Finally got around to fixing our sagging garage ceiling

I spent pretty much all of yesterday fixing the sagging ceiling drywall in our garage. I needed to get it fixed because the sag was pretty significant, like a couple inches, and it seemed to just be getting worse as time went on so I was afraid it would collapse. There didn't appear to be any water damage on either side, just that all the nails had pulled loose from the joists... ah nails, why does everyone love using nails? They are nothing but trouble! My fix of choice was to screw in some 8 foot long 1x2 furring strips along the studs to pull the drywall back up. This turned out to be more difficult than I thought as even using 4" screws I couldn't get the drywall pushed up high enough for the screws to grip into the wood. Thankfully my friend happened to have a couple of eight foot tall metal posts so he brought those over and I used those with some scrap wood and car jacks to raise the ceiling enough for the screws to grab.

Installing the first furring strip one took the longest to do because I had to figure out what worked and what didn't, but after the first one I got into a rhythm. First, use the two posts to hoist up the drywall under one of the joists. Next, spelunk into the attic over to that joist and use a long and skinny drill bit to drill several holes along each side of the joist so I would know for sure where it was. Then I come back down and mark the holes with bright orange tape so I could see them all while standing on the ladder holding the furring strip against the ceiling, positioning it as best I could, and drilling a single hole into it. That allowed me to screw it into the ceiling where I could rotate it slightly to get it lined up just right, then drill and screw the rest of the holes.

I was about 75% done when I ran out of screws and noticed I needed a couple more furring strips than I initially thought so had to make a trip to Lowe's. While there I saw a different kind of 4" screw which had a star drive head. It was a pack of 50 for a dollar more than the pack of 43 but I remembered reading somewhere that star drive screws never strip, a problem which I had been having on several of my Phillips screws, so I decided to try them out. Oh man what a difference! Every single one went straight in and pulled the drywall up easily without me having to apply a ton of pressure against the drill. I wish I would have known about those when I first started, it would have made this job a lot easier.

So now the furring strips are all attached and the ceiling is level again. I'll have to do the same thing on the other side of the garage as I noticed a little sag on that side but I shouldn't have to use posts to lift that up as the sag is fairly minor. Then I think I'll paint the strips to match the color of the ceiling and will have to repair the drywall spackling from where the drywall nails popped through when the drywall was raised. I'll also have to spray wall texture of those fixes because of course the ceiling had to be textured.

Hail Storm

Yesterday evening strong thunderclaps boomed throughout the sky, some of the loudest I've ever heard. Not long after we were assaulted by golf ball sized hail stones which sounded like we were being pummeled by meteorites. https://youtu.be/bOaOeIkJjXc.

The Branch Graveyard

For the past several days I've been outside cutting up all the branches that we had to clear away to do the fence repair. We had dragged all the branches to the side of the house where the pile got to be about as tall as I was and twice as long. The branches were all too small to use a chainsaw so I used my branch lopper. I cut them up small enough to place in an 18 gallon recycling bin, used my weight to compress them, then dumped them out on the rocks creating a graveyard of dead branches. After getting all the ones on the side of the house I went back into the dog run where there were a ton more waiting for me. I filled both of our 50 gallon green waste bins then kept cutting until I could make my back to the new fence sections (previously I had to hop over the metal dog run fence to access it).

ADA Toilet Install

Yesterday I installed a Kohler ADA height toilet in our master bathroom. I pretty much knew what to expect from installing one in the front bathroom but that didn't make the process any more enjoyable and I still ended up at Lowe's twice because I either misplaced or it didn't come with the nuts and washers for the bolts that attach the tank to the base. This was a free curb score off Craigslist and the toilet is in excellent shape except for the tank lid (model #1086929) which is cracked, but still functional. I would like to get a replacement lid eventually but first I have to figure out what color this is because it's definitely not pure white. It's more like some kind of gray. I sent a message to Kohler with the serial number so hopefully they'll be able to tell me. Update: They got back to me super quick and were able to determine the color is Ice Grey, color code 95.

Hawaiian Vacation!

Last month Treese and I embarked on a Hawaiian cruise with my parents, a high school friend of my mom's, and her husband. It was a nice vacation with the ship stopping at five islands and Ensenada, Mexico. The weather was a tad chilly throughout the entire trip and rainy on a couple days. The one excursion Treese and mom were eagerly looking forward to was their helicopter tour but that got canceled last minute due to bad weather, so while dad and I were on a little city tour all they got to do was watch a safety video and then get back on the ship. On the day that we all went to Waikiki beach the sun was shining and we got a great spot right near the water, but the water was a bit cold and the wind didn't help matters. Mom and I both got sunburned despite putting on sunblock. Still, it was a great trip.

I stayed with my parents for about a week after we got back while Treese headed home after a few days as she had work. I rode back with  Ryan, my brother-in-law, and he helped me repair the three sections of wood fence that got crushed by the fallen trees during the snowstorm. He was a huge help and we got it done in only three days whereas it probably would have taken me a full week to do it on my own. It was also nice just to be able to hang out and chat with him. Since he lives in Colorado we don't get to hang out very often at all.

Ryan headed home on Sunday then today we got a text from him saying something went seriously wrong with one of the wheels where it started to wobble and make an awful metal-on-metal sound. Thankfully it didn't fail completely and he was able to make it to a town and get into a shop. Apparently the damage was pretty significant. He had taken into Vallejo Nissan not even a week earlier to get it checked out because there was an obvious sound coming from the tire but they said it was nothing important. We're all just glad that he's okay, as if it had failed without any warning while going 70mph on the freeway he certainly would have crashed.