General State of the Casa Update

The heater issues have finally ceased to exist, and by ceased, I mean the furnace finally quit a few weeks ago.  It just doesn't work anymore, so there's really no more issue (other than it needs to be replaced). 

We put a floating shelf up in Robert's room to place various decorations on.  The Ikea shelf was about $15.  We got the white shelf to contrast his green wall and also match the white trim.  Installation was really easy given that it just required three screws.  I used three hollow wall anchors rated up to 80 pounds each.  They required 5/16 pre-drilled holes, so we placed the shelf on the wall, leveled it, then marked the holes.  I drilled the middle hole first, then the right side, then the left.  I discovered something interesting, though, when drilling the hole on the left - drywall!  Yes, even though there are plaster and lathe walls all around the house somehow there's a slab of drywall in a few places in Robert's room.  It makes me wonder what work was done to this room!  Anywho, three holes drilled, I partially clamped the hollow wall anchors, then reversed the drill to remove the screws before they settled in to a spinning position.  We put the washers between the wall and the shelf, fed the screws through, then screwed everything in to place without any of the three holes finding a stud.  There are three framed pictures on it as well as Robert's signed SF Giants baseball (about 14 autographs on it including Carlos Beltran, Andres Torres, Sergio Romo, Dan Runzler, Brett Pill, Brandon Belt, etc.)

I also installed another sliding door latch on the door to Robert's room,  Can never be too safe. 

Repairing the Kitchen Ceiling (2)

I sanded down the kitchen ceiling and applied another layer of compound. This mixture was two parts plaster of paris, two parts 45, three parts water. I kept it somewhat watery because I used it to texture the area above the mantle also.

The area above the stove in the kitchen looks done. This is after two days of drying. I had been spraying it with water to keep it moist while I used a putty knife to smooth it out. I'm guessing all that water in addition to the rain is keeping it from drying too quickly. The cool thing is that you can't even see the seams anymore! I feathered out the edges about 6 inches on all sides.

Plaster Bubbles?

In keeping with tradition, I forgot to take a picture before I started. The plaster beneath the front bedroom's west window had a bubble right underneath it that was roughly one inch high by 18 inches across. It was maybe 1/32 of an inch deep. I cut it out with the utility knife and applied joint compound to refill the void. One application of joint compound filled it well.

Mantle Bump

Sandra was cleaning down the walls, and she kept staring at this giant lump of plaster in the middle of the wall above the mantle. She asked how I felt about it, and I agreed that this cancerous tumor should be excavated. With the grinder, I tried to even out the plaster. As I got down the the wall's level, I discovered that the plaster had in fact cracked, and instead of actually fixing it, someone just put a mound of hot mud over it!



This would not do! I chipped out the hole and filled it with joint compound mixed with plaster of paris.

Reapiring the Kitchen Wall

I sanded and applied another layer of joint compound over the drywall tape. One more layer should do it!

Repairing the Kitchen Ceiling

I finally decided to close up the holes in the kitchen ceiling. Today, we were at the house from roughly 9 AM to 9 PM. We did get a lot done, though.

The hole in the ceiling above the stove was a bit hard to get. The back of the ceiling around the hole wasn't even. I cut a piece of plywood to place behind the hole, but it was not sitting flush. I ended up going upstairs and using some extra pieces of wood to apply pressure on the plywood from the top, so I could secure it to the existing ceiling. Thank you, MacGuyver!



With the wood secured, I attached a 1/2 inch piece of green board, cut to fit.

Repairing the Kitchen

We spent about 4 hours at the house today. Sandra taped the living room floor and primered the walls and ceiling. She's been getting pretty good coverage with the primer. We need to hurry up and get the wall color so she can keep moving forward.

I worked on the kitchen and laundry room holes again.

In the laundry room, I used plywood secured behind the drywall to provide a backing for the plaster. I filled the hole with 3 parts 45 and 1 part Plaster of Paris. I've found that this mixture dries within 10 minutes, is easy to work with at the beginning, and hardens really well.

The holes behind the stove weren't that big, but because it was behind the stove, I wanted to use the water proof drywall instead of just plaster.




