I miss being plastered!

OK, so that's not a very original title....but I seriously miss the plaster. There was just no way to save it.

We divided and almost conquered today. I crawled up into "my" attic with big plastic bags, a hoe for reaching into the low spots, and a dustpan (courtesy of neighbor Joan - we wasted the better part of an hour searching for ours) and while in an almost fetal position did my best to bag up the blown in insulation over the bedroom. I misjudged one of the joists and my palm found a screw - had to scream for some alcohol to be passed up to me - maybe we should have gone for tetanus boosters before beginning this project. It shouldn't have taken me as long as it did, but there's no room for arms or legs up there. I also had the help of a big nasty fly. I noticed that there was no insulation on the angled parts of the ceiling, hundreds of mud dauber nests, and found some dampness on the north side where we have always had problems with the shingles when it was windy - and it is VERY windy here. We actually have a guy coming to do an estimate this week for a metal roof, good timing.

Here is the end result:



So while I was sweating in the attic (don't think the insulation is doing any good anyway) Lee was working on the plaster walls. As I said, a lot if it crumbled, but other areas had drywall liquid nailed to the plaster, or were repaired, probably in the '40's, and weren't quite so easy to remove. There was some water damage and many "sand" repairs. The original plaster is full of red horse hair. I saved a big piece but not sure why. We didn't get to the ceiling, maybe tomorrow. We started about 11 and finished around 4:30, loaded up the Xterra with the heavy bags - the tires may pop - and proceeded to the landfill 25 miles away....which was closed. And its closed on Sundays, too. Bummer. We are tired. Will get a dumpster for the next room. I really didnt think there was going to be as much to cart away as there was.