Me Time

On Monday, Mike sanded the bathroom. On Tuesday, Mike sanded the bathroom again. And now it's time for me... to paint! Yes, I just said paint, or, technically, prime. Tonight I shall be priming! And I couldn't be more ecstatic.

Come to think of it, I hope I have at least one roller and a brush kicking around. I feel like it's been forever since I did any painting and I have no clue what we have in stock anymore.

I already have the colors picked out for Mike to pick up on Friday. A dark teal for the ceiling and a near-white (tinge of mint) for the walls. If I'm painting color by Saturday night, I will be one super psyched lady!

Mike will have to do some caulking around the top of the shower where they just couldn't squeeze any drywall compound in. It's that tight. After the paint is complete, the shower head can be installed along with the glass enclosure. (Which was of course, removed for drywalling.) A little baseboard trim to do, then the vanity can go in and the sink plumbing hooked up. Oh, and of course the lights, recessed trim, fan trim, and mirror can go up too.

Amazing how fast stuff can happen once a stubborn roof leak is fixed!

Meanwhile, before that...

I completely forgot about madness Sunday! Wow. Yes, last Sunday there was actually too much happening. Even for me! Our carpenter was over first thing in the morning to finish up the shingling up on the tippidy top of the house where Mike dared not go, ladder or no. Later on that morning, our chimney sweep (do we not have a friend for everything?) came by to clean our blocked chimney.

I don't think I've even mentioned that in the midst of all the craziness we've been going through, Mike awoke in the middle of one night a few weeks ago to a house filled with smoke! There was no chimney fire, thankfully, but it was definitely plugged up. And there was Mike in the middle of the night with a bunch of box fans, opening up all the windows and airing out the entire house.

It took weeks for the smell to dissipate. The basement still stinks.

So, enter the chimney sweep. After much cleaning, the chimney was clear again. While he was here, the guys checked the stove and tried to run it again. Our sweep confirmed - it does not run hot enough. And he couldn't give us any solutions on what to do. A few things to try perhaps, but we all pretty much agreed that the stove is too old and inefficient.

New wood stove. Add that to the shopping list. Luckily, there appear to be some tax credits available if we were to purchase a new, highly efficient wood stove. Not a bad idea. How much does it cost to fill an oil tank now-a-days? For the price of two fills, I bet we'd have the price of a new stove right there. But we'll have to shop around, see what's what. To the list it goes!

After those two guys finished up, it was yard cleanup time. Mike brought home the blower the night previous, and, after moving a buncha logs out of the back yard, blew the entire thing thoroughly. Looks great! No more sticks, less leaves, and no logs.

I took Zaida in the stroller with a bag (I had the bag, not her) and picked up all the trash I could find. (Being on a relatively busy road plus track pickup Tuesday, we get a fair share of garbage on the lawn.) After Mike was done out back, he and Mikey cleaned up all the construction/shingle debris from just outside the downstairs bathroom. I had no clue it had been such a mess over there! Glad that's taken care of, pre-bday party.

And thus concluded the busiest Sunday ever - I won't even mention the fact that I was pumping out 30 handmade bday invitations and that there was a salamander loose in the kitchen. Just that kindofa day.

Dry Room - Drywall

The shingling did the trick - the bathroom is living high and dry after at least two rain storms. (At long last.) Notice how we waited for a couple rainy days before we re-started the drywall? We were itching to do it, but knew better this time around. Thankfully, there was no need to worry after all.

So last weekend, Mike really set about finishing the job. He hung the remaining drywall, put in the over-the-shower light, and cut a hole for the sink drain plumbing. This week has been all about the taping and mudding. Mike roughed in all the seams and our neighbor will be over tonight for the next step, which is... I dunno. I'm not sure if we're at pea coat stage yet. You'd think I'd know the drill by now.

Before

After

Plus, with our son's 4th birthday just around the corner, we started cleaning up the outside. Mikey and I began over the weekend, picking up sticks around the yard and putting them in the wheel barrow. Last night, Mike brought home a chipper and took care of the big stuff. (No chipper availability over the weekend, those things are renting out like crazy right now!)

This weekend, Mike is hoping to get a blower to really clean things up out there. I put another bug in his bonnet today about ordering more blue stone for our side driveway. We got the stone for it last year... but didn't order quite enough to complete the job. We need just a big more to round the corner near the back garage addition.

And I think that will be more than enough to keep us busy inside and out for the next week or so...

Hello April, Goodbye Leak?

In like a lion, out like a dinosaur. March. And we New Englanders thought February was harsh. We're due for another 1-3" of snow tonight along with gail winds.

Luckily, this past Sunday was nice enough for Mike and our carpenter to make progress outside - hopefully water-proofing the bathroom at long last. They trimmed out that portion of the house and then shingled as much as they could in the time allotted.

I feel like this quick and dirty bathroom remodel has been one of our most aggravating.

Meanwhile, both Mike and I are itching to get started on something else. I found the coolest idea for a tie wall for the hillside:

Can't you just imagine that bottom step full of nice plantings? (Not that I have the slightest idea what to plant and how to plant it.)

