Well, this weekend didn’t go as planned. I know that every project has its ups and downs, victories and setbacks. But this particular setback was such a disappointment that it really took the wind out of my sails. Amazingly, I didn’t cry, but it did make me want to throw in the towel for a few days, especially since this was coming at the end of a week that had already been mentally, emotionally, and physically challenging with Matt’s four-day hospital stay.
Anyway, we had some pretty heavy rain last Thursday. I thought nothing of it, and I didn’t notice anything unusual when I went into the foyer early Friday morning to let Cooper out into that courtyard.
But around mid-morning I was in my closet getting ready for lunch when I turned around and saw this…
Yes, this is water damage to my newly installed grass wallpaper. The damage extends across two widths of the wallpaper.
As you can imagine, my heart sank. The good news is that I have enough wallpaper to replace both of these pieces. The bad news is that I only have two pieces left for future emergencies or accidents, and that’s still very early in the game for me as I need to replace damaged wallpaper.
At first I wasn’t sure where the water was coming from. There were two possibilities: the air conditioner in the attic or a leak in the roof. Honestly I was hoping for the first time, but on Friday I had the HVAC guy check and clean the system and that wasn’t the problem.
No. The culprit is the solar tube skylight, which is currently not even being used for additional lighting anywhere in our master bedroom, but is still installed in the roof.
I couldn’t get anyone to fix the problem over the weekend and now it’s going to rain even more today. I’m feeling pretty frustrated and discouraged at the moment. I need to get up there this morning and at least try to find a temporary solution until someone comes and fixes the problem properly so it doesn’t cause further damage.
Anyway, that set the tone for my entire weekend, and of course I wasn’t very productive on any of my other projects. I know it’s just a wallpaper, and in the grand scheme of things it’s a minor matter. But it’s so disappointing to work so hard on something and then see part of it ruined within a week or so.
I’m also looking for ways to seal grass wallpaper. I know it’s doable and I may test a few options on these two damaged parts before disassembling and replacing them. I’ll keep you all updated on which option (if any) I think works best. Or if you know of a product that is great for sealing wallpaper (especially grasscloth), please let me know! I’m open to all ideas at the moment.
