That's the Way It Crumbles, Cookie-Wise

[Nancy Hart]

That's interesting. The Gargle sound is one I've heard a lot out in the country. There are very few birds out there, so it's easy to isolate individual sounds. The Phoebe sound is also common out there. I thought it was a Phoebe because they have a nest on the porch. I think the BirdNet App on my phone thinks it's a Phoebe also.

 

[Joe Riley]

Maybe you need a cookie break!

 

[Nancy Hart]

Bath Remodel Update

Due to gravity I figured it best to finish the ceiling first. It will only be painted, so it has to be in better shape than the walls. I hate painting in general, and ceilings are the worst. "Keep going. This part will be over one day."

I patched and filled, then skim coated over the patches, let it dry. Took a good look at it at night with the ceiling light on it, and it looked pretty darn good. I was strutting around like a rooster in a hen house. Went to bed happy.

Next morning with the sunlight coming through the window was a whole different story.

Wish I had taken a picture. Mostly due to different textures---shiny paint vs flat patches. You could probably make it look acceptable with 2 (or 3) coats of paint, but I'm not sure.

Took another look at my closet project, and it wasn't as bad as I thought. Decided to give it another try, and do 2 thin skim coats on the ceiling. Thin coats are easier than thick ones. How could I mess up something only 50 square feet?

 

[Joe Riley]

Bath Remodel Update

Due to gravity I figured it best to finish the ceiling first. It will only be painted, so it has to be in better shape than the walls. I hate painting in general, and ceilings are the worst. "Keep going. This part will be over one day."

I patched and filled, then skim coated over the patches, let it dry. Took a good look at it at night with the ceiling light on it, and it looked pretty darn good. I was strutting around like a rooster in a hen house. Went to bed happy.

Next morning with the sunlight coming through the window was a whole different story.

Wish I had taken a picture. Mostly due to different textures---shiny paint vs flat patches. You could probably make it look acceptable with 2 (or 3) coats of paint, but I'm not sure.

Took another look at my closet project, and it wasn't as bad as I thought. Decided to give it another try, and do 2 thin skim coats on the ceiling. Thin coats are easier than thick ones. How could I mess up something only 50 square feet?

 

[Nancy Hart]

Unfortunately when you get your nose right up against the ceiling you can spot potential nail pops. Nail Bulges? Two more in the ceiling, plus a raised ridge coming out a couple of feet from the window. I tried to fix those first.

Added a drop of blue food coloring on the 1st skim coat, to keep track of where I missed. If it bleeds through, so be it. My mother used to add bluing in the laundry to make white clothes look whiter. Bottom line I can just paint the ceiling blue.

It looks much better even with just one skim coat. Still a few shiny missed spots.

 

[Joe Riley]

Unfortunately when you get your nose right up against the ceiling you can spot potential nail pops. Nail Bulges? Two more in the ceiling, plus a raised ridge coming out a couple of feet from the window. I tried to fix those first.

Added a drop of blue food coloring on the 1st skim coat, to keep track of where I missed. If it bleeds through, so be it. My mother used to add bluing in the laundry to make white clothes look whiter. Bottom line I can just paint the ceiling blue.

It looks much better even with just one skim coat. Still a few shiny missed spots.

View attachment 279

My Uncle Charlie was a professional painter, and told me to mix 1 cup of my wall color with my gallon of ceiling white, to "take the edge off the white".

The Painted Ceiling by Amy Lowell​

 

[Nancy Hart]

My Uncle Charlie was a professional painter, and told me to mix 1 cup of my wall color with my gallon of ceiling white, to "take the edge off the white".

The Painted Ceiling by Amy Lowell​

If the walls are painted a darker color, taking the edge off of a white ceiling sounds like a good idea.

She must be describing a medallion above a chandelier.

 

[Joe Riley]

If the walls are painted a darker color, taking the edge off of a white ceiling sounds like a good idea.