Mike, inspired by all the cool pallet upcycles online, has decided to pallet the interior of the garage. Fricken brilliant if you ask me. Some of the images of a pallet wall online are stunning:

So cool. So incredibly cool. Just search pallet anything on the web - or, better yet, Pinterest, and you'll come up with a whole slew of amazing ideas. And I'm psyched at the thought of garage walls because it would force Mike to organize. (Plus, let's face it, it sucks to open the garage door and be faced by a bunch of insulation.)

Hello March, Goodbye Leak?

Hey, we finally happened upon a weekend without a snow storm... Imagine that, right?! If you're in New England, you know exactly what I'm talking about. February = pure torture. And March hasn't been much better.

Obviously, I've been lacking here on the updates. The last two months, weather plus work plus illness plus events and activities, plus the hustle and bustle of every day life... It gets to ya after a while and your blog suffers the consequences.

I'm going to try and remember all that's transpired... bear with me.

When we last left, the house had been buried in Blizzard Nemo, halting all progress in the bathroom due to a leak in the roof. Subsequent weekends brought snow storm after snow storm... with a rain storm stuck in there too, preventing any work to be done on the exterior.... preventing drywall work to be done on the interior. Frustrating to say the least.

But while we were waiting for the weather, Mike was able to put together the shower enclosure. Sounds fun and easy, doesn't it? It was a nightmare of epic proportions.

First, Mike attached the left side wall. A little bit hard to wrangle.. but not a huge deal. He attached and caulked it in. The trouble came when he went to attach the right side wall. It wouldn't fit. It wouldn't fit by a margin of under an inch. There was a beam in the ceiling in the way. There was no way around it but to cut the beam... and the only way to cut the beam was to remove the left wall. The left wall that had already been screwed and caulked in.

So Mike removed the left wall and cleaned up best he could. Even after the beam was cut, the right wall fought hard. The walls and floor were neither level, straight, or plumb, so to get the two sides level and matched was near impossible. But after a lot of cussing and pushing and shoving and shimming, was able to get both walls in and caulked down

The following weekend, another winter storm meant time to install the glass. After his fiasco with the two walls, Mike was not looking forward to doing the glass. But, he started patiently, putting the glass enclosure walls together outside the bathroom first. No problemo.

Unfortunately, once he brought them into the bathroom - big problemo. Since the floors, walls, everything was so incredibly askew, neither of the glass enclosure walls would fit. There was a HUGE gap at the bottom that just couldn't be overcome. The shower base was just too crooked due to the floor. Mike and I sat down and discussed out options.

1. Was dismissed immediately - jacking up the bathroom floor from beneath to level it. This would cause severe and dire implications in the adjacent kitchen... the adjacent kitchen we just finished re-doing exactly a year ago. Walls would crack, cabinets might fall, the countertops might separate. No way. Not an option.

2. Remove everything - the shower walls and base - and attempt to level the base by pouring a foundation of concrete. But this would un-do all that work that had already been done. All that pain in the butt work. And there was no guarantee of success.

3. Shim the shower doors using Azek and caulking. (Yes, Azek. Why not? It would be completely water proof and we could cut it to shape. You couldn't do it with regular wood.) The difficulty here was the nature of the cut. It would be a difficult cut and when all was said and done, it might look stupid.

Be that as it may, option 3 had the least risk, and we went with it. Mike went to the HD, bought a couple of Azek boards in a light grey color, returned home, and began to cut. Several difficult hours later, and the glass enclosure was up, screwed in, and completely shimmed. It didn't look half bad either, almost as if the Azek was supposed to be there - like some sort of trim.

So far so good, although we'll see how things go when we actually begin using the shower.

Then, at long last, SUN on a Sunday. I remember the day well, it was Sunday March 3rd. I had already planned a day of hair coloring with my girl friend and her four kids, with her husband planning to hang with mine. But that morning, our carpenter and our neighbor (yes, they're related to each other, Uncle and Nephew) came over, inspired by the sun and ready to work.

Busy day? Understatement of the year. But somehow, it all worked out. The guys started by ripping down all the old siding and shingles beneath. Then, they took out the upstairs window.

Once Upon a Window
Once upon a time, years ago, we installed new windows throughout the house. Some time after, we lifted the house (yes, lifted the entire house) in order to put in a basement. (Replacing the rocks and dirt the house had previously sat on.) Needless to say, the lifting and putting down of the house left many things askew - including one of our bedroom windows upstairs.

Years went by and we involved ourselves on many another project, leaving the window askew. But once we started this bathroom remodel, we discovered that water was leaking in through this window, running down, and leaking into the bathroom below.

So, (and forgive me if I've written this before) Mike took the window out and re-installed it straight and level. The only problem? The bathroom still leaked. This time, our carpenter was taking now chances. He advised re-installing the window yet again in addition to removing and replacing the old siding. The theory was that water was entering through the poor-condition siding and, still, possibly the window.

