We spent a good portion of the day yesterday mudding drywall seams. I had done a bit during the week by myself and pretty well had the hang of it. I'm still not very fast with it, but I thought I've been doing a pretty decent job of it. It's a bit like frosting a cake.
I asked Tom if he'd ever frosted a cake before. He said he hadn't, but cited the Kroger bakery employees as evidence that he'd be able to figure it out. Now, I started with smaller sections of easier seams (taper-to-taper) in out-of-the way places until I got the feel for the process. Tom decided to start with a floor-to-ceiling butt-joint seam in a highly visible location for his first go at it. Not. Good. As a point of comparison, here's what my typical seam looks like:
And here's Tom's typical seam:
So progress has been made, slowly but surely. We're moving like a herd of turtles, as they say.
I asked Tom if he'd ever frosted a cake before. He said he hadn't, but cited the Kroger bakery employees as evidence that he'd be able to figure it out. Now, I started with smaller sections of easier seams (taper-to-taper) in out-of-the way places until I got the feel for the process. Tom decided to start with a floor-to-ceiling butt-joint seam in a highly visible location for his first go at it. Not. Good. As a point of comparison, here's what my typical seam looks like:
And here's Tom's typical seam:
I forced myself to go outside and mow the lawn while he continued his massacre on the walls. I don't want to be unappreciative of the help I get, but I do want it to be done right. I guess I'll just have to go back and rip out the bubbled pieces and start again. Not to be a negative Nancy, here's an attempt at an overall shot of the room:
So progress has been made, slowly but surely. We're moving like a herd of turtles, as they say.
2 comments:
Dear Tom and Sarah,
Mudding sheet rock IS NOT an easy thing to do.....no kidding. Whatever is left on the walls (rippling, bubbling, wadding, clumping, etc,) will only be exaggerated once the painting begins. Tom--do not be afraid to say "I'm not sure I can do that." Do not think it is a sign a failure on your part. This is a difficult, non forgiving part of putting up the sheet rock. That's why people specialize in different parts of the building industry. I nor Mr. Cannon would attempt this for ourselves.(And Sarah, I am a master at icing cakes!) We have done much in the rebuilding, remodeling, replacing and refurbishing of our own homes, and that of his family and rental properties, but even WE know our limitations. I (and I suspect both of you) am very particular about how the painted wall will finally look, so step back and find someone you can get to do the work. Find a house being redone or being build in your area, and find their sheetrock/mudder and see if he will work after hours to do yours.
And Sarah, speak up---going back and redoing is just spinning your wheels. Better to have Tom agitated with you than having both of you going over the same territory. Time IS NOT ON YOUR SIDE, for now you have a definite squeeze on your time.
Keep at it--by the way, how did the pp tourny turn out?
Love MOM
I basically mudded our kitchen by myself-- I left my other half do nail holes, but all seams were left to me over a lonely Thanksgiving weekend. I didn't trust him anywhere near it, and I was fully expecting to have to texture the walls. But they were totally smooth and beautiful! And I have to say, I really enjoyed the heck out of it. I did a lot of sculpture in school (I'm trying to turn part of our garage in to a studio) and this was very much like doing reliefs. Now I'm gearing up to tape and mud a repair to our ceiling-- and this will be the real test of my skills, since I'm going to have to either match a texture, or smooth the whole thing.
Yikes.
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