It only took two years!

It only took two years to get this building looking respectable!  As many of you know from driving by, we spent the past week painting the front of the building. Next spring the top will be painted, but we're just thankful for the great Fall weather we've been having!  (We've decided that the building used to look like Mimi from the Drew Carey show!)

The last of the "feet" were painted this morning.  I had to hold off on them because Dale made repairs and the new cement required time to dry.

The process of painting using the scaffolding had many steps, which had to be repeated multiple times.  In this picture, we're working left to right and are about two thirds of the way done.  You can tell by the 5th window that is partially painted.  Looking back, it would've been nice to have had a picture every time we moved to the next window. 

So our day went like this...  The scaffolding was set up on the far left side of the building so Dale could paint the white parts above all the windows.  As you can see, he can only do one window at a time. While he was painting, I was sitting just below him cutting in the gray/green on the white beams.  I got a little ahead of him and had time to kill (and paint on my brush) so I used it as an opportunity to sign the building. :)  Now that we're both done with that section, we climb down to the ground, unlock the four wheels and move the scaffolding to the next window.  Zoom in on the picture and you'll see the wood planks on the ground.  Those are there because the sidewalk slopes away from the building and we need it to be level.  While move the scaffolding it's very important not to let the wheels fall off the plank.  The scaffolding is moved, wheels locked, and we climb back up to our posts.  We continue this working our way to the right until all the windows are done.

My view as I was sitting on the plank and painting the top edge of the beam that my foot is resting on.

The first beam is painted

Then we start the process all over again only this time we paint the beams and work our way to the left.  Climbing up and down, up and down.

Working our way back to the left, Dale took the opportunity to go take care of some city business since I could reach the beam on my own.  The only thing is that he took off in such a hurry that he only left one plank instead of the normal two or three.  Barely wide enough for the paint pan!

You may ask why we didn't do it all at once.  I asked that very same question.  Had there been less wind that day, we would've.  But because of the wind and three sections of scaffolding, Dale wanted the third section off as quickly as possible.

I'm not sure how he ever figured out out to set up and take this down all by himself.  

Dale is pictured here taking down the third section on Friday night.

This is where we finished on Friday. Just the feet to be painted and the window sill and doorway on the left that had to be repaired.  Those were completed today (Sunday).  I wasn't supposed to work at the building today, but I just couldn't resist!!

I almost forgot to mention, there are once the last of the windows have been replaced, Dale will have installed 79 windows!!!

Next project is the front doors.   I'm not a fan of this project, but really looking forward to see the beauty behind the layers of paint!

I need to finish the doors and also get back upstairs pulling nails.  Dale's very close to start framing the new offices!