What I've learned about drywalling

Primer's on and I had an extra day off of work this weekend to get some paint on too, so let’s take a moment to reflect now that this job is finally (mostly) done. We’re still some trim and furniture away from being finished, but the room has its basic final shape at this point. And I think it looks good, or at least close to it! So what’s the takeaway now that we’ve gotten to this point, and can anything be applied to other projects moving forward?

1 Stay organized; I broke this project down into phases: demo, paneling, mud/tapping, finishing. For each one, I kept a list of what I would need so I wasn’t getting overwhelmed getting everything at once. It also helped recover from unexpected issues like insulation. Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face. If you’re organized enough, you can recover and decide how to proceed. 

2 Study up; how did people do anything before the internet? We live in a truly magical age people. You can find tutorials on just about anything online, and research is usually a good first step on anything. You can also find just about anything at a reasonable price if you’re willing to spend time looking, which lead to how I found the molding we plan on using.  

3 Get going; having said to study up, at some point it becomes time to shit or get off the pot, so to speak. You have a project, get what you need, and do it. Sometimes realizing that is all it takes. 

4 Remember the big picture; there were times I felt some anxiety mounting at the idea of spending more and more on materials and tools as this project went on. Am I am ever going to use a drywall square or tin snips again after this? Probably not, but they were essential to doing the job properly on my own, or at least as properly as I could. And doing it on my own still kept any purchases I made WAY below the estimates I had from contractors on this job. 

5 Find your patience; this does not come naturally to me. But there are only so many hours in the day, and as much as I wanted this to get done I wanted to spend quality time with the family more. That meant heading outside on nice days, doing quieter work at night when everyone else was in bed, leaving things unfinished, and trying to find ways around not having an accessible basement for an extended period of time. 

6 Keep your confidence; in a job this size I needed the occasional small win to not get discouraged. By working carefully, measuring twice and cutting once, I ended up with a few of these. And even if things went wrong, I tried to be willing to admit it quickly and re-do something rather than refuse to admit I had done something poorly. The last panel I put up was a re-do of the first panel b/c I felt like I had learned a lot and wanted to be completely happy with the final result. The last thing I wanted to do was extend how long something took but I’m glad I took the time to do something better. 

7 Some projects need strength, some need skill; the trick is knowing the difference. Getting the old stuff off and new paneling up was mostly a muscle job, with the occasional tricky measurement tossed in. Mudding, taping, and painting are definitely a skill job. Using one on the other usually doesn’t work, so know what you’re getting into. 

8 Keep the final product in mind; there were spots during the paneling and mudding where I couldn’t quite get things right, but I didn’t have to sweat it too much b/c I knew I wanted to cover it up with some finish details later. The ceiling didn’t have to be perfect b/c I’m going to put molding up. That damn ledge didn’t have to be perfect b/c I want to cover it with a nicely finished shelf (thank god). Having a plan for the final draft meant I didn’t have to stress too much about some tricky spots early on, and that really helped. 

That’s about it off the top of my head. I think there’s a lot there to apply on projects moving forward, even though I like my projects to be more of the “look at this cool one-day build” variety versus the “OMG this was two months in the making” renovation (Gah, two months? Christ almighty. Contractors would’ve been four days. Oh well). B/c I’ve already got some things in mind to decorate the basement with now, even though I think it’s going to be a few weeks before I want to spend any more time down there. Let’s get a tv, then we can talk.