Archive for the ‘flooring’ Tag
Now that the holidays are behind us and I’ve had two weeks to catch my breath, it’s time to get back to work. My biggest goal for this winter was to repair and remodel our upstairs bathroom. It’s been unused for almost two years due to a major leak either inside the walls or under the floor.
Job 1 is to demolish whatever it takes to find that damn leak. My first step was to remove the old shower unit that had been an eyesore at best. Three days ago me and my trusty sledge hammer began the process of removing that unit. Everything I’ve tried to do in this house for the last six years has been a struggle. The house is almost twenty-five years old and it shows. The rooms aren’t square and the people who built it should have been arrested immediately after first kicking their ass. The wiring is still a problem even after the entire place was rewired just three years ago. Unfortunately there are still certain areas and other issues that are just waiting to be discovered.
This photo was taken yesterday after I spent three days removing that damn shower and the wall behind it. The entire unit not only was screwed tightly to the walls but the installer used what looked to be approximately ten tubes of construction adhesive to glue it in place as well. There was no way to just remove the unit without removing the walls too. More unwanted work to be sure.
Once that was accomplished I began my investigation into the leak. I was forced to remove a large section of the floor and after following the water stains it told me the leak was water flowing on the surface of the floor and not beneath it. There were no water marks within the walls above floor level which told me the leak wasn’t in the plumbing inside the wall. As best I can determine is that the leak was caused by a faulty drain connection in the old shower unit.
Over the next day or so I’ll do a thorough cleanup of the bathroom to allow me to double check my findings one last time. I can then begin the process of putting in the new shower, toilet, sink, and floor. Then add some beaded wainscoting, a fresh paint job, and new lighting fixtures and BAM. Job completed sometime in May . . . . . I hope.
The start of another work week for everyone and unfortunately for me as well. It’s becoming painfully obvious that I’m working much harder being retired than when I was actually working. For some reason I expected that taking early retirement was going to be the end of my labors and believing that makes me a gigantic moron. I should have know better.
I started with a huge and complicated goal when I took retirement. I sold my home and together with my better-half we decided to update and repair her home. I must have been brain damaged as a child to even think to take on a project like that especially dealing with a thirty year old home with five bedrooms. I now only have one wish. I want to meet the effing a-hole who built this place and I want to beat him with a huge stick for about an hour. There isn’t a square room in the entire building, the wiring was a complete and utter disaster, and who in their right effing mind puts drop ceilings in the kitchen and bedrooms.
I thought I was some kind of handy-man when I started this project but I’m a whole lot smarter now. In the last five years I’ve touched damn near every wire, board, window, door, and floor in the freaking building. Guess what? I’m still not finished. If I’m lucky I’ll have the entire house completed except for the kitchen within the next eighteen months. I won’t even begin to tell you what a nightmare the kitchen will be. It has to be gutted completely and redone from scratch.
With my luck I’ll finally get this place finished and then I’ll get hit by a truck getting the mail from the mailbox. I’ve done a few things in my life that deserve a karmic slap but I for the life of me I can’t remember doing anything bad enough to deserve this house. KMN
Enough of the whining. I just left Lowes with a load of material so I can get started on the drywall installation in my bedroom remodel. Lowes should make me their official mascot for this particular store since I spent enough money here to drive their sales for the last four years.
I’m going to finish this bedroom and then I’m taking the summer off. No hammers, nails, paint, or anything else. I going to relax, take lots of photographs, visit distant lands (within Maine), and enjoy the warm weather and the beach. That should clear my head enough to prepare me for next winters project.
Someone help me, I’m trapped in Maine and I can’t get out.
Today has been another remodeling/construction day with a major step forward finally taken. I’ve reached the point where the wall between our bedroom and the adjacent room was taken down. For the first time we both can visualize the finished product and the end of this long drawn out project.
I hired the flooring installer this week who will be putting down the hardwood floors. The flooring materials were purchased and delivered and while a little pricey they’ll perfectly match the floors in the rest of the house. Another room without that outdated and worn carpeting which leaves only one left to finish. Thank God!
I also continued and completed my review of the photographs taken during the last storm. I was so happy to see how beautiful many of the snow scenes turned out. Between the better-half and I we have quite the collection of salable pictures. I look forward to having a few enlarged to poster size for possible framing and eventual sale.
It appears we’re in for more snow later in the week. This has been quite the Maine winter with a constant mix of weather hitting us on a regular basis. During the last storm alone on one day it snowed in the early morning, then sleet, rain, more snow, more rain, and finally the addition fifteen additional inches of wet and heavy snow. After all of that the temps were in the forties most of the day today which is just a little strange to say the least.
I’m sitting here enjoying the quiet before I head off to bed. My normal habit of reading before bed isn’t getting the job done tonight. I’ve been dealing with a half-assed bout with insomnia for the last few nights and there’s nothing worse than being unable to rest. I’m hoping it will pass soon but I suspect that the lack of physical activity due to the weather is not helping. I’m sure it will pass eventually but I’m really missing those good nights of eight hours of solid sleep and rest.
One more thing before I retire. I’d like to collectively welcome and thank a few of the new followers to this blog who I hope will enjoy their future visits here. Check out their blogs and enjoy them as I do: tokillahammingbird, domesticdiva, thebaggagehandler, artlesspoetry, charlottecarrendar, theevolutionofeloquence, livingwithadhd, and jaguarjill.
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