NEW Mudding and Sanding workout!
We’re starting a new strength training program at our home. It’s a great new program that is sure to build strength in your upper arms, forearms and hands. It’s easy enough for anyone to do, but it’s helpful if you have a LOT of remodeling to do. Granted, you may wind up a little lopsided, unless you’re ambidextrous, but it’s still a good workout.
Start with an empty ice cream pail. Fill it with drywall mud. Add water. Use a potato masher to mix it. It is very important to mix this thoroughly, so you will get ample time to put your arms to use on this part.
Next, pour the new mud into a large tray. It’s about a good 8 lbs of mud and this step will take about 20-30 minutes, depending on how fast and good you are at mudding. Hold the tray in one hand, while using a trowel to apply the mud to the wall with the other hand. For a great workout with the trowel hand, spend a LOT of time mudding a ceiling or inclined wall. By holding that arm over your head to work, you’re sure to get a GREAT workout!
The other arm is getting it’s own great workout just holding that 8lb tray of mud. You need to keep your arm at a nice 90 degree angle, so as not to spill the mud everywhere.
Repeat the steps above about 8 more times, over an 8 hour period. When you get up the next morning, you’ll know you got a great workout! You won’t be able to use your arms for anything for about 2-3 days, but hey… no pain, no gain! (and, yes… today I am in pain.. a GREAT deal of pain!)
Well… meanwhile, I expect you’re all looking for some new photos of our work upstairs. Sorry for the delay, but life has been quite busy. The photos below were actually taken back in the beginning of March, but still give you a good view of what the room looks like.
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| Judy applying 3rd layer of mud to the dormer. See how nicely our built-in bookshelf is getting used already?! | Final layer of mud on dormer DONE! Now to finish it off! |
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| Dormer textured, primed and painted! Woohoo!!! | We were looking for mor of a light-gold color for the walls. This is a bit more ‘yellow’ than we planned, but it’ll do for now. |
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| View of bathroom from dormer. | Inside bathroom, view from window. The built-in linen cupboard is IN and almost done. Doors to come later. |
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| View of the ‘toilet-cubby’. The wall on the left, is a short wall dividing the toilet and the shower. | Facing the pedastal sink with medicine cabinet on top. We’re very happy with the entire look and feel! LOVE the lights!  |
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| View of main room. What you’re looking at here is the first layer of mud, only. We’re currently finishing off the 3rd layer right now. (that’s how far behind I am with updates! | Judy taking apart our fancy subfloor we built to work on the dormer. With the dormer finished, we didn’t need it bulking up the space anymore. YAY!!! |
You may be asking why we painted the dormer and bathroom and are still finishing the main room. Well, we decided that we really need to get rid of the subfloor we built to work on the dormer. It was 4 sections that spanned across the stairwell so we could reach the dormer peak without so much dangerous heights. By finishing the dormer, we were able to take those apart and also finish the lower wall on the landing. And, since we had the yellow paint out for the dormer, we figured we might as well hit the bathroom, too.
Currently, Jude and I are busy finishing up the 3rd and final coat of mud in the main room (which is what we were working on all day yesterday). We’re planning to put the primer and texture on the walls this weekend. After that, Jude will start work on the main floor.
We’re seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. It’s been a long, hard-working journey, but we’re almost there! Keep checking back. We’ll have more photos up… I promise!
Peace out!
Jules
