We're getting there, if a bit slower than desired. The week of 7 August was really busy.
Saturday: with all demolition complete, it's time to start some real work. Poured the floor using "self-leveling concrete." Don't believe it. :-) In reality, I made the mistake of doing several pours, which meant lots of high spots and some low ones. I had a tough place to start from, but I didn't make my life any easier.
Sunday: spent entire day grinding floor as flat as I could get it. Neighbors nearly call fire department after witnessing smoke (concrete dust) billowing out of window
Monday: Install floor tile. Note to self: when installing floor tile, work from one reference line, in one direction. Spend way too much time trying to figure out how to re-converge some diverging lines.
Tuesday: Finish tiling the floor. Celebrate small victories.
Wednesday: Hang sheetrock and concrete backer board. The plan was to go to a shower over the tub, which means I had to put cement backer board all the way up the walls. I also opted to create 3 shampoo alcoves in the tub area. This was a HUGE effort that I'm really beginning to question.
Thursday Begin tile around tub. Realize that I can't do the shampoo boxes the way I want, and I need some additional tile to fix it. Send Kath in search of additional tile.
Friday Continue tile as best I can without the missing pieces for the alcoves. Coming under increasing pressure from the family about the lack of a toilet. Reminding them that they bargained for "camping" for a week is not helpful.
Saturday Kath find the toilet she wants at Expo Center. We pick it up to install Sunday, before I go back to work on Monday. Time to grout the floor so I can install the toilet.
Sunday After spending most of the day doing misc cleanup tasks, finally set out to install the toilet around 4pm. Of course, we figure out that we have the wrong base, so installation has to wait. (Much to the dismay of the residents, particularly those who will be home with a 2-year-old who is toilet training..)
Tuesday (night, after returning to work Monday and Tuesday) In comes the new toilet. I end up grinding the base a bit to adjust for a high spot in the floor. After many trial runs, though, we finally don't have to cross the street to hear the mystical sound of "whoosh".
See Status report:
The rest of August and early September are a series of weekend projects interrupted by real life and my other job. Eventually the extra tile comes in and I can resume the alcove work. Note that each alcove nets out to be about 16 hours of work in total, adding 6 work-days to the project. This is a non-trivial amount of time, but the results seem worth it.
The cabinets arrived and went in over labor day weekend (reasonably uneventful considering the worst of the floor troughs is right under the linen cabinet.) Mid-September brings the conclusion of tile around the tub, and I manage to grout it and install the tub faucet so the girls can now bathe at home too. As I said to Nana, "start them off using a bucket as a toilet, and they'll thank you for every bit of progress." :-)
The Corian counter provided yet another folly. To fabricate a Corian counter, they create a template and then cut it to match exactly. It's supposed to allow for all the variations in walls, etc. Once your cabinets are in, it's 7 days to get someone out to template, then two weeks to complete fabrication. After our two weeks were up, we anxiously awaited the installation of our new sinks to find... they're 1/4" short. Damn.... wait another week until they finish fixing it, but eventually the sink is in.
When they put the counter in, I installed the faucets before they dropped it all in place on the sink. Murphy says... I got the hot and cold valve stems swapped for not one but BOTH sinks, so I'll have to remove them and switch them back. Ugh.
October 12
Kath has painted the walls no less than 4 times. (Primer, then three different shades of blue to get the one she liked.) At this point, the cabinets are in, one sink is connected (but will require some remediation), and I'm ready to finish the tile work. Click on any picture for a larger view.
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The project still has a ways to go.
- Finish custom fabrication of baseboard and mirror trim, to go with already custom made door and window trim
- install same, allowing plenty of time to cope it around various things
- Have mirror installed
- Install the trim kits for the can lights.
- Align and tape ceiling fan venting
- Install backing for the shower curtain track.
- Finish tile backsplash and along the linen closet.
- Install towel bars, toilet paper holder, display shelves, etc.
Still, it's progress, and it feels good. Although I would have liked to finished faster, I've been having fun with the girls while they help me. We celebrate each little victory "Hey, who wants to brush their teeth in the new sinks?!") In the end, it's about enjoying the work, not slamming it in. (I can say that now that there's a sink, tub, and toilet!)
More to come...
