Painting Soffits

 It's a strange word, as far as words go: soffit. Ir's not one for casual conversation. And yet for the past week and a half, it's word that's been on the tip of my tongue. There have been other words at the tip of my tongue, too.

 Soffit from the French soffite. Ceiling.

4-22-19 

 They are ceilings, of course, though the ones I speak of are outdoors, They are a favorite of our local spiders who cast webs across them and leave them looking dark and dirty. Somehow the rain gutters spill water onto their edges and start them rotting. And they are hard to scrape and paint, forever overhead so that I must stretch at an odd angle for hours on end.

 I am not a lover of soffits. I am not a lover of painting.

 And yet, years having passed since I last tackled this project, I bought a +$30 can of paint at Home Depot - enough for the house and garage - and set to work. I began with the rear of the house. It is the most visible. Myself and others are forced to look at it constantly.

4-23-19 

 Then I moved to the north side of the house and painting the diagonal soffit and trim there (I repaired and painted the south side last year).
 See that redwood-stained area  above? I bought a  second can of paint, too (also over $30) and stained it some weeks ago. It is an easier job to sit on the kitchen roof and paint. At least it is not overhead.

4-24-19 

 Since the trim looked new, I felt I had to paint the kitchen window, too.

4-24-19 

 Then to the garage. This after:before shot shows how dark the soffit had become. I scraped away the flaking paint and I brushed it with a broom to take down the loose cobwebs. Even so, it is a thankless job. It is merely necessary. It does not show itself to passers-by for their praise.

4-29-19

 The front of the garage at least shows since I painted the frame of the garage door, too. The door itself is metal and the paint is baked-on. That much I was able to skip.

4-30-19 

 The back of the garage was perhaps the most in need of work. I'm halfway as I took this picture.

4-30-19

 With this west side done I am left with only the north. It has rained for days and yesterday the winds gusted to nearly 40 mph. I had a good excuse not to continue. But the project is not done - and cannot be checked off my list - until I do.

 For my own information, these are the two paints/stains I used: