Day Nine--Drywall & Chimney Repair

Today it was just my brother and me to tackle some projects.  I didn't really have a set game plan, but without Dad, I knew we weren't going to be doing much in the way of electrical work.  So when I talked to my brother this morning, I asked him if he would be interested in tackling the huge chimney repair project!  He said, "Sure."

If you remember, one of the first items of business after I bought the house was ripping out the old wood paneling.  I hate wood paneling!  And this had been poorly skim-coated, then painted over, so I kenw it had to go.  Well, ever since then, my chimney has been exposed framework!  Today was the day to put it back together.  Over the last couple of weeks, I have looked into every finish imaginable.  I looked at stone, brick, fake brick, drywall, old barnwood, you name it.  After much thought, I decided to keep it simple.  And cheap.  Drywall it was.

I knew that with drywall I could really control the colors.  I'll paint the walls to match the rest of the room, but I'll re-install the old mantel.  That way the new owners can hang up a clock, a picture, whatever they want!  Drywall was simply affordable, flexible, and hopefully easy!

I picked up a few sheets of drywall, then met my brother at the house.  Unfortunately, before we could even get started, we hit a snag.  The flue for the chimney is not exactly straight.  One of the pieces at the top of the flue nearly pulled way from another piece.  So we had to address that first.  After much force, a couple of sheet-metal screws, and plenty of duct tape, we were happy to have the flue in one solid piece again.  It was work, though!  We tried budging that thing in the attic and together in the framework.  We tried pulling, pushing, wrapping wire around it, and all!  It finally just took some old-fashioned strength and determination...and some screws to hold it all together.

The flue repair.



Ready for drywall!

Finally, it was time to finish the studs.  I don't have a ton of experience with drywall, but it was pretty simple work.  Measure, cut, hang, repeat.  We ended up getting the walls all hung fairly quickly.  My brother had to leave a little after noon, but I stayed behind to work a bit more.  I went ahead and taped and mudded the walls.

The completely-hung drywall.  It's kind of bland now, but I think with paint and a mantel, it will really come together.

First coat of mud.

It's coming together nicely!

I was actually really pleased with how it all turned out.  I think it's going to look sharp after it's painted.  A nice big clock would look gorgeous over the mantel!  :)

I couldn't stay too long myself.  I had to mow three yards, drop off items at my family's garage sale, pack, and sleep for a 4:30 A.M. wake-up call tomorrow!

But what a productive day!  Another big project checked off!  We're gettin' there!!!

To wrap up the day, I had to mow two yards. I mowed this yard and then headed over to mow my new yard. What work that was. The previous owner avoided mowing the yard the entire season thus far (not thrilled about that), and Dad mowed it last week before it was actually mine (it was seriously so tall we had to do something). I knew I needed to bag the grass, but between last week’s baling and tonight’s mowing, I literally couldn’t walk just one strip before needing to empty the bag. It was awful. I did that for about 45 minutes before I said nope. I was losing daylight, and I realized that the grass was just too thick. The grass would literally catch in the discharge chute from being too long. On top of the old grass and leaves, it just wasn’t possible. I raised the tires two notches up and just trimmed the rest. I was EXHAUSTED.

I headed home, delivered some garage sale items to my sister’s house, did my laundry and headed for bed. My wake-up call comes at 4:50 A.M. ugh.