mapsedge: Me at Stone Bridge Coffee House (Default)
mapsedge ([personal profile] mapsedge) wrote2009-06-12 11:12 am
Entry tags:

Boy was I wrong.

Yesterday, I posted that the worst was over, writing about the living room wall project.

Boy was I wrong. A section of the ceiling inline with the termite damage in the wall must be replaced. What I think - I won't know for sure until I start tearing stuff down - is that the termites ate the paper backing off the drywall and now it won't hold a nail or screw, and thus sags noticeably and cannot be shored up, not even with a washer on the screw head. The screw, washer and all, just punches up through the drywall leaving a ragged hole and a still determinedly sagging ceiling.

I think I'll only have to replace a four foot wide section. The room is just over ten feet wide so that means a seam somewhere - I'll try to hide it on the shadowy side of the room. I hate working overhead (who doesn't?) : the tear down for ceilings is messy, dirty, and, if I know my attic, loaded with vermin shit. We'll clean out the living room (anyone want to help move a piano?) and use dropcloths to create a room-within-a-room so the mess doesn't migrate.

This little tool has been a lifesaver. It's a cordless hammer drill I borrowed from my father-in-law that drives 3-1/2" screws into anything without stripping the screw head or snapping the screw off from the torque. Toenailing nails or pre-drilling for screws are things of the past with this baby. I built the header (a sandwich of two 2x6 with a layer of 1/2" plywood between) in just about ten minutes after the pieces were cut to size - no pounding, no pre-drilling, no broken screws. A dream tool if ever there was one.

All this work, however, will wait. Today is our anniversary - 16 years we've been married. In fact, as I type this, 11:20, 16 years as of right now. I don't have a lot to offer my journal in the way of waxing philosophic as it pertains to marriage, except to say that I couldn't think of a better partner to go through life with. Love you, honey.

Tonight, we'll have a relaxed dinner in - no baby sitting, so no meal out - set about to restore some order to the rest of the house before I dismantle the living room ceiling, and watch episode 2 of John Adams before retiring, hopefully, early. Tomorrow, we'll work in earnest, but tonight we're taking a rest.


John Adams, btw, is a terrific mini-series from HBO, and although I love the writing and every performance, I hate the camera work: apparently no one at HBO owns a Stedicam or tripod, and the camera work is head-aching shaky, especially in close-ups.



[identity profile] sherwood21.livejournal.com 2009-06-12 04:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Happy Anniversary to you both!!

[identity profile] jehosefatz.livejournal.com 2009-06-12 05:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Three things:
1 -- Dude! Happy anniversary!
2 -- I'm a big fan of John Adams, both man and (what little I've seen of it ) the series.
3 -- That is a cool tool. It's going on my list.

- Jeho

[identity profile] hdsqrl.livejournal.com 2009-06-12 05:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Happiest of happy days!!! :D (but BOOO about the dumb termites!)

Hope tonight is relaxing and wonderful!

[identity profile] rhiannontherose.livejournal.com 2009-06-12 06:18 pm (UTC)(link)
:-( For the extra damage and work (and related mess, time, stress and expense)

:-) For the tool. I think we'll need one of those babies, some day. (As she who wields the power tools in this family, I can say so.)

:-D For your anniversary...I wish you and Michelle the happiest one, and many more to follow, regarless of plans!

[identity profile] duane-kc.livejournal.com 2009-06-12 06:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Happy anniversary.

And if you can put off the piano-moving to Sunday, I can come over to help. As much as an old fat man can, anyway.

[identity profile] mljm.livejournal.com 2009-06-13 06:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you for the offer, but we had to move the piano this morning to get started. After we started looking around it turned out that we only had to move the piano down about 6 ft along the same wall it was on. Not fun, but Wm and I were able to do it.

Who knows with this house though, something else might/will come up that we really could use the help on. :)

[identity profile] red-tess.livejournal.com 2009-06-13 04:51 am (UTC)(link)
Happy Anniversary! :)

[identity profile] glesyn.livejournal.com 2009-06-13 05:18 am (UTC)(link)
Boy that skylight idea is looking better and better..... :D

(Happy Anniversary!)
themadblonde: (Default)

Happy (belated) Anniversary!

[personal profile] themadblonde 2009-06-25 04:15 pm (UTC)(link)
So glad you guys have done so well!