It's Fun To Say Caulk...

     My partner Dave and I (in work, not life) had to meet with a lady this morning regarding some exterior painting she needs done to her house. We've done quite a bit of work for these people in the past and they live in a beautiful house on the water in West Vancouver. This particular lady is really nice but how would you say?... painstakingly particular- she lives and breathes this house. After exchanging pleasantries we get down to the business of discussing the five pages of notes she has made about the specifics of the paint job (she does her homework- good for her). We proceed to talk briefly about cleaning, cobwebs, what we should paint or shouldn't when all of a sudden she blurts out, "When we get around the back of the house there's some hard, dirty brown caulk I need to show you." I said pardon?!!? She said it so deadpan and seemingly no effort was made to say the "L" in caulk, if you know what I mean. Dave looked one way and I looked the other because if our eyes had met that would have been it over... Snap! Lose it! But being the seasoned veterans that we are we somehow managed to keep it together. What had happened was the builder had caulked some of the window sills and columns but the caulking was never painted so it had discolored, hence the "hard, dirty brown caulk talk." (hope I got the commas right).

 


    Unrelated topic but Dave prepping some doors for spraying...

     This just brought to mind one other quick caulk story. Dave and I had met with this customer and we were standing outside his house discussing the details of his paint job. He had horizontal cedar siding and it had been quite some time since the house was painted. The sun had done it's work (maintenance is the key) and some of the boards had really started to curl up. He wanted to know if there was anything we could do with them (other than replace) and since they were way beyond re-nailing Dave said very matter of factly, "We'll screw it 'til it cracks then we'll caulk the slit." He had no idea what he had just said and I wasn't the pro I am now... I walked away barely managing to keep a straight face. We still laugh about, "Screwing it 'til it cracks." and "Caulking the slit." Ah, painters... a simple bunch but you have to take your humour where you can get it.