taped and mudded

My first effort at drywalling a ceiling. My wife's cousin helped me put up 5/8'' drywall in our future office. Wow, talk about heavy work. 5/8 drywall is bulky, akward, and very heavy. You need two people, each of whom stand on a ladder. Then you position the drywall in place and then hold it with your head while you put the first screws in. Then the drywall punches through the screws because there aren't enough holding it up. This task is quite frustrating and challenging at first. It requires a lot of patience and skill.

In this photo the drywall has been taped and drywall compound applied. We hired a pro to do the taping because it is quite time consuming and difficult. Fun stuff 

Casa Decrepit

The New York Times Magazine had a great piece on Sunday about Casa Decrepit, a houseblog in California. The writer describes her horrible experiences at the hands of shady contractors and shifting soil. Truly terrifying for any person who is considering a basement renovation.

Our reno has been nothing like that but we did have our fair share of surprises, for example:

• the dead rats I pulled out of the ceiling


• the furnace that suddenly needed replacing

One of the most difficult issues that we face is where to draw the line when renovating. Is it better to do as much as possible, "while we have the contractors onsite", or is it better to keep a tight scope and do nothing more than necessary. I favor the latter, my wife the former. The short answer is both answers are right.