New Year, New Challenges

Happy New Year!! 2015!!

First blog of the year.... here we go.

What a delightful way to start the new year! On January 2nd, our ceiling in the "brown" room aka our TV and temporary living room just fell down. Yes, out of nowhere. Well not exactly. There was a hairline crack around Christmas time which exponentially grew everyday but we tried to ignore it, hoping it would just hold. And it did not hold. In fact, the plaster ceiling came crumbling down on our sofa and rug. Good thing my little Punas were not hurt! So here's the damage:

(Exposed lath and missing plaster)

(The Man was right on it, the next day filling the hole with drywall)

(Drywall puzzle)

(Drywall puzzle with washers to hold down the existing plaster ceiling edges)

(The Man carefully cutting out drywall "puzzle" pieces)

(The next day, plastering begins....and the Lady is taping up the seams with fabric mesh tape, to keep the seams from
cracking as the Man claims. There is no way to put mesh tape up without getting dirty, it's a messy job!)

(just like that, here's my contribution: mesh tape on the seams between drywall and plaster. The Man swears by
this. Otherwise, you'll be sorry with cracks down the seams)

(Tape while the plaster mud is still wet, so it can adhere well)

(Me on the ladder looking out to our street)

Offffff course with any construction or renovation, you always hit a hiccup. Plastering on the old ceiling with a combo of the new drywall has backfired a tad on the man. We got some major bubbling and peeling from the old ceiling (not strong enough to hold the new plaster), so the Man had to remove the new plaster that he just plastered on and put big chunks of mesh up on the ceiling to hold the new plaster to the old ceiling. Yes, complicated, tedious hard work.

It set him back a few days and frustrated him as well. He said he's drywalling all of the ceilings from now on.Sounds good! Plus we got some rain this weekend, which dampened the environment, so we couldn't paint. He finished plastering and sanding/sponging the ceilings but we're just waiting for all of it to dry up to paint.

Patience. Live and learn. Two attributes we will probably come across again and again this year.

Working mode,
The Lady

Week 2: Cottage cheese ceiling!!

Week 2: Removal of Cottage Cheese Ceiling AKA Popcorn Ceiling AKA perhaps Asbestos-Ridden

Okay, so far not a good start at the house. Disgustingness continues with taping off rooms for scraping of the cottage cheese ceiling. And let me tell you, HOW THE HECK did Dexter do this?! Taping of a "killroom" takes hours! HOURS I tell you. Not a few minutes, hours and hoursssss......... :(

Our home is about 2400 sq. ft. The only rooms not lined with the popcorn ceiling is the kitchen, laundry and powder room and master bathroom. Which means, a big majority of the home IS! Just to tape up the living room, which granted is huge, by myself, took me about 6 hours. Yes, 6 hours of my life wasted, putting plastic sheets up like Dexter did before his "kills." Oh joy. Getting up on the ladder, sticking blue painter's tape onto the wall, getting off the ladder, stretching the plastic sheet little farther, hoping not to rip the plastic.....repeat, repeat, repeat.  How do you do it Dexter, how do you do it. Tell me your secrets, Mr. Dexter Morgan. I never want to see plastic sheets and blue tape again.

I guess I shouldn't complain because I apparently have the easier job out of the two choices. The Man has the worse job, coming in after I tape up a room and getting on a ladder to scrape the disgusting white cottage cheese ceiling with some water so it doesn't just create a dust bomb. Sucks to be us right now! (reference: Nacho Libre).

(Panoramic of the living room)

(Living room, half taped off with plastic sheets)

(Living room, just about the start the floors)

(Entry looking at stairs going upstairs)

(Living room, looking towards the entry)

(One out of the 5 bedrooms....so sad)

(Hallway upstairs)

(My knight in shining armor....or the Man in a HEPA filtered biohazard suit
getting ready to scrape the ceiling)

Exhausted and it's only just begun,
The Lady

Week 1: Yuck, Clean up time!

WEEK 1: YUCK!

Oh the joys of owning a home. First week of owning our house and we're ripping things out left and right. It's disgusting and dirty and dusty, not to mention dirty, dirty, oh and did I say, dirty? It's filthy. This house has been vacant for about 8-9 months, and things are just downright repulsive and grimy. Bathroom looked like a nightmare. Kitchen is beyond use. Not to mention the guacamole colored old carpet and spider webs everywhere....of the many, many things the Lady is OCD about, dirty and bugs are like #1 on the list. I hate hate hate dirty places. I just refuse to go to places like this. And for me to now OWN a place that is beyond disgust, it's frankly making me queasy. And what makes me even queasier is that the Man and I have to clean it all up. Not just clean, demo, throw away, rip apart, scrape away, wipe down......oh joy oh joy!!

(Kitchen with bags and bags of trash we found in the cabinets)

(Kitchen, gross floors and old dingy cabinets)

(Kitchen with more trash, nice lighting though!)

(The Man ripping out the guacamole colored carpet to reveal the nice oak flooring)

(One silver lining! Nice hardwood oak floors, just needs cleaning and refinishing)

(The nasty green guacamole carpet lined with disgusting hair and animal fur....yuck!!)

(The Man going at it!)

(Our beautiful hardwood flooring and bay window)

Sarcastically,
The Lady