It's Not Easy Being Green Drywall

The madness of the next four weeks began on Saturday, and I don’t expect it to slow down until at least 3/11. Saturday morning the electrician arrived and completed all our wiring in under an hour and a half. The recesssed lights, the outlets, the switches – everything – all set.

Sunday was outrageously insane. Immediately following breakfast, Mike called over our drywall’n neighbor to help him measure and determine the right amount of drywall sheets. Before 10am, the whole family was packed in the truck for the weekly trip to our favorite orange-themed home improvement warehouse.

This, we have down to a science.

Upon entry, we split up – Mike with the big cart, heading for drywall, and Mikey and I in the racecar cart headed towards electrical. While Mike got the drywall, screws, mud, and insulation, Mikey and I made a return, picked up plastic sheeting, a 2’ closet light, and a pancake box for the vanity light. We were even lucky enough to score a free two-person plastic kids sled at customer service. (I guess they don’t expect to sell them this winter.)

We all met back up at the register, having coordinated our shopping list across the store via our cell phones. Immediately I asked, “Where’s the drywall?” There was none on the cart. Then I saw the forklift… with half a pallet – 20 sheets of the mold resistant green stuff. Boy, did that add up. 20 sheets plus 2 buckets of mud plus 3 packs of R15 plus drywall screws, plus all the stuff in our racecar cart. To the tune of over $500.

Didn’t matter – we were on an orange-plastic funded mission. And we loaded up everything and headed for home. Our neighbor pulled in to our driveway right after we arrived. He and Mike unloaded a few things and got right to work.

The first challenge was the vent for the fan. Mike had the distinct pleasure of drilling through over 10” of solid PT to get a hole from the inside of the basement to the outside, at the bottom of the porch. (Think a thick sill plus thick farmer’s porch construction.) His hole saw couldn’t even make it all the way from one side. He had to go outside and drill from the opposite direction.

 By the time that was done, two of our other neighbors arrived and helped bring down all the drywall. Then, they took a break to walk around and mark the property borders using all their resources – online maps, printed maps, a super long tape measure, and a can of orange marker paint. Then they made some clams casino. Then, I was sent on a beer run.

(You keeping up with all this?) Just a day in the life here in this neighborhood.

They all headed back downstairs after “lunch,” built a small soffet over the sink area to hide a pipe that just couldn’t have gone anywhere else, and then cut and hung all the ceiling drywall. All the neighbors left after the ceiling was up, but Mike and I pressed on.

I finished the insulation as Mike continued to hang drywall. He and I both put up the plastic sheeting over the insulation, an extra moisture barrier layer, and then Mike went back to hanging.

After Mikey and I had dinner, and after Mikey was in bed, Mike was still hanging. I rejoined him to clean up and we called it a night with over 75% of the room finished.

Next step, of course, da mud. But that may have to wait. Next Saturday begins kitchen demo madness. I have to first empty everything from all the cabinets and prepare the room for demo. Sunday, demo.

For the week following, we’ll be in a rush to finish the drywall, paint, and small amount of electrical in prep for the arrival of the new cabinets.