Ok, so I took my Before Pics and was so disturbed by the closet full of junk I decided to start cleaning it last night.
Hopefully, setting up a one-room outbox means making an outbox out of one entire room, because that's kind of what I've got going on here.
I took everything out of the closet with the idea of giving it a good wipe down. And then I realized that I hadn't seen this crap since the LAST time I took everything out of this closet. I decided I wanted an empty closet more than I wanted old coats and shoes that pinch and broken lamps and ugly frames. I gave the plastic shelving a bath (for real, in the bathtub) and took out the sticky dusty wire shelving.
I took a look at the empty closet and noticed that the walls were beat up. And actually breaking. Yep. One entire corner was all plate techtonic style where the drywall has shifted and caused a mountain range. Fantastic.
So this means the house is settling. Fine, I knew that. Or maybe it means the foundation is broken. Semi-fine, since I live in a condo and if that is the case, I don't have to pay for the repair. But NOT FINE because I cannot unsee that corner. And now I want to paint the inside of the closet. But first I have to fix the San Andreas Fault.
I googled things like 'fix my stupid drywall in the closet' and 'help my closet is Pangea all breaking apart' and 'drywall fault lines' and then finally 'please help me fix my drywall'. I just wanted to dust. Ugh. (Lesson: cleaning is time consuming and dangerous and to be avoided at all costs.)
I'm not a big fan of research that lasts more than fifteen minutes or one phone call to my dad, but I did learn: something something drywall tape something something mesh tape or paper tape and joint compound mud something something patch something caulk. I know, how about I scrape all the mountains off and caulk it and paint it. Maybe?
I grabbed a utility razor and began my mountain-top removal campaign. But once I started, it seemed to peel off with a super straight edge. Oh, this must be the drywall tape. I'm gonna have to replace it. And drive somewhere. And change out of my pajamas. Lame.
Well, I checked the tape stash (yes I have a 'tape stash') and I have something mesh-y. Maybe this is drywall tape? I don't think it's any other kind of tape. I remember one time my dad fixed some drywall in the old place so maybe needed to buy drywall tape. That settles it: this is definately drywall tape. Probably.
I don't have joint compound but I have vinyl spackle. And caulk. And regular spackle. Let's make this work. I REALLY don't want to go to Home Depot. (It's closer than Lowe's. I hate driving. This is not an endoresement. It might be the opposite.)
After five more minutes of googling things like 'can i use vinyl spackling instead of drywall mud pretty please', I found two pages that gave me just enough confidence to jump in. Ironically, they were both in Home Depot's forum pages (didn't even know those existed...HELPFUL). So thanks, HD, for helping me avoid a trip down your aisles.
Today I'm changing Set Up an Outbox to Fix the Closet. I hope AT doesn't mind.
**Oh, wait, I did take all the closet crap out to the van for a Goodwill run so that counts, right?
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