So, this has been a project that I've been putting off for the better part of the year... partly due to me being away, partly due to my wife finding better things for me to do with my time, and partly because the weather hasn't been great for painting.

But this coming week, I have a pretty much free run of nice sunny days before Christmas, and I'm insisting that I want to get this smallish job done before Christmas before I return back to mulching the garden and sorting and tidying up the insides of the house.

The job is pretty simple... well, it would be for someone who has any handyman skills. Me, I'm still learning everything, so it all just goes a lot slower as I try not to make EVERY single mistake possible!

It involves painting the wooden sides, tops, and bottoms of the exterior doors... which were previously woefully neglected. And also to redo the top of the timber on the patio section. All of these areas are pretty much out of sight... so any weird mistakes and cosmetic problems will be hidden away! Good places to learn... before I get started on the visible sections where my wife will be not that impressed if I do them badly. Well... I will likely do them not that well... but, I'm hoping that it just won't be a disaster!

So... first up, a trip to the hardware store to pick up all the ingredients for the job. Scrapers, brushes, sandpaper, primer, paint, wood putty.... I think I have everything!

So, a quick look at the doors and the timber areas reveal lots of damaged bits and pieces... thankfully, nothing too big (I think...), but I guess it is best to fill up the damage before sanding it down.... So, wood putty it is!

So, this was one of the less great areas on one of the undersides of a door. I guess that over time, the water had seeped up and damage the wood... leading to this bit of mess. Anyway... as I said, this is more going to be a functional job rather than a pretty one. Filling it up with putty and scraping to get it smooth... and then I will sand it down later when it has dried.

Hehe... sandpaper now comes in these sponge like things! Handy... my father in law said I could use their orbital sander... but, I'm not sure that I should do that until I know how to work it... I might end up with no door. At least with my hands, nothing too terrible should happen... maybe. It is slower though...

I manage to scrap and sand away lots of the flaking old paint... but some of it wasn't coming out. So, I had to phone a father-in-law to ask for advice. Scrap harder? Paint remover? Heat Gun?... well, the answer was just to leave the old paint that wasn't flaking and just sand it down as much as possible... but don't try to get everything off. Phew... that is what I wanted to do, but now my wife can't say anything about that!

Meanwhile, the top of the timber structure needed to be puttied up as well. There were some larger splits that I wanted to fill up before sanding it down. The exterior lights had to all be cut down from their cable ties as well... I guess I will have to fix those back up again.. sometime. But I would really like it if this area was eventually covered. My wife doesn't think it should... but it gets quite harsh sunlight in the daytime,

... hmmm... staples will also need to be pulled.

So, at the end of the morning... I was hoping to have done the primer and then leave it to dry before doing the painting tomorrow. However, everything took longer than expected... and now I have to leave to play a concert (last one of the year!)... so, only the puttying was done... and most of the sanding. So, primer in the morning tomorrow... and then the painting in the afternoon! I hope that I can definitely finish it in the next day... are at the very least, within two more days... or a week. Probably two days... I'm incompetent... but not THAT useless... I think.

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