiding much with a normal coat, so I really had to pile it on thick. After I got done with the last one, I went back and put on another light coat since it was almost dry. That helped even out the finish over the entire door. A shot of the lower panels:

 

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As you might be able to see, the finish is a little hazy at the bottom. But I think it'll be fine with another coat. I only used up maybe 3/4 of a quart of paint so I have plenty left. Because of the issues with coverage, I'm going to fully prime the back (larger) garage door. I initially thought that I wouldn't have any trouble covering the unprimed areas because the color was close and I'm using an excellent paint, but alas I keep forgetting semi-gloss is not very forgiving. In hindsight I probably should have used an eggshell finish (eggshell is between flat and semi-gloss) but it's not the end of the world. At least I didn't get a full gloss... that would have been a nightmare. :D

 

- Zombie

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Not bad at all, those panels, Zombie.

 

There's nothing offensive about how your mix turned out, aided by the extra coating - the white has just enough of a touch of gloss now.

 

The thought about an eggshell finish... mind what you wish for; them gulls may be listening and decide you had criminal intent! ;)

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Yes, sawhorse it is! It is called koza (a goat) in Slovenian... I was not at home for the past two weeks and telephone doesn't make the use of internet easy, so sorry for not finding the correct term myself and thank you.

 

Really great job on the doors! It will never be as new but you're getting as close as possible.

 

Bird poo seems to be very acidic. Flying pigs (read: birds, full of shit - crows, seagulls...) can not only cover the car in poo but cause actual damage, as you've written. But did this happen in a single day? It shouldn't be possible...

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Yes, sawhorse it is! It is called koza (a goat) in Slovenian... I was not at home for the past two weeks and telephone doesn't make the use of internet easy, so sorry for not finding the correct term myself and thank you.

 

Really great job on the doors! It will never be as new but you're getting as close as possible.

 

No problem, it's interesting how other languages interpret items sometimes. ;)

 

I'm not aiming for new doors or even close to it. What I am aiming for is that they look better, aren't peeling anymore and will last a bunch of seasons without yearly maintenance. sweat.gif

 

Bird poo seems to be very acidic. Flying pigs (read: birds, full of shit - crows, seagulls...) can not only cover the car in poo but cause actual damage, as you've written. But did this happen in a single day? It shouldn't be possible...

 

Yup, more or less in a day. Got to work and the vehicle was clean. When I was bringing garbage out to the dumpster I noticed there was a blob of poo in the middle of the hood and that was around 4pm. I got home around 6pm and then cleaned it off but the damage had been done by then. The sun was really bright that day and it was hot too, so maybe the combination of all those factors contributed to the damage. dntknw.gif

 

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This weekend was hot and humid outside so no painting. Today it was cooler so I managed to prime the rest of the spots on the back door so that it's more or less even. Here's a pic:

 

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Much better. And hopefully I'll get better coverage with the semi-gloss latex enamel. Today I was inspecting the muntin bars I primed and noticed that a few of the ends were a little brown underneath so I hit them with some more white stain blocking primer. Then I took the screws out and arranged the bars. I'll probably start filling the holes in them tomorrow. (Sorry, no pics of the bars, they look about the same as before).

 

In between projects I drove over to the glass store and ordered three new panes of Lexan polycarbonate "glass" for the smaller garage door. They should be ready by Thurs or Fri. banana.gif

 

As I'm going on vacation at the end of this week and into the middle of next week that leaves precious few days to get that door ready. I think I can get the outside of it done maybe tomorrow, and after filling the holes in the muntin bars I might paint them so that they are also good to go. (Instead of painting them with semi-gloss latex I might just spray them with white gloss paint to save time). Then it's just the matter of painting the frame around the window on the inside in white so it matches. Plus I'll need to purchase some new glazing compound - the stuff I used to have dried up and I couldn't even reconstitute it with paint thinner anymore. no.gif

 

- Zombie

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I had to be a little careful today as there was a chance of rain, but nothing significant came so I got lucky with the weather. Totally forgot I wanted to touch up the primer spots on the outside of the smaller garage door, so I ended up doing that. Freehanded the moldings around the windows as I don't need to be too exact as they are going to be replaced.

