Rock it

Day 66
​Phoenix AZ- Day 10

Grandma answers her phone as soon as Katie calls. She is meeting us at Home Depot to pick out her new lights and pay for a few more supplies. Eli gets to share his bed with a box of recessed lights for the rest of the drive to her place. 

First order of business for the day is to put together a frame for the old window. It's almost always easier to assemble this ahead of time. Trying to bang studs into an existing hole and toe-nailing them in can be done, but your chances of being out of square increase dramatically.

Once inside Katie and I will lift it up into the hole and start convincing it to fit with a few taps of the hammer. I always build my walls on the tight side so that they basically stay in place without having to use any nails. Just a personal preference I suppose.

The wall doesn't fit on the first attempt. It's been so long since I've done this I made a rookie mistake. Both wall ends have the same measurement, but the middle is a 1/4" shorter. I should have known to check somebody else's work instead of thinking it would be straight. Old houses are never straight. It only take a few minutes to pull the wall apart and nip 1/4" off the ends. Then it is right back up into the hole to be filled.

Drywall gets cut and put into place. Prior to that Katie went around the outside edge with a roller and primer. The mud will never stick the way it should to the satin paint that is already up. Primer will promote a better adhesion with less chances of cracking.

The Sheetrock goes together without much fuss. I'm forced to go old school on this. It's paper tape and pre-mixed joint compound. I would have rather used fiberglass mesh with a quick set 45 minute compound, but you gotta work with what you got. Not too bad a a couple of hours work. Tomorrow will be the next coat of mud, and I'll tell you how to do it with barely any sanding at all.