Lesson Learned

Yesterday, it took Tammy and I about four hours to stain three sides total on two 4×8 foot lattice panels.

Today, I spray-painted two full 4×8 panels (one side only) plus the deck structure around them in about 20 minutes. And that was as a novice.

Needless to say, I sort of torn now.

• Part of me wants to jump with joy and hug the new paint sprayer.
• Part of me wants to kick myself and apologize to Tammy for not getting the paint sprayer a day earlier.

It’s not a particularly expensive one ($176 at Home Depot), but it sure worked well:

It took about 25 minutes to tear down and clean it after I was done, but that’s okay. I’d rather do that than the alternative, and now it’s clean as new again. After lunch, Tammy and I will make short work of the remaining lattice, I think.

I stood in line at the Home Depot this morning. There were about 20 people lined up outside, all being orderly and distancing. I’d say only a third had masks on, including me. Inside, I don’t think it really was that much slower getting the stain. I knew what I wanted, so I had to wait in line at the paint department and then I could ask for what I wanted and then wait. There originally was only one employee in the department taking orders and mixing paint, so I thought I would be a while but then two more showed up and the line moved briskly. I had time to look at the paint sprayers and I’m glad I did.

Also weird factoid: the sprayer seems to be more efficient than brushing. The entire bit I did outside took about half of the paint reservoir. Considering I bought a 5 gallon pail of the terra cotta stain for the deck, I might have a wee bit too much. Oh well. Maybe I’ll make re-finishing the deck a more regular thing.