Early Spring Projects

I am always anxious to get the springtime operations started here on the homestead. Once the Maple syrup operation is done, in mid-March I was out preparing some 5×10′ garden beds.

Once these were done up, I needed some more manual labor. We have planned a bathroom renovation for a long time, and I finally ordered the materials from Lowe’s for home delivery. I also ordered several sheets of Type X fire resistant drywall and some Rockwool insulation for the garage. For a long time, the two bays of the garage have been exposed to each other, though there is a studded wall in between. The drywall and insulation allowed me to finally divide the space up. It’s been frustrating and hard to keep things tidy in the garage, though that struggle is more due to my own failings than the lack of drywall! But, my hope is that with walls up there will be opportunities to organize both sides of the garage.

I started out by pulling out all the nails that were in the studs; these would cause damage to the drywall as I screwed it in. I will say: Type-X drywalls is HEAVY. I didn’t have many problems with the floor level drywall. Putting on the second layer – with holes cut in for the outlets and light switches – with a bit of a struggle. I wound up setting the sheet on a couple of five gallon buckets, and then sliding the drywall up the studs into place. With some pre-set drywall screws that I could zip in quickly, I managed to get things done.

The Rockwool insultation was actually a lot of fun to install! It gets pressed into the stud bays, and aside from some cutting for wiring and electrical boxes, there was really no difficulty installing it. Rockwool is fire resistant and provides a better R value than fiberglass. It’s also more resistant to moisture issues than fiberglass insulation.

The studs are, nominally, 24 inches on center. This varied in spots, but in general I had no issues aside from the sheer effort of lifting drywall. Because the drywall is 5/8 of an inch thick, electrical

boxes must either be set farther out from the stud, or small box extenders can be used to set the outlet or switch out a little bit.

The final result is looking good – and the whole first floor is set for mud, priming, and painting. I still need to do the high side of the workshop. I envision the drywall pieces getting smaller and smaller as I have to lift them higher and higher. The studs on the second floor are flat studded, so I also need to add additional studs there to add thickness for the insulation.

I’m really excited to finally have an enclosed workshop. The workshop is currently a mess, but as I get back in there and start cleaning up and organizing, my goal will be to have a workshop I can be proud of.