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February 23, 2008

The Sky is Falling

Just kidding -but the ceiling in the third floor rear apartment had to come down. It was saggy and uneven in places so I took a crow bar and a hammer and got set to bring that baby down. Having never done this before -I was amazed that such a small space could have so much debris. I must admit I was feeling sort of badass with my respirator, googles and crow bar and got about half of the ceiling down until T came up and started pointing out the various dead bugs and other nastiness that had come down with the plaster and were now covering my head shoulders and floor. I didn't get much done after that--I am not the biggest fan of dead bugs raining down on my head so I passed the crow bar to T while admitting my wussiness (is that a word?).

stripped to the lathe

Anyway, last weekend we put up the dry wall. Again, we had never done this before so it took us a couple of tries to get the board cut correctly for the space and to fit over the light fixtures.

Yep believe it--we re-purposed the clawfoot into a work bench.

We eventually succeeded and I have never thought a piece of dry wall could look so pretty.

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Comments

Don't blame you for crying uncle after the dead bug shower. Its reasons like that I love being married :)

Are you going to be doing the skim coat as well? I tried my hand at that in a prior reno and I could never get it looking smooth so Im always impressed when someone else can pick up that skill right away.

Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at February 24, 2008 8:04 PM

Nope--not on this.

Posted by: HomeSweetstuy at February 25, 2008 7:33 AM

You should put your pictures on flickr.com. I love looking at the Windsor Terrace reno on Flickr.

Posted by: guest at February 25, 2008 11:04 AM

I took down the tin ceiling in my narrow hallway and was AMAZED at the debris that came down. It was an episode for dirty jobs!!! Buy some overalls with a hood, shower cap, mask and goggles, open the window and fire up the shop vac!!!

It is nice when it's all done.

Posted by: guest at February 25, 2008 12:02 PM

No not Flikr! Unless you also put them up here. I can't see the Flikr-linked posts when I'm at work - site is newly blocked. Maybe I'm the only one, but then I have to try remember to check out the Windsor Terrace ones sometime when I'm home.

Posted by: Heatherie at February 25, 2008 3:20 PM

I am always amazed at the speed at which people rip down old plaster without exploring options for saving it or re-plastering.
Want to talk about green building? Plaster truly is an organic material.

I renovated a 200 year old house in New England and we re-plastered vast swaths of wall and ceiling. While drywall may go up faster with a crew, when working solo, plaster takes about as much time. Plus it is superior to drywall in soundproofing and as a fire retardant.

I have to say after you spent so much time on doing tiles by hand it seems a little crazy that you would take out a hand crafted walls. And no, plaster does not have to look old. I have been in modern houses with beautiful plaster walls.

pw.

Posted by: concordbk at February 25, 2008 7:03 PM

I dunno concord... sheetrock has its place.

I really like the "weight" and sound quality of a plaster wall, and I am really handy. But I don't have the plastering gene--I can't get it to look smooth by myself.

It's easier and cheaper for me to hire a laborer and:

1. fill the walls with cotton insulation
2. with a nice layer of homosote on the bedrooms and party walls
3. and sheetrock

They do the taping, it looks fantastic.

Badda boom, badda bing. In two days and about $1k less than hiring a plasterer, I've got walls that are even denser and even more acoustically rich than plaster.

Posted by: guest at March 2, 2008 6:20 PM

Good to know 6:20

Posted by: HomeSweetstuy at March 3, 2008 5:47 PM

I like plaster too, but I can't even find Keenes Cement (slow cure, hard plaster) anymore! (I want some just to experiment with scagliola and American marezzo.)

Posted by: akryeguy at March 4, 2008 12:54 PM