Sunday Support Group: Coat of Paint

It's been quite a week. I went off my diet and gained five pounds; my screen time on my iPhone and iPad went from my average of two hours and a few minutes every day to more than six hours and twenty minutes a day; and it wasn't all bad, because I got more work done around the Ponderosa than I normally do in any given month.

I'm just bragging, but check it out:

Pretty sporty, eh? Every acre of flat wood decking in the back of the house got two coats of solid deck stain. The balcony (right) as you might even be able to see, really needed it.

Four takeaways from that:

1.) I have no idea what the difference between paint and solid stain might be. The stain I used looked and acted just like paint. Maybe you know and can tell me.

2.) I don't have the stamina I used to—after about an hour and a half of applying paint—sorry, stain—in one stretch, I really wanted to go sit down. All my life I've been learning, in experience, the meaning of long-familiar literary terms, and I think I'm beginning to know what "bone-tired" actually means.

3.) For three whole years I've had hanging around here the three of the gallons of stain I used for this project, which shows you how long I've been meaning to get this job done. But then I ran out, and when I had to go buy one more gallon to finish up, it cost fifty dollars. Fifty dollars for one single gallon of stain! Is that the pandemic price? They do say that peoples' conception of money tends to calcify at around age fifty, and that we get more and more out of touch with the current prices of all sorts of things as we get older. So maybe that's what's happening. Like many things I read, though, I don't know whether that's true. I always take what I read with a grain of salt so to speak. But it might be true.

And finally,

4.) Fall is perhaps not the best time to stain decking. At least not when the wind is gusting and your place is surrounded by trees. But each time the little locust and the great big sycamore leaves and the the pine needles seemed to be getting the best of me and it looked like it would be be sensible to quit, the wind would die down. Saturday, second-coat day, was much more calm, fortunately.

That light
A while back, a reader wrote a critical comment (I don't get too many of those, but some) that said (I'm paraphrasing): "Stop taking phone pictures of your backyard!"

Which made me laugh. Guilty, I will admit. I like where I live, and I spend a lot of time here looking and enjoying. One thing I've noticed about the Finger Lakes is that that the weather doesn't give you a chance to take nature for granted—it's always reminding you how beautiful it is.

As I painted—stained—the light was just gorgeous. I stopped to pull out the phone and take a few snapshots here and there, just to celebrate the light. I've been struck all year by the contrast between what a miserable year it's been, in all kinds of ways, and yet what a beautiful year it's been here where I live. Even some of the rainy days have been lovely. I guess I won't show you any more phone snaps of my backyard, though. It would only exasperate that reader (and he's right, I probably am ruining my brand).

When I finished the decking, I went back to the store and got some spray paint to touch up the patio furniture. I guessed at the color and hit it on the nose! I just guessed they would have used Rust-Oleum spray paint so I just picked the closest color and bingo, perfect match. Sometimes you get lucky. 

Anyway, I feel like I did something this weekend. It's curiously revivifying. Small victories, for sure, but it gave me a sense of accomplishment. It's an outward sign of taking care of things. It's a renewal. A refreshing. If you're feeling down in the dumps, I can highly recommend finding something to put a coat of paint on.

It felt good.

Mike

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Painty Umbo: "When I got back to the Midwest from Washington D.C., after my Dad passed, and in order to keep an eye on my Mom, there were, of course, zero employment opportunities for an advertising photographer (which is why I left the Midwest in the first place). I knew a fantastic photo retoucher who went into custom painting for the same reason, so I helped him out. I learned a lot about painting! After my Mom passed, I also ended up working for a short time at the Lowe's paint deck, mixing paint and helping people pick the right coatings, before I got my next image-management gig out of town.

"1. The quick difference between deck paint, and pigmented wood stain, is that for the most part, paint stays on the surface, and pigmented stain seeps into the wood surface; a better 'lock.' If I was painting fresh wood, or a deck that had been covered with pigmented wood stain before, I would most definitely use the stain. If you're repainting a deck that is mostly already covered with paint, the stain will never seep in, and may even have less 'life' because of that! 2. You said it brother, I was painting in my 50s, and this was after years of running around as a photographer, and I had to stretch and do minor calisthenics in the morning, if I even expected to hobble back and make it into the tub! You never see a fat painter! 3. Quality coatings are expensive! You might be getting gouged because of the pandemic, but, old-time painters used to tell me: 'all the money is in the can.' Unlike brand pricing for perfumes, etc., a $16 can of paint is way crappier than a $45 can of paint! Expensive paints coat better, dry better, lasts longer, and have less fade. The designers we used to work with always seemed to specify Benjamin Moore, and that was $40 a can 15 years ago! 4. Coatings of any kind work the best between about 55 degrees and 80 degrees, whatever season that is!

