Drywall Finishing
May 12, 2007
It was another long Saturday. We left at about 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, started
working right away, and drove home late Saturday night. The place is just too
much of a mess to stay there (for me, anyway). I'll be away next weekend. Mike
says one of his goals is to make the place sleepable for me once again.
The most exciting news of the day first ...
Mike presented me with my own tool belt!
Then he cracked the whip and said, "That aint no fashion accessory.
Get to work!" I sanded the bedroom walls while he finished taping.
I should back up a bit... what we are doing now is called "finishing"
the drywall to prepare it for painting. That means all the seams,
screws, and nails have to be covered with drywall compound to make
the walls smooth. This is my first attempt at drywall finishing.
Notice the cracks (seams) up by the ceiling?
Now, thanks to Mike, the cracks are gone. Here I am covering
the screws in the ceiling. It takes three coats. Apply the first
coat, wait at least 24 hours, sand it, apply the second coat, wait
at least 24 hours, sand it, apply the third coat, wait at least
24 hours, and sand that. We have our work cut out for us!
Here's a close-up of me covering a screw. After all of the screws in the ceiling
were covered, I moved on to the walls. Every screw and nail has to be covered.
Here I am loading the "mud" pan. That is what drywall compound is referred to,
because it resembles gray mud. Mike is about to teach me how to cover seams.
While I was perfecting my finishing skills, Mike covered the kitchen
rangehood framing with drywall and installed a door between the house
and garage. A door is really important now that the house is insulated.
This picture shows the newly covered rangehood and my kitchen seam work.
The seams are the horizontal lines below the kitchen window and the vertical
line below the bow window. I spread quite a lot of mud around in one day.
The view from the doorway. You can see how messy the house
is. I am working on the outside corners around the windows.
A view of the door from inside the house.
A view of the door from the garage.
I am still working on those corners. I didn't need my
tool belt earlier in the day, but I am wearing it here.
Here's a close-up of my work.
The last task of the day was for Mike to put a second coat of mud on the seams
in the bedroom. That way, when he returns next weekend, they will be ready to sand.
He'll also be able to do the third coat, too. The room really might be done soon!
Please note, the site won't be updated for a few weeks. Next weekend I leave to go to
London on business. I get back on Thursday, then on Saturday, Mike and I leave for a
nine-day vacation out west. We don't return until after midnight on June 3.
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