Oh, Drywall.

I typically hate anything to do with drywall. The gritty stuff makes my teeth itch, it breaks so damn easy, and the dust is so fine it sticks around forever. And to show it's contempt for me, I got an edge of a full sheet slammed on the top of my foot.

We got it up and over the newly soundproofed wall.

There was only one hitch. It wasn't clear exactly how much give there should be in the wall, as we were told there should be some. D and I got into an argument over what constitutes "give". To me, I thought there was enough, for when we pushed on the wall we could see the channel move but the wall felt firm. D on the other hand felt there should be a more perceptible give under the hand when pressure applied. The reason for the movement is it indicates the channels are not too snug against a surface and can therefore effectively absorb sound vibrations. The only solution we could come up with was to switch from 1 1/4 inch drywall screws to 1 inch, therefore the screws would not be reaching the panels behind the channels. This didn't appear to make much of a difference, but I can say that so far, we haven't heard anything from next door, so hopefully we've got it right. We'll ask the neighbours to turn up their stereo to really test it out.

We are really under the gun now to get this done, as we move this coming Sunday. We want all three coats of mud to be complete and a coat of primer on before we move so that the baby won't be breathing the dust. Yesterday I applied the first coat of tape and mud while the baby played in her playpen, and despite numerous breaks to feed and play with her, I got it done in relative short order!

The next photo will be of a completed wall. Or so I hope.

Aside: We rented a drywall drill-thingy. Best advice ever, The screws went in neatly and to the perfect depth.