nait's bible stories

This is sort of on topic. I'm trying to figure out how to put the closet together, because that will allow me to unpack like 33% of my possessions. Describing to Nait how I could buy a unit online that had a shelf with a closet rod connected to the bottom, he related to me the following (paraphrased):

God said to Noah, "If thou installest a closet, maketh thine closet rods of dowel. Maketh them to sit in their U-shaped receptacles, and attacheth thou these receptacles to thine studs. Select thou dowels of 1 1/4" diameter, for this pleaseth the Lord.

"With a block of wood 27" deep, create a shelf for thine closet. Install also some shelves at an angle, that you might rest thine shoes upon them."

And Noah said to God, "But God, I already have to worry about finding all these tigers and shit. Shoe racks? Really?"

And God said to Noah, "You're gonna be doing a lot of running."

Apparently this is from Leviticus, but all I have is Nait's word on that, and he's been drinking beer and mopping up joint compound for three hours.

walls and floors

The drywall crew - who are basically awesome, though incredibly messy - think they'll be done today. All the walls that should have sheetrock have it, and the walls that weren't busted during the foundation repair have been floated to a smooth texture to match the new ones. The contractors determined once they got in that the ceilings, which were to be floated as well, were too loose to support the weight of the additional mud, so a new layer of sheetrock was applied there, too.



70% of my house is now a blank canvas. I'm going to see how fast and how cheap it's possible to get someone in to spray primer over all the new surfaces. If it costs too much I'll do it myself, one room at a time, with rollers.



Before I can move all of our possessions out of the kitchen, though, I also have to deal with the floors. In every room except the dining room, pulling up the vinyl has revealed the same rose-patterned original linoleum glued to the floorboards with what seems an awful lot like tar. One flooring contractor who came to give me a bid said it was made of linseed oil and made it sound like the safest, most charming thing in the world. Another said it was probably full of asbestos and he wasn't licensed to even look sideways at it. The plan is still to try and loosen it with a wallpaper steamer. If there is asbestos in it, hopefully the moisture will keep it from getting into the air. My personal feeling is that the stuff with asbestos is probably the stuff we removed from on top of it, while not wearing masks.. One of the thrills of home ownership is getting to play fast and loose with your respiratory health, I guess.

Anyway, suffice it to say the floors are in rough shape now and it would probably take several thousand dollars to get them smooth and glowing. I'm tempted to remove the linoleum, sand them down rough, and paint them all white. But I guess we'll see what costs what. First I have to get the holes where the boards have rotted or been eaten by termites patched. And I have plenty of painting to do while I consider what the step after that will be.

a montage to advance the plot

I'm so sore my hands don't work. This morning, when I was only half this sore, I took some pictures of the current state of the house. To summarize, the master bathroom is demoed, all the floorboards are revealed, and everything is fucked. Hopefully someone will begin drywalling this week. Hopefully that someone won't be me.