| |
May 11th, 2008 - Wallpaper removal complete - West Wing walls ready for paint
The wallpaper removal is finally complete! We have now removed all
the wallpaper in Equinox and the West Wing. During a prior major
renovation the contractor had removed all the plaster and installed new
drywall. He or she did everything right except for one detail...the
walls were not sized or even primed. The slowed our removal progress
waaay down over the last few weeks as the bare drywall bonded very
closely with the wallpaper.
Removing the wallpaper also caused
a lot of damage to the drywall. Last week I had a sinking feeling that
we should have just painted over the existing wallpaper. Luckily, that
sinking feeling was off base. The orbital sander we bought to prepare
the exterior trim saved the day. Laura got to work early on Saturday
morning sanding the walls smooth upstairs in the west wing so they
would be ready to size and mud.
Sarah Emily, Alison and John,
who had helped way back on our first demolition day in early March came
back for another day of fun. They worked their butts off all day long.
Unfortunately we were so locked into our work...we forgot to take any
"people" pictures. In the afternoon Dan manned the orbital sander and
did a fantastic job. Thanks to the internet I found a "miracle" product
called Gardz by Zinnser. After the walls were sanded down but before
they we put the joint compound on the walls John, Alison and Jane
coated the walls with the Gardz. The Gardz made the walls less porous
so they didn't cause the joint compound to bubble. The Gardz also made
the walls less "thirsty" for primer. One of these day's I'll write a
detailed step by step blog on how we were able to restore the drywall.
My
parents dropped off Adam and Zoe around 5pm. Thanks mom and dad! After
we got the kids fed, showered and ready for bed we were amazed to see
that Dan, Jane, Alison and John were still working away mudding the
walls downstairs in the West Wing. What a crew! Below are some before and after shots of how the rooms in the west wing look after our weekend of work.
Next weekend we'll finish priming the walls in the West Wing and
hopefully start painting the ceilings and the interior trim. Our
contractor Jim Dance says that he'll likely be done with the exterior
siding on back of the building and might even be done with the two
gable ends. Can't wait to see it!Posted by Jeremy
5/13/08 8:50 PM 
|
