I'm using quarantine to partially renovate my office / comic room 0

[DavidTheDavid]

I'm updating my office, which doubles as a comic room, and triples as a guest room.

The old wallpaper offended my eyes, and I couldn't ignore it any longer. Emboldened by the time at home due to CO-19, I committed myself to stripping the wallpaper and updating this room.

Our house is about 60 years old, and it's been in my family for about 40 of those years, most of them with my maternal grandparents. My wife, young son, and I have lived here for about 6 1/2 years. From the day we moved in, my wife and I have worked on the house, though not as extensively as we'd like. We have peeled wallpaper and painted walls, refinished the wood floors in rooms where we had removed carpet, and completed similar improvements.

So I knew what I was getting into right? Right?

The first layer of wallpaper revealed a second layer. I should have foreseen it, but enough time had passed that my memory failed. Or maybe it was the weed? Regardless, MORE wallpaper.

So the top layer of wallpaper came off fairly routinely. The second one, though, has told a different tale. Before hanging the new wallpaper, someone skimcoated the original wallpaper, so I've been steaming my way through that mess.

The bottom layer is as old as the house. It was pasted directly onto the original drywall, which is still intact but suffering patches of superficial damage depending on how patient I am with the steamer. Or maybe that's the weed, too? Dunno. Anyhow...

I have probably four more hours of work getting the wallpaper down. Then I will clean the walls and floors, move furniture and comics back into the room, and live in it as is until the fall when I'll have more cash to get a professional to do the walls properly and let someone else paint it.

I left these postcards on the pocket door so I would have something soothing in the room. The closet is more overstuffed than usual.

Edited May 12, 2020 by DavidTheDavid
grammaticus rex

[DavidTheDavid]

Also, I am kinda bored and starved for contact with humans outside my family so there's that.

[lizards2]

Congrats on being motivated enough to tackle this chore!

It is interesting the difference in experiences of the "quarantine". We have yet to have a case in the county, but most locals believe that the virus swept through here in February or early March. While there have been some cases on the east side of the state, there has been only one death.  Either the people are tougher out here, or drier conditions prevent the virus from doing its worst harm.  Or maybe, as I heard yesterday, it is the lack of 5g cell towers out here.

I'm out every day, and my lifestyle has changed very little.  Whereas, I used to meet my friends at the Elks Lodge, we now meet a couple nights per week at hosted "speakeasies".  This has been great, since you get more information about people's lives when you meet at their homes, then you do at a bar.  I was invited out firewood cutting several days, which was a lot of fun (and work), and am invited to a branding this upcoming Saturday.  Also, going on 7-9 day bear and turkey hunt later this spring. Unfortunately, it sounds like the coastal areas are shut down, and we probably won't make the low tides in early June for razor clams, but I remain hopeful.

[DavidTheDavid]

14 minutes ago, lizards2 said:

Congrats on being motivated enough to tackle this chore!

It is interesting the difference in experiences of the "quarantine". We have yet to have a case in the county, but most locals believe that the virus swept through here in February or early March. While there have been some cases on the east side of the state, there has been only one death.  Either the people are tougher out here, or drier conditions prevent the virus from doing its worst harm.  Or maybe, as I heard yesterday, it is the lack of 5g cell towers out here.

I'm out every day, and my lifestyle has changed very little.  Whereas, I used to meet my friends at the Elks Lodge, we now meet a couple nights per week at hosted "speakeasies".  This has been great, since you get more information about people's lives when you meet at their homes, then you do at a bar.  I was invited out firewood cutting several days, which was a lot of fun (and work), and am invited to a branding this upcoming Saturday.  Also, going on 7-9 day bear and turkey hunt later this spring. Unfortunately, it sounds like the coastal areas are shut down, and we probably won't make the low tides in early June for razor clams, but I remain hopeful.

You need to get some photos of those adventures. Especially the branding, I kinda wanna see that.  

[lizards2]

20 minutes ago, DavidTheDavid said:

You need to get some photos of those adventures. Especially the branding, I kinda wanna see that.  

The last branding I was at in the 1980s pretty much cured me of ever wanting to participate in another one.  This guy is an old friend from the 1980s that moved back into town, and I'm kind of anxious to see his place, as I have not been there yet.  He said there method is a little different - they don't use horses, but a squeeze chute, and use freeze branding, instead of hot branding.  

[Old_Man_Adam]

5 hours ago, DavidTheDavid said:

I have probably four more hours of work getting the wallpaper down

After removing wallpaper with a mix of chemicals and a heater in the early 2000’s on my old house , I will NEVER willingly buy , install or associate myself with it .... very painful to remove and it’s common to find multiple layers ( much like vinyl floor tile ) bunched on top of each other 

[GACollectibles]

What I got most out of this thread was weed!

[Hollywood1892]

6 hours ago, DavidTheDavid said:

I'm updating my office, which doubles as a comic room, and triples as a guest room.

The old wallpaper offended my eyes, and I couldn't ignore it any longer. Emboldened by the time at home due to CO-19, I committed myself to stripping the wallpaper and updating this room.

Our house is about 60 years old, and it's been in my family for about 40 of those years, most of them with my maternal grandparents. My wife, young son, and I have lived here for about 6 1/2 years. From the day we moved in, my wife and I have worked on the house, though not as extensively as we'd like. We have peeled wallpaper and painted walls, refinished the wood floors in rooms where we had removed carpet, and completed similar improvements.

So I knew what I was getting into right? Right?

The first layer of wallpaper revealed a second layer. I should have foreseen it, but enough time had passed that my memory failed. Or maybe it was the weed? Regardless, MORE wallpaper.

So the top layer of wallpaper came off fairly routinely. The second one, though, has told a different tale. Before hanging the new wallpaper, someone skimcoated the original wallpaper, so I've been steaming my way through that mess.

The bottom layer is as old as the house. It was pasted directly onto the original drywall, which is still intact but suffering patches of superficial damage depending on how patient I am with the steamer. Or maybe that's the weed, too? Dunno. Anyhow...

I have probably four more hours of work getting the wallpaper down. Then I will clean the walls and floors, move furniture and comics back into the room, and live in it as is until the fall when I'll have more cash to get a professional to do the walls properly and let someone else paint it.

I left these postcards on the pocket door so I would have something soothing in the room. The closet is more overstuffed than usual.

No windows, which looks good to protect against unnecessary sunlight!

It will look awesome when it's done

[DavidTheDavid]

26 minutes ago, Hollywood1892 said:

No windows, which looks good to protect against unnecessary sunlight!

It will look awesome when it's done

There are two tall windows on the front of the house, but it's pretty shaded right there.

[Callaway29]

Yikes, I'd be tempted to just put new drywall in at that point...assuming it's just one massive patch job. I feel like I despise working with spackle more than most though (mainly the sanding). It's a perfectionists nightmare...

Edited May 12, 2020 by Callaway29

[thunsicker]

My house is over 100 years old, so it's all plaster lath.  Luckily I don't think there is a single room that has wall paper.  Lead paint and asbestos, but no wall paper.

[Ryan.]

9 hours ago, lizards2 said:

The last branding I was at in the 1980s pretty much cured me of ever wanting to participate in another one.  This guy is an old friend from the 1980s that moved back into town, and I'm kind of anxious to see his place, as I have not been there yet.  He said there method is a little different - they don't use horses, but a squeeze chute, and use freeze branding, instead of hot branding.  

You woodsy folk get deep into the kink. 

[lizards2]

1 hour ago, Ryan. said:

You woodsy folk get deep into the kink. 

You'd look pretty good in the squeeze chute, pardner. Especially with new freeze brand art on your butt, to show off to your wife.....,  

We could even leave the oysters intact....., maybe.  

[Ryan.]

11 hours ago, lizards2 said:

You'd look pretty good in the squeeze chute, pardner. Especially with new freeze brand art on your butt, to show off to your wife.....,  

We could even leave the oysters intact....., maybe.  

Hey, I sent you these pics of @GACollectibles in confidence 

[GACollectibles]

13 minutes ago, Ryan. said:

Hey, I sent you these pics of @GACollectibles in confidence 

#bieberbusted

[D2]

I finished a mural for my office too!

Cant wait to see your final work

[ADAMANTIUM]

12 minutes ago, D2 said:

I finished a mural for my office too!

Cant wait to see your final work

 so cool!

[Buzzetta]

19 hours ago, Callaway29 said:

Yikes, I'd be tempted to just put new drywall in at that point...assuming it's just one massive patch job. I feel like I despise working with spackle more than most though (mainly the sanding). It's a perfectionists nightmare...

 

18 hours ago, thunsicker said:

My house is over 100 years old, so it's all plaster lath.  Luckily I don't think there is a single room that has wall paper.  Lead paint and asbestos, but no wall paper.

Same issue.  The house was completed in 1937 constructed of concrete stucco exterior with lath and plaster interiors.  To be fair the house is built like a tank.

However, the wallpaper issue was the same in the kitchen.  Apparently, back then you would just apply new wallpaper over the old and if you wanted paint then it was okay to paint over the old wallpaper as well.  Then sometime in the 760's or 70's someone put paneling up over the whole mess. The result was multiple layers of wallpaper and paint that had to come down.  I eventually got it all but with a lot of steaming and scrubbing. 

I soon realized that the residue from the 80 years of glue might cause problems with the paint.  At the end of the day I just put up 1/4" drywall on top of it and painted it.  

As far as asbestos... I am eventually looking for someone to redo the living room.  At some point someone applied the old asbestos tile on top of the wood floor and then they eventually put rugs on top of that.   I still have the last set of rugs from the previous owner as they are in decent shape and not something I feel like tackling.  Once I decide to replace them though, I am going with rugs again as to strip the floor back down the wood, which would probably need to be replaced throughout the house anyway, would mean breaking through the asbestos tile. 

Ah - homeownership.  I just used my lunch hour to go outside and do some yardwork. 

[DavidTheDavid]

My kid drew Spiderman wearing a paper sack, being laughed at by three hecklers.

Can you figure out who the mean guy is?

 

 

[Ryan.]

Is it Kramer?