The Worst Part of a Reno

Last update, we had lots of help hanging the last sheets of drywall but where is everyone when we do the worst job ever, putting on the mud? I’m kidding of course, we really loved having Norma, Randy, Terri & Mark working with us. There are some jobs that you can have too many people and applying the joint compound and sanding is one of them. We had started the taping on Sept 22nd and our 1st coat of mud on the 23rd. It has been a slow but steady progress, apply mud, let dry, apply the next coat, let it dry then sand. The drying has been a little slow, we still do not have a functioning furnace yet although they have put the gas lines in and we have hot water now. The cool nights and rain has had an affect so we put an electric space heater in the house to help but it is slow.

There are other jobs in the mean time. Barb keeps an eye on the mud and records where we are so we do not miss anything and we peck away at some of the other jobs that also need to be done – install the pot light fixtures, a door on the furnace ‘room’ and the water valve for the shower. We also worked on the outside, blocking the windows so the siding guy can cover them with aluminum and seal them up for the  winter. Barb put on some more cedar shakes and I sealed them with shellac so the knots would not bleed through and they would not soak up the paint. We had planned to put vinyl siding on but out of the budget this year so replacing shakes and a coat of paint will have to do.

 

All this activity creates waste so off to the landfill with whatever we can fit into our truck. We did not keep records on the weights of waste we have taken or have picked up in the 2 dumpster loads, it would have been interesting.

 

 

 

There is not much one can say about finishing the drywall for painting – no mud fights although, lots of mud hit the floor when I was slapping it on! Barb used a garden spade during clean up to scrape it off. One of our highlights was installing the shower doors – the installation instructions were not written for a couple of oldies with poor eyesight and it took us longer than we expected but we still managed to get them on the shower stall and working good – now we’ll smell better at the end of the day.

When we were at the landfill, we learned that they were giving away compost material for gardens and we could take as much as we could get in the truck but we had to hand bomb it ourselves – must be a liability issue. Anyway, Barb & I went over while the mud was trying to dry and we loaded up the truck. Barb worked on one side and me on the other. Lesson learned, when one has to take the stuff off the truck, load it as near the tail gate as you can! In order for the compost to stay where it is, we bought some sod to hold it down but we were short a few rolls so off to get 3 more but the garden centre had sold out in the 20 minutes we took to lay it down and drive back! Oh well, another day.

So Thursday, Oct 9th, we start what we hoped was the last coat of mud. After about an hour, Barb sits down on the scaffold and was looking a little green around the edges. She hurries off to the bathroom to be sick and then to bed! She was down for the count. I must have worked her too hard and weakened her immune system. I continued to apply mud or sand, added some shakes around the back door and other small jobs while checking on Barb.

Saturday, Terri & Mark came up to help out again but Barb could not get her head off the pillow. Our task for the day was to paint the exterior of the house. We started at the rear of the house in case we picked a colour that did not work for us but it was perfect. So, even with a ‘man down’ as Terri said, we still got the whole house painted – even though near the end, it was working with the help of the street light close by!

 

 

 

 

 

 

So this brings us up to date of the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. We hope all our Canadian readers had a bountiful feast with family or friends. Until next time…..