With the last of the sanding hopefully completed, this weekend is about bringing the house back into the state of being a home and not a construction site.
1. First step, tromp approximately 5,000 trips up and down the stairs moving the tools that have collected in the corner back into their proper place in the tool box.
2. Now that we aren't tripping on things, next step is to take out the cardboard floor that has been slowly accumulating Spackle and grime for several weeks.
3. Next is to suck up the foot thick layer of dust that has settled on everything upstairs. I haven't tackled the full final dusting, just that which is on the floors.
4. Next I can take all the towels and sheets that were on my bed and put them back into the hallway closet where they belong. I can actually see my bed again!
5. Now to get this giant bathtub cardboard box out of the living room. Yes, I know that sounds weird but we were using it as a shield to keep the puppies in the living room while workers came and went. This task seems easy except that the box doesn't quite fit down the stairs as I planned. So now I am pinned in the hallway with a big-ole box and a box cutter. While I hack and slash with my razor blade like I am in the Georgia swamps or Amazon or something, I finally break it down into pieces that can get to the garage.
5. Finally, the last step, taking down the plastic sheets that have been closing off the living room and kitchen from the rest of the house. It seems silly but when those buggers come down, it changes everything. I can't help but smile as I walk through the kitchen door over and over again, just because I can.
So, now we are in the home stretch. I am not sure how much we will get done this week but next weekend we are going to be done. Wait for the full before and after montage that will be coming soon...
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Does it need to be square??
Tuesday, January 26
We continue our mudding and sanding in the closet. The drywall work is finally done.
Wednesday, January 27
Well, we've finally arrived at the task of trimming the door jambs for the closet and the entry door to the bathroom. They are in very close proximity, and the trim for the two doors will actually be touching. So they really need to be trimmed out as one big trim project.
The rest of the bathroom project was undertaken with a lot of careful forethought, sketches and pre-visualization of the final result. This door trim project has been a nagging afterthought that has been, well frankly, ignored for the duration. We have figured that we'll just "make it work" later on.
Uh oh. (yep, yet another Uh oh... but the end is in sight, it has to be.)
The top door jamb of the closet door is about 1/2" lower than the entry door. After a good period of contemplating a solution, we decide that we better call up the carpenter to come over and advise. Fortunately, he is available to stop by this evening. Due to the tight size of our bathroom, the dimensional tolerance for just about everything are unforgiving.
The carpenter is having a hard time coming up with a solution to the door jamb height issue, when he spots a worse issue--the wall that is to contain the door is out-of-square--the right side of the door is about 1/2" further into the closet than the left. This wall is sloppy, but could be tolerated, if not for the tight space where it is located.
It's my fault; I noticed the flaw when I installed that wall. Immediately after driving about 20 nails into the studs, I stepped back and saw it. Removing the door did not seem like a project I wanted to undertake; "we can make it work later," I thought.
The carpenter comes to the conclusion that the wall simply needs to be fixed; that is, made square and to the same height as the entry door. Luckily, he is available tomorrow to fix it.
Also, to add more drama, Sue has come home from work with a stomach flu (and to say she is sick is a very big understatement, she resembles a production of a B-rate zombie horror flick.) I hope I don't catch it. On top of that, Lisa and Peter are supposed to be showing up on Friday to have some fun in the city. Time to give them a call and let them know that we have a cootie-house, might need to reschedule.
Thursday, January 28
The carpenters are here. I am surprised to see that the wall fix requires chopping out our wall and doing it over. Fail. How embarrassing.
By the end of the day, the carpenters have rebuilt the wall and door jamb, taped and mudded the new drywall, and they even managed to hang the closet door.
Friday, January 29
The carpenters are doing all the work today. By the end of the day, they have both doors hung and have done a second coat of mud. Things just seem to go faster when call in the pros. Strange how that works, or perhaps it makes perfect sense, you certainly get what you pay for sometimes with do-it-yourself projects.
On a side note, Sue is still sick but she isn't quite the scary shade of green anymore.
Here is what the closet looks like without all the trim or painting in place...
We continue our mudding and sanding in the closet. The drywall work is finally done.
Wednesday, January 27
Well, we've finally arrived at the task of trimming the door jambs for the closet and the entry door to the bathroom. They are in very close proximity, and the trim for the two doors will actually be touching. So they really need to be trimmed out as one big trim project.
The rest of the bathroom project was undertaken with a lot of careful forethought, sketches and pre-visualization of the final result. This door trim project has been a nagging afterthought that has been, well frankly, ignored for the duration. We have figured that we'll just "make it work" later on.
Uh oh. (yep, yet another Uh oh... but the end is in sight, it has to be.)
