In a photo, this crack in the ceiling may not be as obvious as it was every time we walked into our kitchen.
We were very fortunate to have had new insulation blown into the attic in December which we had been told we could use twelve years ago! It has made a world of difference in how warm the house felt this winter and even now it seems to be helping to keep it cooler by not letting the A/C escape through the roof.
For some reason, the ceiling was sagging and cracking at a noticeable rate of speed! We thought that the insulation might be too heavy but really, it is as light as a feather!
This project required a dedicated Saturday Work Day immediately.
Greg, who put himself through college by working as a handy man, was the foreman for the job.
Our son-in-law, Jon, was his willing and able right-hand man. Measure twice, cut once!
The guys built a "T" out of lumber, which with the help of a jack, would be used to lift the ceiling.
Sambo helped with this project all day. This is how you learn to do a job and also, how to be a man.
When the guys got the "T" in place, it was determined that we had a simple problem. The drywall of the ceiling was not attached to the wood above it. Years ago , they used nails for this job and those can slip out over time.We had been afraid that there was a structural problem with the roof above which was not the case.
Using a Walkie-Talkie system, Jon communicated with Sam who was up in the attic, and they lifted the drywall almost 4 inches.
They soon realized that the ceiling was drooping over even more of the room! They had to build a second "T". Here's the funny part- They jacked the first "T" up with a Jeep jack, and because we have two Jeeps- they were able to use an identical jack for the second "T"!!!
By now it was lunchtime and seeing that my kitchen was out of commission, we treated this group of hard-working family members to some premium, hardwood- smoked Barbeque from our little neighborhood store.
It was delicious and an absolute treat!
It was a lovely splurge that was enjoyed by all. If we had hired this job out- it would have cost us a great deal and you can never be sure that it would be done right. We were delighted to be able to sit down to this fantastic lunch with our family, including two of the married couples, who were spending their Saturday helping us.
The only one who didn't like her BBQ was this gal just in from the prairie. No problem, we ate hers, too.
By the end of things, Greg and Jon (who didn't need a ladder!), had put in close to 70 drywall screws along three trusses, the length of the kitchen.
The young men then applied mud plaster and smoothed it into place.The ceiling is about 4 inches higher and level. The whole room seems bigger and we don't have to be afraid of an imminent collapse with insulation snowing down upon us!
Larry and I are very grateful to these brothers by marriage who spent the whole day together helping him to get this project accomplished. He said there is no way he could have done it without them.They seemed to have enjoyed working together and I am sure that there will be many more home handy man projects for them and their other brothers to collaborate on in the future.
