Exciting Frustrating
So Dad and I hung the first piece of drywall yesterday. Very exciting. Just one piece on one side of the half wall. Only took a few minutes. Wasn't all that hard. Very easy to cut. But working around all the old plaster and framing is increasingly frustrating. Below the other side of the half wall for instance has uneven plaster on top of an even more uneven floor joist just below the wall. So in order to hang a piece of drywall, I have to tear off the plaster and build it back with strips of wood so it's the same thickness and the half wall. That's probably too hard to visualize from my description.
At any rate, everything that I'm trying to do around the old plaster and wood is becoming really complicated like that. The bay window is especially difficult. All bay windows have a tendency to sag after 85 years and mine is no exception. Plus none of the stud are very straight or even because they were covered with lathe and then two layers of plaster to make them straight. Now, I'm trying to come up with ways to fur out the walls to an even level for hanging drywall. There just doesn't seem to be an easy way to do it. I can tell it's going to be a complicated solution.
Using the drywall router around the electrical boxes was a little tricky at first, but I think I got the hang of it now. Initially I tried going around the inside of the box and ended up cutting through it in a couple places. The second time I figured out what you need to do is start in the middle and cut to the outside till you hit the box. Then 'jump' over to the outside of the box and cut around the outside counter clockwise. Slow light pressure works better, otherwise you can cut right through the plastic.
Also, Greg get's the number one friend trophy for helping me haul 36 sheets of drywall in his truck. Hooray Greg!