Let The Painting Begin...

We have cracks in many of the walls. The whole place was painted 3-1/2 years ago before we moved in. The cracks started showing up within six months. Many of them continue to grow. One, in particular, has large scales peeling and buckling off the wall. We've been told that the building is about 200 years old and the support beams for the building are wood. When the building shifts, the plaster and paint on the walls crack. The only hope for this is to repair the cracks and cover the walls with fabric or fiberglass, sand it all, then repaint.

We've tried to put this project off for the obvious reasons -- inconvenience and cost, but finally Terry couldn't handle it for another day.

We got bids from painters, selected one, a guy we've used for a lot of other projects, Timothy, and the work started this morning.

Of course, it's been sunny and warm since we arrived in early September but today it is raining and dark. We had to remove the permanent light fixtures and put all our floor lamps into the room to get enough light for the painters to see what they are doing. I guess that if it keeps raining, which it's scheduled to do, the whole project will take longer, as each step has to dry before the next step can start.

This morning, Terry and I got up early and moved all the furniture to the far corners of the apartment, rolled up the rugs, consolidated all the items normally on tables, onto a bookshelf so that it can all be covered. I took everything off the kitchen counters and put it elsewhere, since dust will be all over.

We've also made several trips to the cave this morning, to get the old paint to match, get drop cloths and a ladder. Our original ladder was stolen (or expropriated) out of the cave at rue de Seine, so this is a new ladder. We've guarded it carefully this time.

As soon as they break for lunch, I'll take a photo fo the dismantled apartment so that I can look at it and feel sorry for myself. I am worried that my week is ruined.

Hopefully nothing bad will happen. We've made it clear to the workers that they can't touch the Livebox or any of the cables leading to it. After a minor France Telecom disaster earlier this year, we don't want to wreck our internet connection, it will probably be our only source of comfort this week since the TV is covered and there are no chairs or couches that we can sit on in the front of the apartment.