Today, we started the task of applying the bitumen paint to the outside surface of our Perimeter Wall to make it waterproof against damp and floods.
The morning was spent trying to use compressed air and a spray gun to splatter the black thick heavy liquid from a tank to the wall, but unfortunately, it didn’t work! Even after we tried “Pushing” the liquid down the tube using more compressed air in the top of the tank to help the thick liquid to get into the air spray gun. So that was abandoned and spent the remaining time cleaning the tools with petrol to lunch time! We did do some more tidy up of concrete blocks cut-offs and OSB sheets etc. too! Just to conclude this experiment of spraying, the manufacturer stated on their web site when we stopped for lunch, said that the best way was to use a direct pressurised spraying system like those high pressure washers we used for cleaning cars and patios, but even stronger at 2000psi (pounds per inch or 133 bar (a bar is normal atmosphere pressure) !!) and we were trying to use our 10bar air compressor – no wonder it didn’t work!! Grin!
So this afternoon, we went to the old fashioned method of brush and a tray and even a roller to apply the bitumen paint (which has rubber dissolved in it too) to the wall. We started on the garage side of the building, in the Utility room and went around towards the swimming lane, along the back of the building and arrived at the far corner in the Great Room. This is just over half way and we have used about ¾ of the first barrel of the paint. This is just about on track to the required coverage as stated in the instructions on the barrel, which we calculated to be 1½ barrels of the bitumen paint per coat for a complete circuit of the wall!
Painting-walls-day-1-2 Painting-walls-day-1-1
We are going to do 2 coats so tomorrow, first we will finish off the long loop around the Great Room and the front section and then start the 2nd coat in the afternoon and hopefully finish off on Wednesday!