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attic, part 4:
taping & mudding
i heart drywall mud
So we finally finished
getting the attic drywalled. Every single nook, cranny, and/or crevice.
And it was quite the job. (Note that these were taken just before
we finished up the last of it.)
It's not that the taping
and mudding job was worse, just that it was a bigger job. The room
itself is roughly 700 sq.ft. and it took almost 1300 sq.ft. of drywall to get the walls, slants, and ceilings
done. For reference, that's forty (40!) 4'x8' sheets, which had to be
delivered on a flatbed truck. (And getting them from the street up to the
attic? Not good times.)
Remember that we had a
good start on the taping and mudding thanks to Malinda's diligent work
when she and Dad helped us wire the attic and got the drywall started for
us. But they, being very smart people, focused their attentions on the
back third of the attic, stopping just before where the dormer section
cuts in and the general laws of geometry cease to apply.
Once we finished the
attic closets, we really started on the taping
and mudding in September but then our social calendar -- yes, I laughed
when I typed those words -- kind of got in the way and we weren't able to
get back to work until after Thanksgiving. We did work upstairs
intermittently during the holidays, but again, we were all socialus
interruptus so the attic didn't get our full attention again until after
the 1st of the year.
The spacing of the rafters
and knee wall studs necessitated using drywall sheets cut into smaller
pieces, which equates into many, many, many seams. We're not so sure the
seams didn't secretly couple up at night and reproduce like rabbits. In
fact, there're only two sheets in the entire attic that didn't have to be
cut down. Not to mention several seams that had large gaps almost an inch
in places and in others, the two pieces on either side weren't close to
flush with each other. Understand, this wasn't because of sloppiness on
our part, just the nature of the space we were working in. And, as if we
didn't already have a bunch of other issues to deal with, the two rough
wooden beams that delineate the dormer, which had to remain exposed and
weren't rough in that really cool, trendy loft way so as to be left
untouched and natural, wouldn't hold onto the drywall mud we tried to coat
them with. (We eventually conquered that particular challenge by covering
them with a very wet skim coat, waiting for it to start to harden, then
quickly wrapping them in mesh tape and holding it in place until the mud
hardened. Once it set, we had a good foundation for the successive coats
of mud; it took about seven layers to finish them off nicely.)
The mudding part is
actually pretty fun, and if that were the only part of the job, we
would've actually looked forward to all the work to be done. But along
with taping and mudding comes sanding and that, my friends, is a
sucktacular crapfest. It's messy and wearying and takes forever
(especially on that first coat!) and the dust gets absolutely everywhere.
Now we knew before we even
started that we were going to texture the walls because everyone told us
that was the easiest thing to do considering the size and difficulty of
the job. So we didn't have to spend all the time we did on the
seams, but hello, perfectionists over here. The end result, of course, is
that the seams turned out beautifully and all those places where it seemed
like we'd never be able to disguise the irregularities and gaps
disappeared seamlessly (heh) into the wall.
And remember all that
trouble we had with the ceiling where the two beams for the dormer cut
into the main room of the attic, all
the wailing and gnashing of teeth about how to cut the sheets and get them
to fit just right? Well look at us now, baby:
Out of all of this, we're
particularly proud of the tricky section where the dormer knee walls &
ceiling slants, main room knee walls & ceiling slants, and wooden support
beams all come together. On each side, there was a triangular section
where we fit small pieces of drywall that to be blended at angles on all
edges. But the rights side of the dormer in particular was especially
difficult as there wasn't much structural support to screw the drywall
piece into and the final result ended up sinking the triangular piece a
half inch or more behind the rest of that wall. We weren't sure we'd ever
be able to disguise the resulting indentation completely but after lots
and lots (and lots) of coats, we're quite pleased with the outcome.
After all of our hard
work, we seriously considered not texturing at all. We think it turned out
that good. But there are a few places where no amount of diligence could
disguise a crooked angle that shouldn't be there and we decided it'll be
best to stick with our plan and texture. We have, however, decided to make
it considerably thinner than originally planned. And in the case of the
chimney, which is perfectly smooth all the way around, we did decide to
leave it untextured.
Altogether, it took six 50
lb. boxes of mud, one 50 lb. bag of hot mud mix, and a four smaller 5 lb.
buckets of drywall compound to do the entire attic. What remained from all
of that fits in a small covered yogurt container that we laughingly call
our "emergency reserve".
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