Bringing in the New Year with Home Improvement
If you didn’t read the last post, let me catch you up. The day before New Year’s Eve our water heater decided that it no longer wanted to be around and the tank exploded, flooding the garage and damaging the drywall around it. So the day that it happened, we also just start to quarantine while we were waiting on our Covid-19 results, which luckily were negative for the both of us, I got all of the lines going to the old water heater discounted along with pulling out some of the damaged drywall. The next day with the help of some friends we were able to pull out the old one so I could get started on the wall repair. I went online and ordered a new gas water heater along with the wrong size pan and a piece of fire retardant drywall. While I was waiting for the order to be available for curbside pickup, cause I still can’t walk into a store, I cut out about a quarter of the soaking wet wall and let the insulation dry out.
The drywall that was directly under the water heater was covered in mold, as well as the wood pedestal that the drywall was attached to. This water heater was not the first to explode in this house. The previous owners also had the same issue, but when they had the new one installed they didn’t take the time to repair all of the damaged drywall and wood. Luckily the wood was still in good condition so, with a coat of mold killer primer, we were getting closer to installing the new drywall. My Home Depot order finally came in so I could finally get started on the actual replacement of everything. We got the all-clear from the hospital that we were Covid free, and our quarantine ended, meaning I could actually go into Home Depot to make sure I had everything I needed to finish the walls before the new water heater went in.
After watching a bunch of YouTube again, I got to work. I measured out the new pieces and got to work, and I have to say, I was doing way better than I thought it was going to go. I had three of the four new pieces in place and it was slowly starting to look like a little closet again. I got the tape and mud on the seams and now I needed to wait for it to dry. While I was waiting my amazing realtor messaged me and got me in contact with her home inspector who gave me a few pointers on what to look for while installing the new water heater. I learned that in Las Vegas it is common for the houses to have a recirculating line for the hot water so at a certain time of your choosing there would be almost instant hot water. I’m pretty sure the one that was installed previously didn’t really work, and after talking with Tyler (the home inspector) I could cap off this line and just leave it abandoned or for a future install if someone wanted. So off to Lowe’s I went and found these awesome little caps called Shark Bites and it made simple work of that job. Next was installing the last piece of drywall and getting that taped and mudded up.
After letting the mud dry I applied two more coats and it was finally coming together. The area already looked way better than it did when we moved in and it wasn’t even finished yet. I did learn though that you are supposed to let each coat of mud dry for 24 hours before putting another one on. I didn’t follow that rule, but I just want hot water again. Not being able shower or use hot water is not something I would recommend to anyone if you can avoid it.
After three days of work, Saturday I was able to sand down the walls. It wasn’t perfect and I needed to add one more coat of mud on a few spots. But that evening I was able to apply the first and second coat of Kilz primer to the walls. Some of the old watermarks are still coming through, so before bed, I will have to do another coat. Meaning that Sunday morning after a run to Home Depot to exchange the wrong size pan I bought, a new gas line, and a new female to a female drain line, the water heater will finally be installed. Bea and I will finally be able to shower at our own house, and we will be able to bathe Jameson.
