Friday, December 28, 2007

Painting Prep in the Dining Room: Motivation

Now, this is what I call motivation!
My roommate, after hearing me complain about the perils of sanding and how much I didn't want to start it again tonight, placed a delicious Summit Extra Pale Ale under my sander in the dining room right across from where I was sitting and watching tv. Mmmm... of course to get to the goodness I had to put that sander in my hand. It worked! I hate sanding joint compound, but my little treat for subjecting myself to such mindless and torturous labor has been Summit EPA every time so far. Why would this be any different? (only a couple, Mom!) For those of you who aren't anywhere near the Minneapolis/St. Paul or surrounding areas, Summit is a brewery that was started in St. Paul MN by a guy who grew up in... where... Wahpeton, ND!!! That's my hometown of about 8500 people. I'd support his efforts even if the beverage was gross but luckily for me it's SOOOO good. It's actually my favorite, and you'll find me ordering it quite frequently. It stays pretty local, but if it makes it up to me I'm sure it has to have a pretty good radius out of the Twin Cities. I know my MPLS readers get it, but do you get it in Wisconsin Jeff? Kelly in IA? If so, try one for me!

Anyways, back to the dining room. I finished sanding the walls and ceilings tonight. I used some drywall sand paper which has a kind of grid shape. Much like a window screen. Using this works really well because the open squares allow the dust to fall out and not clog the sand paper. The disadvantage of using this kind of sandpaper is that it leaves some ridges in the joint compound. I'll have to go back with a wet sponge and smooth out the ridges tomorrow.

I finally bought some tape and hung up some tarps over the entrances to the dining room. Dust control, woah! Finally I'm able to do some sanding without everything that's ever come into the house being covered with three inches of dust. Here are a couple photos of the tarps up. Boo dust!
Finally, when I finished sanding I was so excited to be done, I made a dust-angel. I feel like it's in the holiday spirit. Enjoy!

9 comments:

Ranty said...

LOL, it would take more than a beer or two to get me to make a dust-angel like that... but your enthusiasm is downright inspiring! :-)

We are in said...

LOL! You crack me up, Nate! A dust angel?!? I think that would make a great Christmas card for next year.

I gotta give you credit - I didn't have nearly as much ceiling sanding as you've had and it put me into a terribly foul mood. I was flinging mud and throwing tools from the top of the ladder. And the words that came out of my mouth...

That you're actually managing to have some fun with this part of the work - Wow... You're my hero...

Sandy said...

Remember not to sit on the couch afterwards! LOL

Jen said...

I love that window screen drywall sander too. It is my favorite and it comes in different sizes for different smoothnesses. For the details, I always went with the sponge sander.
Yeah, I agree dust angel christmas card for next year...

StuccoHouse said...

Lol...I find bribery also works on me :-) My college bf's roommate was from Wahpeton (small piece of trivia) - yikes, and is probably old enough to be your dad :-O. You might give the wet sponge smoothing method a try on your joint compound - eliminates the need for sanding - its a nice discovery.

Muskego Jeff said...

I'm pretty sure it's available around here - I seem to remember seeing it a while back. Then again, I haven't drank beer in close to 10 years (it doesn't agree with me anymore).

Amalie said...

Ha! I know aaallll about the dust!!

It's like you can't imagine there's anything left of the house with that much material all powdered up on the floor...

Anonymous said...

Hello folks--I'm currently having a nightmare with my contractor, trying to convince him to fix the cracks in my plaster wall the right way. Can one of you tell me what materials you are using? E.g. fiberglass mesh tape, paper tape or none at all, and what type of "mud" (plaster)? I think these guys have been using drywall mud and I'm VERY worried. Thanks for any comments!!

Elaine said...

Yay Nate! Boo hiss dust! I raise my beer to your dust angel.