It was a little funny. I was in the middle of getting my hair colored in the kitchen when I went upstairs for something and discovered the bedroom door closed. I opened it and to my surprise, the window was out. I leaned outside and called to the guys who were standing below, "Again?" Mike replied, "Yep. And guess what we found under the siding?"

Stink bugs! I hate stink bugs, but every year they seem to get into our bedroom. I've found them on the windows, the curtains, the walls, and even IN MY BED. Like, under the covers and I get into bed and feel one on my skin... Worst nightmare come true...

Hopefully, replacing the siding and re-re-installing the window will prevent those guys from coming in too.

By the end of that Sunday, the old siding had been replaced with new plywood and TyVek. The window was back in correctly and trimmed with ice and water. My hair was black and pink. The kids had a great time together destroying the living room and Mikey's room. (Toy explosion.) And everyone enjoyed meatballs from the crock pot at the end of a long day. Delish.

Mike and I were so excited to have the outside waterproofed at long last. Mike set to work back in the interior of the bathroom, hanging insulation and drywall, about one sheet per day.

Then, we had another rain storm. And I'm walking past the bathroom when I hear water. My heart sank as I turned on the light and found a small puddle on the floor. Mike was ready to blow a gasket. But the wind outside was howling. "Maybe some of the TyVek blew off," he suggested. And sure enough, as he crawled outside the upstairs window, (this was around 9pm mind you) he found the spot where it was likely leaking.

This is one of those homeowner moments - it's after 9pm at night and you're out on the roof in a howling wind and rain storm with a piece of ice and water, a staple gun, and a heat gun trying to fix a leak before it wrecks all your insulation and drywall.

Luckily, Mike's efforts were not in vain. The leak seemed to be fixed again. This time though, he was not as enthusiastic about completing the insulation and drywall. He decided to wait until the exterior had been re-shingled and totally water tight.

This brings us up to the present day. And yes, Mother Nature dropped another 6-9" on us just last night. But with temps up to 40 and rising, plus plentiful sunshine, we're optimistic that this Sunday may just be the day to finish all that.

I'm itching to finish this bathroom and move on to exterior-related spring projects!

Floors, Pipes, and Blizzards

Hola, blog-readers! Lots of excitement round here... so much so in fact that I haven't even had time to type out two sentences about it.

Two weeks ago now, we completed flooring and plumbing in the bathroom.  (Well...Save for one mysterious disappearing valve that we cannot for the life of us locate...) On that particular Sunday, we were at the home depot once again for supplies - the sink and shower fixtures, plumbing parts, etc. And I really wanted to get the flooring taken care of.

Even though we're not a fan of it, we went to check out the stick-on flooring. (This bathroom is only semi-permanent after all.) And wow! Cheap cheap cheap! $30 for a box of 12x12 stick on tiles that would cover nearly the entire bathroom floor. (Compare this to a good quality 12x12 tile at over $5 a tile!) We bought two boxes to have plenty - plus plenty of extra.

After a bit of cleaning, we got to sticking. And in less than two hours we went from subfloor to finished floor. Can't get that with tile either.

Flooring by the Shower

In Process of Flooring

This is how it will look when finished!

Of course, less then three weeks later and already a couple of the tiles are un-sticking themselves from the subfloor. But we don't even care. Slap some glue on the corner and stick something heavy on it... It doesn't have to last forever.

The next day, Mike was onto the plumbing...

Sink Plumbing - Note missing valve on the left hand side there.

Shower plumbing

Mike also completed as much drywall and insulation as he could considering that we still have a leak in the roof. As you can see, one side of the room and ceiling are all set... the rest, not so much.

  

The entire plumbing job was a royal pain and we had to lose an outlet in the kitchen to fit the shower pipes in there. (Kitchen is right on the other side of that 2x4 you see under the shower mixing valve.... there was an outlet right there.)

But the job was finally done - no leaks - all good. Then we got hit by Blizzard Nemo and were buried under 2-4' of snow. The blizzard hit us last Friday, we lost power Friday night, and didn't get it restored until late Monday night. Needless to say, there was nothing done last weekend... except for a heck of a lot of snow moving, skid steere rigging, snowmobile breaking, generator moving, couch sleeping, wood stove loading.... You get the idea.

And to make matters worse, all this snow is going to severely delay the leak-fixing that we had planned for upcoming weekends. A lot of the bathroom side of the house needs to be re-shingled in order to fix that leak. And we can't move forward with any more insulation/drywall until the leak is fixed. So as you can imagine, we're quickly going to run into a stopping point.

This weekend we may be able to get the shower enclosure up and another few bits of drywall....

Finally, Shower!

Plans changed once more... and for the second time, it's actually a good thing. (Wow, things are just falling into place all on their own - like a tetris game of all squares.) If you recall, our carpenter was supposed to be over this past weekend so that he and Mike could rip off a bunch of old siding by the chimney and re-shingle to fix an ongoing roof leak in the bathroom.

