It is not just paint

Moonlight has a large agricultural shed some 30m long by 9m deep by almost 7m high which the local authority required me to paint. I consulted with Glenn & Wendy as to colour etc to ensure consistency with the all the buildings at Moonlight. Their choice was a micaceous paint in a dark grey. The paint is targeted for industrial use, suitable for pipelines heavy mechanical uses etc. It took the 2 of us, I find painting, like plumbing to be therapeutic having undertaken the refurbishment of several houses in London over the years, 6 days to paint. The undercoat went on easily but the dark grey was cursed as it went on the rollers on a extending pole weighed several kilos. Against the corrugated iron it was easy to run straight up and down the full height of the building but lifting the roller to the shed was an effort.

There is no forgiveness with this industrial paint it is says 3 coats on the tin and that to get the coverage is exactly what you have to deliver. Given that this is the paint to be used on the external finishes throughout Moonlight, there is no opportunity to reduce the painting cost by reducing the requirement from 3 to 2 coats as I had previously thought in a cost estimate provided by the QS for the hotel, so lesson learnt there.

Anyway now the shed is painted, it recedes into the landscape, the micaceous finish of the paint now that the resin has had time to harden looks great yielding a shimmer as the sun shines on the painted iron, great! Certainly not many sheds in Australia this colour, I will not comment on colourbond in the Australian rural landscape……

Now when the quote from the painter comes in I will understand the time and coverage that should be allowed for, lesson learnt.