The top door jamb of the closet door is about 1/2" lower than the entry door. After a good period of contemplating a solution, we decide that we better call up the carpenter to come over and advise. Fortunately, he is available to stop by this evening. Due to the tight size of our bathroom, the dimensional tolerance for just about everything are unforgiving.
The carpenter is having a hard time coming up with a solution to the door jamb height issue, when he spots a worse issue--the wall that is to contain the door is out-of-square--the right side of the door is about 1/2" further into the closet than the left. This wall is sloppy, but could be tolerated, if not for the tight space where it is located.
It's my fault; I noticed the flaw when I installed that wall. Immediately after driving about 20 nails into the studs, I stepped back and saw it. Removing the door did not seem like a project I wanted to undertake; "we can make it work later," I thought.
The carpenter comes to the conclusion that the wall simply needs to be fixed; that is, made square and to the same height as the entry door. Luckily, he is available tomorrow to fix it.
Also, to add more drama, Sue has come home from work with a stomach flu (and to say she is sick is a very big understatement, she resembles a production of a B-rate zombie horror flick.) I hope I don't catch it. On top of that, Lisa and Peter are supposed to be showing up on Friday to have some fun in the city. Time to give them a call and let them know that we have a cootie-house, might need to reschedule.
Thursday, January 28
The carpenters are here. I am surprised to see that the wall fix requires chopping out our wall and doing it over. Fail. How embarrassing.
By the end of the day, the carpenters have rebuilt the wall and door jamb, taped and mudded the new drywall, and they even managed to hang the closet door.
Friday, January 29
The carpenters are doing all the work today. By the end of the day, they have both doors hung and have done a second coat of mud. Things just seem to go faster when call in the pros. Strange how that works, or perhaps it makes perfect sense, you certainly get what you pay for sometimes with do-it-yourself projects.
On a side note, Sue is still sick but she isn't quite the scary shade of green anymore.
Here is what the closet looks like without all the trim or painting in place...
We Took a Shower!!!
Sunday, January 24
We install the casing on the window, and now it's time to address the closet, which we've been ignoring in the push to get the plumbing and electric ready for final inspection.
We put in the last pieces of drywall, now that we no longer need access to the shower plumbing, and we have more taping, mudding and sanding to do. While the first coat of joint compound is drying, we make yet another pilgrimage to Home Depot, and in the rain we load up a van with our closet door. As an added bonus, on the way back, we are able to load the van up with $125 worth of unused stuff that we bought from the 'Depot and didn't need. We are a little soggy.
Monday, January 25
Since it has been raining, the joint compound is taking forever to dry, so not much gets done today.
But, it isn't all bad news... WE GET TO TAKE A SHOWER. It is like being in a rain shower, but not the same as when we were stuck in the rain at Home Depot, this is different and very very very very very nice. I could stay in there all day.
We install the casing on the window, and now it's time to address the closet, which we've been ignoring in the push to get the plumbing and electric ready for final inspection.
We put in the last pieces of drywall, now that we no longer need access to the shower plumbing, and we have more taping, mudding and sanding to do. While the first coat of joint compound is drying, we make yet another pilgrimage to Home Depot, and in the rain we load up a van with our closet door. As an added bonus, on the way back, we are able to load the van up with $125 worth of unused stuff that we bought from the 'Depot and didn't need. We are a little soggy.
Monday, January 25
Since it has been raining, the joint compound is taking forever to dry, so not much gets done today.
But, it isn't all bad news... WE GET TO TAKE A SHOWER. It is like being in a rain shower, but not the same as when we were stuck in the rain at Home Depot, this is different and very very very very very nice. I could stay in there all day.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Those Pesky Germans Part 2
Saturday January 23:
The towel bars we bought are made by Danze. The installation is a real chore. Let's just say that the mounting screws have to be EXACTLY positioned. That is a difficult feat over the tub alcove tile. Even though the through-holes are in the right place, the tiles are ever so slightly out-of-plane, which makes screwing in the final set-screws a real challenge.
Using a lot of elbow grease, we finally manage to tighten up the screws.
Now, we're on to caulking the tub deck. We got some pricey sanded caulk that is specially designed to match our grout. This stuff combines the worst aspects of both caulk and grout. It is difficult to apply and a sticky mess to finish up.
Worse, we ran out of the stuff before we finished. That's going to be another long trek out to the tile supplier to get more. It is frustrating to have to wait 48 hours for the caulk to cure before we can use the shower.
Next step, casing, mouldings & closet...
The towel bars we bought are made by Danze. The installation is a real chore. Let's just say that the mounting screws have to be EXACTLY positioned. That is a difficult feat over the tub alcove tile. Even though the through-holes are in the right place, the tiles are ever so slightly out-of-plane, which makes screwing in the final set-screws a real challenge.
Using a lot of elbow grease, we finally manage to tighten up the screws.
