Reoccurring Themes
Any of you remember highschool chemistry? It's where I learned about hypotheses. And drugs. But don't tell Mrs.Harriot that part.Now, 8 years or so later, I have been testing my own hypothesis...and I've come to a conclusion. I, George Russell, am incredibly bad at (at least, but in particular) two things. Drywall, and relationships. I mentioned it in my last post, but needed to do some further testing to be certain. And holy fuck am I certain.
I've tested both as a one-tailed and a two-tailed hypothesis because I needed to be thorough. I can now empirically confirm the above stated hypothesis is true. This post covers many months. An inordinate amount of bad relationship attempts. Twenty sheets of drywall. All of which provide more data points to prove my hypothesis. Also a therapist. Because when you correlate drywall and relationships, it is behoove of you to seek professional help.
 |
| THAT SHIT SUCKS. |
Continued Work.
Look, I can make 100 excuses about why the work on my house is going so slow, but really it's just lack of desire. Remodeling your own home is painful and exhausting. Like most of my life and all of my relationship attempts.Last time I posted about the 650sqft of plywood and 2X4s, I was finishing up some inside work. Now it's onto the exterior. By exterior, I mean windows.
I don't actually care what the outside of my house looks like. That's for people that live in subdivisions and go to HOA meetings. But I do know that I have a mixture of windows in places I don't want them to be.
Per usual:
-rip out the old
-install some new things
-put whatever old stuff back that you have to
-take pictures
-write blog
 |
| Remove window. |
 |
| Install window. |
You know, they make these window things pretty easy now. You just make a hole and nail a window somewhere inside the hole. Before this, I had five different kinds of windows. Which is annoying, mostly because I only have seven windows.
This was my first go at vinyl siding, so I was nervous and didnt really know what to do besides slowly and carefully remove it. With a hammer, and a crow bar...obviously.
I don't really like these windows. But they have a 10 year warranty and cost about $20 a piece. Yes, twenty. Why these things were so cheap, I may never know. However, I do know that I bought seven brand new windows from Lowes for less than the advertised cost of one window.
A Brief Intermission
I put that new window in during the month of march. I just left all the siding laying in the yard. As you'll see in the graph below, I needed to curate a little more information just to be certain about my previous theory. Fast forward to August. I now have at least three more data points for the graph, and I am in the middle of some mild crisis. Luckily the byproduct of a George crisis is just productivity and irreversible mental anguish. The later of which I'll deal with at some point. For now: windows.
A Brief Period of Motivation
At some point in this adventure my yard looked like a junk yard, the inside of my house was trashed, my garage was a disgrace, I didn't own a thing that didn't require work. I still don't. However, for a brief period, I had a normal human's motivational level.I built a new workbench in my garage, I finished up the one ton project, I got rid of the junk yard, sold the old blazer, and fucking rocked out all new windows and vinyl, and even a new door! I might have skipped work for two weeks, ate only casey's cheese burgers, avoided showering and almost all human contact...but progress is progress.
 |
| North facing front window. Not new door. |
 |
| West facing side window. |
 |
| FUCK THIS WHOLE WALL. |
 |
| Good enough. |
 |
| It doesn't even look like I learned on this window. |
 |
| I know it's garbage. But it's my garbage. |
So at this point I have all the major exterior work done until I decide to build 60 linear feet of porch. But that's just an idea at this point. Currently, I'm content with siding that's marginally different colored, windows that match, and two well insulated doors.
Empirical Proof
Ok. Look. I've done my research. I'm almost to a decade of data about this. The only weird part here is gonna be if a girl asks what data point she is. Uh, please don't.
Drywall
I tried to hire out the drywall. I saved up some money and was going to call a real company(or one of the aforementioned data point's dad's remodel crew), but my neighbor talked me out of it. In the long run, I'm happy I didn't hire it out. There is some bit of dignity in doing all the work yourself(or watching your neighbor do it, that's the same...right?). |
| So now there is a gap all the way around. |
My house is of an unusual size. It may or may not vary in height as well. The average wall height is about 100 inches. The average drywall height is....not average at all. It's very specific at 48 inches, or 96 inches if you hang two sheets properly.
 |
| I was feeling pretty good about this. |
 |
| Lots of fillers, tape, and mud later...DAVE PARSONS |
 |
| For reference, this picture was taken while standing in a very similar spot less than two year ago. |
This is an exterior wall. On the outside of this wall is the tankless water heater mentioned in post two. Also within this wall is the gas lines that feed the water heater as well as the furnace in the attic. There is cold water and hot water for the washer box. There is a drain for a sink as well as a drain for the washer box. 220v for the dryer. 110v for the washer. A two gang box for some cabinet lighting as well as a receptacle. More 110v under the sink, and more 110v above for future network cabinet. The only part of the drywall I messed up was the drain being 1/4" off. And I'm pretty damn proud of that.Hot Wings and Cold Beer
There isn't really anyone involved in the terrible decisions I've made that have led me to fix up this tiny little home of mine. But there is someone who taught me how to do so many of the things I know, and not to be concerned about tackling the other parts I haven't learned yet.I remember when I was about 12 years old, we had an old bathroom in the basement that was in desperate need of repair. I recall coming up the stairs to my step father, Dannie, reading one of those Menards how-to-fix books, but not really caring what it was about. The next day I woke up to a large pile of dumpster material in the same location that we used to have a bathroom. Piece by piece, getting parts only on the weekends, he built a new bathroom from floor to ceiling.
We got a garage, he did the same thing. Never made a deal about it, never worked up about it, wired the whole thing. Insulated, covered the walls, built a work bench out of the neighbors old hardwood flooring. Poured concrete, ran plumbing, built a shed, wasn't a thing he couldn't do.
I could go on forever about all the projects Dannie had. Always working on something, never worried about getting it done, never questioning his own abilities. He taught me many things and he gave so many memories. Always so certain, always a little bitter, and always in our hearts. Miss you, Dannie.
