Week 2 Recap

After 2 weeks of bathroom remodel #2, we're in pretty good shape. Dad spent a lot of time over here this week helping out. We have the plumbing completely done and leak tested. The only leak we found was a small drip under the shower drain. This should be easily fixed later on, but I decided to leave it for now as we had to concentrate on drywall. Dad and I managed to get the whole room hung in probably 5 or 6 hours. I also managed to have the exact number of sheets I needed. Afterwords, I finished the first coat of mud. I would have done another, but it wouldn't dry quick enough. Aunt Shauna is visiting this weekend, so she might take a crack at the second coat Monday. Here's what it looks like now...



On the downside, we found out that our washing machine is probably toast. When we moved it out of the bathroom there was a huge oil slick under it. Dad looked into it and said it didn't look good. So, we may have to find a cheap washer to stick back in there. We'll use it for like 2 months and then sell the place. Ugh. Oh well. At the pace we're going, I think we can have the drywall and paint done this coming week and be looking at putting in the drop ceiling by next Saturday.

Not Bad for One Week

Here's our progress for week 1. Demo - complete. Cleanup - 95% done. Framing - Complete. Electrical - 50% done (as much as can be done before the drop ceiling goes in. Plumbing - 30% done. Shower installation - 10% done, but the hardest 10%. We're not as far along as I initially hoped because the extra framing slowed us down. But I'm still very pleased with progress thus far.

By this time next week we should be mudding drywall. One more pic for this week... We brought the old tan dump truck over to load all the bathroom debris into. Of course Nate had to drive, just like he does every other truck he sees. Tell me this doesn't look just like Grandpa Mike at that age...

The Walls Don't Have Ears, but They Might Have Something Else

After 2 days of working on the bathroom, we've come a respectable distance already. Grandpa and Uncle Logan helped last night. We were able to sweat the new valves into the plumbing and begin demolition. Today I worked on the demo more myself and now we're about 99% done with it. I'm pleased with progress so far. It looks like we will have to do more framing than I first anticipated. There's not a wall in the room that doesn't need some sort of tweak. I'm no carpenter, but the bozos that did this room must have drunk while building it. Anyway, I'm still hopeful to be ready for drywall by early next week.

During the process of tearing out the old walls today, I found this on the floor and was a bit disturbed...

This project is paying dividends already! I can't say for sure where it came from but it had to either come out of one of the walls, from behind the washing machine, or from Logan's pocket last night. Judging by the packaging, I'm guessing this is 1970's vintage at least. I need to go on the antiques roadshow and see what I can get for it!

One last pic for your viewing pleasure. Grandma and Liv gave the boy a haircut last night.

What a handsome little dude. If you put a little suit and tie on him he'd look just like some lounge singer on a record cover. Aunt Shauna, the ball is in your court now (wink).

Remodeling with Oven Mitts

Things are falling into line with the new property. We are scheduled to close on it this Friday. So, we will be juggling 2 house payments until we are able to sell our house. And we can't really sell our house very easily right now because our downstairs bathroom is both wretchedly ugly and partially non-functional. So my task is to remodel it ASAP starting tonight. We went to Menards yesterday and spent $900 on all sorts of stuff. We got probably 2/3 of what we'll need. Whatever we spend will be small potatoes compared to what we had to drop on the first bathroom/electrical project. This one will be much easier (and hopefully quicker too) than the first one because we are basically putting things back where they are now and not framing up a new room. For the record, here's the "before" pictures...

Notice the vintage 60's gold star panelling and avocado green everywhere. If you look closely in the 2nd pic you'll notice that our faucet knobs have been broken and replaced with vice-grips. Very classy. These pictures don't even do it justice. You can't see the out-of-square vinyl tile on the floor and the shower head that shoots more water sideways than down. Now you see why we didn't think we could sell the place without a little work. We'll be replacing the tub with a corner shower and the vanity will be smaller, but in the same spot. We're going to try and push the washer and dryer back further to gain another 6" of floor space too. The vanity is white as will the trim be as well. Here's what Liv picked out for the tile and paint.

The picture may not do it justice, but the tile is a rusty brown with a hint of grey. The paint looks grey, but has just a hint of green to it. I like it and after the home run Liv hit with the first bathroom, I expect this will look great as well. So, destruction will begin tonight and I hope to have the plumbing and electrical done by the end of this week. Nathan is so excited about all of this that he's wearing oven mitts.

I don't understand the connection either. He just likes wearing oven mitts.

Tiny Dancer

Liv got a few cute pics of the boy this week.

And I got some great video of him trying to dance before bedtime on Friday...

The socks really complete things.

Man Skill #35

Uncle Logan teaches Nate man skill #35: using a hydraulic jack...