Three days until closing, Two weeks until WWDC keynote.

Back from the long weekend, and sprinting to the finish line. Only three more days to get our condo ready for the tenants - today, sadly, the TV comes down from the wall mount.

I will update this post throughout the day with step-by-step photos of the takedown and drywall rebuild.

Today also brought a ton of rumors from Cupertino- iOS 6 with a non-google Maps app, a new taller iPhone with a metal back, and news that the keynote for WWDC will be at 10 AM pacific on June 11. I assume that the aforementioned iOS 6 and iPhone (and potentially Mountain Lion) will be the primary focus - but I'll be watching at Engadget and Gizmodo, just in case Apple unveils something new and wonderful that will alter my project plans!

UPDATE: TV and mount removal went as well as could be expected. The wall repair will be the primary issue.

Seriously, this was a great-looking TV wall mount. It had to be preserved for posterity.

Our living room was at the end of a hallway, and the TV would often be viewed edge on.
An ultra-slim mount was the only option, or you'd always see cables behind the TV. Monoprice.com comes though - $10.

This mount had the TV so close to the wall that HDMI  cables barely fit between.
To increase the degree of difficulty, we learned that there were only 2 inches of space behind the drywall. 

Built-in level - still dead center. 

I'm going to have to pull the wires, remove the mount, and repair all holes and damage.

The HDMI and power cables came out of the wall with no issues.

The mount left no damage to the wall, other than the bolt holes.
It's a simple matter to fill the holes with joint compound.

Fortunately, we held on to the drywall pieces we'd removed - I can't spackle over a hole the size of a wall plate.

Cut a piece of wood, and affix it to the back of the remaining drywall.
I used construction adhesive. Best practice would be to screw it in place.... oh well. 

UPDATE: You really shouldn't cut corners with patching drywall.

The construction adhesive didn't hold, and I was left with a huge mess.

Fortunately, we can scrape the spackle off, and use drywall screws to hold the wood in place.



This is what giving up and starting over looks like. Joint compound goes in a lot better on a solid surface.

And, DONE. I mean, except for the 3-4 more cycles of spackling and sanding, and the paint. But this post was boring enough. I'm not literally going to write about paint drying.