Bob: This is a close-up of hole number one in the living room ceiling. The plumbers tore the heck out of the ceiling and walls because they had nothing to lose and weren't responsible for the appearance when it was done. They only had to make the pipes work for the sellers. They chopped crude holes in things to make the leaks go away. Hey, to their credit, the pipes do hold water. However, being the aesthetic people we are, We're gonna have to patch this up...
Nan: Imagine, this could be a nice even white ceiling.
Someday...
Bob: Here is a close-up of holes number two and three. Close inspection revealed several truths. There are actually TWO ceilings in this room, and the upper (first) one has damage similar to the lower (second) one, e.g. holes sawn in the sheetrock. Hole number three (right) has missing sheetrock above solid areas in the lower ceiling. So, this damage has happened before, and previous correction was to put in another ceiling! Well, two ceilings is enough for any room, I say. I'll have to patch this one.
Nan: You can see the holes they made to get to the pipes for the Jacuzzi tub, which is in the south corner and just above the window in the living room.
I really didn't have much to do for this project. All I did is sit and watch, and
occasionally hand up some tool (usually the one Bob dropped!).
Bob: The first step was to square off the holes in anticipation of applying sheetrock patches. In the case of holes number two and three, I decided to do them with a single patch. Now the damage in the upper ceiling is visible as well.
Nan: Let's hope this time the plumbing is repaired well enough to never cause this
kind of damage again.
Bob: This is hole number one, squared off. By carefully retaining the upper ceiling, I can patch this hole with sheetrock "on" it, using the upper ceiling as a spacer to level it. However, I had to use various scraps of wood to level out the joists in the middle of the hole, as seen here. A cripple is applied to the joist over and in the far wall, at the right side of the hole, to give me something to screw the patch to there. The wallpaper at the bottom of the picture needs some attention as well.
Nan: Plumb, level and closed in, that's what I want.
Bob: This is hole number two, with leveling scraps installed. I had to shoot a number of screws into the joists here and there around and under both holes to stablize the existing ceiling(s) as well. On the bottom of the picture is an additional floating cripple, inserted between the joists to give a defined edge for this patch. While I was cleaning out the joist pockets above these ceilings (they were full of giant wood shavings), I found a nice 1-inch Stanley chisel. Finder's keepers!
Nan: Too bad he didn't find a stash of cash!
Bob: All of the joists at this end of the living room were sistered on two sides to
support the extra weight of the hot tub in the upstairs bathroom.
Bob: Here, we see the vinyl wallpaper peeled back and coated with contact cement, ready to stick back down (up?). Note previous wallpaper edge embellishment. This wallpaper came unstuck when pipes froze and poured water down this wall. We are fortunate that the damage was this limited.
Nan: We didn't dare try removing this paper. Who knows what damage lies behind? Someday,
in our lifetimes, maybe, we'll start afresh and redo the entire living room and dining room,
removing all the plaster and putting up sheetrock. Then we can hang our own wallpaper.
(Pssst. Don't let Bob hear that!)
Bob: That wallpaper has been stuck to the wall, and a crutch applied to facilitate lifting the patch into place. This one weighed over 18 pounds, and was about 28 by 56 inches. I installed it by myself. Hole number two's patch was crutched using the window capital.
Nan: I sure did wish I could have helped do this. But Bob did a wonderful job of it
in spite of me being unable to give him a hand.
Bob: Hole number one is no more! Here is the patch stitched with sheetrock screws, and the crutch removed. Half the effort of installing these patches involved getting the measurements right and finding the locations for all the screws.
Nan: This all took much longer than it looks here. So many hours of intense labor.
Bob: Sheetrock mud is my friend. This is patch number two (these are no longer holes, are they?) with the first sheetrock mud applied. Now that I've gotten the major holes patched, it's time to turn my attention to the rest of the ceiling...
Nan: I'm sure there is a hole hidden in there somewhere, but I can't find it.
Bob: The lower ceiling was installed with less than stellar accuracy (any surprise, this?). Here is the edge near the front door, showing a gap of about 1/2 inch. Again, this looks like it was never finished, like somebody's schedule was suddenly truncated.
Nan: A little mud, a little paint, and magic happens.
Bob: "One of these days, ol' buddy, you and me is gonna go 'round and 'round, baby, 'round and 'round!" This is about the second pass at filling in edge cracks in the ceiling. Some of the sheetrock was decomposing and needed a few screws to firm it up as well. It took about four passes to fill everybody up.
Nan: Again, I could only sit and watch.
Bob: The patches got extra layers of mud along their edges, too. Some of them had deep chasms to fill. Both patches are just about ready to be textured.
Nan: We should buy up stock in a mud factory.
Bob: Meanwhile...
Bob: ...this is one of the last pictures of that built-in mantle. I removed it and salvaged the wood (natch). I want to put the piano here. When we had the furnace replaced, we had the thermostat raised to accomodate this change.
Nan: If this isn't about 20 pounds of ugly, what is it?
Bob: Here, the mantle is gone, and the various holes in the wall mudded in preparation for painting.
Nan: This, even in it's current state of disrepair looks a lot better.
Bob: Finally, finally, it's time to paint out this ugly brown color! Here, primer is being cut-in on the front walls.
Nan: Finally, something I could help with. I cut in all but the upper edges.
It was good to no longer feel helpless.
Bob: And, finally, the ceiling patches are starting to disappear. Here is a shot of both patches, textured, and the walls with primer.
Nan: Once this dries it will be a distant memory.
Bob: This is the arch between the living room and dining room, with trim paint, and the walls with final color being cut-in, first coat. The order for painting was 1) walls (primer), 2) trim coat 1, 3) wall coat 1, 4) trim coat 2, and 5) wall coat 2. Finishing with the final wall coat proved the easiest to cut-in and made the definition between the walls and trim neat and sharp.
Nan: This took quite a long time to do, but is sure looking so different than that
uglier-than-sin brown wall.
Bob: The piano got moved right about this point, and stands here away form the wall and its final location to allow for the completion of painting. All of the kin folk were extremely thankful that I had a professional mover do this (of course, I helped, and saved a little money by doing so).
Nan: The first piece of furniture ensconced in the living room. Mr. Bonner also moved
a piano for me in 1995.
Bob: The walls are almost done, and now here comes the quarter-round mouldings, for both the living room and dining room. I was rather amused by this perspective, the pre-primed wood trim pieces glowing in the late afternoon sunshine.
Nan: Again, I was able to help. I painted these. It made me feel helpful.
Bob: Nan did the tedious job of double coating all these mouldings in trim paint. The box on the floor is full of the old cheap cove mouldings, made of crepe plastic (ugh!). Wrong shape. I'm sure glad we replaced them.
Nan: I like the symmetry of this picture, and that they are done.
Bob: This completed the majority of the serious work in this room. However, as always,
there is more...