A Good Friday for Dry-Walling

It seems a bit odd to get Good Friday off, as this was not the case in most of the jobs I've worked. But things are different out there in Michigan where the CRC (Christian Reformed Church) has a large influence, and celebrating religious holidays is more generally acceptable than in most other places. It had been my impression that these holidays were going to be a thing of the past once GE took over the company, but apparently there has been some kind of 'deal' made whereby the holiday remains. There will be no complaints on that score from this end of the paycheck; I enjoy having the time to spend with family, and to work on projects around the house.

Today's project was hanging drywall in preparation for the upcoming visit from the Green side of the family. I'm not sure if the purpose is to allow the children to sleep downstairs while the grandparents use one of their bedrooms, or if it is to allow the grandparents to sleep downstairs, far from the noisy environs of four sleeping (?) teenagers. Either way, it will be nice to have some walls up. And James is seriously thinking of moving down to the basement afterward to achieve a greater level of privacy. If that is even possible.

We began this adventure with a trip to the local Home Depot to spend money we don't have on things we really need. There were already two sheets of drywall down near the basement, ready for use. According to my calculations, we needed at least ten more. Plus some 1x8 boards for the ledge. And some black plastic to (temporarily) cover up the ceiling so that we wouldn't be staring up at the pipes and/or insulation all night long.

James drove to the store; as a recent graduate of Driver Ed Session #1, he needs the hours. And he needed the practice of backing the car into the garage so we could unload the seats, and later unload the drywall.

We saw one of the Scout leaders at the store and stopped to chat with him a little bit, but not so long as to keep him from his duties (he works there). And although there was a strong temptation to wander through the lumber aisles smelling the freshly-cut wood, we didn't linger unduly as there was was so much work to do back at the house.

It was very nice to have someone with a strong young back and strong young muscles to help load the ten sheets of drywall into the van. My, those sheets have gotten heavier over the years!

Back at the house, we left the drywall in the garage on some wooden platforms and started putting up the two sheets which were already down in the basement, laying them out horizontally below the ledge. I let the boys do most of the work. After a quick demo on measuring and cutting them to size, and on using the scraper tool to level the edges, the boys took the drills and mounted the boards to the wall. Then we set the ledge boards on top to see how they fit.

Okay, they'll need a slight bit of trimming.

But onward. We brought down all the drywall from the garage - huff! puff! - and proceeded to mount two boards onto the east wall. The first merely needed a cutout for the ledge; the second needed a more complicated cutout for the outlet box. That was another opportunity to teach the boys how to measure the cutout and drill the starter hole, then use the hole saw to cut out the box. And it fit perfectly! I was much pleased.

As part of the outlet-hole prep, I took the opportunity to teach the boys how to use the circuit tracer to figure out which circuit the outlet was on so we could locate the breaker for that circuit and turn it off before touching it. Didn't want anyone accidentally frying a finger-bone by putting it inside a live box!

We kept going until nearly five o'clock, then it was time to quit so that we could have dinner and head out to the Good Friday service at church. And I really needed that shower! I was dusty from head to foot. And we were all tired, ready for a rest.