Hello,
Our house is build into a hill and as a result, when you come in the front door, you go down about 10 stairs to the garage or up about 13 stairs to the main floor (i.e., very small landing and roughly 16′ ceiling at its peak). I would like to re-paint the entryway and parts of the wall will only be reachable from the stairs. Of course, this makes the top of the wall even higher (when I am on the stairs going down to the garage). Here is a link to the entryway: http://photos.yahoo.com/jegrayson. Click on stairway. My husband will only let me change the color if I do it myself, so hiring a professional can’t be the answer. (If it is, I’ll have to wait.) Can anyone offer me some suggestions as to cutting in where the ceiling meets the wall? I can probably reach most of the walls with a roller and extension pole, but there are some areas that will have to be done from the stairs.
Many thanks.
Jocelyn
Replies
Hmmmm... No "stairway" links here: http://photos.yahoo.com/jegrayson. ???
Sorry - I forgot to make it public :-( Try again, if you don't mind.
Thanks.
Jocelyn
An assortment of ladders and planks, with more ladders on the planks. You probably would have to rent that sort of thing. Take a sketch of your stairwell down to the rental place and see if the can set you up with the staging you need. Painters and drywallers set up for those situations all the time.
That's not too bad actually - try it with sloping ceilings and curved walls !
In any case, a "Jaws" ladder would help immensely (IMHO) as will an "edging pad" (roughly 4x6 painting pad with liitle rollers along one edge) and a long pole.
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
Thanks. I looked at a Jaws ladder online and it seems to be the right idea. Also, the planks might work. Does Home Depot rent that kind of thing?
The question is, of course, whether I could do most of the easy parts myself, and then just have a professional come in and finish. Might not cost that much more than renting all the stuff. I'll have to get that worked out.
Thanks again.
Jocelyn
(here we are again..........)
Staging for this is actually fairly easy -- but it's dangerous as all get out.......
First, place an extension ladder at the bottom of the stair run; then place a step ladder at the top of the stairs ((or landing). But I wouldn't use one of those flimsy type 3 step ladders; you need a type 1 that is sturdy, with a wide foot print.
Now, run a plank between the two ladders -- at a height where you can conveniently reach the interesection of the wall and ceiling. for planks, you have three options, listed here in order of best to worst:
(1) an expandable aluminum plank that you can rent; (2) two 2 X 4s long enough to span the distance involved -- set on edge with 12" strips of CDX plywood screwed into the 2 X 4 s. (3) if the span is 16' or less you could use a 2 X 12, but even then, I would screw a 2 X 4 on edge to the bottom middle span for support. Lumber quality ain't what it used to be.
Finally, you should come up with some means to clamp or otherwise affix the plank to the ladder rungs.
This contraption is not for the feint of heart. One fall could end your life as you know it.
Yikes. Sounds like I should do as much as I can with a long pole and then bring in my friendly painter to do the high parts of the walls. Maybe that will be enough effort for my husband!
Thanks (again).
Jocelyn
Do you realisticaly think a painter is going to charge you that much less to provide and erect a scaffold, paint the wall only along the edge of the ceiling, then disassemble and take away the scaffold than he/ she would to also paint the entire wall or room? Where do you think the bulk of the effort is?
Think about it.
One other point. If you don't paint the body of the wall and its edge along the ceiling at the same time it will be VERY noticable.
F.
If you use the edging pad, you don't have to be able to reach everywhere, just high enough to be able to get a roller nearly parallel to the ceiling for the field. What I've been doing is to run one coat of edging (make sure you feather into the field), let it dry, then put a second coat of edging when I roll the field - doesn't leave that inch or so you can see through to the primer. Something to remember here is that if it's too high to paint from a ladder, it's too high to see from the ground/stairs..
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
Some views of a Jaws on a tough stairway..
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
<<Something to remember here is that if it's too high to paint from a ladder, it's too high to see from the ground/stairs.>>
Well, not exactly. If you're standing on the second floor, looking down the stairs, a crappy edging job will be pretty obvious.
Crappy - yes, not quite perfect - no.
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario