RUST! Been living in the coastal environment for over 10 years, six of those here at Boxes in Fields and I am still amazed at how quickly rust appears. Not wanting to chance rust on these freshly installed interior panel walls, the Dwelling was prepped for blasting and painting. Raw steel today, rust tomorrow. Seriously.

Bright early Monday morning while discussing the plans for the week, the Planner decided there was one additional step to complete before we could blast and paint. Mounting brackets for attaching the porch. To attach the porch to the side of the box, there needs to be mounting points for the studs to anchor against. Can’t attach wooden studs to the paneled wall. Again, the Planner is always thinking way ahead of the steps we are currently working on. He figured since we are going to blast and paint we might as well stop to weld these NINE brackets so they can be done at the same time.

Making them was quick and easy. Mounting them was not difficult but it did require the Planner to face into the morning sun and me to move to him around on the tractor. It took longer to move the tractor than it did for the Planner to actually weld the mounting brackets into place. Nine brackets in a line for the one day in the future 30′ x 12′ porch.

On Wednesday, large rust and scale was removed with the needler along with the residual scale from the welding. These areas could have been blasted clean but the needler allow quick removal of very thick rust saving costs associated with blasting. With areas prepped for blasting and multiple fans blowing the blasting dust out the doorway and windows, I was ready to blast. Safety gear: long sleeves, gloves, hearing and breathing protection, and blasting hood. Let’s do this.

I love sandblasting. Not so much the actual work as it is dusty, loud, and sight restrictive. Instead it is the methodical lines of blasting, the instant satisfaction of being able to watch the rust be removed, the beauty being returned.

Sadly, when blasting, the actual portion of rust removal is the easiest, least time consuming portion of the job. The prep work; which there was non for this job; and the clean up are the most laborious of the portions of the job. Blasting media and dust is almost impossible to contain and it settles everywhere. Not that I was trying or needed to contain as I have the luxury of basically blasting outside.

As I said, blasting dust settles everywhere. Because the media is so fine, it stays suspended in the air for a long time. It will settle in areas that were not even blasted. The plants outside.

The insides of my shoes. The pockets of my shorts. Every surface of the Dwelling after blasting had to be cleaned of blasting dust.

First the media was swept into piles. This step was repeated several times as the dust rises into the air when sweeping. Then the air compressor was used to blow the media out of hard to reach locations such as on top of the ceiling angles and in the corners of the window ledges.

Finally since the blasting dust is very fine and can work its way into the groves of the floor and attach itself to the walls of the container, every single surface was vacuumed and then wiped down with water. Vacuuming left very cool designs on the unvacuumed floors.

It was during the cleanup that I noticed several areas that were blasted but not well. Seeing when blasting is a major issues. There is never enough light or the sun is in your face, blasting media suspended in the air, and the blasting hood ALWAYS fogs up on the inside making the viewing lenses almost impossible to see through. These spots were hit with the wire wheel as I was not dragging out the blaster and creating another mess.

With the walls washed and the floors vacuumed, the painters paper was taped into place. I don’t think the two boxes have ever been this clean. Ever. It gives me hope for how nice the floors will look once they are sealed, even with the water stains.

Suited up and ladders in place, the Planner hit the paint. He started outside in attempts to get out of the direct sun as soon as possible. His Michelin man suit may have fresh breathing air provided to it at all times but that air is ambient temperatures, not air cooled. First he did the windows. With exception to the bathroom window, the Planner faced into the sun for every other window. He basically spray painted by brail. Well not brail but definitely blind. When in doubt of the coverage, he sprayed more.

Then he did the utility room and the door hatch.

After moving inside and resetting up the suit, he again started with the windows and then did all the end wall caps.

The next day with paint still green, the windows had to be boarded up as there was yet another storm headed our way. It was only as we were closing the hatch did we notice the Planner did not paint the mounting brackets. The mounting brackets he stop to build so he could paint them straight away. All three of us check to ensure there were no missing or light painted areas, yet none of us noticed the brackets. So much for steps ahead.

What I did notice was that Sasquatch walked through while the the paint overspray was still damp.