Monday, July 7, 2014

Dead Woman Walking

Today I returned to work after a four-day weekend. Before you envy me too much, I spent 40+ hours of that time working on the patio. But I'm getting too far ahead in the update.

A few weekends ago, I discovered a fabulous new tool: a drywall lift. I had already mentioned that Lawrence and I struggled with the plywood for the ceiling. But, since it was going to be covered by beadboard, we wouldn't need to put it up in full strips; we could slice and dice into more manageable pieces. With the beadboard though, that wasn't an option. It was bad enough that we were having to piece it together at the ends because the panels are 8 feet long while the patio ceiling is 12 feet long. (The resulting gaps have yet to be caulked. But, I digress.)

Before we could even get started on the patio, the mother decided that she wanted the carport to have a beadboard ceiling, too. Sigh. Another trip to the hardware store.

But, on this particular day, the trip to the hardware store, we rented the lift. Interesting contraption that. It's on wheels and has a crank that lifts a tiltable easel that you load your board onto. From there, it's up, up and away! Once you get the board in place, you lock the wheel and the pressure holds it there. Not that I ever plan such a job again, but if I did, I wouldn't do it without renting one of these babies!

Before that weekend had ended, we had installed more than 400 square feet of beadboard. Some in the carport (which also got a new light and a fancy new medallion). And then, there was the patio. A nice hole in the middle got the wiring pulled through, just waiting for a fan/light to be attached. (A photo I'd love to share but Blogger is having none of it.)

Next stop: COLUMNS!


No comments: