As part of my journey in the EDTC 300 course this semester, I was required to choose a learning project that I can complete by using primarily online sources. Originally, I had thought about a few different ideas including baking, learning guitar, or continuing to work on my Spanish skills. However, I ultimately decided that I wanted to push myself outside of my comfort zone so I chose... home renovations!
This is not something that I consider a skill, at all... Typically, if something is happening in my house, I contact my father-in-law and he comes over and fixes it. See, completing home renovations and doing construction-type work, was not something that I learned growing up through my own family or through work. As a result, whenever it comes to completing a task related to building or fixing, I often get overwhelmed and just seek support or someone else's help to do it. These feelings of being overwhelmed often result in me just avoiding these tasks and I often am easily triggered and get frustrated.. This usually stems from my underlying thoughts that I am simply not good at these things.. So this isn't just about my journey to learn new skills, but also hopefully an opportunity to change my outlook and perspective about what I am capable of.
To give a little background, in the Spring of 2021, my house had seepage in the basement and we had to rip out the carpet and most of the drywall. When this happened, we decided to get our basement foundation braced, something that we knew had to be done when we moved in, but were avoiding doing as our basement was already finished. Since that time, we have had some work done to the basement - it's been fully braced, and most of it has been framed and insulated. However, there is still some insulation that needs to be added, some drywall to hang, mud, tape and ultimately paint! All of this means that I have a (somewhat) blank canvas to work from (I've attached some current photos below). Although I'm nervous about doing a low-quality job, I think given that this project can occur over the next 3 months, it helps to remove the stress and rush so I can take my time in trying to build these skills slowly.
My aim will be to explore different DIY resources online - YouTubers, step-by-step instructions on websites, Instagrammers, etc. The plan I have for this project is to start at square one and create a plan of the tools and resources I need and either borrow them, or purchase them, to accumulate and prepare for the building phase. In the first stage of building, I plan to remove some of the drywall that is partially wrecked. The next step I plan to take is to add insulation to the remaining parts of the wall that need it. The following step will be to begin to hang drywall in at least one of the rooms. At this point, I am thinking that I will start with one room and see where it goes, as ultimately there are three separate rooms that need new drywall. Ultimately, my hope is to finish at least one wall with drywall, mud and tape it (if that's the correct process??) and then potentially even paint it! If things go super, super smoothly, then I will potentially look at even doing some flooring, but I don't want to get ahead of myself!
I've attached a link below of the Home Depot guide to hang drywall. This will be the first online resource I plan to use.
Thank you for following me on this intimidating, yet exciting journey... and wish me luck!