Heading North Again

Today I drive north again, this time with the rest of the light fixtures filling the back of my little Scion.  (Some of the exterior lights went up with the painters.)  The Ice Cream Truck holds a lot of stuff!  These fixtures will be needed before we know it, and I think The Lighting Corner in Grand Haven was happy to have my purchase off the shelves in their garage.

Jamie straps on his drywalling stilts.  These allow
him to work on ceilings and upper wall areas.

Either this afternoon or tomorrow morning I'll check out progress at the house.  As Jamie finished the drywall earlier this week, he asked Dave if I was still in the area.  He said he was well pleased with how the work turned out and wanted me to see it.  The photos below were taken on January 6th.

The ground floor bedroom at mid-mud.

I used scraps of drywall to test the wall colors.

The ground floor bath with its water-resistant drywall.

Taped and mudded walls in the upstairs guest bedroom.

The office seen from the upstairs hall.  To keep this
small area visually open, the office will not have a door. 

Last Thursday I was concerned to find condensation on the inside of the windows.  Jamie explained that the joint compound (commonly called mud) used to finish drywall starts out wet and gives up that moisture as it dries.  Joint compound is a creamy mixture of water, limestone, perlite, and other materials.  It goes on in a series of 3-4 thin coats applied over taped joints between sections of drywall, and over the screws used to attach drywall sheets to the supporting studs, etc. behind.  On Thursday the crew raced around the house like whirling dervishes, applying a thin coat of mud to a particular area, giving that coat a chance to dry, and then applying another coat.  Every corner of the house was drying!  Condensate on the windows was unavoidable.

Condensate in the ground floor bath.

The walls were looking great as Jamie's crew did the taping and mudding last Thursday.  I'm excited to see the finished product.  By the time I arrive, the painters will have been hard at work for three days, too.  This process of interior finish is truly fascinating! •••