New Master Bath Rebuild - Day 2

Wednesday the electrician and plumber did their thing. The electrician's job turned out to be pretty what was expected, but the plumber had more work to do than was anticipated. That meant he had to come back a second day to finish. You know what that means don't you? Yes, more money to do the job. That also means the job will be delayed one more day.

The electrician's job went pretty quick, about 3 hours. While he worked, we talked about some things we had in common. You see, his father is a member of the electrical union my father and I used to belong to. He filled me in on the major changes with the union over the last 30 or so years. I also mentioned that I was retired and that my financial adviser, Steve, is a VP with Morgan Stanley and handles my investments. He is unhappy with the way his retirement plan is being handled, so I gave him the phone number of mine. He called Steve and Steve will take him on as a client. Both of them were very appreciative.

Woops, I got side tracked again.

The electrician installed the vent fan, ...








the light in the shower, ...








the wiring for the light above the vanity, ...








and then wired it all up.








Ta da!










While the electrician was working upstairs, the plumbers were working downstairs in the basement. The half of the basement that's finished is under the master bathroom. The plumber said he'd have to remove some of the ceiling to get at what he needs to work on.

This is what he calls some. LOL



Frank said not to worry, that he'd fix it and . You know what that means don't you? Yes, more money to do the job.

Once the electrician was done, the plumbers moved upstairs. They cut out the old plumbing and started installing the new.

Here's the new drain for the toilet.











The sink plumbing didn't need much work, so went quickly.








The plumbing for the shower was another story. I got a little crazy with the design, so that took more work. This was responsible for most of the extra work and parts.









Installing the pipe for the hand shower was pretty simple.











Lastly they installed the liner for the shower pan. The floor of the shower is going to be tiled, so the rubber was laid down to prevent any possibility of leaking.






Thursday and Friday Frank and his helper install the cement board, sheet rock, spackling and the cement shower floor.

Want a private video tour? Then check this out.

New Master Bath Rebuild, Day 1

The contractor framed out the new master bath Wednesday. First he laid down tar paper and then put 3/4" plywood over that. The old floor was in sad shape, so the plywood was needed to shore it up. The tar paper is placed between layers of wood to prevent the floor from squeaking when you walk on it. It's also a vapor barrier of sorts, but primarily it's to prevent squeaking.

Man, ya learn something new everyday.


The he framed out the shower and built the shower seat. The shower is massive. It's eight feet long and about 37" wide. I wonder how many people can fit in there? Anyone want to come over when the shower is ready, so we can find out? ;-)



Here's a video tour after the first days work.




PS
Check out the video in the post below. It's HOT!

The Last Shower HNT

Monday the contractor gutted my master bath, so I thought it was fitting to take a video tour of the last official shower in the old bathroom. If your nice, I'll take a video of the first official shower in the new bathroom.

Warning: This video is rated NSFW or maybe even an NC-17, because I showered naked. Don't say I didn't warn you.

HAPPY HNT Y'ALL!!!

Click on this button to see who else has join the HNT fun this week.

PS
I hijacked Lori's blog this week. I caught her with her pants down, so y'all might want to stop by her place and check it out. Hee, hee, hee....................she's going to kill me for this on e. LMAO!!!!!

My Naked Master Bath

My master bathroom was gutted yesterday and here's the results.





If you want to see what it looked like before, check this video out.

My New Half Bath - The Saga Continues

Frank finished as far as he could go yesterday. I had him hold up doing anymore until I hear from the cabinet maker. The dry wall, black tile floor and Kohler comfort height toilet installation is complete. The comfort height toilet was a special request from my baby.

Here's what we have so far.


I'm going to prime and paint the walls and paint the top edge of the boarder tile black to match the floor. We couldn't find a black tile edge, so my idea was to paint it black. Frank agreed, so I bought a special paint for that.

My New Stoop

Carlos and his crew finished rebuilding my stoop yesterday too. The stone they used is call variegated Tennessee Crab Orchard Sandstone. Here's Carlos standing next to his handy work.


In a week or so, Carlos is coming back to give me an estimate for installing white PVC railing on the stoop. I suppose the landscaper will be coming back soon to do the planting in the front too. I'm going to hold him off until I get the siding put back and repaired. My son is good friends with two brothers that took over their father's siding business. They are among the group that hangs out here from time to time swimming in the pool and playing beer pong in my back yard. I've know them all for many years myself, so the price should be a good one. :-)

I wet the stoop down with water so you could better see the colors in the stone.



I'm very happy with how it turned out. It's exactly what I was hoping it would look. Monday Frank comes back and guts the master bath so the plumber and electrician can do their handy work.

The Adventure Continues

Yesterday Frank, my bathroom contractor, finished putting up the dry wall, applying the first coat of spackle and laying the cement board on the floor.



It was a long day yesterday for the guys working on the stoop. They didn't leave until after 8:00 PM just about the time the mosquitoes came out in force.


