Why You May Want to Re-Sheetrock an Entire Historic House?
Throughout this renovation process I walked the fine line between being the Homeowner, Interior Designer, and Project Manager. Wearing ”multiple hats” took its toll and I often found myself talking to my alter egos! There were several key factors of the project that we could not control; the timeline, the electrical work, the plumbing work, and most importantly the dry wall work. The dry wall work was not just for the new bathrooms and laundry room. We had tried unsuccessfully to remove the existing mauve vinyl wall-covering that covered almost the entire 3,000 square feet of finished living space, but we ended up doing more damage to the plaster walls. So we decided instead to sheetrock over the wall-covering with ¼” drywall. This meant that we literally needed to re-sheetrocking the entire house!
Our plan was to have them all start on the third floor master suite – if we could get just one working bathroom in the house – we could move into the third floor space and really feel connected with the projects that we were planning on doing after hours. I have always loved the expression “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans!” This fit our situation perfectly. We had our plans, but the drywall team had their own timeline.
In the beginning I tried to keep track of the stacks of 4x8 sheets of drywall that were delivered at intervals throughout the process. Twenty or more sheets showed up at a time and were quickly dispersed and hung throughout the house. It seemed like the sheetrock was going up pretty fast at first BUT when it came time for the spackle crew to show up – that’s where progress screeched to halt!
This was a perfect instance of getting what you pay for, we got a good price since our contractor’s business was slow when we started – but paid for it in frustration and I must admit a few tears. Once the plumbing and electrical phases were completed we could finally see sheetrock in our dreams – but there were times when I found myself practically begging the drywall contractors to show up! Fortunately, we had put a completion date in the contract, and they knew there was conditional bonus money on the line. Still, there were several nights where we would have guys, mainly the spacklers, working second shift with us after their other day jobs were done for the day and they had their dinner.
These guys were in reality more used to commercial projects than residential – let alone a 115-year-old house, but in the end they got the job done (a few weeks overdue) I was never so happy to hand the foreman our final payment and be able to move forward to the next step. It marked a HUGE milestone in our renovation. I could finally see my vision a little more clearly AND perhaps more importantly, my husband John and I could begin doing some of the other project work ourselves.
I am not an electrician, plumber, sheet-rocker hanger or spackler, but by then I had become fairly accomplished at refinishing wood trim and painting. I am very fortunate that I have a handy husband and believe me when I say that I kept him busy with project after project – mainly wood working and trim. But he has become very skilled at just about every aspect of the renovation by this point. John’s spirits lifted as he felt more in control of the process because he could actually start to use his skills more, too!