Where I've been hiding?

Home Depot.

I've been absent from the gym and off the bike for the better part of 3 weeks.  This is major.  I've worked out most every day for the last few years, and didn't let much get in the way.  Things have changed.  Not for the worse, I just have to focus on getting running water and moving into our home.  I'll get my fitness back after I can take a shower in the new home.

I've been having nightmares about the upstairs bathroom for the better part of two weeks. It's a beast.

I've had sleepless nights thinking about this shower.  Let me go back to the beginning.  Way, way back to the start of the project.  We had a leaking claw foot tub with things growing off the side.  We had a broken vent pipe patched with ¼” plywood.  We had a roof dormer.  We still have the dormer, but that’s about it from the old.

The broken vent pipe is hidden behind the tp dispenser 

The tub was removed before I could take a photo.  This picture doesn't
due it justice.  Lots of water damage.  Lots of funk.

How did we get there?  Well- to start Melissa and I had lots of hours on the internet searching for photos of bathrooms under a roof dormer.  We also spent a month visiting all the open homes in the neighborhood for ideas.  We found the “inspiration” photo and gave that to Andy.  At that time the plan was for Andy and his crew to demo half of the bathroom, and then Melissa and I would blend in the remaining.  On the first weekend I got busy with my hammer and demo’ed the remainder of the bathroom.  This brought us to a clean slate.  Time to put the toilet in the proper place and do it right.  Andy framed in the wall where all seemed to align under the dormer leaving room for plumbing and maybe storage.  Lots of little changes and other items eliminated the storage, but the idea was taking shape.  Next was the drywall.  This is the only place in the house where we had several “re-do’s”.  The angles and the vision was difficult for seasoned tradesmen. 

Last Monday I had the green light to start tiling.  All the angles were as even as possible, and the beast was ready to be put to bed.  The first step to finishing it all off was applying Thin Set and taping all seams.  These numbers may not mean a lot to some, but to those experienced tile setters in the crowd; 100’+ of seam tape, 50lbs of thin set, and the better part of two days preping.  To put it into perspective for the non-tiling reader, the downstairs bathroom required about 20’ of seam tape and maybe 10lbs of thin set.  The thin set leveled some of the finicky corners and really sealed  the shower up.  Next- extra water proofing.  The shower pan has a rubber liner extending 8” up the walls, but the shower seat needed something extra.  Melissa and I opted to use a paint on substance that helps with cracking and waterproofed the seat.  There should be no leaking in the shower.  

To layout the walls I spent around 4 hours measuring and calculating how to get the most full rows of tile, and how to hide the remaining wall imperfections.  The plan had gone from paper to the wall and it was time to tighten the belt and start laying tile. 

We used the bottom row to level the playing field.  A slight black band running around the base adding just a subtle accent, and perfect to accommodate all undulations of the shower pan.  I’ve poured a lot of concrete, and not a single cubic yard was perfectly level.  The finish we wanted required spacing of 1/16” and 100% level.  If one wall was built 1/8 higher, it would show in the finish.  Not what we wanted.  I spent hours on my knees measuring fractions.  It was something…  I gotta say it was harder than I had ever imagined. 

The “perfect” layout still left lots of small cuts and fractions of corners.  There is just too many distances to get it all right.  There were also some last minute decisions.  The accent row tile had been on order for three weeks and haden’t arrived the day I started placing tile.  After 10 plus hours I completey forgot about the accent row.  Melissa and I wrapped up for the night around 9:30 and headed down the street for beer and food.  About two sips into the first beer she gave me that look and said you know what we forgot.  The mortar was still soft, and then was the time to deal with it.  I finished my beer in 30’ish seconds and rushed back home.  My perfect layout was done.  I gave the wall a eyeball measure for where the accent row should be and removed two rows of tile.  This meant a new accent row design and something to figure out later.  Back to drink beer and dream about the possible solutions. 

The sloped wall ended up not being the challenge I had figured.  I spent several hours just laying out the first row to level up the subsequent rows.  This may sound bad, but I didn’t mix any mortar this day so had nothing to rush for.  The end was in sight and I just needed to slow down and do it right.  This is one of those lessons learned.  To successfully tile you need to slow down.  As Andy stated, “tile really takes up the slake of everyone else”.  If our bathroom was to built within 1/16” I had to measure twice.  I had to toss mistakes and feel the adjacent tile for smoothness.  This room, if done right, will stop potential buyers in their shoes.  

I have spent more time in shower than I could in the next ten years of living in the house.  It became a measure of how “handy” I really am, and how the rest of the house will be measured.  As I write this that seems very dramatic.  How can one room define a house?  How can a bathroom be all that?  Well- if the kitchen is a home run the bathroom couldn't be the loosing pitch.  We wanted the extra touch to separate our house from the others.  We have been to lots of open houses where all we remembered was the one crappy room.   Not the room with little function, or seeming out of place, but the room where they tried something and it didn’t work.  The room where we said “it could have been…” .  Or the room where we wonder who in the hell did such a crap job.  I’m glad to say so far this won’t be mumbled in our home.  We don’t know when we plan to move, but it will happen before the shower has lost it’s shine.  It will happen before my tools get rusty.  And the new owner will love their bathroom. 

Speaking of Granite

Picking out your slab of granite is one of the most exciting steps to this process.  It seems like every step will make the project come together, but the granite is really a big one.  The quarter finished kitchen is transformed into a livable space within one hour of the granite arriving at the door step.

It was approximately one week from when we picked out our slab to delivery.  Fast!  I keep referring back to the inspiration photo- well, because it's important.  It was the look we wanted and the anchor for the home.  With removing the wall, the kitchen is almost immediately in view upon entry to the home.  It's a blend of old and new; bringing respect to the Victorian age of the home with the modern stainless steel appliances.

This seems like a good time to recap on the changes to the room.

This photo is almost perfect.  I missed the soffit above the 15" upper cabinets falling off the wall.  You can see the wall in the background (to the left) that was removed.  This space was bad.  It took a lot of vision and reassurance from Andy that it could be done.

This photo is 180 from the first photo.  Notice the wall to the right. The low window, the lack of cabinets.  To start we had Andy's kitchen expert visit the home to come up with an idea.  He nailed it.  We went back and forth on details, but the general idea stuck.

The wall was removed before the ink dried on the closing documents.  Too bad it was before our first house party (the only party at the house where we won't care about spills or broken anything).

There were five layers of linoleum, two layers of b-board, and enough dust to cover Kansas.  The poor kitchen had 20+ years of abuse and neglect.  Time for a face lift.  We had talked with lots of realtor's who gave the advice to put your money into the kitchen.  Done.

New plumbing (from the service throughout the house) so we could move sinks and such as we wanted.  We opted not to install gas for a range, but otherwise went to town.  We did our homework to know what the Jone's were doing.  Stainless and granite was a must.  In addition to removing the wall, we rebuilt the window to accommodate counter tops, and dropped the ceiling 10" for lighting.  We also blocked out the window to nowhere and covered with cabinets.  All new electrical (throughout the house) with the proper GFI's and enough outlets to run every appliance we own.

 We are painting the ceiling in the dining room while this photo was taken, so lots of plastic to protect the beautiful "Indian Premium Black Honed" granite.  More work to be done in this room.  We will be tiling the back splash (white subway tile), adding clear glass to the upper cabinet on the right, and installing a cork floor in a checker pattern.  We are getting there, but still a long way from arriving.  It's nice to see serious progress.

Running Water and Such

Time to reflect.  I have been buried upstairs and have forgotten the joy of two weeks ago.  The day we could flush the toilet and wash our hands.  No need to visit the honey bucket outside.  It brought me back to my first office with running water.  A milestone in life.

This was the start of it all.  Seriously- this was what we worked with.  I'm kinda repeating previous posts but this was a major coup.  To take the house from a 1.5 bathroom (not really) to a full two bath without green fixtures.  As a recap- We knocked out all the walls you see, plumbed in the toilet in the adjacent bedroom closet, and added a full bath in the space towards the back of the then toilet.  As Andy put it, "we shoehorned it in".  Just enough.  We also opened up the 5-6" ceiling to 9' (in the center of the bathroom).  Basically we ripped out what was there and created a real space.  Pictures are worth a thousand words.

Shakers

Just as the hardwood floors were completed in came the finish carpenter.  Kevin and his apprentice (his 17 year old son) installed the cabinets and hung the upstairs doors.  With the home being 120 years old we needed another artist to work with the out of true walls and uneven floors.  Kevin was able to accommodate all the leans of the structure, and bring modern into old.  I watched Kevin make a straighter cut with a skill saw than I could make with a table saw.  I’ve always appreciated finish carpenters.  Kevin could give This Old House some pointers.  Melissa and I have plenty of finish work to blend into his magic, and plenty of opportunity to practice measuring 1/32”.  Personally I can’t wait to work with wood again.  My world has been tile for the last few weeks.

Lazy Susan corner where we shortened the existing window
to work with the new counters.  The opening to the right is for the refer

Nice floors!

Also notice the light fixtures!  What a night it was when I din't have to work by a spot light and with actual house lights.  You can also see a glimpse of the finished dining room floor.  

