My Summer Schedule

Summer officially started last week, though for some the first day of summer was Memorial Day weekend. For me, summer starts on the last day of school each June. It’s at this point in the year when my schedule changes. No longer is my schedule set based on sports and extracurricular events. No longer are my afternoons dictated by how much homework or permission slips come home. During the summer I (almost) get to dictate my own schedule. I say almost because summer is when I go from the homework list to the honey-do list. Not that I’m complaining. I am learning to love doing work on my house.

It’s now time to get to work on tasks such as removing the odd yellow wallpaper and the somewhat dated wood paneling. This summer I hope to get a number of projects completed as I look forward to changing our living space from old to showplace. I’ve got my work cut out for me and I know it will be fun. After all this was part of the charm we saw when we bought the place years ago. It was not at the point of being a handyman special, but it did need some TLC. This summer the house will get some extra attention, both inside and out.

When I last posted about my home improvement mission, I was left with a decision to make. Having found that my drywall was put up backwards I needed to confer with my wife to see how we should handle the situation. Should we replace the drywall? Should we put up wallpaper? Should we mud skim the backside of the drywall and move on? And the decision is…(drum roll)...mud skimming. But first I need to replace some sections of drywall where there is water damage. And before that I need to replace a couch.

Did you know couches can scream out in pain? Okay not really, but ours made a funny noise recently when something hit it in the front right on the part of the frame called the front rail. The wood snapped, making a very strange noise as the springs began to pull back. From that point on the couch began to sag. Of course, being upholstered we could see the break in the front rail. The damage became evident only after our couch began to take on the look of a smile: a somewhat evil, mocking smile.

I thought about fixing it myself but as I researched the matter I realized this couch was not worth saving. Turns out not all couches are made the same. While some are made of furniture grade hardwood, others are made of things like pressboard. I looked and our couch was pressboard and there must have been a flaw in the front rail, the part touched by the top of the back of your calves when you sit down. Replacing the front rail would only make sense if I upgraded the wood but this would leave us with a one piece of hardwood mounted on a frame of pressboard.

So after a lot of research we bought a new couch. This time we went with kiln dried furniture grade hardwood. As I understand kiln drying helps the wood resist the effects of humidity swings, necessary in a climate where humidity can go from comfortable to 100% in less than 24 hours. Hopefully this couch can stand up to daily life in an active household. And without having to put time in on fixing a couch, and now that the search for a new one is over, I can put time into my other projects. Back to work on the drywall issue.

By the way, did I buy a couch or a sofa? Is there a difference? Let me know your thoughts. The folks at apartmenttherapy.com are also sharing their thoughts on the matter.

And Yes, The Drywall Is Backwards

You never know what surprises are in store for you when you start a remodeling project in your home. In fact I've come to expect something odd or just plain wrong whenever I start a project in my house. So I was not surprised when I found what I thought was another layer of wallpaper under the old yellow paper in my dining room. What was odd was the fact that this second layer seemed to have a very unique, kind of furry, texture and it seemed to be glued into the gypsum inside the drywall. As it turns out this is not wallpaper. It is the surface of what should have been the back side of the drywall. My wife and I got a good laugh out of that one: “Yes honey, the drywall is backwards.”

To be honest I didn’t even know before now that drywall has a front and a back. In fact I scraped paper from the walls of one of our bathrooms and mud skimmed without recognizing that the drywall there is also backwards. I only thought about it while looking at some new drywall left by the contractor who replaced our severely damaged kitchen ceiling. The difference in color between the two sides got me thinking about the walls on home remodeling shows which are not fuzzy.

The new drywall is tan on one side and gray on the other and the gray is what I am use to seeing on television. It is also the side that was visible on the new kitchen ceiling before the contractor started painting. A quick Google search revealed the differences between the two sides. The gray side (the side that should face into the room) is slightly beveled around the edges. This allows the tape on the seems to lie flat with the edge of the board below the level of the board’s face. Because of these beveled edges it is easier to hide the tape and the seem. Plus the gray side has a smoother surface vs. the brown side’s rougher finish. The sort of fuzzy texture tends to show show through when you paint. Based on recent experience I'm guessing the grey side also makes it much easier to take down old wallpaper.

There are other reasons to make sure drywall is hung with the brown side facing the studs. According to Hunker.com greenboard (with a green surface) is designed for use in humid areas such as bathrooms. The special paper coating the front of the board resists moisture, repelling water (and I would assume mold). Turning this side towards the studs defeats the purpose of buying it in the first place. But no matter what room your putting it in, the gray (or green or even blue) side of drywall sounds as if it is a more practical side to have facing into the room. I only wish whoever put the drywall up in my house took this fact into consideration.

So I live in a house where it seems all of the drywall is backwards. This should make removing the old wallpaper in the other rooms a bit of an adventure. In the meantime I have to figure out what to do in my dining room. I can tear out all of the old drywall, which is time consuming but might be best from a visual standpoint. I can put wall paper back up using either decorative or a plain smooth type that I can paint over. That option would still mean mud skimming in order to prepare the wall for the new paper. To be honest, after the look I got from the guy in the big box store while I was looking for my scraper, I think I’ll stay away from wallpaper. I could simply mud skim the walls and then paint over them. That likely is the easiest solution but will it give me the best results?

Time to confer with my better half. I’ll let you know what we decide. Just out of curiosity which one would you do? Leave a comment below and let me know what you would choose.

My First Wall Scraper

Are you handy with a hammer or are you all thumbs?

Though I have owned a home for over 18 years I have not taken on very many home improvement projects. This, combined with the fact that my mom did not do well in the area of house upkeep, leaves me in a situation where I have gone back to school. What am I currently learning? I am taking a real life course in how to update a very...very dated home, turning it into something that is both modern and comfortable. My classroom at the moment is our dining room which we hope to split into a dining and sitting area. My first course: learning how to take down wallpaper.

When we first bought the house I freshened up the bedrooms by painting over the old wallpaper. Actually I should say I have painted over where the previous owner painted over the wallpaper. I wanted to do the same in the dining room but water damage from a leaky roof is forcing me to replace the drywall. This is going to leave us with new drywall sitting side by side with old (painted) wallpaper. Not wanting to see the difference in texture between the two I decided it's time to buy a wallpaper scraper.

With two big box hardware stores nearby, I headed into one for my new scraper. I always enjoy buying a new tool and walking around a hardware store is one of life’s great adventures. The only drawback is having to fight the urge to buy something I had not planned on getting. So after gathering a few new ideas I started my search for a wallpaper scraper, which was not where I thought the store would put it. After walking around for several minutes, I finally gave in and let my wife ask for help.

As is often the case, we easily found a sales associate ready and willing to offer advice. So we asked where we could find a wallpaper scraping tool. The associate told us they no longer sell wallpaper. I am not sure why he told me this. I didn't want to put wallpaper up. I wanted to take it down. By the look on his face I could tell he was a bit puzzled as to why anyone would buy a wallpaper scraper. After admitting that he did not know if they carried scrapers, he pointed us to the department a scraper might be in if they did carry them. As it turns out, they did.

While my shopping trip was successful I was left wondering: Why do people so often answer the question that was not asked? While you ponder this, I have a wall to scrape. I will post updates on my progress along with descriptions of my successes and failures as I learn home improvement on the fly. And the next time I need a tool, I suspect I’ll visit one of the local independent hardware stores where I hope to avoid any funny looks or strange answers.