With the Work Box fully completed back in August and four years since anything was done to the Shop Box, the Shop Box has now become the focus for repair work.

First and foremost, the 18″x40′ beam. During Beam Me Up Outside the W14x22 flange was installed way back in May 2017 and has been sitting as raw steel on top of the Shop Box ever since. Raw metal in the salty, salty air. It was never out intention to leave the beam as raw steal but life just happened. No time like the present with lovely fall temperature and gentle breezes to keep the dust away, the Planner started Sunday off with an air compressor, a media blaster, and three hundred pounds of blast sand.

Once sandblasting is started the metal has to be primed the same day otherwise it will flash rust over night causing the primer not to adhere. Taking ten hours from start to finish, just over half the beam was blasted to white clean and then primed in heavy duty white primer.

Giving the primer a full 24 hours to set, the Planner was back at the roof Tuesday morning once again. The second side went a lot smoother as it was on the side of the sun making the pitting easier to see. It also lent to better picture taking, too.

A cloud cover day, just enough breeze to keep the dust low, and less than half the beam to clean, the Planner was done in just over four hours. Sandblasting is messy work. Look how much overs pray there was onto the side already primed. Good thing we gave the primer a full day to dry.

Friday morning with the clouds already clearing and the temperatures already in the upper 70’s, the Planner got down on his hands and knees to get the job done. Painting the underneath side of the flange was the most difficult process, even over sandblasting. Seeing if there was adequate coverage upside down looking into the sun was a challenge. Usage of a flashlight did not help.

In the end, an extra layer was applied and we called it done. Light gray paint against the white looked almost black but when completed it was the perfect color gray. Not too dark, not too light.

Color was chosen to blend in against the white of roof coat but as it turns out, we should have gone with a sand color. Just look how much sand has collected on the roof of the Work Box as compared to the House Boxes! In just over a year, the roof has gone from Blinded by the White to dingy. Good thing the roof coat is supposedly potable as there is a truckload of sand on the roof. Oh, well. Next on the list for Shop Box repairs, lights!