Now, we're on to caulking the tub deck. We got some pricey sanded caulk that is specially designed to match our grout. This stuff combines the worst aspects of both caulk and grout. It is difficult to apply and a sticky mess to finish up.
Worse, we ran out of the stuff before we finished. That's going to be another long trek out to the tile supplier to get more. It is frustrating to have to wait 48 hours for the caulk to cure before we can use the shower.
Next step, casing, mouldings & closet...
Friday, January 22, 2010
Dim dim dim, bright bright bright...
Thursday January 21:
Jake tackles the shower, finds a few joints needing some soldering touch-ups but now that those leaks are taken care of, we now need to redo the teflon tape or get new gaskets because the thing is still leaking. If you look at our calendar of things we got done today it says
1. Fix leak in shower
2. Create new leak in shower
So, tomorrow we should be able to wrap this up.
Friday January 22:
Lenny the electrician shows up bright and early today to finish up the fixtures. In the garage, he installs the outlets, switches and two florescent lights, our shiny new garage heat detector and our new sconces by the garage door. In the bath, he installs the light in the shower alcove, the light/fan combo, bath vanity sconces and outlets. Oooh, and I can't forget the really cool dimmer switches that we picked out.
With all that electrical stuff in place, everything looks sweet. Sue gets home from work and we stand in the bathroom playing with the switches. Dim dim dim, bright bright bright, fan on, fan off, fan on with timer, dim dim dim. Maybe we are a little nutty but that was a lot of fun.
Oh, and to make things even more awesome, the shower leaks are fixed. We can actually take a shower! Woot!!!
Jake tackles the shower, finds a few joints needing some soldering touch-ups but now that those leaks are taken care of, we now need to redo the teflon tape or get new gaskets because the thing is still leaking. If you look at our calendar of things we got done today it says
1. Fix leak in shower
2. Create new leak in shower
So, tomorrow we should be able to wrap this up.
Friday January 22:
Lenny the electrician shows up bright and early today to finish up the fixtures. In the garage, he installs the outlets, switches and two florescent lights, our shiny new garage heat detector and our new sconces by the garage door. In the bath, he installs the light in the shower alcove, the light/fan combo, bath vanity sconces and outlets. Oooh, and I can't forget the really cool dimmer switches that we picked out.
With all that electrical stuff in place, everything looks sweet. Sue gets home from work and we stand in the bathroom playing with the switches. Dim dim dim, bright bright bright, fan on, fan off, fan on with timer, dim dim dim. Maybe we are a little nutty but that was a lot of fun.
Oh, and to make things even more awesome, the shower leaks are fixed. We can actually take a shower! Woot!!!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
A Whirlwind Day of Plumbing
Wed Jan 20
Up early to prep the work area for the plumbers. After pulling up the drop cloth, finishing up a little paint touch-ups and vacuuming up even more dust. The plumbers arrive. A quick spray of grout sealer under the vanity's future location clears the way for the pros to proceed.
Uh oh! That's not good. The radiator is supposed to sit on the subfloor when it goes back in. We laid plywood underlayment and tile too close to where the radiator needs to fit. After some discussion about pulling up tiles, the plumber is able to use his angle grinder to cut back the offending tile. Sounds risky but the plumber makes a fine cut, and the radiator can go back in. Whoops... another drama. We finished the garage below, but the plumber needs access from below to finish the closet flange drain plumbing. Ugg! Also, the heating system's new pipes weren't tested while the ceiling was open. Two choices--open up the ceiling, or cross our fingers and hope for the best. It's a conundrum.
Anyway, they install the radiator, toilet and vanity in short order. Nice!
With the radiator installed, we can turn the heat back on. Nope! That bang bang bang sound rattling the house is the seized-up water pump for the heater. The good news is that the plumber found a nickel behind the boiler. The bad news is that I'm going to need to find a lot more of them to cover the cost of replacing the pump. Ouch!
Our new pump is good to go, but our water heater pressure relief valve is leaking. We better get that fixed, too. This is looking like an expensive day.
The plumbers bleed all the radiators (and our wallet), and we have heat again. Yay!
After the plumbers are done, the grout on the floor needs retouching. I don't know how, but big chunks got pulled up... whatever. Grouting was a lot easier to do before the fixtures went in... Finally, the floor tile grout is finished. While it is drying, I manage to get a second coat of grout sealer over the tiles of the tub alcove.
Now, for the final thrust --the shower! It is late in the day, and this task has been punted into the future more than once. It is an "outside the wall, external mount shower". We chose it because it is the only all-in-one device on the market that provides: (a) safe thermostatic temperature control, (b) a shower/tub filler combo, (c) temperature labeled in degrees Celsius (not that that's really a feature we were looking for).
Anyway, it is very fancy. It is a "flush-mount design" of presumably British origin and is yet another item requiring precision installation. Regardless, it is really pretty cool.
