It's Electric!

The shower debate continues. Last week Mike told me he wanted to spend more money and go to a local bath showroom for a higher-end corner shower enclosure. I was against it. Throughout the week we talked to some folks and did a little research...

There are two places we could go locally.

One of these, a heavily advertised bath showroom (Simon's) with multiple locations, is not open on Sunday. This means that since Mike works Saturday, each of us would have to go there and look at the product separately. (Pain in the butt.) Or, one of us would have to entrust the other to pick something out. (Not gonna happen - he wants durability that only he can determine by actually "touching" the thing. I want stylish and economical.)

I tried to get a look at some of their products on their website... but their website only leads me to various manufacturer's websites, where I have to hunt and peck for products... The whole process was cumbersome and I tired of it after running into a brick wall at the first ill-performing manufacturer's website.

Forget that.

The other place is FW Webb, a store geared towards professional plumbers. Mike and I have both been there separate times, and each time, found them completely unwilling to service the humble homeowner - completely unhelpful and almost downright rude in fact. In my personal experience going there, I needed a simple baseboard end cap. No one who worked there would take the time to show me where they were. In fact, they made in blatantly obvious that they did not care.

The plumbers who were in there shopping were so much more courteous and helpful then the employees. (Never met a plumber I didn't like - I don't know why they have such a dubious reputation. I've found every single pro plumber to be a really great and down-to-earth sort of guy.) One plumber dude helped me look, and even cornered another employee for me until we got an answer and found the end cap I needed.

And of course, I paid up the wazzoo for the thing.

But they don't have anything on display, they are a supply house. We'd have to pick something from a catalog and order it - this eliminates Mike's ability to "touch" it.

No freakin way.

By Sunday we concluded that the Lowe's shower was the only shower. A plumber friend of ours gave us some tips on how to best install it for sturdy durability and we felt ok with that. Argument over.

With that out of the way, we decided to go and purchase the thing on Sunday afternoon. Sunday morning, we decided to strap the ceiling and walls. (Why work around a shower, was my reasoning.) But, as it usually happens, things took longer then expected. But, unlike it usually happens, that turned out to be a good thing.

Mike originally planned to just strap the ceiling. But while he was in a strapping mood, he strapped portions of the walls - uneven as they were - in prep for drywall. His hammering attracted our carpenter, who just happened to be working at our neighbor's house. The two guys talked for a little while - mostly trying to brainstorm a solution for our continual leak. (The bathroom roof was leaking - or so we thought. When we re-did the roof, it still leaked. We then guessed it was an incorrectly-installed upstairs window. Fixed that. Fixed one leak. The other is still as leaky as ever.)

Now, the plan is to re-shingle around the new wood stove chimney, where they're guessing now that the water is coming in. Needless to say, Mike will be visiting the HD this week for more shingles, ice and water, and lead. (Know what I hear - $$$$$$$$$$$$. Oh well, it's almost time for tax returns anyway.)

After that conversation, Mike finished up the strapping and decided that he wanted to just keep right on going. He cleaned up and started running the electrical.

Mikey Helping Out

Nothing too tough about the electrical in this small bathroom space. We're re-using the same two vanity lights from the old bathroom and the same recessed light from the old bathroom. Things are just getting moved around a little. The vanity is going to be on the opposite side of the room - and since we already have the mirror, Mike was able to position the lights accordingly. (I think they look stupid, they're too high up and so is the mirror. Same problem I have in the downstairs bathroom. Mike is just too tall! But oh well - this is only a semi-permanent bathroom anyway.)

Of course, we're adding a fan with light and an outlet next to the sink. Mike installed both yesterday, even cutting the hole for the vent to the outside. By dinnertime, everything was working. Lights, fan, action!

Needless to say, there was no time to go shopping. But that was a good thing. Check plenty of items off the to-do list and, nothing spent for once! Everything we needed, we already had in stock.

Ta-Da