Harrowing Fixes
06/11/17 09:04
We have a small room in our garage that looks like it served as a workshop of sorts for the previous owner. We've managed over time to store all kinds of stuff in there both horizontally and vertically to the point where it is difficult if not impossible to even move around inside the now overly cramped space. As much as I push back on Nancy's hoarding tendencies from time to time I cannot win them all and I have clearly lost the battle in this room. I'm not sure that hoarding is the right word but she doesn't want to throw anything away so if there is a distinction it is a distinction without a difference. By contrast, I am a minimalist at heart but willing to make concessions here and there knowing what I know about what it takes to make Nancy happy.
Over time, the various items we've stored in boxes, bags, cartons, and other parcels in predictable fashion inside the room have been opened, left at odd angles, lost their original moorings, or have been simply forgotten beneath a sea of items piled atop them. My sensibilities are most at risk when spaces and the contents of this spaces lose order or lack of predictability. The scientific term, if I'm not mistaken, is entropy (gradual decline into disorder). I generally stop thinking about the space altogether after a certain point so as not to cause myself any further misery and to ensure with some success that I don't go willy nilly pointing fingers and holding Nancy responsible for my tortured psyche. In the recesses of my brain there is a solution to everything and storage space issues are typically relegated as one of the easier problems to manage in the scheme of all things that could and would go wrong as a result of this so-called entropy issue.
So, when Nancy mentioned to me a couple of weeks back that the drop ceiling inside the room had collapsed I just cringed. Apparently she had gone into the room looking for something and she noticed that the ceiling had come down. I preferred to think that her description was hyperbolic and imminently fixable so I remained calm telling myself that her version of the story was likely just that (overblown.) When I finally looked I realized that her description was apt and the reality was probably worse by a factor of two or more.
The frame holding up the panels had completely collapsed as though someone had fallen through the framing of the attic above the room itself. The metal frame holding up the ceiling panels was twisted at odd angles suggesting that a weight bearing subject and only a weight bearing subject could have caused this to happen. The ceiling panels themselves having lost their support fell into the room like a deck of cards scattered to the winds. I was at a loss to understand how this could have happened but knew all too well that the problem was mine and mine alone to fix. Some things register right away as being within my wheelhouse and I'm not sure why but this problem seemed to fit that description. Until I knew differently I was going to deconstruct and reconstruct this mangled mess until all the pieces were back in their original place.
Understanding full well that getting into the room was in and of itself a problem before I even started to consider the ceiling issue I set about clearing a path into the room. Did I mention that I left the door to the room closed for a few days after the ceiling collapsed in the event a raccoon or other creature caused this mess? Just long enough to deprive the animal of food and water such that I didn't have to deal with a rabid animal snapping at me and were it to expire during that time I would not as such minded that at all.
I gave some thought as well to asking the contractors doing our bathroom renovation at the time to take a look and give me an estimate but decided not to do that at the last minute. Some of the insulation between the floor boards directly above the ceiling panels had come down as well providing further proof that a weight bearing something had caused this to happen. There were no tears in the insulation so I just tucked that back up between the floor joists and used a broom to lift it into spaces out of my reach.
I have to say that I was rather proud of myself as I went about my task methodically and hesitated only long enough here and there to assess next steps or to enjoy a moments satisfaction with what I had already accomplished. In reviewing the metal framing and its attachment to the floor joists in the ceiling above it occurred to me that it had been constructed improperly at the outset and I took extra measures to reinforce the support from the joists above the framing.
I had all the necessary tools on hand and I had found a spool of wire earlier in the day that was just perfect for the task at hand. I worried, although not obsessively, that I might be inhaling fiberglass particles from manhandling the insulation or asbestos from the ceiling tiles in the course of my work. It didn't help that I had an occasional coughing fit either from the dislodged dust swirling deliriously in the cramped quarters or from the heretofore mentioned nastiness of asbestos or fiberglass that found its way into my lungs. When refitting some of the ceiling panels into the framing I found that some of the panels were bowed at the corners either from the accident or simply from the passage of time. I couldn't otherwise remember noticing this prior to the so-called accident so did my best to fit those panels with the least amount of bowing in places most visible upon entering the room. I can live with the possibility that the bowing might lessen over time now that the original structure and support systems are back in place.
With everything back in place I stood back and admired my handiwork just as day was turning into night. The last piece to go back into place was the fluorescent light fixture that was six feet in length and had come down along with everything else. Thankfully, it had not detached from the cord supplying the electricity so there was no need to call in the professionals. I'm not sure that I could have found replacement bulbs so am delighted that nothing broke and I managed to put the light back up with all the appropriate tethering.
