This site is a member of the Metablogs Network and is built on the Lussumo Framework (Vanilla 1.1.2).

I didn't take any in progress pics of this. This room is all plaster, so we had to take extra precautions before making holes for some ceiling speakers. I made a backing out of quarter inch plywood to fit in the joist bay, and attached a 2x4 on each [Read More] 

Friday night Patrick decided to take a few pieces of blue tape remnants off the dining room walls. They had served to protest the wall from getting chemical on them while we were stripping the wood. Except, the tape had been on there for so long that [Read More] 

We're going to be doing a bit more demolition, taking down the ratty ceiling in the dining room and putting up gyp board (all you plaster sentimentalists can die under your own collapsing ceilings when The Big One hits, thanks). Since so many peopl [Read More] 

While the weather was bad the holes in the plaster in the bathroom were attacked. The corner sink used in the downstairs toilet came from the bathroom(20 years ago, see post May 9th from last year) and where it was attached to the wall had never been [Read More] 

The first plaster medallion is up!I wrote about it the other day. While the medallion is real plaster, it is a reproduction. I bought it several years ago at Ohmega Salvage in Berkeley. I recall that the guy who sold it to me said it was cast from a [Read More] 

Now that all the loose plaster areas on my sloped study ceiling are secured back to the lath using the Big Wally's PlasterMagic® system, I can reflect on what I've accomplished, how I'd do it differently if I could go back and do it over, and give [Read More] 

This past week or two, while I've been waiting for plaster adhesive to dry or waiting for more of it to arrive from Vermont, I've also been tackling my 2nd floor hall ceiling and walls.The holes left in the ceiling where I did the (unnecessary, as i [Read More] 

Here's a vid I took at 3:20 early Saturday morning. It shows where I've gotten to in my 3rd floor study ceiling plaster repair campaign.Yes, I sound tired. And stoopy. Don't forget stoopy. All part of suffering for my Art.(Oh, golly, why didn't I rep [Read More] 

This is how it looked in July 2007 when plaster expert Rory Brennan was using his Big Wally's PlasterMagic system to anchor up the plaster in the central hallway ceiling at Howard Hall Farm in Athens, New York.Notice how smooth and flat everything lo [Read More] 

Oh, to go back a year and repair the plaster over my 3rd floor study stairwell, right after I bought my adjustable ladder!Maybe then I wouldn't have the mess and hassle I have now.But I didn't, and I do. And unlike the semi-refinished woodwork aroun [Read More] 

5:44 PM--I'm back at the Great 3rd Floor Study Stairway plaster repair project, and I am an IDIOT.And any other hard names you'd care to spit at me.About a half hour ago, I was drilling a Few More Holes to make sure I'd get the loose plaster well se [Read More] 

In fine, no.This afternoon-- pardon me, yesterday afternoon-- I dealt with the cracks in my 2nd floor hall ceiling, wielding the wonder of Big Wally's Plaster Magic.But judging from the fact that the drill bit (masonry, 3/16") never penetrated more t [Read More] 

The very last thing I wanted to do today was any more sanding. So the very last sanding job in the front parlour was, to put it nicely, half-assed. And of course the first coat of primer over raw drywall is always hardest to put on, and it uses mo [Read More] 

Savvy readers will realize that we're finishing up the front parlour just barely in time to destroy our dining room and hallway at our Demolition Party this coming Saturday (you can still RSVP!). Indeed, the original date for the party was this Sat [Read More] 

An arm-numbing day in the front parlour, and we have a second coat of mud on the walls. For the second coat, I like to thin down the all-purpose mud by a bit to improve working time and the smoothness. We ended up having to buy a second bucket of [Read More] 

Here's about two hours of my life:
Before:
After:
For reasons unknown to me, working in the bay always seems to take longer and be more exhausting than the entire rest of the room. And I was pretty tired after all the work I did yesterday.
Tw [Read More] 

I spent much of the afternoon today mudding the front parlour. I coerced Noel into helping me out, mostly by waiting around at the bottom of the ladder and handing me tools and so forth. He also took some photos, so you get rare shots of me in act [Read More] 

I spent much of my house-work time yesterday ripping down the wrinkled drywall tape. It's startlingly easy to do: just grab hold of an end and tug, and the tape pulls free, crumbling the dried mud off.
Where the tape wrinkled, I removed it so that [Read More] 

We finished today lightly coated in white dust. Not because we were on a crazed drug binge, but because we were putting up the drywall in the front parlour.
In case we haven't mentioned it enough, drywalling sucks. And we haven't even gotten to t [Read More] 

DIALOGUE
[Noel has been staring at the ceiling in the hall for ten minutes]
Ayse: What were you just staring at?
Noel: Would it be OK if I drilled some holes in the hall ceiling so we could take a look around? It might make it drafty.
Ayse: Sur [Read More] 