[Pete's Painting]

The humidity has finally arrived up here in New England. I've been working inside all week dodging thunderstorms. Sunday was the worst, the caulking and spackling I did never dried overnight. Not knowing, I painted over it Monday and it has since cracked a bit around the ceiling. Got even more ticked off when I noticed the spackling was still wet and I wouldn't be priming the rooms I needed to. Does anyone switch products during these conditions? I need to use an oil primer on the walls and was thinking of switching to Kilz since it dries faster, but have had problems with it before after stripping wallpaper.

 

[vermontpainter]

Its exciting to have another complicating factor thrown into the mix of exterior painting every day. However, its gotten to be a bit too predictable. For us, for the past two weeks, it storms every day around 3:00. We follow the forecasts carefully and keep an eye on the sky all day long. The first few days it was exciting to "beat the weather" and sneak in a carefully calculated day of production knowing that it is going to rain. Two weeks later, the thrill is gone.

The moral of the story these days on exteriors is to identify all of your "rainy day" options on day one of the job and be sure not to use them up until you absolutely have no other option. It also helps to be familiar with the prevailing winds and know your dry times very well. We have been lucky to get sun and heavy winds every day for the last hour or two before the rain comes. You can actually get some really good drying conditions right before the storm.

 

[Brian]

Afternoon thunderstorms are a way of life for us. We literally have storms pop up in less than an hour. We can go from a sunny sky to black as night with almost no warning. Yesterday I was in a deluge leaving an appointment, and 5 miles away at my office not a drop had fallen. We are at a convergence of northern cool air and warm gulf air, which makes for very fun afternoons.

Brian Phillips

 

[Pete's Painting]

Yeah, I was running around like an idiot last week while working outside, checking the radar on the weather channel I think it was Wednesday, there was a severe thunderstorm 5 miles west of the town I was working in, it started sprinkling, so I packed up and went to another job. It never rained.........HO was wondering where we were. I tried to make up for it on Saturday, but they were having a pool party. I couldn't deal and went home.
Committed to working inside this week and looks like a good decision, poured again this afternoon. Can't complain, at least I have options, but I wish they would get the forecast right. I haven't got paid in almost 3 weeks jumping around like this as I haven't gotten to that point on either job.