Projects in Review
Since my rum running homey has been working, I've been trying to help create a man room in his basement that was masterminded by his wife. The project will be completed this weekend. I offered to help because they're my homeys, but also because I wanted to learn how to do things like drop ceilings and hanging drywall. Let me review some of these for you so you know what you're about to undertake when you start these projects.
Drywall - Easy enough to haul and hang. Cutting to length can be a pain in the ass, but it's not hard. Two people with strong arms can usually get it done pretty quickly. In about a 500 square foot room, hanging drywall took just a little over one days work. If you busted ass you could easily do that in day. Mudding and sanding drywall sucks. I can't take much credit on this part, but given the choice of doing that or dropping every piece of drywall on my foot...I'll take door number two.
Concrete Stain - The man room is in the basement and will be mostly a workout facility and a place for his fishing gear. Carpet or hardwood would probably be a bad idea for this one, so we stained the concrete. Not bad. Pretty easy work, still semi-tranparent but not bad...especially not for the use of this room. As far as ease of application goes, it's just as easy as sweeping the floor. Just make sure you can not walk on it for a couple of days to get it good and dry, and make sure you've got time for extra coats. This 500 square feet took about two gallons to look really good and stained.
Drop Ceilings - Lowe's will tell you this is easy. And they even have a video to show you that women and children can do it without much effort. This is wrong. If you have the option of installing a drop ceiling, or giving birth to a baby porcupine that is on fire...look in to the less painful second option. There is nothing easy about this. I smashed my finger with a hammer and thought I was going to wind up in the emergency room on a couple of occasions. If I'd had the strength when I got done, I would have gone to Lowe's to see the guy that sold it to us. The conversation would have consisted of "This is NOT easy! THIS IS SPARTAAA!" and follow it up with a solid kick to the chest. In short, these suck. If you ever need help with a drop ceiling, please don't call me. If it means I have to buy it for you rather than do it...I might actually do that.
Moving furniture - somehow I've always managed to be the go to guy for moving furniture. I'm not sure how I got this title. Most of the time I don't mind. I've helped Mike move a couple times. Not a big deal. I don't know if it's the super-human strength or what, but people (save for Chas and J) always call me when they move. At this point I've become a pro and could open a moving business. We helped some of our new friends move here recently and I figured out enough different ways to do this that they finally said "So...um...how many people have you moved? The people that installed this said it wouldn't come down the stairs unless we took it apart." These people lie. There is an easy way and a hard way to move shit. Don't ever plan on it being easy. Also, the first rule of moving, is never ever take stuff apart. You will inevitably lost important parts that you will need to put it back together and your end table that you liked so much will be waiting on one special screw to hold it together until you take it to Good Will. Trust me on this one.
Dog Pens - With Tumbler coming just a couple weeks out now (14 days to be exact) my brother-in-law helped me start a dog pen. Short of some dirt and mulch that needs to be added this project should be completed this weekend. Moving the railroad ties and dirt around wasn't so bad...and it looks pretty good. Then comes the moving of the dog house. This thing is heavy...really heavy. I'll be suprised if it doesn't take four of us to move it, but I'll let you know how it goes, and send pictures when all is done.
So that is whats in store for our weekend. I'm sure the wife has a shopping excursion or two in the works while I'm working on the yard and the projects, but should be a successful weekend if all goes well. I hope everyone else's weekend goes well too.
Drywall - Easy enough to haul and hang. Cutting to length can be a pain in the ass, but it's not hard. Two people with strong arms can usually get it done pretty quickly. In about a 500 square foot room, hanging drywall took just a little over one days work. If you busted ass you could easily do that in day. Mudding and sanding drywall sucks. I can't take much credit on this part, but given the choice of doing that or dropping every piece of drywall on my foot...I'll take door number two.
Concrete Stain - The man room is in the basement and will be mostly a workout facility and a place for his fishing gear. Carpet or hardwood would probably be a bad idea for this one, so we stained the concrete. Not bad. Pretty easy work, still semi-tranparent but not bad...especially not for the use of this room. As far as ease of application goes, it's just as easy as sweeping the floor. Just make sure you can not walk on it for a couple of days to get it good and dry, and make sure you've got time for extra coats. This 500 square feet took about two gallons to look really good and stained.
Drop Ceilings - Lowe's will tell you this is easy. And they even have a video to show you that women and children can do it without much effort. This is wrong. If you have the option of installing a drop ceiling, or giving birth to a baby porcupine that is on fire...look in to the less painful second option. There is nothing easy about this. I smashed my finger with a hammer and thought I was going to wind up in the emergency room on a couple of occasions. If I'd had the strength when I got done, I would have gone to Lowe's to see the guy that sold it to us. The conversation would have consisted of "This is NOT easy! THIS IS SPARTAAA!" and follow it up with a solid kick to the chest. In short, these suck. If you ever need help with a drop ceiling, please don't call me. If it means I have to buy it for you rather than do it...I might actually do that.
Moving furniture - somehow I've always managed to be the go to guy for moving furniture. I'm not sure how I got this title. Most of the time I don't mind. I've helped Mike move a couple times. Not a big deal. I don't know if it's the super-human strength or what, but people (save for Chas and J) always call me when they move. At this point I've become a pro and could open a moving business. We helped some of our new friends move here recently and I figured out enough different ways to do this that they finally said "So...um...how many people have you moved? The people that installed this said it wouldn't come down the stairs unless we took it apart." These people lie. There is an easy way and a hard way to move shit. Don't ever plan on it being easy. Also, the first rule of moving, is never ever take stuff apart. You will inevitably lost important parts that you will need to put it back together and your end table that you liked so much will be waiting on one special screw to hold it together until you take it to Good Will. Trust me on this one.
Dog Pens - With Tumbler coming just a couple weeks out now (14 days to be exact) my brother-in-law helped me start a dog pen. Short of some dirt and mulch that needs to be added this project should be completed this weekend. Moving the railroad ties and dirt around wasn't so bad...and it looks pretty good. Then comes the moving of the dog house. This thing is heavy...really heavy. I'll be suprised if it doesn't take four of us to move it, but I'll let you know how it goes, and send pictures when all is done.
So that is whats in store for our weekend. I'm sure the wife has a shopping excursion or two in the works while I'm working on the yard and the projects, but should be a successful weekend if all goes well. I hope everyone else's weekend goes well too.
3 Comments:
Chas - every time we move or move someone I always say "Next time you get to pay someone to move," but I never follow through on it. I guess I'm cheap or something but I just can't see doing that.