Session #3 of Ceiling Restoration & The End Is In Sight
We are back with more grinding and paint removal as the horse trailer conversion to mobile coffee bar relentlessly continues. By the end of last week’s session I was halfway through with the ceiling quadrants and now my aim is to finish them off.
The Traveling Pheasant has once again relocated over to my dad’s house making it easier to come and go in between days of rain. It’s a huge help to not have to move it back and forth between my community and storage every few days and I hope this will allow me to make a great deal more progress in this nicer weather.
Without further adieu, the third ceiling restoration session begins! Spoiler: Don’t miss the video below!
Day 1
During the end of my last session, I discovered the paint stripper that had been a complete and utter let down until now, actually worked on the black goo hidden below the paint when rubbed and polished off rather than allowing it to dry and scraping it off.
I was eager to give this discovery further experimentation with the quadrant above the driver’s side door to help get the hard to reach paint closest to the framing. The grinder worked wonders and the whole process would be so much faster if it could reach right up to the frame, however, it leaves about ½” – 1” worth of paint that still then needs to be chipped, sanded and scrapped off by hand. I think in most ways, this is the worst part of the whole process.
The paint stripper helped make the perimeter paint removal much easier, but the real victory was in how it polished off the remaining goo to reveal the gleaming metal below. I spent the day polishing the two quadrants I had already completed. I wanted to have these perfected before moving on to the others.
Before
After
Once both were polished, I was ready to begin the third quadrant above the service side door. My first grinder attachment was all but worn down so I ordered a pack of five from Amazon because they were cheaper per unit than the one I first bough from Home Depot. After spending longer than I’d care to admit trying to figure out how to change the attachment, I had the new pad ready to go. It wasn’t after one minute (no exaggeration) that the top layer broke away from the base, split in half and went flying off- narrowly missing my face. Thank God that I was wearing a mask and gloves!
I attached the second disc, assuming the previous one was a fluke, and the same thing happened again! They barely had any adhesive and were cheaply made in China. I had the return started and a refund code in my inbox faster than two shakes of a lamb’s tail.
PSA: Do NOT purchase these attachments if you are in the market. Stick to the costlier yet safer Avanti Pro brand discs.
Day 2
After a quick run to Home Depot to purchase the reliable attachment, I was ready to rock and roll!
I sent to work grinding off all the paint and taking my time to remove as much of the black goo to make the polishing process as easy as possible. I then followed the same process used on the other quadrants: chip away the paint along the frame, apply paint stripper, scrap, sand, then polish the remaining goo away. Thank goodness there is only one more large area to go!
Day 3
Today I am tackling the final quadrant. By this point I had a pretty efficient system going and I think this one took me the least amount of time.
Now that all four areas are finally complete, the majority of the ceiling is finished! I am so happy with how things are turning out and it is well worth the effort. I will spend another day going over all quadrants with more polish to really get the metal to shine, so stay tuned!
Looking back at the photos and watching the videos, I remember the feeling of pain and exhaustion and I am beyond relieved they are finished and it’s over!
Next week I will finish up the smaller front panels with our final session, and the ceiling restoration will be complete! Then I am SO ready to begin the floor and framing out the walls, leaving metal work in the rearview!
Desperately needing a shoulder massage,
Heather
留言