It’s been just over four years since our house flooded the first time. For those keeping score, the grand total was three floods in two years. We’re frequently asked why we aren’t finished with renovations yet or get a surprised face when we tell someone that we’re still working to get back to normal. There are quite a few reasons why we’re still in transition.
We’re renovating on weekends and holidays
Until recently, both Mike and I worked full time so house renovations happened on weekends and holidays. My job was recently eliminated so I’ve been able to tackle a few things during the week on my own. So why didn’t we take every possible vacation day and renovate full time so we could be done by now? The biggest reason is we wanted to still be married when this was all over. We needed time to work and then time to rest. We needed to take a vacation to get away from construction (this was the good old days before Covid.) We also needed to spread out the expenses since we paid for materials along the way.
We’re doing it ourselves
Along with purchasing materials along the way, we’re doing just about everything ourselves. Other than hiring a plumber and having the showers tiled by a professional, we’ve done everything else. Yes, you really can find a Youtube video to show you how to do just about anything. It doesn’t hurt that I have a handy husband and I’m not a complete slouch myself. After becoming very intimate with Sheetrock, I have enormous respect for drywallers.
There are a lot of steps to refinishing a wall
I’m happy to report that we’ve started work on the last walls in the last unfinished room! Our house isn’t especially big, but the walls just seem to go on and on when we’re working on drywall. The worst flood brought almost four feet of water into our house so we removed the bottom half of Sheetrock and kept the top. I was never crazy about the texture and it proved beyond our skills to match it anyway, so we opted for totally flat walls.
So here’s a rundown of what it takes to fix a flooded wall.
Remove the wet drywall and insulation. Check the wiring and replace electrical outlets as needed. Replace the insulation and hang new drywall. Scrape the texture off the top drywall, then use drywall tape to cover the seams. Skim coat the walls using a thin layer of drywall mud, adding several layers over the joints. Sand the walls with a drywall screen to get it all smooth. Paint and fix any spots that show up when you think you’re done.
I included a time-lapse of the skim coat process which makes it look so easy, but it’s quite a whole body workout. You’d think I’d have much firmer arms by now. 😉
I cannot wait to celebrate when we paint the final wall. Next stop…floors!