Construction crews showed up last week in Buxton for the paint job of a lifetime. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, probably the most well known lighthouse in the world, is being repainted.
The work is being done by H.I.S. Painting of Titusville, Florida and the work is expected to take a few weeks.
As you can see from this photo below the paint is fading and the famous black and white candy striping is fading a bit as you can see the bricks through the white paint.
The lighthouse needs to be repainted approximately once every 10 years according to a news article in the Virginian Pilot newspaper.
The painting contractor will apply a sealant, a primer, and then two coats of paint on the grand old lady which this year celebrated its 144th birthday. The current lighthouse is the 3rd lighthouse that has been in place at Cape Hatteras, and it survived an epic "move of the millennium" to escape erosion at the light's base. In 1999 the lighthouse was moved to its current location from a location of 1500 feet from the east.
450 gallons of paint will be used to do the job, and workers will work off of scaffolding that will be held in place by ropes from the observation deck some 200 feet off of the ground. There was no estimate about how much "blue tape" will be used to ensure the lines will be sharp when it is painted.
All the best from the beach!
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| The iconic Cape Hatteras Light |
As you can see from this photo below the paint is fading and the famous black and white candy striping is fading a bit as you can see the bricks through the white paint.
 |
| The white paint is wearing thin |
The lighthouse needs to be repainted approximately once every 10 years according to a news article in the Virginian Pilot newspaper.
The painting contractor will apply a sealant, a primer, and then two coats of paint on the grand old lady which this year celebrated its 144th birthday. The current lighthouse is the 3rd lighthouse that has been in place at Cape Hatteras, and it survived an epic "move of the millennium" to escape erosion at the light's base. In 1999 the lighthouse was moved to its current location from a location of 1500 feet from the east.
450 gallons of paint will be used to do the job, and workers will work off of scaffolding that will be held in place by ropes from the observation deck some 200 feet off of the ground. There was no estimate about how much "blue tape" will be used to ensure the lines will be sharp when it is painted.
All the best from the beach!
By Tim Cafferty, President, Outer Banks Blue Realty Services
