The Horrors of Sheet Rock
by
Karen
Mud and tape sheet rock. Two plans. Plan A or Plan B.
This room has looked liked this since 2005 when Grizzly and I built our pay as you go house. Our children moved in and out, and back in and out so the walls were never finished. It is now 2014. We have an empty nest at the moment so it was time to tackle the walls.
I am not one of those people. I can't get the tape on or if I do get it on it falls off the wall. So my solution is mud the darn stuff first (like wallpaper glue) and stick it up there. It's not pretty but the stuff sticks.
Next , a person who can mud and tape sheet rock feathers it out so it is smooth. And makes it look like it was always there. Well, I can't feather. Mine joint looks like this. They are not pretty. And definitely not smooth. They look like they have a disease.
Back to my joints. So, I ask myself, do I really want to sand it off? What if the tape falls off, then I would have to do even more sanding. Grizzly would laugh at me. He knows this stuff. He just doesn't want to do any of it. He told me to thin the joint compound down..I just wouldn't listen. Actually I did not want to go to the garage, get the drill, and find the mud stirrer thing. It would have took 3 days to find it.
Plan B. Texture the wall to look like old plaster walls of homes I lived in growing up...or like Chili's restaurants. Yes, no sanding! Good solution. Gob some on the wall. Take my trowel, swirl it around, pat it down here and there. Also find muscles you didn't know existed. Don't tell Grizzly your neck hurts. He will just laugh.
Still Plan B. Three very long days later, after the walls and ceiling are all done and dry, take my trowel and side it over the high points. Spend 3 hours cleaning up the floor. Fill in little holes since I have some mud left. Grizzly called it stucco. Tell Grizzly that it is not stucco, explain it is called artistic sheetrock.
Finished room. The wall texture is not everyone's taste but I am happy with it. And my tape is not going to fall off! The frame by the bed is attic access. I have plans to build an actual door with hinges. I knitted the peach blankets. The desk chair was recovered. The $15.00 desk was painted black.
The room is small but it fits twin beds. Ignore the red thing...it is a dog toy. She was helping me. She is the reason why it took a third hour to clean the floor...she took off with a strip of my wet joint tape and I didn't get it until she rolled over it all over the floor.
The wall color is Walls of White. I added some paintings for a bit of unexpected color. That is me in yellow (grin) and the kids above. I removed the red dog toy. (ha ha)
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My son can do sheetrock and will do mine, I need my walls fixed in my Kitchen. I hope my kitchen will be remodled before my Birthday in June. Hubby better start it..or else!
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I hate the sanding as much as the next person. Plus it makes my sinuses crazy. Yes, I also try to always remember to wear a mask. Anyway, I wet sand the high spots, let it dry a bit after smoothing things out, touch it up with spackle as needed, let it dry some more, and keep working at it until it smooths out as much as possible. I like those sponge sanders you can buy in any hardware department.
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