Painting help

[Wainbowmudd]

This may be a silly question but I’m not sure how to go about painting the part of my coop that touches the ground. I realize it would have been better to paint to before the birds moved in but I could not wait that long. So here’s my dilemma, the inside of the coop ground is currently a grass/dirt/pine pellets turned saw dust mix. How in the heck am I supposed to paint the bottom of it without painting all of that Ground coverage into it? I also cannot move it at all to help me. Any advice would be great! Thank you

 

[aart]

How in the heck am I supposed to paint the bottom of it without painting all of that Ground coverage into it?

Ummm, you're not.
Unless you relocate the birds for a few days, dig then scrub the dirt away from the wood, let it dry for a day, paint it, let it dry for another day, then reinstall the birds.

 

[Wainbowmudd]

Ummm, you're not.
Unless you relocate the birds for a few days, dig then scrub the dirt away from the wood, let it dry for a day, paint it, let it dry for another day, then reinstall the birds.

Dang I thought there would be an ingenious way I hadn’t thought of yet

 

[Fluffs_flock]

Maybe block off little parts at a time and clean and paint?

 

[Wainbowmudd]

Maybe block off little parts at a time and clean and paint?

I’m not sure how to clean it. I feel like anything I do is just going to Still have dirt in the paint. It dries super fast here in FL so I’m not too worried about the girls with the paint but how to keep dirt out of my way while painting up against dirt lol I should just embrace it and call it texture

 

[piminuse]

Unfortunately, you're living through one of my great regrets of my first coop build. I build the foundation, buried the hardware cloth and then filled in the run. It wasn't until I was painting it that I recognized my mistake...I've opted to just leave the bottom unpainted and instead fill the inside with yard debris to keep it level and hide the foundation and the front is covered by bark. Ya gotta live with it and/or hide it XD

 

[aart]

but how to keep dirt out of my way while painting up against dirt lol I should just embrace it and call it texture

Get a piece of cardboard to put on top of dirt where you are painting.
Some embraced texture is probably inevitable.

 

[aart]

hide the foundation

I was assuming it is rot protection, rather than aesthetics, that is the OP's goal here?

 

[Wainbowmudd]

I was assuming it is rot protection, rather than aesthetics, that is the OP's goal here?

Yes, I do want to protect the wood the best I am able. Thanks for all the replies! I’ll try a piece of cardboard and embrace the texture

 

[aart]

embrace the texture

Keep it minimal as possible...and don't dip your dirty brush into the can, use a secondary container.