The Uppening Part 3

When we last left off, the old hatch had been patched, but the patch was, of course, lacking the knock-down texture of the surrounding ceiling.

So with the new ladder masked off, let's shake up this can of drywall flavoured spray-cheese and see if we can't fix that.

This is another long post, so click through to see how things go.

First, a quick test run on a scrap of drywall. Specifically, the drywall I removed from the ceiling to make way for the attic ladder.

Some lessons learned:

1. The coarse setting is a better match for my existing texture than the fine setting.
2. It gets a bit "Taco Tuesday" right at the start of the can, so watch out for that.
3. It does require a fairly liberal application to get a decent knockdown going, but adding too much ends up being more like a skim coat.

Ok, with that worked out, let's give it a whirl.

Hmm, so far, so good. After waiting the requisite amount of time for the compound to begin to set up, I'll smack it with the drywall knife to knock down the high spots.

That part went not too bad, though it was a little tricky. The compound that was sprayed over the paint stayed really wet and got knocked down more than I would have liked, while the stuff that went over the dried hot mud got all the water sucked out of it pretty quick. I think next time I might do the texture directly after applying the final coat of hot mud so that it's still soaking wet, which should keep things even between the old and new surface.

Still though, I got a decent texture out of it.

It's going to need some time to dry before paint, so let's get in a little cloud break.

And then it's time to play with a new toy, this little drill-powered stir stick.

It's meant to either mix paint, or distribute it evenly all over your shoes and ankles. I'm not sure which, let's find out together!

Looks like it mixes paint. Nice!

So a bit more prep; since the whole hall could use a new coat I'll jam some caulk into a few holes and cracks.

And remove the faceplates and tape off the outlet and switch on this wall so they don't get all messed up.

And that's a fresh coat of paint slapped up. Two coats on the new drywall patch. And, uh, zero coats on the wall where I so carefully masked off the electrical gubbins, because I ran out of paint before I got there.

Oops. Well, I'll get to that later after a Home Despot run I guess.

The good news is that the patched area is looking great, though it's distinctly lacking something.

And that something is a light, which, as you'll remember, I needed to temporarily remove to make way for the new ladder.

So let's size up the adjustable hole-poker for the new hole.

Looks like 6 inches on the button should do it. I'm not a huge fan of this thing, but the design is at least well intentioned.

The dust cup thing does a pretty good job of containing the mess.

But it also scuffs the ceiling, somehow.

Well, it's a good thing there's a bit of paint left in the old can that I can use to touch things up, but first things first let's plug this hole with something.

Yeah, that'll do nicely. Of course, it's not lighting up, so let's see if we can figure that out.

Ah yes, lights need electricity.

That should do just fine. Then the square of fiberglass insulation can go back in.

To get entombed forever beneath the final high walkability plank, which I had been saving for this spot.

Having a landing at the top of the ladder here is definitely nice, and pretty much wraps up the work on the attic space.

Down below, things are looking brighter, but there's still the trim work left to do.

But that's a task for another day.