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March 28, 2006
Primer . . . that actually covers the drywall!
'Tis an exciting thing . . . honestly. When I painted the basement bathroom, I used Behr's drywall primer. I can't say that I'm impressed with the product, as it took three coats to cover, and I really should've put on a fourth :-( Plus, it'd been frozen at least once, so there were large gobs of congealed paint, which made painting rather difficult.
So, when I went to prime the laundry room and basement (or, at least, that part of the basement that's been drywalled), I ordered some Acril-lok from the Home Hardware in Sutherland. Much, much better product, which covered the laundry room in a single coat. I think that I'll likely add another, as I can see just a few spots that I missed. But, considering that there's almost a whole pail--and one of those enormous ones--of drywall mud on the laundry room walls, that's not too bad.
Posted by plainstext at 08:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 15, 2006
More tape and mud
I've been conspicuously MIA for the last little while, and it's not going to get any better for the next several weeks as it's almost the end of term. But, work is still progressing on the house, albeit a bit slowly. I taped and mudded the laundry room Monday. I had intended to do this Sunday, but ended up spending the day shovelling out the driveway . . . not a fun job when there's almost waist deep drifts of snow, which have had several layers of freezing rain.
My skills as a drywaller leave a fair bit to be desired, but mud hides a multitude of sins, so it doesn't look all that bad now that the first layer's done. I was hoping to get out there today to get that coat sanded and second layer of mud on, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen at the moment.
We've got a list of stuff to do before Dad comes out again, later this spring. Our primary concern is to get the remaining hardboard off the basement walls and to get the concrete floor broken up. This is in anticipation of pouring a new slab in the basement, and also pouring three new 64" walls to shore up the foundation underneath the front porch. We're also going to have to figure out (1) whether the front steps are solid concrete, and (2) determine how we're going to remove them. And no, William, this doesn't mean that you can blast them out!
In other news, the puppy finally has a name. Dad suggested Snoopy (because he's black and white), then Bob suggested the Red Baron (from Peanuts). The puppy's constantly airborne, and is becoming more and more adept at launching aerial attacks on Tasha and the rest of us. So, we thought about it some more, until Dana suggested calling him after the real Red Baron, Rittmeister Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen. Thus, puppy's name is Ricky, a much shortened version of the Red Baron's last name. Complicated . . . but we really didn't (as we've been asked a couple of times now) name him after Ricky from Trailer Park Boys ;-)
Posted by plainstext at 08:02 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 04, 2006
New addition to the family
We gained a new four-legged family member last night, a black and white English Springer Spaniel puppy. I was going to go home and talk it over with Dana a bit more, but when he dragged my cheque book out of my purse and across the floor to me . . . well, I ended up taking him home. We haven't yet decided on a name for him, although Mattea (Anne Marie & William's youngest) has rather emphatically indicated that she thinks it should be "Spot." He was a huge hit at their house yesterday evening, and very well behaved (for a 10-week-old puppy).
Miss Tasha's nose was a bit out of joint, but there was (thankfully) no major bark-fest when we brought him home. She seems to have accepted him (despite the huge disparity in their ages), but I'm sure that she thinks that he's got way more energy than is good for him (or her). He cried a bit last night, and wasn't too impressed with being crated.
Trying to get a good picture of him is a bit challenging, as he's very active.
Posted by plainstext at 10:46 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Bathroom's almost done!
I could go on and on about how wonderful the new bathroom is, but I think it's wisest for me to let the photos speak for themselves.
Posted by plainstext at 10:35 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack