Working out the contract with Hate to Paint, I discovered co-owner Chris LeBeau is very flaky. He lives around the corner on 3rd Ave at about 117th. He said he'd come over in 10 minutes on two occasions and never showed. I haven't seen him since March. Co-owner Una Manushka, however, has been in touch. The issue was the extra charge to have them paint the soffits and fascia--I had planned to do it myself, but I changed my mind. Instead of an updated contract, Chris finally just said, "Uh, $2,000 more."
Thursday, both Chris and Una said "We'll be there Friday morning at 9," so I prepped for a contract discussion--I didn't have the colors when the contract was first signed, and I now wanted to paint all the brick, not leaving out the living room.
Friday morning at 9, here's Una with Mona (a guy) and Tamir. Una doesn't want to talk contracts, he wants his crew to get started, which they do. Una and Mona came out Monday, 8 April, so Mona could pressure wash all around the house. There was some concern that he hadn't pressure washed the living room brick, but Una decided that they could wire-brush the green stuff off.
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| The patch at the old storage closet at the Laundry Room |
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| Patching the brick veneer at the garage doors |
I continued trimming the soffits, making repairs--such as at the metal plate the furnace installers left. Mona and Tamir returned Saturday, 13 April. Mona primed all the brick (except the post light) with white Loxon. Mona didn't want to paint the inside of the planter, but I insisted--I don't know when I'll have plants bubbling over the edge.
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| I think the brick looks great in white, but it will be Peppercorn. (As Una said, "Once you put the [Loxon] primer on, you can do anything." So Peppercorn is maybe not the final color.) |
On Sunday, I excavated around the brick at the NE corner of the garage, replaced the old fascia board I could see from the kitchen window, and removed various nails and screws. I also tested and covered outlets in the porch ceiling (there's power switched with the porch light, but the outlet was dust) and the porcelain socket on the west side soffit (no power). The WP outlets at BR1 work (open ground), so I left them. I removed the porch light at the breezeway and was reminded that they installed it without a box. I should probably replace the fixture anyway.
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| Tamir on the ladder, Mona on the ground |
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| My repair for the notch above the sheet metal patch |
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| Prep work all around looks like this. |
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| Removed the BR1 deck, then the painters prepped the wall. |
When Mona and Tamir came back Monday, 15 April, Mona saw that I had not trimmed the west side soffit. "Too high?" he said and I said yes. "I'll do it," he said. I used up my supply of quarter-round--he measured, I cut. I set up the nail gun; he installed. It would have looked like crap with a wide bead of caulk, even though they're using "Big Stretch" caulk. It rained for an hour or so on Monday, but Tuesday was supposed to be dry. Tuesday, it rained between 8 and 9 and again between 1 and 2, roughly. Nevertheless, they began painting the fascia and soffits Origami White--it looks great.
Sunny weather is forecast for the rest of the week, and Una dropped by on Tuesday (during the rain) and mentioned he expects to be done by--I think he started to say this week, but he caught himself--early next week.