My one regret as I sit here the day after is that I did not take a before and after picture. It's possible I suppose that putting it down on paper serves the same purpose at the end of the day but there really is no substitute for pictures when you get down to the nitty gritty. Nancy paid me faint praise upon seeing the work that I had done only to tell me this morning that she couldn't understand how I did it. That's like having a hot fudge sundae without the cherry on top so I'll take it but would rather have a cherry on top if you get my drift. Would I rather have taken a bike ride instead? You bet your bottom dollar. Maybe next time.
Over time, the various items we've stored in boxes, bags, cartons, and other parcels in predictable fashion inside the room have been opened, left at odd angles, lost their original moorings, or have been simply forgotten beneath a sea of items piled atop them. My sensibilities are most at risk when spaces and the contents of this spaces lose order or lack of predictability. The scientific term, if I'm not mistaken, is entropy (gradual decline into disorder). I generally stop thinking about the space altogether after a certain point so as not to cause myself any further misery and to ensure with some success that I don't go willy nilly pointing fingers and holding Nancy responsible for my tortured psyche. In the recesses of my brain there is a solution to everything and storage space issues are typically relegated as one of the easier problems to manage in the scheme of all things that could and would go wrong as a result of this so-called entropy issue.
So, when Nancy mentioned to me a couple of weeks back that the drop ceiling inside the room had collapsed I just cringed. Apparently she had gone into the room looking for something and she noticed that the ceiling had come down. I preferred to think that her description was hyperbolic and imminently fixable so I remained calm telling myself that her version of the story was likely just that (overblown.) When I finally looked I realized that her description was apt and the reality was probably worse by a factor of two or more.
The frame holding up the panels had completely collapsed as though someone had fallen through the framing of the attic above the room itself. The metal frame holding up the ceiling panels was twisted at odd angles suggesting that a weight bearing subject and only a weight bearing subject could have caused this to happen. The ceiling panels themselves having lost their support fell into the room like a deck of cards scattered to the winds. I was at a loss to understand how this could have happened but knew all too well that the problem was mine and mine alone to fix. Some things register right away as being within my wheelhouse and I'm not sure why but this problem seemed to fit that description. Until I knew differently I was going to deconstruct and reconstruct this mangled mess until all the pieces were back in their original place.
Understanding full well that getting into the room was in and of itself a problem before I even started to consider the ceiling issue I set about clearing a path into the room. Did I mention that I left the door to the room closed for a few days after the ceiling collapsed in the event a raccoon or other creature caused this mess? Just long enough to deprive the animal of food and water such that I didn't have to deal with a rabid animal snapping at me and were it to expire during that time I would not as such minded that at all.
I gave some thought as well to asking the contractors doing our bathroom renovation at the time to take a look and give me an estimate but decided not to do that at the last minute. Some of the insulation between the floor boards directly above the ceiling panels had come down as well providing further proof that a weight bearing something had caused this to happen. There were no tears in the insulation so I just tucked that back up between the floor joists and used a broom to lift it into spaces out of my reach.
I have to say that I was rather proud of myself as I went about my task methodically and hesitated only long enough here and there to assess next steps or to enjoy a moments satisfaction with what I had already accomplished. In reviewing the metal framing and its attachment to the floor joists in the ceiling above it occurred to me that it had been constructed improperly at the outset and I took extra measures to reinforce the support from the joists above the framing.
I had all the necessary tools on hand and I had found a spool of wire earlier in the day that was just perfect for the task at hand. I worried, although not obsessively, that I might be inhaling fiberglass particles from manhandling the insulation or asbestos from the ceiling tiles in the course of my work. It didn't help that I had an occasional coughing fit either from the dislodged dust swirling deliriously in the cramped quarters or from the heretofore mentioned nastiness of asbestos or fiberglass that found its way into my lungs. When refitting some of the ceiling panels into the framing I found that some of the panels were bowed at the corners either from the accident or simply from the passage of time. I couldn't otherwise remember noticing this prior to the so-called accident so did my best to fit those panels with the least amount of bowing in places most visible upon entering the room. I can live with the possibility that the bowing might lessen over time now that the original structure and support systems are back in place.
With everything back in place I stood back and admired my handiwork just as day was turning into night. The last piece to go back into place was the fluorescent light fixture that was six feet in length and had come down along with everything else. Thankfully, it had not detached from the cord supplying the electricity so there was no need to call in the professionals. I'm not sure that I could have found replacement bulbs so am delighted that nothing broke and I managed to put the light back up with all the appropriate tethering.
My one regret as I sit here the day after is that I did not take a before and after picture. It's possible I suppose that putting it down on paper serves the same purpose at the end of the day but there really is no substitute for pictures when you get down to the nitty gritty. Nancy paid me faint praise upon seeing the work that I had done only to tell me this morning that she couldn't understand how I did it. That's like having a hot fudge sundae without the cherry on top so I'll take it but would rather have a cherry on top if you get my drift. Would I rather have taken a bike ride instead? You bet your bottom dollar. Maybe next time.