Saturday, May 23, 2009

St. John Trip, Day 13

A couple days have passed. I've been working on the dome and doing the final touch up on the lower areas. I started at 6:30AM this morning, and put the second coat on the dome area. Did I ever mention I HATE heights? Well, I do. My dream job is not an 8 foot ladder on top of a scaffold. If God wants to be worshipped in this Church with nice walls, He'll keep me on the ladder. But so far no angel has showed up and greeted me with their common first words: "Fear not!" I'd probably disobey.

The only finish that makes sense is a dead smooth wall. The architecture demands sharp, clean lines. A couple hours of finish sanding and sharpening of corners is time well spent. Its the last 2% that will make the difference between a "nice job" and a true finished product.
I finished the sanding right at suppertime. After supper Ross and I walked over to the Church and thought, "Man, it would be cool to see how it is going to look..." so we broke out the lights and sprayer and roller and paint and put the primer on the ceilings and columns. First you spray...and try to get some on the walls, not only on yourself.
An extention pole for the sprayer is gold. I was able to spray all the ceilings and beams from the floor. I've been up and down ladders and scaffolds for two weeks and my knees are shot.

After you spray, then you "backroll" with a good quality sheepskin roller. This does several things that even out the look of the walls and gives a good finish base for the final coat of paint. I brought my long extention poles in case I had time to paint. I was able to backroll from the floor instead of on ladders. Its a pain in the neck, literally, but a necessary step.
We finished the ceilings about 9:30PM. I've been working overhead almost all day. Ouch. I think it will be another 4 ibuprofen/twobeer night. Niteynite.

8 comments:

Elizabeth @ The Garden Window said...

It's looking amazing !

Even looking at the photos of you on ladders gave me vertigo; How do you do it for such long periods ?
At least your guardian angel doesn't get bored :-)

Ranger said...

When finished, you ought to take a picture of the walls and ceilings at every angle possible, it would make a lovely coffee table book.

Athanasia said...

I love the photo of you covered in paint holding the extension sprayer. There is something about it (no I am not joking). I really like it alot. I'll have to think about what it is.....

Steve Robinson said...

Ranger, I LOVE your atavar! We primed the walls and dome today and I'll take some pictures of the angles, its awesome. Yeah, I keep my angels busy, I'm sure. And I know what wifey is going to comment: "WHERE'S YOUR DUST MASK???" At Home Depot, sweetie.

Kirk said...

It looks so much bigger on the inside than that little photo of the outside! Take another from the outside with someone standing next to the building for perspective.

Anonymous said...

Oh well. You kill yourself with dust. I'll kill myself with chocolate chip cookies. My way's a lot more fun. Tastier, too.

Steve Robinson said...

Anon-wifie, Symbiotic death wishes...I kill myself making the money for you to buy cookies. How romantic! :)

Fr. John McCuen said...

Couldn't help but notice the "arrow" pointing "up" in the first picture you posted today. Is that the sheetrocker's equivalent of "green side up?" Or is it rather a reminder of the direction of heaven? :-)