Days 15-17: Drywall/Durock Installation and Taping/Mudding

Well, the last three days have been trying. Apparently, a Master's degree in Applied and Computational Mathematics does not mean one has the necessary skills for measuring and cutting drywall or Durock accurately. Seriously! I don't want to get in to how many miscuts I had. The first was the most spectacular, though. I'd hoped to get the ceiling in one big shot to minimize the number of seams to tape. The combination of a piece about 1/2" too long with very little room to maneuver, and me not being the strongest guy in the world.... well, it didn't end well. It was a valiant attempt, though! Veronica was poised and ready to help get the first few screws in, but it was to no avail. (She was later very helpful on other pieces.)

Also, it may seem odd, but did you know that a material called "concrete backer board" is actually very heavy? Who would have known?

Regardless, everything is up now. There are more seams than necessary because of the measurement mistakes, but many of them are below the tile line. Also, those who know something about Durock (concrete backer board) will notice that some are installed backwards. Ideally, they should be installed with the rough side out to give the mortar plenty of surface to grab on to. Because we aren't tiling all the way to the ceiling, I was forced to install the top pieces reversed and then try to fill any holes in the concrete with joint compound.

Some pictures:


Here you can see the top sheets of Durock where I've tried to fill the holes with joint compound to make it a perfectly smooth surface to paint:




I've received quite a bit of advice through this whole project, but two stick out in particular. First, from Dave Doyle: Dave asked me what kind of timeline I had in mind. At the time, I was planning on two weeks. Dave's response: "Plan on a month." Wise man.

The second piece of sage advice was from Kristin. She asked if we were planning on doing the taping and mudding ourselves. When I said that we were, Kristin warned me not to expect it to look professional. Sage advice, indeed. After today, I'd settle for "not horrible".

Hopefully the second (and third and fourth) coats will help. Everything I've read says they should!

The finish line is in sight - we should have beautiful pictures with all the tile and fixtures by the end of next week! (Steve from Mendel will be coming in on Tuesday to get me started on the tile installation. I'm hoping to get some instruction and then take it from there.)

Thanks for checking in!