You haven't heard from us in several days but we continue to work apace. Look at our beautiful new plumbing! It may look to some of you much like our crappy old plumbing, but all plumbing is not created equal.Now obsessing us: holes. The electricians are doing a wonderful job of ensuring that we will be able to use toasters and computers without having the house burn down, and we're appreciative, but they do leave a lot of holes. Our battle against holes, in which we are emerging victorious, proceeds thus.
First, there is a hole, or in this case a trough, through which the electricians have fed lines encased in BX cable.
We have to first fill in the troughs, or holes, with a base cement called Structolite. It is not lite, but it is Structo.
More often than we would like, there's nothing but hole for the cement to bond to, which means we have to put something in the hole for it to be mushed up against. The stuff we're using is called lath, which is confusing because it is not lath the way all the rest of the lath in our house is lath, as in the lath-and-plaster walls, but a wire mesh. Behold: wire lath attached to lath ready to be Structolited.
The last step, or at least the last step we've gotten to (there are a few more), is putting joint compound over the dry Structolite. You spread it on like cake frosting, but it's more the consistency of French onion dip. (I get hungry when I'm working.)And once we've sanded, compounded again, sanded again, primed, and painted, you'll never know there was a huge gouge in the wall. Easy!