Around 6:00 I got a call from Phil, the guy that's going to build a custom vanity for the half bath. Yesterday I told you all about that problem. He arrived around 9:30PM and we went over what I needed. He explained a few problems and came up with a new design. I loved his idea! I'll hold off telling you what it is until we work out a price and I contract him to do the job.

When he left I was beat so decided to go to bed. I tried turning on my TV. Yes, I tried, but it didn't go on. NOW WTF IS WRONG!!!! To make a long story short, the electrical outlet had no power. It did this morning before the contractors showed up, but not now. I'll bet they cut a wire when they worked on the front wall footing. Oh well, so I went out to the garage, found and extension cord and plugged the cable box and TV into another outlet.

Lori called and we chatted until a little after 11:00. The contractor at her new place finally got all of his stuff out of her garage yesterday, so Lori and her kids moved tons of stuff into the garage to get it out of their way and finally start to unpack.

A bad thunder storm came through early this morning. It delayed Carlos and his crew from continuing on the stoop early. That was great for me, because I got to sleep in and didn't get up until 10:15AM when I heard them tamping down the fill in the stoop.

Frank arrived soon after that to get back to work. I explained the electrical problem to him. He said he'd take a look at it before he left. I did a little trouble shooting myself and narrowed it down to, yes, the wiring they had to move yesterday when they replaced the footing. I found two places where the wire could have been cut. Just before he left today, he found the cut wire I found and spliced it back together.

Today Frank laid the floor tile and put on another coat of spackle. What do you think?


Carlos and his crew are still at it. I really like how this is turning out. Wait until you see the stone they are laying on top.

Remodeling Update

I guess you heard about the footing for the front wall of my house being rotten. Here's the before of the footing for the front wall of my house.


Here's a closer look.


Frank my contractor said that it wouldn't have been long before the front wall of the house would have broken through the rotted wood and dropped 7". Then I'd have been looking at BIG BUCKS to repiar the damage.

He repaired the footing first thing this morning. Here's what he had to build to hold up the floor of my house while he replaced the footing. But first I had to clear out that side of my basement so he could build the temporary wall. If you saw this video tour of my basement, you know that was easier said than done.


Then they removed the rotted wood in sections.


Then cut the wood to fit.


All done! I am the proud owner of 12" of pressure treated wood footing.


With an aluminum flashing to divert the rain water, just like they should have done in the beginning. You can see that the other contractor for the stoop went back to work.

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Now the continuation of my half bath saga.

Last night I picked up a medicine chest, light and storage cabinet for the half bath. When got home I measured the spacing for them and the toilet and sink. I discovered that the toilet and pedestal sink won't fit side by side. The half bath is only 4'x4', so there is no other layout possible.

This morning I explained the problem to the contractor. He verified the problem then said he could get the plumber in if I wanted, but it would be a lot of trouble, and money, to move the plumbing for the sink and toilet and I'd still be very closed to the sink when I sat on the toilet. Even if I tried a smaller pedestal sink, moving the plumbing would still be required.

So I decided to go back out this morning and search for a small vanity in black. I went right out looking for a 18" to 22" black vanity. I looked everywhere I could think of, but no luck. Either they were too wide or not in black. I even checked a cabinet store, but they would take 4-6 weeks and the vanity wouldn't be black. When I got back to the house, I told Frank I couldn't find anything, expecting him to tell me I had to move the plumbing. But he had one more idea.

He told me to check on line or in the phone book for custom cabinet makers. He said an 18" vanity is very common and white, black and brown are very popular. I called around and found someone that would make one. He'll make a 18" vanity to look like the medicine chest painted black for about $400. But he will take at least two weeks. So he called a friend of his and his friend can do it sooner. His friend called but I was out. I returned his call and left a message. He just called me back and will come here late tonight so we can discuss what I want.

Today they put up the dry wall in the half bath and first coating of spackle. They'll be back tomorrow to do another coat and do the floor tile. They should be done with the half bath on Friday.

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Now back too the stoop.

The contractor is still here working on rebuilding the stoop and will be here until about 7:00 PM. They should be done by Friday too.



Frank is planning to start on the master bath on Monday. I'll give you the update on that tomorrow.

New Front Stoop - Part 1

As part of my remodeling projects, I'm having the stoop in the front of the house updated. The red bricks removed, the faces of the stoop skim coated with concrete and stone installed on the step and top of the stoop. The stone matches the retaining wall and the roof of the house.

Here's what the stoop looked like before the work started on it this morning.


Here's what it looks like at the end of the first day.



Did you notice the area at the bottom of the front wall where they removed the siding? Here's why?

The footing of the front wall of the house is rotted and has termite damage in that section.

SHIT! SHIT! FUCK! FUCK! When it rains it pours!

The bathroom contractor is going to attempt to repair the damaged area tomorrow. I'll let you know how he makes out. That is if my house stays standing. :-(

Mean while, read all about the remodeling of my half bath that was started today in the following post. So far that's going very well.