"By the way, one of the things I learned from the stain reps that used to come into Lowe's is, 'lay off the power washer'! For some reason, power washers became the toy of choice for a certain kind of suburban 'Ken,' and they tear the hell out of deck wood (or any other wood). There are deck washes that you apply, do minor scrubbing and lightly hose off before staining. Every time you power wash, you take about five years off your deck's life!"

Comments

[Speed]

And we now have a practical example of the heretofore theoretical time value of paint or stain.

[Mike Ferron]

Isn’t it amazing how much dedication it takes to lose weight but weight gain is as easy as pie? (sorry) I’ve lost 10 in the last 30 days and am shooting for 15 more.

[Yonatan Katznelson]

Looks good, I like that color.

We've been meaning to stain/paint our back deck since we moved in, in 2013. The fact that we need to power wash/sand the deck first may be having an effect on our resolve.

[dan states]

Take heart Mike. There is no way you gained five pounds of fat in a week. That would amount to an extra 16000+ calories. More likely you have a lot of retained water. (Salty food?) Cut back on the salt, drink water and go to bed early. Your body will adjust and you will be back to normal.

[DavidB]

Re: Item 4

I stained my decks this spring and immediately afterwards the wind blew pine needles into the still wet stain where they got stuck. It took a lot of brooming over the summer to dislodge the needles but the deck now looks great as we head into winter.

[Ian Douglas]

Well done! Don't be concerned about getting tired doing work like that - its normal no matter your age. When you re younger you don't know to stop. When you are older your ambition is greater because you've had all that extra time to consider the task but your stamina isn't increased to the same extent. House proud is a good thing, especially for a person who obviously also appreciates his neighbours. What colour would you choose for the dogs?

[Rob Campbell]

It's a matter of degree, Mike. Instead of painting the apartment interior, which I last did about twenty years ago, I clean the apartment. Painting, at 83, would probably give me another heart attack, whereas cleaning the place gives a sense of rejuvenation - after the event, which before the event threatens to do me in if I even try.

Actually, though the ceilings would probably be the physical killers, it's the psychological and physical challenge of moving furniture around prior to painting that puts the lid on the painting ideas every time. Alone, I lack the strength to move heavy stuff. With my wife to help we managed, but not any longer.

After she died I had neither need nor call for things romantic, so I stopped using the wood fire and have gone to electricity for heating; it's much cleaner and less damaging to paintwork. But electricity has no character, far less any romance, much like some types of photography.

;-(

[Dennis NG]

Being uncritical as have been finished yet my Master of Arts in philosophy? may I say I like your backyard.

[Ilkka]

I’m not sure but I think the difference between paint and stain is a bit like in inkjet printing you can have pigment based inks and solvent based inks. I think paint has pigments and stain doesn’t. Sort of solid coloured particles instead of just coloured liquid.

[Ronny A Nilsen]

Painting coats and hides wood, while stain penetrates the wood and lests you see the structure in the wood. Stain wears away gradually and need periodic re-coating. Paint peeling requires extensive scraping. And some types of oil based stains is something in between stain and paint.

[John Garrity]

Confirming Painty Umbos comment about no fat painters. Just do an online search for Marc Riboud's Eiffel Tower painters

[robert e]

Y'know, Mike, if you've been doing all that physical work this past week, and feeling the burn, some of that 5 pounds could very well be muscle. And given the extra strenuous activity, you should have upped your caloric intake, and it sounds like you smartly (if unintentionally) did. You might have needed and made other adjustments, as well. One problem with diets, as you know, is that they can be overly rigid. There may be by-products besides muscle in those pounds, and, as someone mentioned, possibly water, which I hope you've been drinking plenty of. Anyway, I doubt there's significant new fat.

On the other hand, when it was a lot colder the previous week, I commiserated with a friend on our seasonal pre-hibernation eating habits. But the warmer weather seems to have curtailed that binge.

[JoeB]

Aha! I finished staining our deck/stairs just a week or two ago. Semi-solid oil based stain. The prep work takes longer than the actual staining. It took sanding (never power washing) washing letting it dry takes time and much effort. With tax $60 a gallon for the well reviewed stain I used. Your deck and table look great!
Photos of the area you live in are appreciated.
It might be a pin-hole camera, phone or your coming 4x5 large format- I will enjoy them all.
thanks
Joe

[KeithB]

We are clearly living in the glory days of modern color finishes. The current crop of paints are *so* much better than they were 20 years ago.