Dry Wall Repair Nighmare

DJ Here;

Okay, so last weekend I decided …I HAD to get the wall finished. On Friday, I sanded the damaged part down and applied the sealer coat. That was very easy—my only problem was trying to protect our new counters! I should have done the repairs BEFORE the counter was installed, but oh well. That part was very easy…but I found out after I applied the sealer coat that it had to dry for 3 hours—so the rest would have to wait until the next day.

On Saturday, I got out the Ready Patch and dove in. First….I have to say this was a nightmare job…I won’t go into great detail, because I just want to block it from my memory. My first clue that this was not starting out right was that okay I have a gallon container of this stuff and a large spreader. How to get the goop on the large spreader when it doesn’t fit in the can? When you can’t figure that out, you gotta know you will have problems. So, I scoop some of the patch on the spreader with a spoon and smear it on the wall. This stuff was THICK—and not very workable, not what I was expecting. I just could not work with that stuff—it was so messy and I didn’t have the muscle power to work with it!! Basically, this was a total nightmare. I figured out it was pretty much a “technique” of spreading it on and then scraping it off. The thing was, I did not figure out this technique until after I was almost finished! ANYWAY… the good part is that the wall is finished…but it is by no means CLOSE to being perfect. There are a lot of boo boos. After it was dry I did sand it down and that helped some. Then I put primer over the entire surface. It looks better than it did and we can live with it, but if I had it to do over, I would not have done it myself…I would have hired someone who knows what they are doing! Totally frustrating experience! UGH.

I’m also hoping it will look better after I paint it…THAT I can do!!

I finished painting yesterday. After some consultation with my former art student-daughter, we settled on two colors: “Ground Ginger” and “Grass Cloth.” (i.e beige and green). The key to success in any painting job is TAPE TAPE TAPE! The wider the tape the better—especially for somebody like me, who is a messy painter. It took me almost an hour to tape off the kitchen, but once I did, it made the painting really easy. I also spilled some on the floor—OOOPS!! Oh well, we’re getting new floors anyway!! Haha. Grinder helped me when I messed up where the green and beige meet—some of the green seeped over the edge—anyway, he evened it out really nice. AND..remember the part where I messed up on the drywell? Well, it doesn’t look THAT BAD….sorta rustic looking now. Also as you can see in the picture we got a really nice metal wall-hanging from Steinhafel’s, so that covers a lot of the mistakes too! I’m happy with it! HOORAY! In fact, I like the green color so much, Grinder gave his thumbs up to put it on one wall in the dining room! COOL.

Now all that is left is the floors…thank God we are not doing it ourselves!!! :-) I can’t wait for it to be all done!!

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OK - Rods turn, here is my take on the entire thing.

DJ did a GREAT job. Yes - there are some spots that were not perfect but outstanding. After hearing a few "F" words I stopped what I was doing and offered my held and I will agree - it's pretty freaking hard to get drywall repair perfect. Perhaps if you have done in many times before but for someone that has never done it . . . .do not expect perfection.

Still, there are ways to cover blemishes up artistically and that is the route we went.

Below are before and after photos of the kitchen. All that is left are the Hardwood Floors.

Next week the new blinds are coming so we're pretty pumped on that one.

Stay tuned.

BEFORE

AFTER

Until next time - DJ and Grinder OUT!