Building a Little House in the Big Woods: The toughest sheet of drywall is hung

The last post we made exhibited our newly installed maple flooring in the dining room and kitchen. I thought the next posting would be of us sanding and finishing the floors. Well, I have one picture of Noah sanding the floors and that was four weekends ago.

Sanding floors, before the sander broke

We have tried, unsuccessfully, to sand the floors for four weekends in a row. It has been a nightmare. The first weekend started fine, until the sander broke. The next weekend, we tried renting the same sander again after being told (incorrectly) that they had fixed the sander. When we went to pick up the sander, it was still broken. The rental business ordered a new sander but it did not arrive in time for us to rent that third weekend, so we rented a vibratory sander instead. It was not very aggressive and we could have sanded the entire floor with a palm sander faster. So we stopped sanding. The fourth weekend, we rented the brand new orbital sander and sanded for 3 days straight. The floors are still not level. We thought we would be able to do it with the orbital sander (it actually has 3 discs, not just one). The orbital sander gives the most even results and we knew we had never sanded floors before so we thought this the best route to go. Well, after not being able to achieve level floors (in one room!) we looked up online that the orbital sander is not aggressive enough for leveling. So, we now know that we need to rent a more aggressive sander, that we were trying to avoid, in order to get the floors level. That being said, we will wait two weeks until Noah is finished teaching for the semester. Hallelujah for summer break!!
In the meantime, since we have not been able to work on floors, we have been slowly hanging drywall. I (Mindy) have done some mudding in the master bathroom. But the most impressive piece of drywall is the one featured here. It took almost all day to hang this one sheet of drywall. It is the sheet of drywall above the stairs going to the top floor. The ceiling is tall, it is above the stairs. It will be impossible for me to mud, but Noah got it hung for us. He built a ramp to hold the drywall lift over the stairs so that the lift could hold the drywall while Noah screwed it in. I helped Noah get the drywall onto the lift and into position and then supervised the lift to make sure it stayed put. It was craziness. Purchasing the drywall lift was one of the best tool purchases we have made. I have held my share of ceiling panels, and let me tell you, this lift was worth every cent we paid (only $200!). Sure, we could have rented one, but then there is all of this pressure to get it done quickly so that you can return it. Well, we have been able to hang a couple panels a night after the kids are in bed, and build a crazy ramp over the stairs since we own it. And we will be happy to lend it to anyone when we are done!