I drilled plywood behind these, just like the ceiling. The drywall was cut pretty much to fit exactly into the holes. I secured the drywall with two screws in the center of each piece. The plaster was a 50/50 mix of 45 and Plaster of Paris. The 45 makes it easier to work with, and the Plaster of Paris dries hard as hell. Drywall tape was placed over the whole area since it was so small. I'll have to lightly plaster over it tomorrow to hide the tape and completely seal it off.

The big hole in the ceiling above also received the same treatment. I used a skill saw to cut the plywood, and the green board was left over from the bathroom cutouts. There's less then 1/8 inch gap all the way around. I'm going to putty and tape this one tomorrow.

Repairing the Laundry Room Ceiling

The holes in the back bedroom were now dry enough to texture. I used my 45/Plaster of Paris mixture and a roller to apply texture to the back walls. The back bedroom is now done and ready for paint! Too bad we're using it to store tools...

Remember when my sister's contractors cut holes in my ceiling? Since I finished closing up the holes and texturing the walls in the back bedroom, the kitchen was the newest project.

Today, I cut and secured plywood behind the holes. Since this whole area opened up directly into Michelle's kitchen, I decided to completely cover the holes with the plywood.

I had to cut this hole in the laundry room bigger, since the plaster was already separated from the lathe, and the area around it was sagging.

I had to cut the lathe as well, since it was the end of a piece.
I forgot to take pictures of the holes in the kitchen with just the wood in it, but it looked pretty much the same. There's one hole that hasn't been closed yet. It's the one above the fridge. Michelle's gas line hasn't been secured yet, so I'll let them take care of that before I close up that hole.

I couldn't use the pieces of drywall that had been up previously (the ones cut out when the hoes were created), because they were just regular drywall! The cut outs had already begun to grow mold, so I've tossed them out.

Sandra finished applying primer in the front room.

Closing Up The Walls (2)

Waiting for the appliances to be delivered. I already mopped the kitchen floor, removed the old dishwasher, and ate breakfast. Time to start mixing some plaster to patch up more of the holes in the walls!

I got to one of the ceiling holes. I'm really cramming in the plaster to get more of it past the lathe, so I get a good "lock." I ended up using way more plaster than I'd imagined, and it's not even a filled hole! About 45 minutes, and I've done one!

Before:

After:

Closing Up The Walls

The electricians made as few holes in the walls as possible, and the holes were made as small as possible. I started closing up a few of them this weekend. Who knew it'd take so much work! All the previous plaster work I did was to close up small holes that still had lathe behind them. These holes were cut all the way through! If I was lucky, a stud or something else solid was there so I could secure the new lathe to it. I haven't been unlucky yet, but that's because I haven't started working on any other holes yet!

There were a few different methods and suggestions posed about approaching this.

1. I could cut some lathe, secure it, then start laying the plaster over it.
   
2. I could cut some dry wall, secure it, then use plaster and tape to seal it.
3. I could cut some plywood bigger than the hole, secure it to the plaster, then fill the space with plaster.
   

Given that none of the holes were really all that big, and the drywall was already 1/4 inch thick (the same thickness as the plaster already on the walls), I decided to cut lathe and plaster the walls.

I started by cutting the holes larger, so the edges were even. I didn't have a chisel, so I had to use the end of the hammer. I cut the lathe for the openings next then attached them. It was pretty difficult because I wanted to make sure the switch box was level. In the end, I used the lathe for the box to rest on. It's still not completely level, though. It's a little upsetting. I did one layer on Saturday, making sure I pushed the plaster through the holes in the lathe to create the keys to hold everything in place. Today, I added a second layer to it, which really evened it out. I think one more layer should complete it. Each layer has the fiberglass tape over it. I hope this adds some security and strength to the opening.

Here's the living room light switch opening.


This is after two layers of plaster with the lathe replaced on the bottom part. It's got some fiberglass on it so the next layer can grip.



I lathed and plastered the light switch opening and the hole in the ceiling above it. Neither one is completely finished. They'll both probably require three layers of plaster. I attached the lathe to the other two openings in the ceiling. I needed a smaller putty knife to finish the job, or a chisel to widen the opening. I'm going to opt for the smaller putty knife.



These two have the lathe so far. No plaster has been applied due to lack of time.



This is actually a lot more work than I thought it would be!