Progress is slow and the mud keeps flowing. Yet, this week is the final push before the "big sand" on Friday and the "posh paint" on Saturday and Sunday.
That's right, Dad is coming into town again and he's bringing the drywall primer. Yet, I still have a bit of work to do. I made a good push this week and weekend again, getting mud on almost every last bit, minus a few closet corners. All the closet drywall is glued up, after a tight ride in the Honda Element from Home Depot to get some more drywall. The Peel Away was brought back from the dead to finish off the front closet door frame. Exciting!
Unfortunately, my absent mind won again and I forgot to buy more mud so now it will be a chore to carry it from Home Depot on 23rd St. which is never fun. Luckily, I'll only need to get 2 more bags to finish the job.
Look for a big progress post after next weekend...
Monday, September 29, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Mudding Still....
It's been a while since I've posted a proper blog entry, but unfortunately there isn't too much to write about. I made a push a few weekends ago to get this mudding done and was quite successful at getting the two base coats on almost everything. Yet, summer has been calling still and my August and early September have been filled with long weekends away sailing, the New Jersey shore and Michigan. Top that off with a large explosion of business at the office and I've been screwed out of doing much work at home rolling in around 9 PM. Remember, each batch of this mud takes 1 hour or apply!
Yet, there have been many accomplishments. All the plaster is off of the brick around the door and has been scrubbed free of dusty plaster. The drywall in the foyer in the few spots it was missing is up. Lots of documentation, such as stud locations, has occured as well as a rigorous pricing exercise for the kitchen (still going though). Again, thanks to the friends who helped with these little tasks. You know who you are.
With that said, I made another small push again this weekend and will do so again in 2 weekends to finish up mudding. Switching over to the lightweight mud wich is meant for sanding, I had to slightly re-learn my technique. The goal with this coat is to feather out the edge so it appears smooth and there aren't any mud 'bumps' visible on the walls. I think I'm doing OK, but the true test will be when the paint goes on.
The adventure of the weekend was putting the drywall onto the plaster in the closets. Rather then chip all of this off the brick wall (adjoining with the hallway) or skim coat over it, the executive decision was made to mount the drywall on top of the plaster on brick. Although I lose 1/2" by doing this it will make the wall texture consistent...and it saves me the time of learning how to skim coat, etc. Using trusty PL200 construction glue and a makeshift mounting system the drywall went up and is staying in place and should be stuck there tomorrow.
Yet, there have been many accomplishments. All the plaster is off of the brick around the door and has been scrubbed free of dusty plaster. The drywall in the foyer in the few spots it was missing is up. Lots of documentation, such as stud locations, has occured as well as a rigorous pricing exercise for the kitchen (still going though). Again, thanks to the friends who helped with these little tasks. You know who you are.
With that said, I made another small push again this weekend and will do so again in 2 weekends to finish up mudding. Switching over to the lightweight mud wich is meant for sanding, I had to slightly re-learn my technique. The goal with this coat is to feather out the edge so it appears smooth and there aren't any mud 'bumps' visible on the walls. I think I'm doing OK, but the true test will be when the paint goes on.
The adventure of the weekend was putting the drywall onto the plaster in the closets. Rather then chip all of this off the brick wall (adjoining with the hallway) or skim coat over it, the executive decision was made to mount the drywall on top of the plaster on brick. Although I lose 1/2" by doing this it will make the wall texture consistent...and it saves me the time of learning how to skim coat, etc. Using trusty PL200 construction glue and a makeshift mounting system the drywall went up and is staying in place and should be stuck there tomorrow.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Mudding
With all of the drywall up on the wooden framing and the ceiling in place, it's been a big focus on the little things and mudding.
Now I know what you're thinking, mud sounds like a lot of fun. Somewhat wet, somewhat dense, cold and mushy. It even is great for the skin (facials anyone?).
