I have found that the solution to my trailer stress is to get to the dump early when the smart people who can back up trailers are still at home in bed so i hooked up and loaded the trailer on friday night and was at the dump at 8:09 am on Saturday morning. I managed about 400 kg in the load which is about my comfort level with the trailer. I did a second quick trip with the mattress and box spring on the roof of the car (Because i had to disconnect the trailer and push it up the driveway again) and a bunch of old propane tanks from camping that have been hanging around downstairs. The backing at the dump went a little better because it was pretty empty and i had space to swing the trailer around so it was pretty much just backing up. I also had a chance to talk to the attendant at the dump because i had read that i could take used drywall there instead of all the way to Delta. She gave me the pamphlet about how to pack and it and confirmed. I took a look at their bin though and suspect they strictly enforce the 10 kg limit per bag.
After a trip to the market and clearing out the basement living room, i finished taking all the drywall down from the basement bedroom. Once again the internal walls had t&g fir under the drywall. I almost had a disaster when pulling the fir off the back of the closet which has the bathroom on the other side. The water supply for the toilet was attached to the fir! Luckily nothing broke but i turned off my music and listened carefully for leaks. This reminded me of a time when i was a kid in Barnhartvale and my parents were drywalling after Mary and I had gone to bed (i learned a lot about diy from my dad who was totally resourceful and tackled all sorts of jobs) and accidentally put a drywall screw through a water pipe. Mary and I woke up (well, i know i woke up. i assume Mary did too) to hear my parents making all sorts of noise ( i don’t remember if it was laughing, screaming, or swearing but quite likely a combination of all three) and i wandered down to see what was going on. I was small, likely 4 or 5, so i don’t remember too clearly but there was water coming out from the wall and i think my mum was on her knees with a towel and dad was coming back from turning off the water. It was all very dramatic. Nothing like that happened to me.
Sunday i did a repeat performance and was at the dump a few minutes after it opened and had the whole place to myself! It was awesome! This time i got a warning about securing my load which i hadn’t been bothering with because it is mostly bricks. From now on i strap a tarp on it and i’ll avoid a $50 fine. The Sunday load was 450 kg but i am pretty sure the 50 kg was from the rain overnight. The pile of bricks is getting noticeably smaller but i still likely have at least 4 trips to go. I was going to do a second trip but chickened out. I’ll save my trailer backing for early morning trips thank you very much.
I cleared up my mess from Saturday and took down the wall between the bedroom and living room. The drywall on the top was a total disaster but the bottom piece came off whole. Taking the wall down (and the t&g fir of course) was fun and it was great to have more room to move. I also took out the 3 way switch for the bedroom light so i didn’t have it swinging around like an electric piñata. I cleared up and now have a great work area for cutting my pieces for between the joists. I also have a bunch of new drywall in the main room so i have a little less stress about dealing with that and might get some help. Still lots of dust but less mesothelioma.
We listed a bunch of stuff that was still hanging around in the basement on a neighbourhood free stuff page on facebook and unloaded a couple of spare ikea :Lack: tables we acquired at some point. Maybe from an office downsizing? No idea. Anyway, we gave them away and made some people happy. These tables retailed for $10 at ikea but they don’t make them anymore. One had some chipping but the guy that picked it up was so appreciative. It also gave me a chance to list them “2 ikea Lack tables we lack room for” which i think gave everyone a smile to read on the page. I got a comment “I see what you did there!” and some laugh emojis. I think Sarah is going to send them all a message asking them not to encourage me. We also got rid of a body pillow a tenant had abandoned here that someone was about to go out and buy. I think these free/buy nothing/swap sites are awesome. Sarah and i know what it is like to be hard up for cash and none of the items we give away have a ton of resale value. It is great to help out others and keep stuff out of the landfill.
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