Wall paneling begins at Jones

I’ve got about half of the building paneled with the simulated corrugated metal panels. Frankly, I think this is the last time I’ll use this technique because the tedium of creating the panels is starting to get to me – but, I wanted to have an E. L. Moore-esque look, so I only have myself to blame :-) To add to the frustration, I’ve misplaced the extra panels left over from the Bunn’s Feed and Seed Plant that I had saved for this project. Argh!

So, I began by making panels. That pile is about enough to cover one side and one end wall. I’ll need to make another pile for the remaining two sides.

Before gluing the panels to the walls I painted the bottom halves of the panels with dull aluminum paint from Tamyia so that post-installation painting won’t mar the finish on the foundation.

Prior to gluing on the panels I did some preliminary finishing on the concrete steps, tank pad and foundation. The exposed laminate edges were plastered over with some white putty and then sanded to a rough finish. The concrete parts were then painted with several coats of Tamyia light gray and then with a thin wash of flat white to tone down the colour. Also, the interior was painted flat black to help control reflections.

The panels are attached to the walls by coating the wall with a thin film of white glue and pressing the panels on. Don’t press too hard or you’ll overly flatten the corrugations. Once dry, the excess panels are trimmed from the window and door openings with a new, sharp knife. To get an idea of how things will look when it’s finished, I then installed the window frames on the front wall.