DIY: the Woodbine edition

Today my dad and I did the first major bit of home renovation since House-Making Day in 2007. The funny thing is, I don't even live in my house right now!


The bathroom has had problems. Luckily no scary water problems, but it does have serious, time-consuming repairs that I didn't have the slightest idea about how to address. I've known the repairs needed to be done for a while now, but I responded like an ostrich. Even if it didn't go away, I could still just ignore it. Life's busy enough, right?


Well, it was time to face it. There's nothing like having someone rent your house to help you get on top of your to-do list (thanks, Keith). So after a bit of research on my part (my dad's old hat at this handyman stuff), my dad and I went to Knoxville today to jump in head first. I was super focused and intent on finishing it in one day. After a trip to Home Depot, we unloaded our supplies and tools and got down to work.

The first item of business is that walls were falling off! The paint & joint compound started peeling and cracking and, eventually, falling off the walls of the bathroom. It was sad, and a little scary, too. Luckily, it was only superficial: the plaster and drywall underneath are fine. I jumped in head first and scraped my little heart out. It's really satisfying to watch the cracked joint compound falling off the walls. I really do enjoy making a mess, even if there's no sledgehammer or food processor involved! My dad went to work on scraping more cracked compound on another section of wall, and we scraped & roughed up the wall underneath in no time. 

Then it was time to put joint compound back onto the wall. The moment of truth. My dad went back to Home Depot for some tools and came back with a different kind of joint compound. He'd also gotten a 30-second lesson on how to make the walls look like that texture above, which is apparently called 'knockdown.' Sound like an odd name? It actually makes perfect sense. You spread the joint compound on the wall smoothly, then pull up with your spreader to make little mountain peaks. Then you knock them down, and the end result is pretty cool. Well, Dad came back with his lesson, went at it, and it looked just like the rest of the wall! Yay! It was pretty awesome to watch my dad do all of the scraped spots in there and get tickled at every single one he did. He'd finish one section, let out a big laugh, and proclaim that he was doing knockdown. Finish the next section, more laughs, more smiles, more victory. Why did I avoid home repair?

The second item of business was the tub surround. You know, that plasticky piece of stuff that is on the walls above the tub. It's been loose for a long time, and the caulk has gotten moldy and fallen off in many places. So while Dad was having the time of his life doing some fabulous knockdown, I ripped that sucker off the wall. It made some great noises coming off the wall. Then Dad peeled off the old caulk, and we went to work gluing it back on. We thought it'd need a week to dry fully and cure, but the glue recommended just 24 hours. Stellar! Then I caulked it up really pretty, if I do say so myself, and we were done. Now all I need to do is go back and paint over the naked joint compound so it matches the rest of the wall.


So we won! Woohoo!