Pagoda Renovation

[Sean Regan]

In 1987 after I built our koi pool the previous year, I decided as a sort of enhancement I'd like some authentic looking Japanese lanterns. What were available at that time in garden centres, I thought were far too small, looked rubbish and were ridiculously expensive. The chance of finding a six foot pagoda was out of the question, so I made my own out of concrete.
The lanterns with their outer skin of dyed mortar to match the colour of the York stone patio and paths I'd made were OK, but I decided the pagoda would look naff unless I painted it.

Over the years, the weather gets to it, it's had the occasional "tart up." But it needed a full go over this year.

Not a pretty sight after a jet wash.

But I'm getting there. I've painted the soren (that gold thing on the top) and the roofs.

I've made all new finials for the corners of the roofs. (36 of them) Didn't take long.
They are just bits of dowel that were used to support orchids, "that have passed on," but they'll need another coat.

It's impossible to get all the angles right with a drill. So the sockets for them are oversize and I can get them in at the right depth and angle if the are set in clear silicone.

I might paint the "brown bits" tomorrow when I come home from golf. Then it'll be just touching up the white and red on the next dry day.

I've found Hammerite metal paint ideal for painting concrete as it's thick and sticks well to the surface.

 

[Sean Regan]

I did the brown bits today. There's quite a lot, some of it unseen.

Pagodas are entirely of timber construction. The wood used is called Hinoki, a Japanese cypress.
The overhanging roofs are heavy, so need a lot of support, particularly at the corners where they have intricately made pin joints.

It would be impossible to make these out of concrete, but I did my best to simulate the effect.
Of course these are never seen by anyone, as you'd need to be down on your knees and no one is going to do that.
But, "I know they are there."

I gave the finials a second coat. I've a few spare, as I've a bad habit of brushing past them and dislodging them.

I've just the white and red to do now.

Next job will be a coat of paint on the tea-house, particularly, the "weather side."
Then a bit of touching up on the pergolas and the balustrade between the garage and the "rose patio."

But not until it's going to be dry for a few days.

 

[Sean Regan]

The sorins on pagodas have always fascinated me.
Such complicated constructions, probably not noticed by many visitors.
How they were made and erected, is beyond me.

Mines "not so complicated"
These are the curtain rings and milk carton tops, that are part of mine.

 

[Sean Regan]

It was a dry and sunny morning and a golf day, so you have to get your priorities right, don't you?
So I didn't get home until well past 2.00pm. It had rained whilst we were having lunch, but then stopped. I didn't fancy doing any painting as it may rain again.
But I did manage to get all 36 finials on the corners of the roofs, "glued" in, with clear silicone. I've just the white windows and doors to touch up and the red balustrades to paint. Then it will be done.