In the process of precisely installing the shower, Jake manages to accidentally turn on the handle of the ball valve for the water supply... Squirt, splash, bloody cursing ensues...(though thankfully for less than a few seconds), I guess it would be out of place to install something without a little bit of drama.
The shower is on the wall, but the impromptu water-works makes sweat soldering the last few connections less than easy to do tonight. We drain out the house water supply to isolate the problem shower connection for fixing tomorrow. A long day deserves some rest... maybe tomorrow we can take a shower... maybe...
Up early to prep the work area for the plumbers. After pulling up the drop cloth, finishing up a little paint touch-ups and vacuuming up even more dust. The plumbers arrive. A quick spray of grout sealer under the vanity's future location clears the way for the pros to proceed.
Uh oh! That's not good. The radiator is supposed to sit on the subfloor when it goes back in. We laid plywood underlayment and tile too close to where the radiator needs to fit. After some discussion about pulling up tiles, the plumber is able to use his angle grinder to cut back the offending tile. Sounds risky but the plumber makes a fine cut, and the radiator can go back in. Whoops... another drama. We finished the garage below, but the plumber needs access from below to finish the closet flange drain plumbing. Ugg! Also, the heating system's new pipes weren't tested while the ceiling was open. Two choices--open up the ceiling, or cross our fingers and hope for the best. It's a conundrum. Anyway, they install the radiator, toilet and vanity in short order. Nice!
With the radiator installed, we can turn the heat back on. Nope! That bang bang bang sound rattling the house is the seized-up water pump for the heater. The good news is that the plumber found a nickel behind the boiler. The bad news is that I'm going to need to find a lot more of them to cover the cost of replacing the pump. Ouch!
Our new pump is good to go, but our water heater pressure relief valve is leaking. We better get that fixed, too. This is looking like an expensive day.
The plumbers bleed all the radiators (and our wallet), and we have heat again. Yay!
After the plumbers are done, the grout on the floor needs retouching. I don't know how, but big chunks got pulled up... whatever. Grouting was a lot easier to do before the fixtures went in... Finally, the floor tile grout is finished. While it is drying, I manage to get a second coat of grout sealer over the tiles of the tub alcove.
Now, for the final thrust --the shower! It is late in the day, and this task has been punted into the future more than once. It is an "outside the wall, external mount shower". We chose it because it is the only all-in-one device on the market that provides: (a) safe thermostatic temperature control, (b) a shower/tub filler combo, (c) temperature labeled in degrees Celsius (not that that's really a feature we were looking for).
Anyway, it is very fancy. It is a "flush-mount design" of presumably British origin and is yet another item requiring precision installation. Regardless, it is really pretty cool.
In the process of precisely installing the shower, Jake manages to accidentally turn on the handle of the ball valve for the water supply... Squirt, splash, bloody cursing ensues...(though thankfully for less than a few seconds), I guess it would be out of place to install something without a little bit of drama. The shower is on the wall, but the impromptu water-works makes sweat soldering the last few connections less than easy to do tonight. We drain out the house water supply to isolate the problem shower connection for fixing tomorrow. A long day deserves some rest... maybe tomorrow we can take a shower... maybe...
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Paint Is On
Monday, Jan 18
Sue caught the head cold going around and so we begin the day trying out a new XBox game, Dragon Age Origins; eight hours evaporate. In the evening we pry ourselves away from the game, and we get some paint on the ceiling and walls. It looks great but we can tell our mudding technique might be coming back to haunt us. We will look again in the morning with fresh eyes.
Tuesday, Jan 19
In the daylight and with paint on the wall, the wall still looks lumpy. Sue takes some cold medicine and heads to work, but to quote Bugs Bunny "I shoulda stood in bed".
Another layer of mud goes on to smooth out the seams and patches. Ugg! After another round of sanding and cleaning, we try one more coat of paint to see if we finally succeeded with the drywall. I think we got it this time.
We call up the electrician and plumber to get them in to finalize their work. The end is in sight!
Sue caught the head cold going around and so we begin the day trying out a new XBox game, Dragon Age Origins; eight hours evaporate. In the evening we pry ourselves away from the game, and we get some paint on the ceiling and walls. It looks great but we can tell our mudding technique might be coming back to haunt us. We will look again in the morning with fresh eyes.
Tuesday, Jan 19
In the daylight and with paint on the wall, the wall still looks lumpy. Sue takes some cold medicine and heads to work, but to quote Bugs Bunny "I shoulda stood in bed".
Another layer of mud goes on to smooth out the seams and patches. Ugg! After another round of sanding and cleaning, we try one more coat of paint to see if we finally succeeded with the drywall. I think we got it this time.
We call up the electrician and plumber to get them in to finalize their work. The end is in sight!
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