An unlabeled map?
Tag: paint
Sprucing up
You could look at these photos and imagine that I was motivated to start painting the barbacoa (which would be a parrillera if still open-sided, but we closed it in) simply because it needed to be spruced up a bit. Just a bit.
In fact, a major motivation was the need to use paint. I bought 20 liters to do the interior of our little house in the country (for sale!), and discovered I could get by with touching-up, leaving me a lot of interior paint in search of a purpose.
We’re in an odd stretch of almost-summery weather, when pressure-washed walls—yes, they need it—dry relatively quickly. So, next: the complete dismantling of everything on the right side (ugh).
And I hate storing almost-empty almost-dried-up paint buckets from jobs done years before.
How the pros do it (paint)
After struggling with a paint tray—where do you put it so you won’t step in it or knock it over? How do you get paint on the whole roller, instead of just one side?—I consulted the guys painting the front of our house.
Simple, if not exactly easy (bit of a learning curve): use 20-liter can and a piece of wood.
Armed with that knowledge, I tackled the next part of our cochera (carport).
Definitely more efficient. As for my work, the usual: not perfect, but not bad.
Close enough, I guess
How do you say quality control in Latin America?
¿Que?
Following the instructions, we were supposed to get the color on the right.
At the taller
While in the States in September, I got to thinking about the pobre Meriva, as our worker referred to our Chevy minivan after seeing the loads it carried. (I wanted to get a four-door pickup when we arrived in Uruguay; wife nixed that idea.) We got it in early 2010. Paint’s fading, windshield best replaced because of scratches from volcanic ash from Chile a few years ago. But it runs well, and the prospect of shopping for anything in Uruguay is generally dreary. So when I got back, I got some repairs done: replaced the serpentine belt in the engine at 90,000 km (supposed to have been changed at 45,000), body pained, and maybe the windshield one day soon.
Quite a few weeks after the paint job, I noticed the strip between the top of the doors and the roof was looking pretty bad.
I took it back to the shop (taller) and showed it to the owner. He walked around the car. Whoever painted it simply skipped that area. No problem, he said. Of course, to finish the job will now take another three (Uruguay: read four) days.
While waiting in the garage, I became fascinated with the packaging of a replacement door.
The strings aren’t added afterward. They’re an integral part of the design. They wrap around little round plastic fasteners.
What an elegant (in the engineering sense) solution!
Change of opinion
