We have hit the ground running since we got back from vacation. The top of Killington Mountain seems like a distant memory. *Loud sigh*
As you may remember, just before we left we had a bit of a plumbing catastrophe that we uncovered in our innocuous remodeling of the upstairs bathroom. Well, $500 later and three plumbing issues have been resolved. So yesterday Unnamed Partner and I finished laying down the subfloor and the backerboard. Thats sounds like so little work, but when you factor in the 98 degree heat outside and the fact that we just have window AC units, the number of times we had to go down to the basement for this tool or that, or carrying pieces of subfloor (plywood) and backerboard (which is really heavy) upstairs. (Oh yeah, and the requisite trip to Home Depot in the middle of everything.) We were so beat that we actually fell into bed before it was dark outside. And when I say we "fell into bed" it's not quite like the old days. We were both asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows.
If you want romance on a Saturday night, don't renovate a bathroom all day long.
But, I'm skipping over the fact that Unnamed Partner treated us to Indian carryout, and that I had my all time favorite comfort food, Chicken Korma, accompanied by a delicious Bass Ale. What is it about hard physical labor that makes good food and good beer taste all that much better?
I know this post sounds a bit random, but I guess I'm trying to explain why my recent posts have not been very substantive. I haven't been very good about scheduling my time lately, so emails have gone unanswered and posts just roll around in my head.
We're headed off to church in a few minutes, and I know I will have some things to write about when we get back. It's an Episcopal Church in our neighborhood that we started attending when Unnamed Partner's brother, known to the blog world as Scepter66, began to lose his battle with pancreatic cancer. The priest, a woman, came to visit him and we all just fell in love with her. Well, she's leaving this church this month and moving to Connecticut. And I just found out recently her history with this particular congregation before we started attending. Seems she stood up and publicly backed the Episcopal Church's decision to ordaining a gay man as bishop -- and a third of the congregation left. She's been trying to rebuild the congregation ever since.
Showing posts with label home renovation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home renovation. Show all posts
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Please pardon out mess ...
I vowed when I started this blog that it would not be one of those "here's what's in my fridge" blogs, where the writer posts photos of the inside of their refrigerator, and tells you in great detail what they are going to do for the rest of the day (laundry? really? do I care?) And writing about my bathroom renovation project is skirting dangerously close to the edge on this promise. But if you'll indulge me a little bit of a vent, I can once again focus on the more worldly topics of this blog. If you don't have any interest in home renovation, perhaps you'd like to skip this post and come back later.
So. Once upon a time there was a slightly leaky supply line to the toilet tank in the upstairs bathroom. A simple fix with a $5 part. But as I was on my hands and knees with my head behind the toilet (and yes, that was a new experience for me -- all previous experience involving being on my knees and a toilet has been in front of a toilet), I noticed the linoleum seemed to be very damp underneath. Very damp indeed. Crappy linoleum it was, so Unnamed Partner and I decided to pull it up and see how far the dampness went. It went very far.
You saw the picture last week, so you know how much fun that was.
We decided to go ahead and take up all the layers of linoleum and tile the floor. We realized that some of that dampness may have in fact been coming from ... wait for it ... the toilet seal. Yes. "Eeew!" "Yuck!" "Oh, sweet J!" So "we" (with big brother's invaluable help) put in a new toilet last week.
To take up all the linoleum, we also had to remove the sink and vanity, which was o.k., because it was very old and beatup and was actually much too big for that space. It also turns out that the shutoff valves underneath the sink were leaking ever so slightly.
I have kind of a love/hate relationship with water at the moment.
These shutoff valves should have been in the Smithsonian. Or else in an industrial supply catalog. They were a little bit of overkill from another era, and they were impossible to remove. We realized this would be a new skill for us to learn to cut and "sweat" the pipes to put in better shutoff vales, or call in someone (and pay for it!) But wait! There's more! We had successfully made it to the point of putting down the backerboard in preparation for the tile.
That's when I heard the water dripping from the kitchen ceiling.
Ripping up the subfloor, we found that the copper supply to the bathtub was lying in a notch on top of the floor joist, directly below the subfloor. Miraculously we had not put a screw into it -- but someone else had years ago, and as we worked on the subfloor and backerboard, we jiggled the old screw loose, causing a waterfall onto the kitchen ceiling below.
Time for Len the Plumber.
As for actual water damage, there was very little because we caught it in time. We can basically let the ceiling dry out a little more and paint should cover the spot. The pipe is fixed, and we have new shutoff valves. We can now put down the rest of the backerboard, and then begin tiling. And then we can paint the walls, and then put up the wainscoting. And then we can install the new sink and vanity.
And by the way, we're going on vacation for a week on Thursday. Thanks for listening.
So. Once upon a time there was a slightly leaky supply line to the toilet tank in the upstairs bathroom. A simple fix with a $5 part. But as I was on my hands and knees with my head behind the toilet (and yes, that was a new experience for me -- all previous experience involving being on my knees and a toilet has been in front of a toilet), I noticed the linoleum seemed to be very damp underneath. Very damp indeed. Crappy linoleum it was, so Unnamed Partner and I decided to pull it up and see how far the dampness went. It went very far.
You saw the picture last week, so you know how much fun that was.
We decided to go ahead and take up all the layers of linoleum and tile the floor. We realized that some of that dampness may have in fact been coming from ... wait for it ... the toilet seal. Yes. "Eeew!" "Yuck!" "Oh, sweet J!" So "we" (with big brother's invaluable help) put in a new toilet last week.
To take up all the linoleum, we also had to remove the sink and vanity, which was o.k., because it was very old and beatup and was actually much too big for that space. It also turns out that the shutoff valves underneath the sink were leaking ever so slightly.
I have kind of a love/hate relationship with water at the moment.
These shutoff valves should have been in the Smithsonian. Or else in an industrial supply catalog. They were a little bit of overkill from another era, and they were impossible to remove. We realized this would be a new skill for us to learn to cut and "sweat" the pipes to put in better shutoff vales, or call in someone (and pay for it!) But wait! There's more! We had successfully made it to the point of putting down the backerboard in preparation for the tile.
That's when I heard the water dripping from the kitchen ceiling.
Ripping up the subfloor, we found that the copper supply to the bathtub was lying in a notch on top of the floor joist, directly below the subfloor. Miraculously we had not put a screw into it -- but someone else had years ago, and as we worked on the subfloor and backerboard, we jiggled the old screw loose, causing a waterfall onto the kitchen ceiling below.
Time for Len the Plumber.
As for actual water damage, there was very little because we caught it in time. We can basically let the ceiling dry out a little more and paint should cover the spot. The pipe is fixed, and we have new shutoff valves. We can now put down the rest of the backerboard, and then begin tiling. And then we can paint the walls, and then put up the wainscoting. And then we can install the new sink and vanity.
And by the way, we're going on vacation for a week on Thursday. Thanks for listening.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Wednesday poetry break: DIY edition
A little over a week ago a simple repair job -- $5.00 replacement part from Homo Depot -- became a complete bathroom renovation. I'm a little stressed. Of course we're doing it all ourselves. (Well, with major help from big brother!) It's a learning opportunity. It's going to be rewarding when it's all done. And besides, says my friend Ingrid, "You thrive in chaos." Um ..... not!So here's a little limerick (a much under appreciated style, if you ask me) in honor of our bathroom.
How awkward when playing with glue
How awkward when playing with glue
To suddenly find out that you
Have stuck nice and tight
Your left hand to your right
In a permanent how-do-you-do!
— Constance Levy
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