That didn't happen. He called us in the AM on Sunday and reminded us of incoming inclement weather. (Not to mention the wind gusts up to 50mph.) Not the best time to try and replace anything exterior.

Ok - we'll take this opportunity to PURCHASE THE SHOWER! Can you believe it? After all the back and forth, we were finally ready to purchase the thing.

Mike left me and the kids at home and picked it up himself. He got the last corner base they had in stock - and it was on clearance. (Phew! Another lucky break!) They didn't have the brushed nickle on the glass door as we originally wanted, but Mike said the aluminum was comparable - and on sale and in stock. Fine with me! No more arguments/changes in regards to the shower.

Hole in the Floor, Meet Shower Base

 First thing, Mike laid the base down in the bathroom... you wouldn't believe how tight it is to the opening door. That thing just fits. (Tense moments there for a couple minutes.) Once we knew it would work, Mike cut the hole in the floor for the drain. And then he says, "I may as well put the toilet in there..."


So Mike's bringing in the toilet and getting it out of the box and this and that and he's already to go with it... When he discovers a crack in the bowl. It needs to be returned and exchanged. And then he says, "Do you want me to go ahead and get all the stuff to actually hook up the toilet while I'm there?"

Uh - SURE!

Pack it up, put it back in the truck... Mike was off to Home Depot this time and returned within the hour with a new toilet (Saved $10 by taking it back - it was on sale this time) and all the pipe and materials to install.

That Little Thing on the Floor - That's for the Toilet

By 9pm we had a fully functional upstairs toilet. I thought to myself, "No mis-cut pipes, no leaks, no forgotten parts... Mike's plumbing sure has improved since we started on this house." I didn't mention it to him. We had many a plumbing project go awry in the early days.

So we have a toilet installed, electrical installed, shower started, window installed, walls shimmed, and floor leveled. That's pretty good. Next up, sink and shower plumbing. We definitely need to get the exterior done to fix the leak before we can even think about drywall. And then there's flooring to consider...

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

And Another Thing...

Did I mention we completed shingling on the new window side of the house?
Well - we did! (Despite our big air compressor kicking the bucket and Mike's parents having to deliver us the small one he left at their house...)

Looks nice, doesn't it? Makes the rest of that blue goo back there look really shabby.

Joist For Fun

We seem to be moving right along with this bathroom project - after completing the window installation on New Year's Eve, Mike moved right along to the ceiling. Within two evenings of work, he's completed and installed all new joists.

Check that one off the list!

New Year, New Window

Well the holidays are over and the house is all cleaned up of all holiday decorations. So, in honor of this newfound cleanliness, what we do but start tearing stuff apart again?

Sunday Mike started in the old bathroom soon-to-be new bathroom by going downstairs and completely leveling out the floor. (When we put the vanity in there - not to install, but just to store it - we couldn't help but notice that it was leaning drastically.) Mike removed one of the old beams underneath and created a new one, carefully shimming and leveling as he went.

Monday we made our list - checked it twice - and went to the Home Depot yet again. (And this time we kept our distance from the shower department.) We bought the first round of construction materials - rafters for the ceiling, strapping for the walls, a new window, electrical boxes, a bathroom vent/fan, a fan duct, and a whole buncha LED christmas lights that were 75% off. (Two guesses who picked those out - chaching! $6.99 for a 17' long outdoor LED icicle light set is a dang good deal in my book. I bought four!

When we returned home, know what time it was?! WINDOW TIME!

One of the things I despised most about that old bathroom, (and I use the term lightly because I despised many things about that bathroom) was the window.

Here is a photo of the bathroom in what was probably its best, cleanest state. Note the location of the window in proximity to the toilet. IT'S RIGHT THERE. Know what's right outside that window? Our neighbor's house. Our neighbor who likes to come over a lot and walks right past that window to get to our driveway. No me gusta.

So I always had to have a shade covering the window... which made the room incredibly dark and even less appealing.

To keep things easy, Mike wanted to simply replace the old window with one of the same size in the same location. I said, "No way!" And after a bit of discussion, (since there is no other wall that the window could go on and no possibility of totally rebuilding the bathroom) we agreed on a smaller window of close-to the same width. It would be placed at the top of the old window frame and Mike would rip off the exterior old siding and replace with shingles. (Since it's such a small wall, time and cost expenditures would be minimal.)

Now onto - WINDOW TIME!

 

First, cutting the hole. Mike removed the old siding and even older shingles underneath the siding. Then, he removed the old window.

Next, re-ply. Mike put up new plywood on that entire side of the bathroom. (Which isn't very much room at all - we had enough plywood in stock to take care of it easily.) Then, he stapled up tar paper over the entire wall.

Now, time to cut a new hole. Mike cut and framed a space for the new window, which as you can see, has a bit of a different location then the old one. Keep in mind that to the left of the window, on the outside, is where our chimney is. We couldn't go any more to the left. So, since the new window was winder then the old window, we went right and left the chimney with plenty of breathing room.

And finally, by the end of the evening, the new window was in! We couldn't be happier with its location. You'd have to really make an effort to look through this one to see someone in the bathroom. (Although for showering purposes, we will still likely put up a shade.) But it's still enough to let in lots of light... probably more then that dirty old window did, even at twice the size.

Next up - new ceiling rafters, wall shimming, and exterior shingling on the new window wall...

A Small Roof and a Window

You may remember that when we demo'd the bathroom just after Halloween, we discovered that the roof was leaking. (Yes, it's the last of the old roof on the house at this point.) No big deal. We had plenty of roofing leftover from our main house roof job several years ago - enough to do that one small section.

And just two weekends ago Timmy, our roofer/carpenter extraordinaire, came over to tackle the job. It didn't take long, just a few hours and the old roof was off and the new roof was on. Trouble was, there was no problem with that old roof. The problem, Timmy guessed, was that water was leaking through one of our bedroom windows... one of our crooked bedroom windows.

The window hadn't been installed crookedly. It had been installed straight and level in a crooked house. Then, we lifted the house to put in the basement and leveled it when it came back down on its new foundation. The once crooked house became level and the once straight window became crooked. And apparently, it had been leaking water into the downstairs bathroom ever since.

Last weekend, Mike remedied the problem by removing the window, sticking down some ice and water, and re-installing the window straight and level.

Eventually, that window will become a door when we build another bathroom atop the downstairs bathroom... and I hate to do to re-do... but at this point, that project is on major hold and we can't have water leakage for years and years.

In the past couple weeks we also had the opportunity to re-visit Lowes and their corner shower enclosures. After experiencing the ones at Home Depot, we both agreed that the Lowes options, though more costly, were much sturdier. We decided on a model, but couldn't purchase at that time since we were pressed for time and driving in a honda civic. (Let's see you fit a 36" corner shower enclosure in a honda civic!)

Purchasing at this point will most likely be after the holiday. Although we will be getting the toilet at the 'ol HD this week, along with some other needed items.

Still on the needs list - shower fixtures, flooring, and a window.

I'm thinking a different size window - maybe half the size of what we have in there now. The current window is right next to the toilet, overlooking the neighbor's house. "Hello - I'm pooping!"
I've always hated that... so you have to keep the shade down all the time... and it's super-dark. Mike wants to keep the same window hole to make things easier, but I'd rather put a smaller window up higher, using half the hole if you will, so at least nobody can see you when you're seated.

Aside from that, it's just all the building materials and plumbing materials. I doubt we're going to futz with the electrical. Maybe move some things around, but I don't see it being a huge major deal.

Watch out world - second bathroom in 2013!

Some Black Friday Advice for Retailers

Just a few short weeks ago we made a trip to Lowes, but came home unsatisfied. (Read all about it.) So, with Black Friday just around the corner, we saved ourselves a Home Depot shopping trip for the weekend after Thanksgiving. In preparation, I did some showrooming at the store just before Thanksgiving, and found that they had a toilet and a stand up shower that I liked for prices within our budget. Awesome.

Saturday after Thanksgiving, we packed up the kids and headed out to the Home Depot with full intent to blow $700-$900 and light our Home Depot credit card ablaze with red hot deals.

We get there - I pick out some new christmas lights to replace some that had gone out on me this year. (If I'm paying for big purchases on my card and already getting 0% financing for 12mo's, why not?) I also find a faucet on sale that I decide I will use to replace the more expensive one we previously purchased at Lowes. So far, so good.

Mike is already in the shower section. I left him there earlier after pointing out the shower I like, which is on display and priced at $515. But when I return to him with my cart already half full of goodies, the problems begin.

He doesn't like that stand up shower kit - says it's too flimsy and he feels like he can bend the walls with just a firm bump. After a short argument, we decide to look for it anyway. For the price, we'll give it a shot. Maybe it's just poorly assembled in the display.

There's no box. We can't find the item anywhere. An HD associate is actually nearby and we ask him to look for us. Come to find out that this item is no longer available and has been discontinued - no other store even has it. The discounted $515 price was a final closeout from who-knows how long ago.

Now we're getting really aggravated. The kids haven't eaten dinner. We haven't eaten dinner. It's getting late and there we are in the aisle trying to decide what to do about this shower situation. There's another stand up shower kit that they have plenty of... it's the right size and everything. Trouble is, the display is 10' over our heads. Yes, there's a standup shower kit assembled and displayed 10' up. That one's even less expensive, but Mike doesn't want to buy it without experiencing the display, which he can't because for some reason some ding dong thought it was a good idea to put a display waaaaaaay up on a shelf that nobody can access.

Mike wants to go back to Lowes. I, who have already picked out several items with a toilet yet to go, want to buy something here and now so I can get my 0% financing for 12mo's and Black Friday pricing on my faucet and lights.

But I'm also tired, hungry, and not in the mood to argue. Especially with a tired and hungry 3 1/2 year old and 3 1/2 month old in tow. "If we don't get a shower, we're not getting anything," I finally exclaimed. "Come on, let's go put all this stuff back."

And we did.

And as we're walking out of that place with the empty cart full of kids, I'm thinking to myself, I'm a customer who came into this store with the intent to spend around $800 on the store charge card and now I'm walking out with nothing because of improper displays. (The first being the discontinued kit, which was still on display long after they had all been sold. The second being the replacement kit, which was displayed so high up that we couldn't look at it.)

So here we are, over a week later, and Mike and I are still to flustered to discuss it. We still need to go back to the HD for the toilet. The great faucet prices will have probably passed by now. But we have no idea what to do about the shower kit. Back to Lowes, I suppose? There are some local stores we could try, but I hate to say it, I imagine that they will be much more expensive.

Breaking Bath

Alright, so maybe that's the title I should have used back on our post-halloween-party bathroom breakdown blog. But I just now thought of it and feel like it's just too cute not to publish, even a little late.

So, how goes the bath battle? Well, in our last episode, Mike had just begun installation of a new subfloor. Last weekend, he finished that subfloor with scrap pieces of wood we already had in stock. Sure that meant making his own tongues and grooves, but it worked out perfectly. (And now we don't have any additional costs and extra pieces that we probably won't use for anything else.)

Sunday, we started our fixture shopping at the local Lowes. Our main reason for picking the Lowes over our usual Home Depot - vanities. In our last bathroom remodel, we were both completely unsatisfied with the DeepHo's selection of vanities. They were expensive. They were ugly. And few came with a sink top. (For that job, we were lucky to find an inexpensive open-box model at the HD that we really loved - sink included on that one!)

Lowes did not disappoint in the vanity department. We found a small vanity, nice modern styled wood cabinet, with sink and mirror included. $200. Awesome.

The trouble came when we went to look at stand-up showers and toilets. In the shower department, we were immediately drawn to the space saving corner units. (And I use the word units lightly.) You had to purchase the bottom separately from each side and separately from a glass door. Add it all together and a full stand up shower would cost about $700. Our tub kit for our basement bathroom from Home Depot only cost about $450. Why wasn't the stand-up shower sold as a kit? Additionally, the signage was confusing and it was difficult to tell which prices went with which models. We were not satisfied and did not make any shower purchase.

It was the same story with the toilet... kind of. They had plenty of those - and all the parts came in one box, thank god. However the Kohlers seemed pricey to me at around $200. (That's the brand we have downstairs and have been thus far satisfied with it.) We did not make a toilet purchase either.

We did select a faucet for the sink... but since we'll be going to the DeepHo to check out showers and toilets there, I may take a comparative look at their faucets and return the Lowes one. (It's a no-name brand too - I would much prefer a Moen or something like that if prices are comparable.)

A somewhat frustrating trip overall, yes. But we're both very happy with the vanity, so I still consider it a success.

Today I did some homework over at the HD during my lunch break. They had a stand-up corner shower kit that I liked - and that seemed well constructed - for $515. Their Kohler toilet was $138. I didn't have time to look at the faucets, but did snap some pics of the shower & toilet info sheets with my iPhone so we could measure.

2nd Annual Christmas bath purchasing comes again! If we keep a similar pace as last year, we should have an upstairs bath by March. (Much less to this one - hence the shorter time estimate.)

Starting the Holiday Season with a Bang

It was the morning after our 10th Anniversary Annual Halloween Party. Mike and I cleaned up, took down all the decor, ate some food, and then set our sights on the dreaded bathroom... that last remnant from the house as we bought it in 2004. Demo day had finally, thankfully, arrived.

The goal of the day was to remove everything - fixtures, walls, flooring... everything. I removed those few items I wanted to keep and Mike started in on the demo with a few choice hammer blows to the shower wall.

And then my camera died. (Too many Halloween party pics.) Mike continued on as I kept on post-halloween cleaning. (Although I did help carry out some large pieces of wall to the truck that wouldn't fit out the bathroom window where we were shoveling and throwing the rest.) In the midst of one of these trips to the truck, a single pink tile fell off the wall piece and hit me on the head. I thought to myself, "I should save one of these tiles," picked it up, and kept it.

Once most of the walls were down, the tub had to be removed. The cast iron tub. Mike's original plan was to bust it up. This proved impossible. Repeated blows with the hammer barely dented the green coating. These things were made to last forever... and ever. By some fit of amazing strength, Mike was able to turn it up on it's side. Then, we used a hand-truck and a couple straps to carefully wheel it out of the house and onto the porch. (Where it still sits.)

The breaking of the green sink and toilet must have been much more dramatic. But, unfortunately, I missed that too. I was picking up the kiddos by that time in the late afternoon. Mike said they both just shattered. I can only imagine!

When I returned home with the kids, the majority of the work was done. Mike was just finishing up demo on the floor. I took some pictures with my camera, now charged.

Wall

Back wall and floor

Floor

Other wall, window

Ceiling

The old pink and green monstrosity bathroom was no more. With no tub in there, the room actually looked much bigger. I was surprised. We also discovered that the roof was leaking! In not one, but two places! Rain dripped right onto the floor. (Leaky roof, leaky pipes....) Luckily for us, we have enough roofing leftover from doing the main house a few years ago to cover this small area of space. That will be our next order of business, before any drywalling can be done.

In the following days, Mike put down one sheet of plywood that we already had in stock, steadying at least a portion of the floor. As you can see, we have just a bit more to cover.

In the days following that, the chimney guys came back and finished the chimney! To prepare for our inspection, Mike re-organized and moved all the "combustibles" from the wood stove area in the basement and placed them over by the furnace and oil tank... what will be their final resting place. (This area will be a utility room once the basement is fully finished.)

If you focus on the top of this photo, you'll see Mike's genius idea for storing long pieces of wood and trim board... a couple wooden shelves attached to the ceiling. Perfect for keeping all of that stuff out of the way!

The rest of the stuff he managed to condense to three shelving units - carpentry tools, paint, plumbing and electrical supplies, drywall supplies, and misc.

That half of the basement looks pretty amazingly clean, doesn't it?

And the work paid off! We were inspected and approved in about 30 seconds. Trouble came when Mike tried to call the fire department to come and inspect the stove. "You don't have a permit," they said. Mike replied, "Yes we do, a building permit and it was just signed off on." Come to find out, we needed some special stove permit? Which the town never told us about? Yesterday being Veteran's Day, Mike couldn't get it all sorted out. The secretary was out. He'll try to call again on Thursday. It's always something!

Oh, and for those of you who may have missed our basement bathroom closet door install, which happened right before the party, here ya go! Sometime we'll have to stain these bad boys...

Sandy Installations

Hurricane Sandy for us was little more then a wind storm. A wind storm of less then epic proportions, I might add. Nevertheless, media hype closed down just about every school and business in the area, leaving Mike and I with an extra day off.

Hmmm, let's see. How to spend an extra day off? Install some stuff?! Brilliant idea. We started with the new over-the-stove microwave we purchased from some friends of ours. (They purchased an entire set of gently used appliances, but did not need the microwave.) We didn't have the parts yet to be able to install the vent, which will eventually pull air from over the stove and push it outside, but there was no reason not to install the microwave itself and start using the microwave functions.

 

After a lot of lifting and drilling and figuring with the included template, the thing was in! The last part to complete our new kitchen puzzle. Looks awesome! And unlike our old countertop microwave, this one fits and spins our large plates and everything. (Oooooo!) It even has a preset button specifically for "Chicken Nuggets." (Ahhhhhhh!) *Why chicken nuggets? Who suggested that? I understand the "Popcorn," "Defrost," "Steam Vegetables," etc. But chicken nuggets of all things? I would have put frozen pizza waaaay at the top of my own "microwave present items" list.

I digress.

With the microwave in place, Mike went downstairs and installed the basement bathroom closet doors! Yippee! But they're not stained yet. Ohhh. I had previously made a deal with him that I didn't require the doors stained before our annual halloween party, just installed. So I'm happy!

And with those items complete, we were done. We actually accomplished everything we'd wanted to do over the weekend, plus plus. That never happens. And we weren't about to start any new and huge projects either... that's for after the Halloween Party.

Destruction... here we come!

The Woodshed

No, we're not talking about that famous bar in Brewster. (With the rockinest Halloween party ever, I might add.) We're talking about a shed in which to place wood... Which we have a lot of since Nstar removed the locust from the front yard. Mike decided build one yesterday.

But what of Sandy, large storm affecting out area with high winds today? Well, unlike last year (Irene) there was very little we needed to do to prepare. Tree is down. Kitchen roof is done. All we had to do was to clean the yard, hit the dump, and secure and stow everything on the farmers porch. It's like we have an Easy button or something. "That was easy."

And Mike wanted to build his shed with some free plywood he obtained. I asked him if he could finish the project in one day. (How many unfinished projects do we have in progress now?) well, mike said he could do it and that he'd pay for the wood he needed with Home Depot returns. A project that could be finished in an afternoon and cost next to nothing? Could such a thing even exist?!

I must admit, mike did not disappoint. He built a 16' wood shed that reminded me of a bus stop. (It was almost a shame to put wood in it. I wanted to put in a bench and a schedule.) And he finished it in plenty of time to even load it up with all the wood.

His design was pretty nifty. He built it in the shelter of the hill and used pallets for the floor. That way, once they rot out (an eventuality with wood and ground contact) he can simply replace with more free pallets.

With us both off due to the storm today, mike will be tackling the basement closet doors at long last!

Roofed!

The guys were not roofing as I thought they were in my last post. Mike had just been up there tarping in preparation for the upcoming storms. Storms that ended by the weekend, with enough time and warm temps on Sunday for the guys to complete the entire job!

Mike even managed to give the trim a coat of paint and add siding to the itty bitty portion of wall where the kitchen roof meets the mudroom.

Unfortunately, the job encompassed the entire day, leaving no time to stain the basement bathroom closet doors. Oh well. Perhaps this weekend?

Winter Prep

It's cold. And by my definition of cold, I mean below 70 degrees. The leaves are turning color... the Halloween decorations are up... and the Weather Channel is talking about naming snow storms with name choices including: Athena, Draco, and Maleficent. Ok, so maybe I added Maleficent. (Maybe I should be on the naming committee.)

All this changing of the seasons means it's high time for some winter prep around the house. First thing's first - the kitchen roof. Last weekend, as you recall, we were supposed to be roofing. Well, turned out to be rainy and windy. Foiled again. However, the past two days it's been sunny and in the 60's. Perfect roofing weather. So, the guys have been working in the evening.... in fact, they're working right now as I type. And I hope they plan on finishing tonight because it's supposed to rain tomorrow and the next day. Thunderstorms. Wind. Lovely.

The chimney would be second priority. Wouldn't you know, the guys were supposed to come out and finish that this past Monday. Didn't end up happening for reasons unknown. We are still waiting for the rescheduling call, as we're just 10 feet away from completion on that one. Mike was so excited, he even got a log splitter and split all that locust wood we got from the Nstar fallen tree in the front yard. Oh well, no stove today Senor Lumberjack Breakfast.

Third priority? Well, while we've got chimneys (chimnies?) on the brain, Mike decided to help out our poor old furnace chimney so it could possibly survive another winter. (This one he built years ago, on his own, before having any knowledge of proper chimney construction. It's a bit of a hack job.) Today, having accidentally scheduled a Thursday off a week prior to me returning to work, Mike decided to really have a look at the thing. And wouldn't you know, upon closer inspection, the chimney had some huge hole in it that was allowing sand to enter whenever it rained. Nearly the entire exhaust was full of sand. No wonder the thing ran like poop and made loud noises whenever it kicked on.

As Mike worked to clear that mess and fix the hole, he discovered dead spiders all over the place and more trying to enter through the same orifice. (Yay vocab!) Great. Sand in the furnace exhaust and another grand entrance for the wolf spiders.

He ran to the chimney store, picked up another couple pieces of pipe and replaced the entire lower portion of the stove exhaust and chimney. Already the thing is running quieter, and hopefully more efficiently too. With a new baby around, we've already had the heat on for nearly two weeks and I can feel the upcoming disturbance in the monetary force... oil is not cheap these days.

Still on the agenda - staining the basement closet doors. That must be done before our Halloween party. (Or bust!) Window bottoms would be nice too... we'll see how things go in the next two weeks!

Bought a Bunch of Bottoms... Say That 5 Times Fast

We ordered and received our rubber roofing for over the kitchen! And of course, as if on cue, the weather changed from near 70's to mid-50's. Oh, and it's been raining every weekend, thus delaying any possibility of installation.

This week, we've again scheduled installation for Saturday and Sunday. So far, the weather looks good. Partly cloudy, near 60. Of course, it's only Wednesday and it is New England. Anything could happen within the next few days.

What's that got to do with buying a bunch of bottoms? Well, nothing. Just had to get that roof update out of the way.

Now. On Monday I had Mike back downstairs working on basement bathroom trim. He completed the door trim, closet door trim, and window trim!

Note that this time around, nothing has been pre-stained. That's due to the difficulty of the cuts and fit of most of this trim. The doors were especially difficult, as our wall is thicker then the average door width. Mike had to create custom trim to work with the pre-hung door. Then, of course, the pocket door required more custom trim work. The windows, as you can see, are especially tight to the closet. Those were a tight squeeze. And since traditional window bottom trim is very thick, Mike decided to make custom, thin window bottom trim out of scrap side-trim pieces. It looks great - but took all day to accomplish.

Late in the day, Mike ran out of trim half way through the job and needed to hit the DeepHo for more. I jumped on the opportunity to remind him that we desperately needed bottoms throughout the house. Window bottoms.

Don't ask me why, but every time we trim windows, we forget the bottom trim piece. The large kitchen window we installed two years ago - no bottom. The mudroom windows we installed four or five years ago - no bottoms. The office windows we installed like the first year we were in the house - NO BOTTOMS! Something's seriously wrong with the two of us.

So I took this opportunity to remind Mike to buy a bunch of bottoms. And, I said, Our bedroom closet needs trim. And, the attic entrances need trim. Oh, he's so happy to have me around to remind him of such things. Because he just loves to trim stuff. But once it's done, it's done! No use waiting any more years to finish these things.

Tuesday night, Mike began the laborious task of staining everything - in place. (Hence all the painters tape.) He should begin on the doors tonight. Once those are finished, we can complete those other small trim jobs - the window bottoms, the upstairs closet, the attic entrances.

Oh, and have I mentioned our annual Halloween party? Though the day is always a big one that we look forward to, the day after is almost an even more exciting this year. The day after the Halloween party - that will be 11/4 - we will be demolishing the upstairs bathroom. With the party over and both kids already out of the house, it's the best time to grab up a hammer and whack away. I can't wait.