Back to the Pink Tool Belt

As part of my roofing work, the team installed a skylight above my 3rd floor bathtub.  They did all the exterior installation but didn't do any of the interior work.

After a few failed attempts at hiring someone to complete that finishing work for me and watching a handy Bob Villa youtube video a few times, I decided to do it myself.  The work involved skills that I've done before while working on the Fitler Square house.

Basically, I needed to:
- Cut the opening, using the guide screws the roofers had put in place
- Complete the framing
- Cut drywall and attach it to the framing and slide it into the grooves of the skylight (Note: one of the grooves was partially covered in the install, so I had to improvise)
- Install metal corner beat along the bottom edges of the framing
- Install corner bead in the inside corners
- Tape and mud
- Sand
- Sand
- Sand
- Repeat mud and sand
- Prime
- Look for the ceiling paint originally used by the former home owners
- Paint
- Realize that the only color that could have possibly been the ceiling color from the paint that remained almost but not quite matched the rest of the ceiling
- Accept that my family was going to arrive in 12 hours to stay with me for marathon weekend and time was up

As my last bullet implies, I was working against the clock, because I wanted to have the project done before my family came to stay with me for Marathon weekend.  (That was my fault... overly ambitious).

It certainly isn't my best work, but I'm pretty happy with the result.  The silver-grey lining is that, because my home is old there are many places in the wood work and plaster that aren't 100% flush and even... so it kind of blends in for now.

I learned a few lessons from this work:
- When you have a small area that is mostly covered with mud - just cover the whole thing, because no amount of sanding is going to get it even for that small part in the middle that doesn't need mud.
- I either didn't have the right sanding tools or just wasn't strong enough to sand adequately while working upside down, on a ladder.  My arms were exhausted.
- I bought both plastic and metal mud spreaders.  I should have used the metal ones.  I think my application would have been more even.

At some point, the rest of the ceiling will need to be cleaned up, and I'll see about evening things out at that time.

For now, though, I'll enjoy being able to watch it snow from the comfort of a hot bath. :-)

Here are some pictures of the process along with captions:  Skylight Finishing Work

I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys a Happy Thanksgiving!