Sunday, August 31, 2008

Ladder-Free Landing at Last?

It occurred to me this morning when I asked myself what I wanted to do today, that I could finish painting the stairwell.


It is a complex shape--2 landings, and a couple of 90-degree turns with a vaulted ceiling (at one place 20' high). Of course the floors are not level, and the passage is a very narrow 42" wide below the highest part. The first photo is just to show the resident inspector of high places, and to give some idea of the whole scaffolding set-up, which we took down a few weeks ago.


The second photo above is of the highest ceiling peak. To texture and paint, I have used a step-ladder, scaffolding, and an extension ladder with a leveler on one leg, so that it can be set up crosswise to the steps. I also have a 12' pole for the paint roller. I have painted everything but one or two patches of ceiling and wall, and all the corners where walls and ceiling come together. If I go at it in a systematic way, I could paint all the corners and the missed patches with one more circuit of ladder placement. The hardest part will be to have the paint bucket where I can reach it from the ladder, while being able to turn the long pole in the confines of the hallway, from somewhere on a ladder.

What is encouraging about this is that I will have to do all those ladder set ups and placements anyway, at some point, so why not finish it and have that lovely space free of obstacles.

It seems unreal that any part of the addition could really be that close to done, but in fact it is all nearing completion. The stucco is almost done. The color is on, but now we are waiting for the crew to come back and finish the texture. The downstairs is all painted, but there was a problem with paint colors, and much of it will have to be recoated. What I am really looking forward to downstairs is taking up the construction paper, and having my floor in view (and the cabinets which will be arriving when the stucco crew removes their scaffolding from the outside).

Too, there is still the flooring to put on the stairs and landings, and tile work to complete, but then the house will be liveable, ready to pass inspection. Baseboards and windowsills seem small details by comparison.

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