Showers were forecast but I only experienced one small down pour.

Dark bands of cloud threatened all day but no more rain.

It was a bit of a dodgy day for all the painting I wanted to do but I just kept going and I was lucky enough for all the work to remain dry.

I did another hour's work rubbing back the painting that had significant drips and brush marks- one more week and I should have it fixed.

Next I installed the last two purlins across the front.

To match all the others they should have been C purlins but all I had left was Z.

It would have cost me another $50 to buy 2 X 3m lengths and seemed a bit silly when I still have a few Z purlins available.

Once the timber is installed over it there will be no way of knowing.

To give myself a clear field for painting some of the purlins I did some brush cutting on the front veranda.

I had to stand on a plank to reach all the weeds.

Twelve months ago, when I was first locking the veranda peripheral beams in to position I did not have time to apply the top coat of enamel.

This meant that a few cleats were painted with primer only.

I undid the bolts on 7 cleats (5 across the front, 2 down the side) and applied the enamel.

While I had the can of paint in my hand I finished off the last of the enamel painting at the back corner.

Next I applied primer to 4 purlins at the front and 4 purlins at the side. They had a fair amount of white oxide on their surfaces - probably not necessary but I wanted to make sure they were 100 % solid

Two hours later I applied "Aluminium" look enamel to 4 purlins at front.

The essential trick here is to thin the enamel down slightly with turpentine.

The paint goes off very quickly and cannot be worked after 45 seconds with out leaving an ugly surface finish.

With a lot of concentration I was able to achieve a nice smooth finish.