My Old Basement

This mountain, not to be mistaken with Cornejo Mountain, has been steadily growing for over a month. Old carpet, drywall, rotted wood, trim... it's all there.

There's a carpet guy making a bunch of racket beneath me right now; the final phase of this project is nearly complete. I have a few other things to do, such as remove this trash mountain, in the next 36 hours.

Shoot Me Now

I've done a number of do-it-yourself projects around the house over the last decade. They all pale in comparison to this one. The mess you see behind me has to be finished by the 21st of the month. That's the day the carpet guy comes to do his part. All of it has to be completed by April 25. Pressure's on.

Problem is, I don't know when and where to stop. What was supposed to be a simple carpet removal job turned into a complete gutting and redo.

That's 10.5 gallons of sheet rock mud. It's messy, and it never seems to do what I want it to. Putting this stuff on correctly is a lot like pottery, and I'm no artist.

Here's the back corner. The place where sheet rock scraps go to die.

Any good handyman will tell you that in order to do a job correctly, you've got to have the right tools. Here are two essentials.