And here we are -

July 1st. The days are still blurry. I'm still employed. The virus is still a thing even if some people want to wish it out of happening.
(FYI - Not going to happen. The virus believes in you, even if you don't believe in it.)

I don't feel like I've gotten a tone of work done since Scott did the wall. The flowers have been growing, the woodchuck has been mowing them down, I put up an electric fence to keep him out of the garden, and the veggies are growing well.

We had a socially-distanced dinner for 2 of Ian's colleagues on Monday, for a total of 5 of us. Frankly, that's as many people as I want to share space with right now. I sort of grilled them about their pandemic habits, and still wiped the place down with disinfectant afterwards, just in case.

Ian and Windy have been working their tails off fixing the plaster for me in the upstairs hallway as a thank you for living here while on a local job. The area was kind of a cobbed mess - horsehair, drywall, a smidge of paneling, and some really bad former repairs.

The door is neat and all, but you see the flaking plaster in the upper right?

The stairwell, with it's bulges and chips in the plaster.
This picture is very kind to that area, actually.

More chipping.

This whole section of roof was sort of saggy where the keys in the plaster had let go.

One end of the terrible.partly-cement repair.

The whole terrible partly-cement repair.
Best we can figure, there was a water leak and the plaster came down.
They "fixed" it with a very hard plaster, probably mixed with Portland cement.
Then they replaced the chimney that is right behind that wall, knocking the smashed bricks
into the attic, which, when Ian removed the terrible cement repair, rained down on his head from above the lathe.

The big bulge under the water leak, due to the house moving and settling. The pressure forces the plaster out.

They came in with Big Wally's Plaster Magic (and it really is). All the plaster is reset, and nothing is loose and smooshy anymore. How it works is - You drill a hole through the plaster into the lath, squirt some conditioner in there (very important for adhesion), let that sit for a few, then squirt in a special adhesive with a caulk gun. Screw those washers into the little holes you've made and let it set up really good, acting like a clamp.

It's like art or something.

I helped! I did this tiny section.

Clamps, clamps, clamps.

Once it's set up, you come back and remove all the washers and screws. The adhesive will have done it job. No more jiggles!

Then they started on the fixes -

Goodbye, terrible patch and bulge, hello drywall repair.

And now we're at a point of final touch up and primer -

You can barely tell terrible repair was ever there unless you know to look for it.

This was a super-saggy slope. It's so much better already.

Closeup of the super saggy slope.
It was *covered* in Big Wally washers to suck it up.

The stairwell - It will always have some plaster waves, because it's still plaster.
But it's not falling down!

I can't even tell that this is where the insulation guys blew a hole in the wall last year!

(Before)

There's a few little tweaks left, and then I need to pick out a color paint for the hall. It can't be too dark, because there's relatively little natural light, especially at one end. I need to keep the doors closed to most of the rooms up here to keep the cat out of them, so it reduces the light enough where it's going to be kind of a trick. I'm thinking White ceiling, SuperWhite Gloss trim, and perhaps a light grey with blue undertones. I'm not sold on it though.
Then I need to pull off the last two doors and refinish them/their trim/their hardware. But! I don't have to do two of the bedroom doors because they are a lovely stain/varnish. I'm just leaving them well enough alone.

Also, I got in my Big Bucket of Dumond 30 Coat Stripper, so I know what I'll be doing with my free time for a while...

Basement stairwell walls

Last night I sanded down the walls to figure out where the high spots were, and slapped some more spackle on the divots and holes.

Left side - Fixing up pretty nicely, actually.
One more sand and this one should be good enough to prime.

Right side - this side is a bigger pain in the next because the rail is in the way, and there was more damage.
The patch above and around the light switch is slowly getting better.
This side will need another round of spackle and sanding before priming.

Stay out!

That last picture is from where the wall of the right side of the stairwell joins the stairs above. It's the most amusing, ridiculous thing. The hole is maybe 7-8" long, and maybe 3" high, and blocked with 4 large framing nails (?).
I'm not entirely sure what we're keeping out (or in). Mice would dance right through the gaps. Rats? (Have seen no evidence of rats.) Squirrels? Cats? Wombats? A rogue wallaby?
I don't know, but I'm leaving it alone as a point of interest.

Not much of a visual difference, but I'm puttering away on it.

When I'm allowed too, anyway.
Good thing it's hot, she's not all over me for my lap right now.

Busy weekend of sheds and walls

I finally was able to complete the shed door this past weekend. It took about 8 hours over the course of the week, dodging rain drops, and making trips to the store for things I needed. But it's done -

Patch applied, I think this was post sanding.
Worked up from 60-120 grit, wiped it down with a tack cloth.

First coat of primer. I wound up putting on 2 coats to smooth it out.

First coat of paint. It was a lot more blue than I thought.

Final - 2 coats of paint and an overnight dry dulled it down a bit.
I need to pick up some black Rustolium in a can for the hardware, but other than that it's done!
Next - the roof.

In between the rounds of work on the shed, I decided to deal with the basement stairwell. First, because the mosquitos in town now carry EEE, so I can't be outside in the evening unless I'm dosed with bug spray. Second, because even though the dehumidifier makes the basement warm, it's dry, and feels nicer. Third, all the stuff hanging on the wall right at the top bugged me.
Plus, I could practice spackle in a place where it doesn't really matter.

Before cleaning and removing a rail. Dual rails are great, but it make the stairwell really narrow.
I will store it so that in the future if it's a code issue, I can slap it back up.

Post TSP scrub and rail removal.
Just scrubbing the left wall made a huge difference.

Patches patched. Some were pretty deep, so I am going to let it dry
for a good 24 hours before smooshing on another coat.

One downside to dating a historic preservationist, (hi Honey!) is that you pick up things by the very virtue of being at trade get-togethers and having evening conversations. He's a professional, and I mean well. I know there's right ways and wrong ways of doing things, and in the case of this basement wall, it probably should be stabilized with plaster washers and injected adhesives and all sorts of things. Pricey things. I know this. But... forgive me... I just want it to not have lath showing, so I'm smooshing spackle and fiberglass tape over the worst of it and smoothing it out (sort of.) The worst part is right over the light switch, which you can't see very well in the pictures, but at least it's not a gaping hole anymore. The patch might fall out in a year, but until then, for a basement stairwell, it will be good enough. Rather than tape and fill the corners, I think I'm just going to get some 1/4 round molding to cover the gaps. I think electrical runs around behind there, so I don't want to make it super difficult to get at.

Stay tuned for the continuing adventures in basement stairwells!

Some Pig.