Unfortunately, drywall mud is just about the exact opposite. The good stuff, known as "hot mud", requires mixing instead of just scooping it out of a bucket and slapping it on the wall. In addition to that, it has a setting time which exponentially decreases with each degree of temperature increase. Last but not least, there's a technique to all of this (especially the corners) which I'm trying to learn fast. All in all, this part is a bit more difficult and much more time consuming then I thought originally. The mud sets quicker due to the summer heat, the corners are difficult (I don't want to even talk about the first one), each batch of mud takes me an hour to apply and it's really a one man job since I only have one set of tools and space to work, mixing mud, etc. is so time consuming.
But there is a point to the mud - it hides the screws and seams making a smooth surface. There's an art to it though as you need to build up the layers so that the eye is deceived when everything is painted.
So far, I've spent a lot of solo hours moving forward with the mud and assigning little tasks to people who want to help. Each seam requires 2 coats of a denser mud then 1 coat of a lightweight mud. When that's done, everything needs to be sanded and then primed with paint.
Although the progress pics aren't anything to write home about, here's one of the bedroom. Note, the floors are clean and clear...but that's just a temporary point of beauty so enjoy it.
Now I know what you're thinking, mud sounds like a lot of fun. Somewhat wet, somewhat dense, cold and mushy. It even is great for the skin (facials anyone?).
Unfortunately, drywall mud is just about the exact opposite. The good stuff, known as "hot mud", requires mixing instead of just scooping it out of a bucket and slapping it on the wall. In addition to that, it has a setting time which exponentially decreases with each degree of temperature increase. Last but not least, there's a technique to all of this (especially the corners) which I'm trying to learn fast. All in all, this part is a bit more difficult and much more time consuming then I thought originally. The mud sets quicker due to the summer heat, the corners are difficult (I don't want to even talk about the first one), each batch of mud takes me an hour to apply and it's really a one man job since I only have one set of tools and space to work, mixing mud, etc. is so time consuming.
But there is a point to the mud - it hides the screws and seams making a smooth surface. There's an art to it though as you need to build up the layers so that the eye is deceived when everything is painted.
So far, I've spent a lot of solo hours moving forward with the mud and assigning little tasks to people who want to help. Each seam requires 2 coats of a denser mud then 1 coat of a lightweight mud. When that's done, everything needs to be sanded and then primed with paint.
Although the progress pics aren't anything to write home about, here's one of the bedroom. Note, the floors are clean and clear...but that's just a temporary point of beauty so enjoy it.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Finishing the Drywall
With a lot of progress made last weekend, my Dad got the itch and headed out from Michigan again to finish up the drywalling process and hopefully to begin putting mud on the walls. Somehow, he not only convinced my Uncle to come again but also my aunt. Turns out she's never flown before and never been to NYC as well, but she's braving it out to help my get this apartment done.
I grabbed the ZipCar Friday night and headed out to Caldwell County Airport (in NJ). I've got the pickup down to a science in a one hour time frame. We dug into the drywall Friday night and put up a fair amount that was remaining in the bedroom.
Saturday morning was more of the same, but I had to zip off to Brooklyn for a softball game, which I felt fairly guilty about. In the meantime, the rest of the gang made a trip to Home Depot on 23rd St. I can only imagine the look on my Uncle's and Aunt's face when they were walking into a Home Depot in the middle of NYC. After my 5 hours of absence, I returned to find most of the drywalling done and a fairly tired crew. I re-energized spirits a bit and then we went to grab dinner.
Sunday morning we focused on finishing the foyer ceiling which was more difficult then we all expected, but furring strips came to the rescue. I got a quick mudding and taping lesson from Uncle Steve and Aunt Sandy and will be doing the rest on my own (yikes!).
After dropping them back at the airport, I finished up drywalling the front closet.
So, a fairly productive weekend and a room and closets with walls again. Yeah!
I grabbed the ZipCar Friday night and headed out to Caldwell County Airport (in NJ). I've got the pickup down to a science in a one hour time frame. We dug into the drywall Friday night and put up a fair amount that was remaining in the bedroom.
