The time had come. After weeknights and a few weekend days of insulation it was time to move on. In the end I'm glad we went ahead and did so much acoustical insulating. The wall here is R19 bats; much more than neccessary for an interior wall, but we had it around (slight case of over estimating material needs) and 2x6 framing was plenty deep enough. The acousitcal R13 on the ceiling doesn't have the craft paper vapor barrier and is solely for diffusing sound. Without it, the slightest touch on the 3rd floor thundered on the 2nd like a drum. We were even considering installing those additionally sound dampening clips that the drywall hangs from, but after a few sounds checks we decided this was enough. We're not building a sound studio after all.
Next step: Drywall. I'm pleased to say that we have finally broken through to a new category-- Finishing! Last Saturday I went down to Dykes and bought 66 sheets of 1/2" sheetrock. Granted 5/8" is more fire resistent, and in row houses you might want to go for it, but as I rationalized 1) there was another entire drywall wall behind the new wall on Tracy's side of the house and 2) Ella's side has a fairly extensive brick fire wall. There are some "holes" where you can look between ceilings and roofs and not only see into Tracy's house but a couple of houses beyond hers as well. I think those are the fire stokers we should me more concerned about closing up.
I hired a few guys off of Craigslist to go to the lumber store, pick up the sheetrock, bring it back to the house, and then carry it to both the second and third floors. Molly was here when they were delivering it. Seems it was a much tougher task to get it up the tight winder to the third floor than they had anticipated. The job they thought would take about an hour's took more like 5. Again New York proves you can hire people to do just about anything. And as always with trades guys, the deal is never the deal -- they always want a little more in the end.
We are planning to hang most of the drywall ourselves. As is the case on just about every Friday night of late-- we went down to Home Depot to pick up a few supplies. We wanted to get a magnitized dry wall screw socket to go with the the cordless drill we had planned to use to install the drywall. For once there was a Home Depot employee that not only knew what he was talking about he actually walked up and asked if we needed help. After a bit of back and forth he convinced us that a drywall screwgun (corded) was the way to go. The motor constantly runs and the tip only engages when pressure is placed on it, so less chance of burning out the switch from constant use. Also comes with an adjustable gauge to sink screws to the perfect depth with ease.
....well, once you figure it out.
kxxxkxkxxx... calling, Prof Screwgun... kkkkome in, Prof Screwgun... kkxxxxxkxkx
Prof Screwgun, here! What can I help you with, son?... You're what?... Ok, gotcha: you're trying out your new Dewalt Screwgun... And you've been driving samples to set the depth guage. Well, you're on track so far... But you're having trouble because it takes all your weight to drive a screw?... No, no, I don't think it's the amps, my boy. Sounds to me like you're trying to drive those screws in reverse! You've got to run it in the other direction, see?... Yes, just flip the switch next to the trigger... Unh-hunh, go ahead, I'll wait... hmmm, hmm, hmmmm... Yes, still here... Well, that's swell!... Yes, it really IS a wonder tool... You're very welcome. Now go hang some drywall. And be careful on that ladder!
So once we figured out how to USE the tool, we faced further hurdle of working out how to best hang the sheetrock. On the first run we started in one corner and worked across the side wall. This approach was wrong for a couple of reasons: 1) the front wall is parallel to the joist and the sides are not perpendicular to them and 2) by starting in the corner we were not on the 12" centers so the butts of the drywall were not meeting at a joist. Luckily we were patient enough to take it all down and start over again. On the second try it looked a lot better.
Hanging dry wall on the ceiling was a pain. It was just the two of us and two ladders working three hands as a tripod to hold sheetrock against the joists and with free hand pass the screwgun back and forth to get it set.
Today Jeff came over and with three people it was like night and day. We hung what remained of the upper level work so we can chip away at the lower, "easier" level over next few evenings of the week.
At the end of the day we joined up more pine planks with bisquits to make patches for the second floor. And what was the contractor doing all this time? Try "NOT ensuring that the siding guy was here to finish the job this weekend, like he's been saying would happen since LAST weekend when the guy essentially disappeared leaving the job undone."
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