Fuck yeah.

[rmd]

So, I've occasionally bitched about the wall treatment that afflicts many of the walls in my apartment and the common area of the house. They were going for a sort of stucco-ish look, but it ended up looking like a crazy frosted cake with drywall compound slathered on in big swooshing arcs leaving ridges of well over 1/4" on the wall surface. I have to dust my walls. Seriously. Hate. Hate hate.

I've dabbled a bit with sanding down some of the walls in the stairwell going from the second to third floors in my apartment. It's tedious and loud and even with the shopvac hooked up to the sander it makes a hell of a mess. It really needs to be done as an all-at-once project rather than "a bit here and a bit there" just for economies of scale in dropclothing and cleanup.

So, when my awesome tenant mentioned she was going out of town for a week and a half, I saw my chance. clauclauclaudia and I sprung into action after she left and proceeded to use a 6" sander to grind down the wall to something approximating flat, skim-coated it, and primed it. I had initially been hoping to get it painted as well, but that didn't happen due to a combination of everything taking longer than we expected and an unfortunate family emergencies on my part that took away some of my time that would otherwise have been spent working on this.

I spent all of last weekend and most of labor day weekend (plus the Tuesday after labor day, which I took as vacation) getting hot and sweaty and exhausted (not in *that* fun way, but in this other fun way) and wow I am sore all over (ditto). However, the priming is done, and so now we can pick a paint color at our leisure and paint it. Painting the walls isn't going to be intrusive for my tenant in the way that turning a fuckload of drywall compound into noise and dust would be.

Behind the cut I have some before and after pics.

This is a close-up of the wall before, or actually in the midst of my sanding. You can see the lower portion is somewhat sanded while the upper portion has the atrocious ridges angle-lit for emphasis. (for scale, that's a 2 or 3 inch door molding in the edge of the picture.)

Meanwhile, here's a shot of the 'after':

That's a hell of an improvement. It's not perfect and it doesn't look quite as nice as new construction, but it's well into the realm of perfectly reasonable walls in a hundred year old house. No major shadowy parts, no ridges that need dusting, and quite flat enough for hanging art. (I did discover that a little section that may need some plaster buttons screwed in because it's starting to separate a bit from the lathe, but that's a minor weekend project not this epic battle.)

I'm really delighted by this. I still need to do a finish vacuum on the rugs and a bit more dusting, but overall, it's done, and my tenant arrives back home tomorrow. Fuck yeah. For at least a while I am going to be delighted every time I come into the common hall in my house and see the smooth walls.

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Woot! You have triumphed over the formerly ridiculous walls, and they look great!

[kjc.livejournal.com]

Double Woot! Go you guys!

So much less hideous!

[solarbird]

Wow, I do not envy you that job. Congratulations on getting done, tho'.

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

Boy howdy, is that ever an improvement. I don't like that treatment in exterior stucco, let alone interior walls. What were they thinking? "Look, it's like a bad frosting job!" "Sweet! Let's make the whole wall like that!"

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

fan-freakin'-tastic!

[galestorm.livejournal.com]

Cool! Good for you! Stucco belongs on canvas, not on walls! :-D

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

If you ever forget, you can look at the ceiling, where it is only enh instead of horrible, but it will take you back.

And then you will SMILE THE SMILE OF HOMEOWNER VENGEANCE against stupid and ugly.

Go you guys.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

BTDT except in our case, it was 1970s red-and-white wallpaper, from when the house was owned by a couple and the wife liked "Zoom!" and "Pow!" in her decorating.

Isn't it nice to be rid of someone else's decorating mistake?

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

I once lived in a room with a stucco wall, and it's annoyingness was only outweighted by my vision of the incredible amount of work it would have taken to fix it. Good job!

[ceo]

Wow. Go you. There are not a lot of house-fixing tasks I dislike more than sanding plaster/joint compound/etc.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

well, it's a bit more fun with a power sander. louder and messier, too.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

What a huge change! Well, done!

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

Walls like you USED TO HAVE really stink. I recall once leaning against such a wall and getting a huge scrape on my shoulder. Not only are they ugly, but dangerous!

[kellyjmf.livejournal.com]

The last place we rented, before taking the home owner plunge, had stucco with tiny sharp peaks. It was like the walls were covered in cheese graters. I'm clumsy enough normally, but when i was preggo it was like living in a horror movie; blood smears everywhere at knuckle height. That is what led to the genius decision to buy a house and move when I was 7 months along.

Still had other peoples stupid, but at least we could fix it. You know, eventually.

I am in awe of your awesome walls and your mad to-do list skillz.

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

That looks like a lot of work!

I dislike walls and ceiling that are not smooth and a solid color. Not only are they annoying and potentially dangerous, they're a pain to maintain, especially if you have poke a hole in the wall to repair wires or plumbing, because you can't easily hide the hole afterwards.

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

I dislike walls and ceiling that are not smooth and a solid color. Not only are they annoying and potentially dangerous, they're a pain to maintain, especially if you have poke a hole in the wall to repair wires or plumbing, because you can't easily hide the hole afterwards.

[muffyjo]

This is WONDERFUL! You have done GREAT work and it really looks much more tailored and neat. Congratulations on a job well done!

[keren-s.livejournal.com]

I know its loud with the shop vac on ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4sOfO8Ei1g