Getting plastered again and a nasty storm

The problem.

 I finally began the last major plaster repair job in the house. When we purchased the house, the second floor had some damaged ceilings from a roof leak. The roof was replaced by the previous owner, but the water damage was not fixed. This will be my third plaster repair and I am getting better at it. First step is to remove the loose plaster. This is a messy job that results in a lot of dust, and pieces of plaster everywhere. Then, you must secure the old plaster around the edge by drilling holes, squirting in a prep solution, squirting in glue, then securing the plaster to the lathe with wood screws

and large washers. This is even

messier as the prep solution drips

on the floor, and the glue squirts of the

holes as you drill in the screws.

The solution

After allowing the glue to dry for 24 hours, you apply the first coat of plaster. Plastering is simple. Doing it well is a learned skill. I am getting better at it. Many DIY home improvement projects are a blend of both but this is more skill than anything. Slapping plaster on a wall is easy, making it look nice is tough.

Luckily, the third step hides any amateur mistakes you may have made. After a couple of applications of the patching plaster, you put down a couple coats of joint compound, which is really easy to apply. It smooths out your mistakes, especially after you wet sand the surface.

The final result.

Finally, I primed the the repair area with a spray primer. This should prep it nicely for the ceiling paint, and what ever color we choose for the wall. I do have one more small repair area to repair in the other corner, and some other touch up on the walls (thank you Frat brothers).

Choosing the wall paint will be difficult. I am using the room as an office, and will continue to do so. But we may set it up with a couch or futon for a second guest room. We have kind of exhausted the available colors in the rest of our home, and hate to repeat. We may go a bit strong or rich, maybe a deep green. We will see.

On the weather front (pun intended), it has been a rather cold and nasty winter since Christmas. For four weeks in a row, my home weather station has a least one day of below zero temperatures. The spell culminated with a rough storm that dumped a couple inches of ice underneath a few inches of snow. The entire mess froze into a glacier on sidewalks and driveways that we are just now escaping. The longer days and higher sun angle of mid February are greatly appreciated.

Plaster, trees, and Cape May

Obligatory home photo.

 Well hello. It has been the longest break ever from the blog. There are a few reasons, and more excuses, but certainly not a lack of material. Repairs and renovations have been made, trips have been taken, and we have generally emerged from the pandemic. One solid reason for the break is my broken "d" key here on my Lenovo laptop. Spell checker catches most of the dropped "d's", but if I miss one, I'm sure you'll forgive me. 

Before

The biggest completed task was the repair and painting of the walls an ceiling in our enclosed second floor porch. I ordered a kit from Plaster Magic specially designed for D.Y.I.ers repairing plaster walls and ceilings. It worked quite well and was relatively easy. The repair involves repairing and securing the loose plaster and then fixing the hole. The only additional item I had to buy was joint compound to skim coat the repair area. Then it was a matter of sanding, priming, and painting. I'm still working on the windows, repairing and glazing. That job needs to be done for every window in the house. 

After

Next big job kind of fell in my lap. The owner of the spooky house next door had hired a guy to take down some huge trees in "his" back yard. In conversation with him I realized he had no idea where the property line was and was about to have a large tree cut down in my yard. I wanted the tree down so I ended up paying for that tree, while the neighbor paid for his trees. Problem is all the branches and logs from all the trees ended up in my yard and it literally took me weeks to clean up the mess. Luckily, a farmer driving by wanted the massive logs to burn and he took those heavy things away.

We took a week off, finally, to go to Cape May and Wildwood Crest In the middle of June. The week pretty much consisted of us sitting in lounge chairs drinking cold stuff and reading novels. For me, it was my friend Dan Padavona and his creepy procedurals. ,We ate out at a few of our favorite restaurants, but also often dined in our room, that had a kitchenette. It was our first true vacation since retiring back in August. 

My position for most of vacation.

We have some plans for travel after Labor Day, but until then we are content to work on the house, and take a few day trips. The beauty of retirement life is traveling to the hot spots after everyone goes back to work and school.

I promise to update the blog more often, and maybe fix my keyboard. But just remember that I'm retired now, and deadlines and commitments are foreign to me. Upcoming blogs may include an on going practical joke, window repair and glazing and maybe a video blog.