The Sweet (?) Smell of Sheetrock

Today we came home to the sweet stench smell of sheetrock :) If you've ever had your home under construction, you would recognize the smell anywhere! I don't mind the smell so much now, because I know sanded sheetrock means we're nearing painting time, which means we're nearing completion!

Chris and mom hung the drywall on the remaining wall on Monday, then dad, mom, Chris and I hung the ceiling sheetrock on Monday night. Elwin, our sheetrock guy, came today to tape and sand the screws, cracks and corners. Elwin will be back tomorrow, then we should be painting this weekend!

Dad has pulled up the flooring for the back closet and he'll be laying pine hardwood down, and the new hardwood will be sanded and stained to match the old hardwood.

This is a shot of the old and new hardwood together - it will all be sanded and stained to match, then will have two top coats of polyurethane.

Elwin's fine work.

Dad tore out the header that was over the doorway leading from the kitchen to the hallway - it really opened things up! Header before and no header after shown below.

This is the ceiling of our 1923 home - plaster lath, which to no one's surprise, had warped a bit in standing the test of time. Dad used large screws through a washer, bolted into the ceiling joist to pull the plaster up. Needless to say, we needed to put a fresh layer of sheetrock over the ceiling after this "Bill Duvall fix-it" technique (as my mom called it). I guess after 40+ years of working on old homes, you learn what works best!

Chris screwing in the ceiling sheetrock.