Stripping paint...oh so much fun...

On Sunday, I started stripping the paint around the exterior of the windows. I am using a heat gun and as long as the wind stays below gale force and the air temp is above 55 degrees, I can make pretty good time.

So far I have stripped 3 complete windows and 3 additional bottom sashes. I have, so far,only found one damaged/rotted part. It is in the middle of the bottom rail and is 1 inch by 3 inches and about 1/2 inch deep. Should be a fairly easy patch, I hope.

I am amazed at the thickness of the paint is some areas. Overall I'd say the paint is 1/16th of an inch with areas as thick as 1/8th of an inch. The original shingle color, as well as the trim color appears to be a medium to light grey. We will be painting a darker grey with white trim.

The original roof was cedar shakes painted a dark emerald green. When I stripped the front door (40" v groove 2 1/2" thick), I found it to have been painted white, tan, turquoise, red, and dark green. The body of the house, as best as I can tell, was originally grey, then white, tan, white, and light yellow. It also appears that they painted the trim more often than the body of the house.


Here are the windows before I started paint removal using a heat gun.





Here are the windows, 2 1/2 hrs later.

Approximately 5 hours of scraping to finish this set of windows. Hopefully, on Sunday, they will be sanded and primed....weather permitting.

Here is a photo of the first flowers to bloom in my yard this spring.

They are very tiny. For reference, those stones are the size of quarters, nickels, and dimes. But they are still purdy!!!!!!! Real purdy!!!!

Here they are 2 days later. Even more purdy.