Saturday morning was more of the same, but I had to zip off to Brooklyn for a softball game, which I felt fairly guilty about. In the meantime, the rest of the gang made a trip to Home Depot on 23rd St. I can only imagine the look on my Uncle's and Aunt's face when they were walking into a Home Depot in the middle of NYC. After my 5 hours of absence, I returned to find most of the drywalling done and a fairly tired crew. I re-energized spirits a bit and then we went to grab dinner.
Sunday morning we focused on finishing the foyer ceiling which was more difficult then we all expected, but furring strips came to the rescue. I got a quick mudding and taping lesson from Uncle Steve and Aunt Sandy and will be doing the rest on my own (yikes!).
After dropping them back at the airport, I finished up drywalling the front closet.
So, a fairly productive weekend and a room and closets with walls again. Yeah!
Friday, July 25, 2008
ZipCar to the Rescue!
Last night I realized, yet again, that I wasn't going to have enough supplies and that I'm not ready for my Dad's arrival tomorrow evening. I ran out of furring strips the night before and not all of the insulation is in the walls.
ZipCar to the rescue! I hopped into a Tacoma pickup truck and made my way to Yonkers. After buying 4 bundles of furring strips, a bag of durabond, 5 boxes of 32 gallon contractor bags (you have no idea how hard these are to find) and one 12 pack of Coke (yeah, fuel for the weekend) I made my way back to Manhattan.
By 10 PM I was unloaded and had brought everything up to the apartment. I started into putting the furring strips up by 10:30 PM and had to saw a bit. Given the crap I've gone through with the co-op and the storage installation lately, a bit of noise at this hour should be tolerated by my neighbors.
By 1 AM, I was done. All the insulation is out of the bags and I have room to work again. Yeah!
ZipCar to the rescue! I hopped into a Tacoma pickup truck and made my way to Yonkers. After buying 4 bundles of furring strips, a bag of durabond, 5 boxes of 32 gallon contractor bags (you have no idea how hard these are to find) and one 12 pack of Coke (yeah, fuel for the weekend) I made my way back to Manhattan.
By 10 PM I was unloaded and had brought everything up to the apartment. I started into putting the furring strips up by 10:30 PM and had to saw a bit. Given the crap I've gone through with the co-op and the storage installation lately, a bit of noise at this hour should be tolerated by my neighbors.
By 1 AM, I was done. All the insulation is out of the bags and I have room to work again. Yeah!
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Softball or Drywall? Pick your evil
With the cancellation of Saturday's softball game, I took advantage of getting a few friends together to start drywalling the bedroom. With the sheets hauled up and the insulation in most of the walls, we started in. Of the four of us, only 2 had real construction experience, but helpful hands are always willing to learn.After a delayed start we tackled those evil 24 sheets that made us sweat. Since our experience was different, it took some time for everyone to figure out who has what skills, we got things underway.
As well, I didn't have all the furring strips put on the studs which slowed things down a bit. We soon got in to the groove and Anu and I formed team A while Jen and Brian formed team B. Here's team A hard at work.After about 5 hours of hard work, we called it a day and had a few beers. Anu is now a drywall measuring/cutting expert, Jen can handle a screw gun without breaking a nail, Brian likes drywall glue and I have a bedroom with walls...well, 2-2/3 out of 4 at least.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Up the stairs....
I'm not sure what happened when I moved to New York City, but somehow I've found an amazing and crazy group of friends who have agreed to help me in just about any situation.
Tonight I was able to band together 7 able volunteers to help me haul up 24 sheets of 1/2" drywall 5 flights of stairs to my apartment. Can you believe it?! All I had to get them was beer and pizza. Wow!
There's not much else to say except thanks for sacrificing a good chunk of your night and sweating your butts off in the humid summer heat. Roy, Maite, Rachel, Rich, Dave, Anu, Brian and the trusty driver Jim are great.
Tonight I was able to band together 7 able volunteers to help me haul up 24 sheets of 1/2" drywall 5 flights of stairs to my apartment. Can you believe it?! All I had to get them was beer and pizza. Wow!
There's not much else to say except thanks for sacrificing a good chunk of your night and sweating your butts off in the humid summer heat. Roy, Maite, Rachel, Rich, Dave, Anu, Brian and the trusty driver Jim are great.
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