little by little

I can't believe how much time has gone by since our last post. While there has been quite a bit of progress, I would still like for the progress to go by faster! New pictures are posted in the renovation gallery, so you can view for yourself how much has been completed.

We are still battling the wallpaper- but it is a battle we are conquering more and more each day. Now we just have the upstairs hallway to scrub down (from the glue) with TSP (Titanium Sodium Phosphate powder mixed with warm water). That is probably the worse part of the whole experience. We (throughout the week, I have a small crew of my parents and Jimmy for a few hours on the weekends- as well as a few child laborers that assist in the process) have gone through probably miles of wallpaper- up to 5 and 6 layers thick. However, the sticky, dirty glue residue that remains requires heavy scrubbing. This means that I am up and down a ladder so that every inch is scrubbed. Needless to say, I am developing carpal tunnel in both wrists (they fall asleep often) and I have bruises on my shins. But, I rest easier knowing the walls are good and clean and ready for the next phase.

After all of the scrubbing, which takes almost as long as the wallpaper removal, the walls must be rinsed with warm water (to get rid of powdery residue of the TSP). Once they are dry they can be touched up with joint compound. We have been mostly fortunate in that most of the walls are in good shape. There are a few long (somewhat deep cracks) in almost every room, but overall, they can be touched up easily. We have been relying on Jimmy's dad to do most of the spackling, however, we decided to try it ourselves today. It is not a hard process, but you can't expect it to be perfect the first time you layer on the mixture. The first coat should go on relatively thick- dry- then sanded down. You can repeat this at least one more time until you receive the smoothness you desire.

We had an issue with the plaster in the "dining room" (this may be later referred to as the living room as we are still deciding how to use each of the rooms). It started out as a large, deep crack from ceiling to floor (part of the wall was sunken inward). So, we decided to take out the part that was sunken in (around the window) and repair it using a two-coat plaster process. However, when Jimmy's dad took out that portion of the wall, we noticed that the plaster was applied on brick (not uncommon for an exterior wall) and then on lath within the same horizontal area (somewhat uncommon). Therefore, it was causing the plaster to crack due to the differentiation in the thickness. In addition, as he would tear off the plaster, the other portion of the plaster kept breaking off, too. So, then we decided to remove the plaster in this wall (we rationalized that it would be easier to run electrical outlets and other wiring, as well). Needless to say, this was a very dirty and messy process (everything that was not covered or shut off was covered in a very thick layer of dust). We plan on using gypsum to recover the wall. However, as of now, we have yet to fix the wall (hopefully tomorrow). Of course, I realized, after the wall was down, I could have foregone the wallpaper removal, scrubbing and rinsing. I try not to think about the amount of time that was wasted on that wall. I just hope it looks great when it is installed.

We also have primed the front parlor and pulled up the carpet. The carpet removal was more difficult than one would imagine. First of all the carpet had a tack strip that ran the perimeter of the room (and around the hearth). Jimmy struggled to get this out in some places because they had used extra long nails. Then we had two layers of padding to dispose of. The top layer we were able to pick up and throw away. However, the bottom (black) layer require scraping (because it was glued down- ARG!!!). There were also an abundance of staples every 6-9 inches. Hopefully we will catch a break in some of the other rooms.

Well, that is where we stand right now. Hopefully the next blog won't take as long to post. We will try to do better with posting images and comments about the house! Keep giving us feed back and letting us know what you are up to as well!

Walla Walla Wallpaper

And... still... the battle continues. I have completed the removal of the wallpaper in the living room. There were two coats of paper on the wall, but the top coat took less than 10 minutes to remove. However, the bottom coat was adhered rather well. Luckily, the plaster had been painted and helped facilitate the removal. I found a message written on the wall beneath the wallpaper. The bottom coat of wallpaper had been hung on May 2, 1986-- 21 years ago. I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't earlier, but, it is still interesting that the paper hangers (Gary Ralls and Darryl Richardson) signed the wall. I wonder if they still work/ live nearby. I'd like to hire them to remove the remaining wallpaper!!!

The learning curve continues to develop in every room that we tackle. Jimmy and I found some ice scrapers in the discount aisle at Wal-Mart. They were only 10 cents a piece. They work pretty well-- much better than the plastic putty knives. They are fairly in-destructable, but are so inexpensive I don't mind if they break. The good thing is that they don't damage the wall, but are heavy and sturdy enough to apply enough pressure to scrape the paper.

After the removal, we washed all of the walls down with water and TSP powder. This helped rid the walls of the glue residue. We used a mop for most of this, but it still took some time because we had to scrub some areas and then rinse with warm water. Jimmy's dad came over tonight and patched one area above the door. I was amazed at how the crack just disappeared. He is going to come back tomorrow and finish up the rest of the room. I can't wait until we can prime the walls. Everyone keeps asking what colors we are going to use but I haven't gotten that far yet. I'm waiting to find a sofa/upholstery I like, then the window treatments. That may take awhile, but we can get it primed in the process. At least it will look cleaner and we can begin on the floors.

Well... that's all for now. We are going to continue working on the dining room wallpaper and will post more information and pictures later.

Still Battling the Wallpaper!

We are still battling the first chunk of wallpaper. We are almost finished with this pattern. Last night while at Wally World, we found some cheap solid molded plastic ice scrapers on sale for 10 cents each. I thought that they would make good wallpaper removal tools. After using them today, I think they work a lot better than the plastic putty knives that we started out with. We have also stopped using the tool to score the paper. Instead, we just rip off the top decorative portion and spray the remaining part with the hot water and fabric softener mixture. That process and concoction yields the best results. I am not sure which room we will tackle next, but I hope this technique continues to work well.

Wallpaper Warriors

I began the first full day of the renovations on our house today. Jimmy and I started last night with the wallpaper in the servant hall (back staircase). After experimenting with several different techniques, we finally found the right technique. We started off by scoring the wallpaper with a "paper tiger" (perforating tool) and then by spraying some wallpaper removal solution on it. However, we realized this wasn't the best method because it barely reached the underside of the backing paper. So, we then began to pull off the top portion (decorative surface) of the wallpaper. Most of it came off pretty easily without much effort, but, all of the backing remained adhered to the wall. However, after drenching it with a concoction of hot water and fabric softer, it peeled off like butter. We just had to scrape across it with a plastic putty knife and it came right off. Some of it could even be peeled off by hand. Most of the surface area had only one coat of wallpaper. Some of the trickier areas (around door/ window casings) had two coats. Still, the wall underneath was painted with a glossy paint, so, this facilitated the removal of the backing. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it is like that all over the rest of the house. I know there are at least three coats of wallpaper in our current bedroom. I just hope the wall has been painted underneath! Then, of course, there are the ceilings on both the first and second floors. There are signs of wallpaper on them, but they have also been painted! I foresee me needing lots of bubble baths and massages to make through a successful renovation!

After about 6 hours of removing paper, I believe I am almost halfway finished with this area! The wall underneath looks pretty good, minus a few rough spots. However, those should be pretty easy to smooth over with a skim coat of either plaster or a spackling concoction. Jimmy says it looks like we are living in a "crack house." I have to admit it is somewhat disheartening to go through the labor-intensive wallpaper removal process because it looks worse afterwards. Still, I have to remind myself that it is temporary and that it will be better in the end. I just hope that "end" is not too far away!!