She must be describing a medallion above a chandelier.

View attachment 282

Yeah, I think your right!

 

[Nancy Hart]

The best YouTube videos about finishing drywall are made by the professionals. But you have to keep in mind, to make a living at it, they have to work quickly, do as little sanding as possible, and build up arm muscles.

I discovered you can skim coat in sections as long as you don't overlap the sections until they are completely dry. Doing it that way just means it takes extra time and you may have to do more sanding. That doesn't matter to me for a one-time job.

Last night I went around the edges of the ceiling in disjoint sections as large as possible until either the "mud" got too dry, or my arm gave out. Then worked out from the middle. Today I'll try to fill in the missed sections. It may take a 3rd day.

This morning the ceiling is looking so good already, I'm starting to rethink doing wallpaper. Just finish the walls and paint them also. There is some really bad damage around the top of the shower, but I might be able to fix it and paint in the same amount of time it would take to put up wallpaper.

While I'm at it, I could rewire the electric circuit that room is on and add some outlets or light fixtures above the sink. That circuit is the only one left in the house that is not grounded. The dining room has surface wiring and you hardly notice it because it's painted the same color as the walls and ceiling. It suits an old house. Surface wiring would be hard to do over wallpaper.

 

[Joe Riley]

The best YouTube videos about finishing drywall are made by the professionals. But you have to keep in mind, to make a living at it, they have to work quickly, do as little sanding as possible, and build up arm muscles.

I discovered you can skim coat in sections as long as you don't overlap the sections until they are completely dry. Doing it that way just means it takes extra time and you may have to do more sanding. That doesn't matter to me for a one-time job.

Last night I went around the edges of the ceiling in disjoint sections as large as possible until either the "mud" got too dry, or my arm gave out. Then worked out from the middle. Today I'll try to fill in the missed sections. It may take a 3rd day.

This morning the ceiling is looking so good already, I'm starting to rethink doing wallpaper. Just finish the walls and paint them also. There is some really bad damage around the top of the shower, but I might be able to fix it and paint in the same amount of time it would take to put up wallpaper.

While I'm at it, I could rewire the electric circuit that room is on and add some outlets or light fixtures above the sink. That circuit is the only one left in the house that is not grounded. The dining room has surface wiring and you hardly notice it because it's painted the same color as the walls and ceiling. It suits an old house. Surface wiring would be hard to do over wallpaper.

One wall with wallpaper as an accent, sometimes is better than all wallpaper.

 

[Nancy Hart]

One wall with wallpaper as an accent, is sometimes is better than all wallpaper.

Thank you! How about reversing your idea a little... Extend the PVC beadboard wainscoting to the ceiling on the one wall with the shower. PVC would be more resistant to dampness than wallpaper. Frame the shower to cover the damage at the top edge. Yes!

I'm imagining a shower in the cross-hatched area.



My mother painted an accent wall in our living room a different color back in the late 1950s before it was cool. Most everyone made fun of it, so she repainted soon after.

 

[Nancy Hart]

I took the day off yesterday to walk through, in detail, how to make the accent wall in the above image work in reality. I think there are too many pitfalls. For example, how to transition neatly to the ceiling. You would need some sort of crown molding. The walls and ceiling are no doubt wavy. Corners not square, etc. It would be hard to make it look neat.

The door and window have wide 6" casings. The baseboards are 8" tall. It would look fine just to put a wider PVC casing/frame around the shower opening. That would cover the damage, so there would be no need for wallpaper either. It will be hard enough just to make that frame look neat.

Avoided opening a can of worms. Just planning it was a fun though. Now back to work.

 

[Joe Riley]

I took the day off yesterday to walk through, in detail, how to make the accent wall in the above image work in reality. I think there are too many pitfalls. For example, how to transition neatly to the ceiling. You would need some sort of crown molding. The walls and ceiling are no doubt wavy. Corners not square, etc. It would be hard to make it look neat.

