1. Project gets underway today. Cleaned the fridge well, wiped down with mineral spirits and let dry. 2. Wetsanded with 400 grit paper to give the paint something to grip. 3. Wiped down again with mineral spirits and let dry well. 4. Mix Paint: It's a warm Florida day (~80 degrees, but dry by S. FL standards) so I mix the paint with ~10% mineral sprits. Seems pretty darn thin to me. 5. Of note, although the fridge is clean, there are a significant number of surface rust spots, most noticably on the top from condensation when opening the freezer. Beer Fridge has been living a very comfortable life in the garage for several years now, but as it is S. Florida, it does get VERY humid in here. I chose not to sand down the rust spots to clean metal because A. I'm lazy and excited to get going, and B. because I wanted to see just how the Rustoleum would handle these spots. 6. Main Door - Okay, here we go... BUBBLES! More bubbles, and more bubbles. They are not going away, not after a light pressure re-roll either. A good stiff blast of breath pops them and the paint starts to lay down. Whew! Half way thru the door and I'm beginning to think the paint is too thick - or is it my technique? I press on. 7. Top door - trying to work a little faster and the results are better. Loading up more paint on the roller and trying NOT to reroll so much (causing in effect a second coat). This is where I realize I'm starting to make a mess of things, not with the rolling but with my brush technique. Cut-in is not my strong suit and it shows grossly here. Drips and sags from too much paint, then I remember 69Chargers advice; roller in one hand, brush in the other. Getting better... you are wise, oh Master 69Charger. 8. Left Side - Load roller more, roll faster. Hmmm, this is starting to work better. Still have lots of bubbles but by now I'm huffing and puffing away to get them all popped, and the results are starting to look much better! Note to self: quit smoking cigarettes... SOON! 9. Top surface - MUCH easier to do a horizontal surface! Even with te considerable rust up here, I can see much better results. 10. Left side - Ironically, this side comes out best. Ironic because "Beer Fridge" sits up next to the water heater and there's no manuevering room on this side. Because of this, I take the tact of REALLY loading up the roller and working very fast. Get as much on as I can and get it spread out as quickly as I can. Huff, puff, and the paint really statrs to lay down nicely. Lesson learned? By going quicker I'm not "pulling" the paint up with the roller as much.
First coat done, time to assess: Time for my "WTF AM I DOING!" moment! Standing back, the fridge looks... Horrible. Verging on frightening. BUT... It admitedly did a rather nasty job on the first door, and looking at the final side, things look much better. Wait an hour and re-assess.
Okay, it STILL looks bad but I'm ready to press on. I SHOULD really stop here and sand down what I've done, but I decide to press on.
11. Mix Paint for coat #2 - I basically doubled the mineral spirits to ~20-25% this time. MUCH thinner, really starts to feel like water this time around. Yes Master, Grasshopper is learning. 12. Second Coat - what a world of difference! Still getting the bubbling but only for a few quick seconds. Even the slightest breath disperses them and the paint really lays down quick and smooth. If not, a very light pressure re-roll and slight puff is all it takes. 13. Entire surface takes half as much time as coat #1 and the results are much better.
Clean up and done for the night.
Evaluation: learned quite a bit. First and foremost; THIN THAT FRIGGIN PAINT! Even while mixing batch number two I thought to myself "this will never work, it's too damned thin..." WRONG! I can definitely see that coat number one was too thick, and that it will take at least 3-4 coats using the thinner batch to completely cover the underlaying color (white), but the benefit is that the thinner coat goes on MUCH smoother with less trouble. Less trouble, and less sanding, which is what I will be doing ALOT of after that first coat mess I made. But I had the wife give me an honest opinion, and looking at the final LEFT side with two coats - unsanded - even she saw the potential.
Gonna take some photos but hold off posting them until I get a chance to wetsand first (don't want to scare off anyone just yet).
