Skills, time, and desire

The house is torn apart. They are making great progress. But as I look around, I see little things that I feel like I should work on while the house is torn apart. One of those things was the second floor window bay, which was a small bedroom, but that is now becoming our living room.

This bay is settled in all sorts of weird ways. The left window ledge is an inch higher than the right. There was a piece of moulding covering the space below the windows that was partially stripped at one point and then painted. If I had countless hours, I might have stripped it again and then re-installed.

For a professional, here are the steps they’d probably take:
1. Strip everything out.
2. Pack insulation in.
3. Carefully install furring strips to nail drywall onto.
4. Cut drywall once; screw in.

Here are my steps:
1. Strip everything out; this I can do as well as anyone.
2. Pack insulation in. Foam board (R-10) sealed with great stuff around the edges with fluffy R-13 behind it. (Q: Does R-10+R-13=R23?)
3. Try and install directly onto old nailers. FAIL.
4. Curse for awhile.
5. Feel brilliant for remembering that I could probably install new wood to nail onto.
6. Scavenge in the basement for old wood.
7. Cut wrong lengths.
8. Go back and cut again. Saw is in basement.
9. Nail into old wood. Remember fact that if you pre-drill holes in thin wood the wood won’t crack. Curse for awhile.
10. Measure drywall. Incorrectly. (Q: how do you account for slope when cutting drywall, i.e., 26.5″ on one side and 26.875 on the other but without a constant slope?)
11. Curse for awhile.
12. Install drywall. Run screw all the way in. Remember that you have a drill attachment for that.
13. Curse for awhile.
14. Install all three pieces of drywall. Hope that job isn’t too laughable.

Probably took six hours in all, spread over three days. I’m betting a pro does it in two hours (if only to let the great stuff dry) and uses one sheet of drywall.

Like most skills:
1. You do it better when you do it all the time.
2. There’s a discrete body of knowledge (working with wood and drywall in old houses) that’s accrued through experience. This knowledge cannot be expressed on the internet.
3. I have the education, the patience, time, and the desire to do a B/B+ job; if graded for time, it’s probably an F.

Photos:
After stripping, first insulation install: