leangreen.org recycled renovation on a low-budget ration

During Brian’s first full week of disemployment we walled in the bedroom and bathroom. Walls are pretty cool. They are bright and smooth. They reflect a lot of light. Brian commented several times that he hated drywall. Unlike the precision of carpentry and framing, it makes a mess and it’s imprecise. You still need to measure twice and cut once. In fact, we’ve been measuring 3x and cutting 4x (wasting mis-cut pieces of drywall in the process). Planes fit in your head differently than a 2×4. We measure holes for light fixtures, fans and outlets and then place them on the board upside down and backward, not realizing it until we’ve lifted the board onto the ceiling and whaddya know, it would only fit if it was upside down and backward. We’ve screwed up enough pieces that we now have the proper amount of caution before cutting.

We’ve discovered there are many types of drywall: 1/2″ and 5/8″ (you must check this before you put up the board…another lesson), gypsum, greenboard for moisture-prone areas (no one uses this anymore), DensArmor fiberglass mat board for moisture-prone areas, and cement board for moisture-proofing areas. Where the walls don’t meet up so well, we will install trim or use a lot of mud. At least that’s what we tell ourselves. It’s hard to know how forgiving we can be with the gaps since we’ve never really mudded before. This week, we continue the drywall-a-thon. We rejoice as we curse.