Sheetrock Damage

Sheetrock damage from leaks can be a real pain, in this case, it had leaked long enough that a wide area had warped and started to sag.
  The only option at this point is to rip out all the bad sheetrock (in this case about 1/3 of the living area) and tie in new bracing and install new.
   A projece of this size is costly and messy. 
  This was an older house and it had a popcorn ceiling.  A texture gun with a hopper is a must with this type of ceiling!!   I would NEVER recomend buying popcorn in a spraycan or rolling it on. 
  Sheetrock in my opinion is tough unless you have quite a lot of experience with it, I would recomend finding a friend or relative that knows something about it and offering them a good home-cooked dinner.... or maybe 20 : )

Happy Sheetrocking

Popcorn Ceiling Removal Day

One of those days...again.  probably for 4 days.  Messy work!!

Popcorn Ceiling Removal

It's one of those days... sleeting outside, popcorn ceiling coming down inside...
  Two biggest tips to popcorn ceilings...1, lots and lots of plastic.  Few jobs get messier, I'd like to see Dirty Jobs do one... 2, Find someone to do it for you..unless you are really don't mind getting dirty and have a lot of upper body strength for scraping over your head!
It can be done...we spray it down with a pump up spray bottle of water then carefully scrape it.  It's easy to gouge it with a scraper.. Next we go over all the bumps and scrapes with sheetrock mud, normally a 40 minute mud so we can shoot it with texture the same day.
  Just a cheep 50 dollar texture gun will do the trick, and it can be rented as well.
  A corner of the ceiling can be shot several times and pulled back off with a sheetrock spatula until you get the desired look as you experiment with thicker and thinner mud.
More to follow...
Happy Muscle Building

Collapsed Ceiling (Think YOU had a bad day?)

Had this call a while back.  a good portion of the living room ceiling collapsed causing a huge mess.

  It is interesting to note that we were suffering an extreme heat wave at the time of this disaster.  The only things we noted were seriously warped ceiling joist with sheetrock nails popping through the plaster.  This was probably aggravated due to the house standing without proper insulation for many years.  The house has gone through upgrades over the years, but not before the damage from years back had taken it's toll.

  It is a common problem to see this in garages, because many are not insulated.

  If you ever see nail holes appearing in a ceiling or can detect bowing and warping in a ceiling, do not delay in checking out what the cause of the problem is.

  As you can see in the picture, a disaster could have been avoided if the bowing had been noticed.

  Extensive work had to be done, ceiling joist had to be cut out and replaced.  Most of the sheetrock had to be replaced and re-textured.

  It helps to notice the small tell-tale signs!!

Happy Cleaning...

Foundation Issues

Cracks can be very anoying, but it's important to know what is causing the crack and the severity of the problem.
Cracks are mostly caused by small movements in the foundation generally enhanced by long wet and dry spells.  Here in North Texas, it is worsened by the blackland clay that tends to move much more than typical topsoil.
  Some cracks are caused by extreme heat causing wood to twist and buckle, more common in houses that have poor insulation.
  Take care in bringing in people to give you estimates on repairs, many companies make a living off of selling fear.
   When possible, use a company that a friend had good results with.  Get several companies to look it over and see if they all see the same problems. All estimates should be free.
  If you need actual repairs, try to use a company that has been in business a long time and guarantes their work.
Happy Spending!!

Below are 2 examples in a house we are working in today with a moderate to severe foundation problem.  The slab has moved so much that the sheetrock was actually sheered off in a couple places.  Only half of the doors even came close to closing.

  The foundation dropped in one area leaving large cracks under the baseboards.