It is time for an update an a project that has been hanging over my head for 2 years. I am so happy that I have an update!!
Let me remind you where we started………there was a leak from the unit on the 2nd floor into my condo building directly above me. which caused a bubble the ceiling in my master bathroom. The contractor had to cut a hole in my ceiling to see where the leak was coming from. He put up a piece of plastic with a hole in it so that the wood could dry out.
And did I tell you that this happened in January 2017?!?!?!?!? Why did it take me so long to handle this? Well, as usual I went back and forth with whether or not I would do the fix myself or hire it out. I procrastinated, got sick of thinking about it and just ignored it. Ultimately, after a ton of googling and YouTubing, I decided that I could handle this task myself. I figured that attempting the fix would help me learn some new home repair skills which is never bad thing.
TOOLS FOR THE JOB
I needed a wood furring strip (to attach the drywall to), drywall, putty knives, drywall tape, drywall screws, drywall knife and joint compound. I also needed (though I didn’t realize it at the time-safety eye wear). You’ll see why a bit later.
STARTING THE PROCESS
First things first, I needed to cut the wood and the drywall to size.
Yes, it is pitch black outside as I’m cutting the wood!! I am using an old school miter box because that’s what I have. I don’t have room for any big power cutting tools. And, the miter box is really pretty easy to use. Once I learned to use it properly (YouTube again), it was easy work.
Since I work full time, after work is prime DIY time for me. I forgot to take a photo of cutting the drywall but I did that cutting at night on my balcony as well. I bought 2 pieces of drywall that were that were 2×2 each. Otherwise, I would have had to get a huge wall sized piece which was not only way more than I would need, it was also way too heavy for me to carry. The drywall was very easy to cut. I didn’t actually use the drywall knife to cut it. I used a box cutter which was much easier to maneuver. I cut a score type line several times and then bent it back to remove the edge that I didn’t need.
NEXT STEPS
One of the first things I needed to do was to cut down and smooth out the drywall that was on the ceiling. I did use the drywall knife here and it worked well. This is one of the times that I realized that safety eye wear would have been very useful! Pieces were flying around and I found myself closing my eyes while cutting!
After this part, I needed to measure the drywall and figure out how to fit it into the hole. Math and anything math related is not my forte!! You’ll see in the upcoming photos that the large piece of drywall has lots of holes. They are all nail holes but most of them are the result of incorrect positioning.
Again, eye wear would have helped here. There were tons of particles that kept falling when I was placing the board. Thankfully, I do wear glasses so that did help some.
Getting the smaller piece cut and installed was actually fairly easy after going back and forth with the larger piece! I was quite proud after measuring and cutting that the piece fit so nicely!
THE DIRTY WORK BEGINS
Next, it was time to do the mudding (joint compound). This works as the “glue” to bring everything together. It seals the two pieces to each other and then the whole thing to the ceiling and walls. It was pretty easy to do but it is really messy work! 2-3 coats are required and a day to dry in between coats as well as sanding is also needed. These photos are from the first time sanding and I didn’t yet have the safety glasses. Rest assured, before I did the 2nd coat and sanding I did have the glasses!!
THE END IS NEAR
I was so excited every day to go into my bathroom and NOT see a hole in my ceiling. I would stand on the toilet and touch it to make sure it was real!
The next steps were to prime the ceiling. As you know, I am working on a bathroom refresh and will be painting to whole bathroom. For this reason, I was not concerned with getting a paint to match the current wall color.
I will be painting the wall a bright white so I opted to prime the repaired ceiling that color. When it comes time to paint the bathroom, I’ll be priming the entire room in this color.
The repair is not perfect but I don’t care. My walls and ceiling is textured but I am not going to try and texture the repair. It’s the ceiling over the toilet-not gonna spend a lot of time looking up!
There is also a gap between the new and old drywall. I used some joint compound and tape to fill it in some but not enough. Again, I’m not stressing about it. I guess if it bothers me in the future I can cut into the drywall and fix it but I don’t see that happening!!
Now that the ceiling is done it’s time to move onto to other projects in this refresh. Honestly, I couldn’t be happier that this repair is off of the list. It’s another time when I have to ask myself why I waited so long. It always happens that I complete a task that I wasn’t sure that I could handle and now feel a great deal of confidence about tackling other repairs and DIY’s!
How about you? Any projects you’re procrastinating on? What will it take to get you to do them? SHARE IN THE COMMENTS!