 

DSC09455JPG.jpg

 

Can't wait to get the final coat on the outside as it's going to look fantastic. :)

 

Oh, I was trying to decide how I was going to fill the holes in the muntin bars. Could've caulked them, but that's a little messy. I knew I had some putty floating around so I tracked it down. Unfortunately it was a tad old and dried up (not completely, but nearly so). I ended up "reconstituting" it with a couple light splashes of paint thinner and a ton of mixing and rolling in my hands. Also the color was Light Oak, which is a tan-ish yellow, not the perfect color but it gets the job done:

 

DSC09456JPG.jpg

 

With that done, I put on a light coat of stain blocking primer just on the putty spots.

 

DSC09457JPG.jpg

 

If you are wondering what the black thing is on top of the spray paint can, it's a trigger handle that locks inside the top. If you do any spray paint job that requires you to press down on the button for a long time you know your finger can get pretty tired after a while. Not only that, but it's difficult to achieve an even coat. With the trigger, it's dirt easy and your finger doesn't get tired. Plus if the can leaks a bit, the paint can't touch your finger. I highly suggest getting one of these as they are a huge time saver and only cost a few dollars. sarcastic.gif

 

- Zombie

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There are never enough hours in the day leading up to vacation. I was busy taking inventory and touching base with suppliers to make sure we don't run out of supplies.

 

I did have a little time to work on the back (big) garage door though. I was going to start caulking the panels, but got distracted thinking about how to fix those rotten areas. Sure, I could use bondo. But I remembered I had purchased some stuff nearly 30 years ago to bridge gaps in wood. A little searching and I found it. It was called "Tuff-kote" (found an article describing it here). It's not hard like putty or bondo, but rubbery - perfect for filling gaps where there is movement (remember that the panels in a garage door "float" in the frame meaning that whenever you open or close the door the panels may move). Took a while to incorporate the liquid and the solid parts together again but with constant stirring I got it mixed. I really pushed the stuff into the cracks and soft spots filling them up. After fixing those areas, I went about caulking the panels. Only got the lower half done, but it's better than nothing.

 

DSC09459JPG.jpg

 

Looks kinda bad right now, but it needs time to cure properly and skin over. Only then can you prime it.

 

Then it was on to the muntin bars for the smaller garage door. I sprayed on a coat of white gloss paint to the curved side first, let that dry, then sprayed the other two sides. Looks great now:

 

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If I had to put the bars back on right now, I'd be happy with the result as there are basically 3 coats of primer on them plus the finish coat. But, I think I'll put on another coat next week. That should protect them even more and make them look better too. wink.png

 

All in all, it's starting to shape up. smile.png

 

- Zombie

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Got back from vacation yesterday and actually went into work (need the exercise after all those good eats). I checked those spots that I used Tuff-Kote on and they were dry. Rubbery, but dry. Sadly though, that was the extent of "painting" as it was way too humid and hot to start something. ;)

 

Today was a little bit nicer so I set about caulking the rest of the panels. With three panels to go I used up the rest of my woodtone caulk so I had to switch to gray (dunno why I have so much gray caulk, but it goes with most colors). I also caulked the lower joints around the frame of the windows which was good. Need to get some more caulk to match the brown though as I want to seal the area between the window and frame (just the lower part as that gets the most weather). Here's what it looks like currently:

 

DSC09467JPG.jpg

 

I also sprayed another coat of white paint on the curved section of the muntin bars for the smaller door. No pics of this - the paint was still wet. As for the other two sides of the bars, I think they are good enough. The replacement window panes didn't arrive yet, so I may need to touch base with the glass guy to make sure they are ready. sweat.gif

 

- Zombie

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