Things I Learned Today

[Mike J]

I spent the last few days in prep work and putting down the primer coat to get the pool ready for new epoxy.   The color is called "Clear Blue" and it looks really nice.  I did learn a few things about working with epoxy pool paint.

 

1 - Plan your work and work your plan.  Have a good idea of what the coverage is for a full gallon of paint.  That stuff is expensive and once it is mixed it has to be used or thrown away. 

 

2 - If you get near the end of job and you have a little of that expensive paint left, be creative with the plan and maybe you can use up that last little bit.

 

3 - There is an art to getting out of a pool if you paint yourself into a corner, even if the pool is only three feet deep.

 

4 - Epoxy paint is REALLY hard to get off the bottom of your feet.

 

5 - You can grab one of your wife's not so new T-shirts out of the laundry basket and use lacquer thinner to clean your feet.  Who would have guessed it was one of her favorites.

 

6 - After the lacquer thinner you can use that soap that has the small volcanic grit in it.  In the USA they call it "Lava Hand Soap".  I have no idea what it is called here, it was what I found at the outside sink.  That soap is just amazing, almost like sandpaper,  and it will "grind off" anything that the lacquer thinner missed.

 

7 - If you accidentally step in some more epoxy after following steps 5 and 6 above, and you decide to repeat step number 5 . . . you are in for a world of hurt.  Remember how the soap "ground away" that last little bit of paint?  I think it may take a little skin at the same time. If you think you "can just tough it out" and still move on to step 6 you may be dumber than a box of rocks.  Just don't do it! 

 

8 - If the bottom of one foot is kind of a splotchy blue color, keep both feet on the ground at all times and no one will ever notice.

[Mike J]

Thought I would follow up on the pool project.  It is really going good, I did the second coat of blue today.  Now all I have left is the clear coat.

This guy, I forgot his name, stopped by today and was talking about how he painted his pool.  He was giving me some advice that I thought I would pass on.  

9 - When doing the second coat, the colors will blend perfectly and the shiny 1st coat will look almost like the 2nd wet coat.  He says you need to be really careful about coverage, etc.  Good advice, but then he goes on says something about it being a "real bitch" to get epoxy paint out from between your toes.  Seemed like kind of an odd statement to me.  Who in hell would ever get epoxy between their toes.

Anyway, I am thinking the pool is looking so good, I may just do the deck boards as well.  As you can see from the picture they are getting pretty faded.  Simple and should not take too long.

Well - got to go, my wife says she needs to talk to me about something.  Hard to say, you know how wives can be sometimes.

 

[Mike J]

In my original post I forgot to mention one thing that is important when working with epoxy paint.  You need to keep the workplace super clean and uncluttered.  You don't want to be searching for a tool while that expensive paint is setting up in the can!!!

[Mike J]

Some endeavors are not meant to be measured by their cost in money or labor, but rather by the return in the happiness and joy they bring to others.  Can life really get any better than this? 

 

[Dave Hounddriver]

Fantastic!

[sonjack2847]

Is that your footprint? 

[Mike J]

1 hour ago, sonjack2847 said:

 

Is that your footprint? 

 

Yes it is, a few more days and I think the blue color should be gone off my feet.  The epoxy under the toe nails will take a bit longer.   Probably good that I did the painting in bare feet.  I am sure the epoxy would have melted my crocs and what a mess that would have made.