The door and window have wide 6" casings. The baseboards are 8" tall. It would look fine just to put a wider PVC casing/frame around the shower opening. That would cover the damage, so there would be no need for wallpaper either. It will be hard enough just to make that frame look neat.

Avoided opening a can of worms. Just planning it was a fun though. Now back to work.

"You gotta know when to walk away...."

 

[Nancy Hart]

(4/1/25)
The 2nd ceiling skim coat was way more difficult. The chalky texture of the 1st coat soaked all the moisture out of the new mud, and I couldn't spread it out smoothly fast enough. After sanding it looks fine though.

No more ladder work until I get this vertigo thing resolved. Looking up at the ceiling, then down, triggers dizziness. It started around Valentine's Day. I believe the cause this time was a rather hard blow to the head. I prefer not to give any more details, except to say no other person was involved. Just me and an inanimate structure made of wood.

I've now developed an irrational fear of being in a spinning room. It even has a name: Illyngophobia. It's keeping me from trying to fix the problem, because the procedure can make the room spin up to 4 times in a row. Then there's a residual dizziness that lingers for some time afterward, even if it's successful. Much like having a mild hangover. (Understanding Post Vertigo Weirdness)

It took me 4 hours to muster up the courage to try it once two nights ago. I feel like Ned, the whiner, just writing this down. Two times last night. The second time was more like it should be. Things seem better this morning, but you can't tell if it worked for sure until you do it again and there's no spinning. More torture tonight. Hopefully that will do it.

 

[Sheryl]

You have my sympathy, @Nancy Hart . I had a bad attack of vertigo years ago and I don't think I have ever totally recovered. I have to be careful turning, and I get dizzy just looking up. No way I'd climb a ladder.

My doctor told me to sit in a chair, focus on a spot on the wall, then turn my head as fast as I could one way. Look at the spot until the spinning stopped. Then do the same thing, turning to the other way. He said that teaches your brain to ignore the vertigo. I still do that once in a while.

 

[Nancy Hart]

You have my sympathy, @Nancy Hart . I had a bad attack of vertigo years ago and I don't think I have ever totally recovered. I have to be careful turning, and I get dizzy just looking up. No way I'd climb a ladder.

My doctor told me to sit in a chair, focus on a spot on the wall, then turn my head as fast as I could one way. Look at the spot until the spinning stopped. Then do the same thing, turning to the other way. He said that teaches your brain to ignore the vertigo. I still do that once in a while.

Sheryl, did your doctor recommend a repositioning maneuver first, like the Epley procedure? There are stories of people that had vertigo and just lived with it for years, thinking there was no fix. Then had a therapist do one of the procedures and it worked on them.

This is my 4th go 'round. The first time I just let it play itself out. It took months, and I was never quite back to normal. The 2nd and 3rd times the Epley thing worked like a charm. This time it is being more stubborn.

 

[Joe Riley]

 

[Nancy Hart]

 

[Nancy Hart]

Three consecutive Epley procedures with zero room-spinning. I'm declaring the BPPV vertigo done with (). It's amazing to me that this can be fixed in 3 minutes, without a doctor or a prescription.

This is the ugly tongue-twister in the bathroom: an old seashell shaped sink.

It's some kind of heavy composite stone material. The outer layer is crazed around the drain. Once that happens they say it doesn't have long to live, because water seeps in the cracks and destroys the base material. The whole top can still be repaired and the appearance completely changed with a thick epoxy coating. What better chance to try doing something I've never done before. Nothing to lose. But the next step should probably be to prepare the upper walls for paint.

The brown line along the back of the sink is just a gap, where the wall bows in. It was covered by glued in molding. That wall can be made flat with quickset joint compound (dries hard). The side splash is cemented in at an angle. If I can get it loose, I'll try to make it lay flat against the wall also.

 

[Joe Riley]

Don't go fretting over the sink.....