Home Improvement Today?

Don't laugh at the scale of Noob on this one, but...

The latex paint on my front porch railings is seriously peeling. I can peel it off in sheets in some parts, and other parts it's dry and flaky. Anyway, I applied some Mr. Orange or whatever paint stripper, and it did a great job of nothing. Paint is still there. Tried to scrape it without much luck, and I pressure washed it off and not much came off.

My question is, if I scrape off all the loose/peeling paint, can I paint over what's left and have the new paint hold up with some sanding and surface prep? Or should I keep it up until we're down to the wood?

 

hmmm maybe someone didnt let the wood weather when it was installed? Jut get a orbital or belt sander and go to town. You prob can have some color left on the wood as the new paint should cover it up.

 

Without seeing it, I would suggest scraping off and sanding as much as the old paint as you can and then priming it before painting otherwise it will just keep peeling and you'll be back to square one. You may not need to go back to bare wood completely, but if it's flaky or peeling it needs to be removed.

Is the wood wet or holding a lot of moisture? You may need to use a wood filler putty for cracks (make sure it's say for exterior use) and then follow up with permanent patch 101, then prime, then paint.
https://blackjackcoatings.com/products/shur-stik-permanent-patch-101

They key with any paint job is preparation. I'm partial to Sherwin Williams and I like their Duration exterior paint in a flat sheen. It still has a mild gloss for flat paint. If you have Sherwin Williams or another paint store (Dunn Edwards, Benjamin Moore, ect) they'll carry everything you need and can recommend products based upon your specific need. Plus their paint is higher quality than home improvement store stuff.

Edit: Sherwin Williams frequently has up to 40% off coupon sales.

 

This, and try to buy Sherwin Williams at a Sherwin Williams or other paint store not at Lowe’s.

 

Be careful with a belt sander, it will remove a lot of material really quick, maybe to much.

 

haha i didnt mean 50 grit lol obviously use some judgement

 

First time posting here and curious to get y’all’s feedback on our situation. This is our second house to remodel basically from the ground up. Our first one was a 1921 stick frame that needed basically everything you could imagine. Our current house was built in 1971 and is two stories and insulated concrete block with a brick facade. The slab and second floor is poured concrete. Drop ceiling was installed on the first floor ceiling and the second is rafter with attic access so it is getting drywalled. It didn’t occur to me that we wouldn’t be able to drywall the downstairs ceiling without having access to the electrical boxes. No way I’m putting drop ceiling back in. Here’s some pictures-

There’s not much room to frame out a ceiling with timber. So I got creative and I think I’ve come up with an idea for a much nicer low key removable ceiling. My plan is to use unistrut as a grid. The unistrut would have 1x4” fingerjoint countersunk and bolted along the bottom creating the lip for 4x4’ 1/2” sanded ply to sit on. This would create a shallow coffered ceiling look while retaining the ability to access electrical and plumbing. The unistrut should be sufficient to carry the load of the plywood. I only wonder if the plywood would sag only supported on the edges? Any better ideas?

 

It may sag a bit - what about some rigid braces grued and screwed to back of 4x4 sheets.

Awesome, BTW

 

In my opinion if this is not your kitchen, dining room you could take a perfect opportunity to rewire or clean up wiring with wire chases (or conduit). Next have the seams of the duct work sealed. Second to last fill all gaps with grout or spray foam. Lastly just paint it all flat black. No more fuss and when you need to work on something, it’s right there.

Example:

 

Thought about that too. Maybe thicker plywood? Need to do a load calc on all this but I doubt I’ll be close to maxing out the unistrut. Will need to figure anchor size and spacing in the block though

 

Unfortunately it’s the vast majority of the downstairs. The living room and master bedroom were the only rooms without drop ceiling. They ran damn near everything through the drop ceiling too. Wifey says no to black paint so there’s that haha

 

Dislike

there’s fancier drop ceilings you’d never know.

 

We looked at some nicer tiles but good gracious they are astronomically expensive and at the end of the day still a ceiling tile. Sucks. It didn’t cross my mind buying the house that I couldn’t just drywall it up. Still would have bought it, I’ll just have to get creative haha.

 

Slightly Off Beat.........anyone have a magic FRUIT FLY control method?

 

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Yes ... I bought this jar at Home Depot and put this powder and water in it and after a day ... it had a zillion flys in it.

After 3 days ... I bet I had 1,000 fruit flys in it (outside).

It can be used inside or outside ... just google a fruit fly trap ... many different types and mine really worked.

 

Small pint mason jar fill 1/2 way with applecider vinegar. Punch/drill about 10-12, 1/8" holes in lid. Set by kitchen sink or where the most concentration of fruit flies are.

 

Above my construction abilities/ knowledge, but a tongue and groove wood ceiling over the plywood might look nice.

 

Been doing the vinegar wine soap traps. They work.

But damn the flies just keep coming into all the rooms. Dunno where they get in. House is pretty sealed up. Of course in the middle of fruit country I know where they come from.

Will look for the powder traps.

 

We got a little terro apple shaped trap on our kitchen counter by the sink, also periodically run the disposal with a bunch of soap in it to clean out any nastiness. Then recently we got these things you stick to the inside of the garbage can lid (i think they are the terro garbage can gaurd) and now I have next to none and we used to get them like crazy.

 

Not a bad idea. I figured sanded ply since just drywall would sag. Not sure how the grain would raise after being painted. I wonder if I could get away with thin drywall adhered to plywood…the only trouble I see is the tapered edge of the drywall since it’s a 4x4’ piece. if there’s any gap it’s going to lose the illusion of being a normal coffered ceiling and I can’t caulk anything since it technically needs to be removable for box access