scrubbedexpat097

Do it! That's how we have been doing all our outside projects over the last few weeks. We are lucky that our local Hardware store is family owned and we know them so it makes it easier in some ways.

Bob

Buying supplies in general. All those folks stuck at home, having time for all those home projects, were in HD getting supplies.

We only swung in because the missus needed the stuff for work and it was on the way. And no, we didn't ask. Only saw the person at the entrance door and didn't fancy swinging back that way on the way out.

zzrmark

Being an organized type, not, I purchased paint a few weeks back expecting to be furloughed. I hate painting and expected Sod's law to kick in fairly sharpish but, despite finding no evidence to support his rationale, my boss insists that his home maintenance/construction business is essential - admittedly things get a bit dicey in Florida during hurricane season, which is rapidly approaching, if roofs and windows in trailers aren't maintained and there certainly isn't a shortage of crap that needs maintenance, not that much of it will ever get seen to...

So, painting will have to wait, along with rewiring the mower (thanks to Mickey and family taking up residence under the hood), fitting out the mancave, moving the old mancave out of the single wide and turning that into guest accommodation, reframing the termite ridden shed and thinning the jungle. Ideally I also need to turn the walls inside the house a nice uniform magnolia to get rid of the current abysmal colours, retile the bathrooms and attack the bedroom floors...

RICH

Toilet repair. The bit from the handle to the flapper broke. Innovative use of some handy zip ties fixed it for no cost in half an hour.

Pulaski

Last Saturday I met with a tree surgeon to get a quote to remove a dangerously leaning 70ft mature, pine. On Sunday the wind shook the tree loose, and it land with a bump on the roof. I called the tree guy and asked him to prioritize removing the tree (luckily no rain was forecast until Tuesday). Meanwhile I called a roofing contractor I know, to ask him to come after the tree was removed.

First thing on Tuesday the tree crew arrived, winched the tree off the roof, and felled four other trees for me. Cost? $800. Less than 15 minutes after they left, the roofing contractor arrived, replaced one ridge cap shingle, replaced one dislodged shingle on the gable end, (yeah, that was all the damage that a couple of tons of pine tree did!) and then spent longer than that took to fix another small but annoyingly persistent leak that I had been meaning to call him to come to look at. When he came down, I asked what I owed him? "Fifty bucks!" he replied. When I protested he said, "Oh, $75 then!". I wrote him a check for $100. .... The excess on our insurance is $1,000.

steveq

WOW. They won't even LOOK at removing a single tree here for less than $1000.

Jerseygirl

Wow what a good deal!

We had a huge fir tree on our NJ property...well over 100 ft high. It grew leaning towards the house. We had quotes of $10K - 15K for removal. Hurricane Sandy brought it down, fortunately it didn’t fall in the direction of the house. It took several fence panels with it. The insurance paid for removal, digging out the roots and replacing the fence.

Nutek

yeah.. 5k for the last one we had taken down (Cotton wood).

Jerseygirl

the quotes we had were about 15 years ago...so I imagine it would be much higher now.

Pulaski

All I paid for was removing one from the roof and putting it in pieces on the ground, and making the other four trees horizontal for me, so not what most home owners might expect to have them "removed". I also suspect that the cost would have been higher if I had gone through my insurance company.

As I see it, my $1,000 chainsaw, bought 12 months ago, will be paying or itself several times over in the next few weeks as I cut the trees up and burn them.

Steerpike

Quick wall painting question. I'm about to repaint a room. I have two choices;
1) do all the 'brush work' first, on all four walls (along the ceiling edge, around windows, doors, switches, etc), then (perhaps the next day) do all the roller work.
2) do the brush work for wall #1, then the roller work for wall #1, then brush work for wall #2, then roller work for wall #2, etc.
Each approach has advantages and disadvantages as far as setup, prep, drop cloths, etc are concerned. But the one thing I'm not sure about is - is it ok to do 'brush work' around the edges and trim one day, then do the roller work the next day? Is there any issue of how the brush work and the roller work 'blend' if you let the brush work really dry - versus doing brush work followed by roller work while the brush work is still at least not fully dried?

Pulaski

No difference, so long as the paint in the can/ bucket is thoroughly mixed, but IME if you do all the edges first, or last, i.e. from the top of the bucket or well down/ bottom of the bucket, then you might see a slight shade difference.

If you are using more than one can of paint I recommend pouring both/ all the cans into a bucket and mixing them thoroughly as even the latest automated paint mixing machines will IME have slight slight colour differences in different cans,

Usually Mrs P does the roller painting while I do the edges, so I am using paint from the tray to paint the edges at the same time as she is rollering the wall. I would recommend doing at least all the roller painting on one day, actually doing that first, then using the paint left in the roller tray to paint the edges.

Investing in https://www.amazon.com/Wooster-Brush-BR036-18-Adjustable-18-Inch/dp/B003E478KY/ref=sr_1_144?dchild=1&keywords=wooster+paint+roller+handle&qid=1586300791&sr=8-144, where the roller is supported at both ends, rather than a cheaper 12" roller that is only supported at one end of the roller - will make the painting massively easier, not to mention quicker, but for painting the edges a cheap basic 2" chip brush is all you need.

sid nv

I do roller first, and edges after. In the UK I had to brush the edges twice, but in the US once is usually enough for latex paint round the edges. I have also had good results for edging with square foam pads in a plastic holder, instead of a hand brush.

One thing I miss here is oil and water based paints for trim, such as skirting boards (US: baseboard). Dulux and Crown professional oil-based paints give a mirror finish to shelving and window sills. Latex paint in the US leaves a scratchy finish, and stuff sticks to the latex paint on shelving long after it is dry.

Pulaski

You can still get oil-based paint from Sherwin Williams, though perhaps not in every state. I find oil-based paint to be messy, especially the clean-up, and your house will stink of paint fumes for several days.

You can also get "high gloss" latex paint; I haven't tried it myself, but it doesn't seem very popular, and we like the look of "semi-gloss" on baseboards, doors, and window frames, etc. and just stick with that - it is definitely shiny, but does not have a mirror finish.

sid nv

I asked at Sherwin-Williams and yes, they said they could get oil-based paint, and it would cost $50+. A bit much when you are used to £8 for a can of Dulux. So semi-gloss latex it is.

Water-based non-drip paint in the UK is pretty good.