A Hot, Dry(wall) Fall

We hired more contractors for the drywall. I’m so glad we did because I had no idea how involved drywall is. I thought it would be a 2 day job like the insulation, but it turned out to be a multi-week process.

Since we are just finishing the 900 sq-ft apartment for now, I was shocked when the delivery truck arrived. I was expecting a small box truck, not this-

It’s a good thing they had a crane because the drywall sheets are heavy! The gypsum sheets are 4ft x 12ft and 5/8in thick. Each sheet weighs about 90 lbs! This was one of the neatest boom trucks I’ve seen because the operator could control all degrees of freedom of the forks. It was like a telehandler, a forklift, and a crane all in one.

Because the sheets were so large, the best way in to the apartment was through our new French doors. I was a little on edge watching this operation, as there was very little clearance. Once inside, the sheets were transferred onto a cart and unloaded by hand.

When we asked how they would get the drywall into the second story office, they replied, “through the window like we usually do.” In fear of ruining our window and siding, I convinced them it was not physically possible to fit the sheets through the window. This leads me to the most nerve-wracking part of the day…

Sam barely balanced the cart on the forks while Aiden stood by, ready to catch the leaning load of drywall. Sam carefully passed the load to two men on the landing. It wasn’t over yet. We had to do this a few more times. Luckily everyone survived, including the material.

Alas, the staging was over and we could breathe.

A different crew hung the drywall. It took them only 2 days, including the ceiling!

Then the masking crew covered all of the windows and beams before the “tapers” got to work. We really got to know the taping crew over the following weeks. They spent days taping over the seams and plastering screw holes and other flaws.

They often had to wait over 24 hours between applications, allowing for the plaster to cure.

The tapers used our scissor lift occasionally to work on the ceiling, but often they worked on stilts!

We got a level 4 finish, which is very smooth. For reference, level 5 is the smoothest and level 3 is the orange peel texture. The levels correlate with cost and messiness too. 

For level 4, a separate painting crew came to apply a drywall primer, which also has a vapor barrier in it. Once that dried, the tapers came back to sand and touch up. This process generated so much dust that Sam and I worked outside for several days, and the cats stayed home watching mouse TV.

The living room looked like a white sand beach with the amount of dust on the floor!

After days of touching up, the drywall was complete!

But we just couldn’t get enough…

So, we had the painting crew return to prime and paint all the rooms. Sam and I planned to paint everything ourselves but wouldn’t have gotten around to it until 2024. The painting crew was great and fast! The only downside was the tight schedule to pick out paint. I had already been studying my swatch book for weeks. Now I have to choose?!

After many many hours of staring at my top 10 shades of off-white in different light, I purchased a few samples. 

Finally a decision was made, paint was purchased, and the walls were painted!

I’m so happy with Origami White that I may get back into my childhood hobby of origami when this is over and I have time to stare at walls and fold tiny pieces of paper.

More rooms will be revealed in future posts…

It’s back to work outside for us as long as this summer weather sticks around!