Thread: Some home improvements

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Originally Posted by firebird77clone

I've been told that rock can be finished with a big sponge and a bucket of water.

I gave it a try in a closet, but the results were less than perfect. Maybe it takes some practice.

I've tried that also, like you it didn't turn out well.

Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

I've done a fair amount of sanding and this last round I put a bag in the shop vac and used one of those vacuum sanders to keep the dust at bay. It was amazing, very little dust in the house and I did a 16x16 room, walls and ceiling and never had to clean the vacuum one time. It weighed 800 pounds but it was still sucking great. Your house looks great by the way.

I might see about picking one of those up. the shop vac is already up there.

Originally Posted by Hotrod46

I tried something similar a few years ago. I took a 1x4 and wrapped a layer of terry cloth around it. I soaked this in a bucket and used it like a long board sander to smooth the mud after it was pretty much dry. Worked ok and kept the sanding to a minimum.

I'll try this too, thanks for the tip!

Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

I've tried that also, like you it didn't turn out well.

I have tried that too and it didn't work great for me either. Just made more of a mess.

I didn't get to work on the room today. Last night after I got home from work, we were eating dinner. (At 2am) We heard some scratching above us..... We looked at each other and my wife was like WTF is that? I went upstairs to find nothing. I couldn't hear anything either. Great. I went back down stairs and about 15min later we heard what ever it was go across the ceiling from her side to mine and then headed across the opposite side of the room. I banged on the wall a few times, it would stop then went a little more, then just stopped. So we went to bed.

When I got up this morning I played CSI. I went up tot he attic as I was sure I'd find some signs there. Nope. No tracks in the dust on the floor, no droppings, no torn up insulation, no holes in the eves. While I was up there I went ahead and sprayed for bugs/spiders as I try to do it every 3 months and I haven't done it for a while. After that I went outside and sprayed and walked the entire house looking for entry signs. Once again, no holes, no scratch marks or signs of chewed up wood leading into the exterior walls. I then checked in the basement and saw nothing obvious there.

Our attic is not finished and is rather large. It has a stair case that goes to it. It isn't a full height walk way but dang near. I can stand in the center of it and I'm 6'2" to give you an idea. There is nothing up there except some old green shag carpet. The area the noise was coming from is one of the walls going up the stair way and there are a couple of small open areas in the attic to that wall. I was certain that was how the critter got in the wall cavity. Everything looked undisturbed though. I couldn't really tell what this creature is but the sounds didn't sound like a mouse. One of my friends thinks it could be a raccoon. I really hope not and have a hard time thinking one of them got in without an entry hole?

My neighbor feeds the squirrels like Obama fed the welfare recipients so this could be a possibility too. Any of you have any weird deals like this?