Stove in the opening with microwave above. Sink to your right.

About this time Melissa and I were picking out our slab of granite.  Refer back to the inspiration kitchen.  Nice "honed" granite.  Not too shiny.  Not the center of attention- just right. 

Old Floors

Wow!  As I look back through the pictures from the start to now I’m amazed.  I’m amazed at Melissa and I taking on such a project, amazed at how fast we are progressing, and amazed at how nice it’s coming together.  We are working hard, but having fun.  Our tastes have perfectly aligned.  Some of small items have generated discussion, but the end vision has always been clear. 

Since the last real post a lot has changed.  I’ll concentrate on the wood floors in the downstairs minus the kitchen.  We had a flooring restoration expert at the house for 3 days.  The floors were trashed, and most had serious doubts it was worth any effort to salvage what we had.

Day 1 they patched the numerous holes with the salvaged wood.  Dad had removed the existing hardwood floor from the closet once considered a bathroom.  We needed to salvage as much flooring as possible, as the existing floor is custom size and would be extremely expensive to recreate.  Not only is the flooring custom in width (from current wood flooring), but in depth.  Dad did a great job at saving every piece.  The flooring crew had just enough to patch the floors.  Our best guess on the holes was that they were for the now extinct heating system.  See below for two "patched" hole.  The previous owner nailed some tin and called it good. See the hole at the base of the stairs.  

So- the flooring crew patched all holes in one day and then did a rough sanding.  Call it 5 holes to patch and a few big issues to deal with.  The sanding was a display of their talents.  If you sand too deep, or abruptly stop, you will leave a big divot in the floor.  Needless to say, these guys where true pro’s and had no such incidents.  At day two Melissa and I had a decision to make.  It was time to decide on the stain color.  Too dark and you close in a room.  Too light and you create cheap/worn looking floors.  Early on we had requested that only major issues be repaired to keep the old charm.  There are costly modern techniques to recreate what we already had.  We went with a stain that would show the character of the floor, but not too light to lose our gold mine. 

The results were better than we had ever hoped for.  It really is something to see in person.  Andy (our GC), the flooring crew, and Melissa and I stood back and smiled.  This was a major score!  And- as an added bonus we came in under budget.  You can’t get any better.  I would highly recommend our flooring sub.  Please email if you want names.  I didn't get any good photos of the floor before being covered by drop cloths to protect from damage.  The bottom photo shows the finish, but doesn't give you the real taste.  More photos to come.

Update

Nothing creative for this entry.  We are too tired for anything other than giving some shots of our hard work over the last week.  Lots of changes.  Granite is in.  Electrical is final.  Plumbing is complete.  And we are painting.  The dining room is a shade of red.  It looks great!  We have also completed the demo!!!  No more walls to knock down.  Dad got busy with a hammer on Saturday while Cheri and Melissa made executive decisions on paint colors.  If left to me, it all would be a shade of white.  Anyway, some photos of the progress.  More to come.

Peter and Melissa

Happenings

Lots has been happening on the home front since our Thanksgiving vacation.

We are around 70% complete with the downstairs bathroom.  The primer and paint have been applied, the fixtures purchased, and almost ready to grout the tile.

The cabinets have been installed.

If you didn't guess, this is a before shot.  I'll get busy with the camera after finishing the f!*k#!! tile.  On the kitchen note, we have picked out our granite slab for the counter tops.  Indian Premium Black- Honed.  The template was completed today.  Cross your fingers, it will be installed within a week.

The first step to restoring the floors starts tomorrow.  Lots of holes to patch, and then some serious sanding.

Tiling 400

Why start slow?  Jump in head first!  We want our castle to have the big touches that the others don't have.  So- as a reminder. 

We blew out the wall to the left to get the room for a bath tub, increased the height of the room by +3', and broke into the closet of the downstairs room for the new throne location.  The location of the plumbing was also changed.  And yes- no more green toilet.

The first step to tiling is laying Hardy Backer.  Basically it's a sturdy drywall.  Under the Hardy board is thin set to ensure 100% contact with the subfloor.  No squeaks, no cracked tile.  After applying the thin set and placing the board on top, get busy with the screw gun.  This is one solid floor.

Tape all seams with more thin set and let dry for a day.  The same for the shower area.

Now comes the fun.  Creating your masterpiece.  We wanted the downstairs bathroom to have a dark color, but not too dark.  Like most of life, there is a fine line between acceptable and not.  In this case, a shade of grey works.  Actually, more brown.

We still have to grout and finish the floor, but the hard part is done.  As you can see, lots of cutting to create this.  The area below the accent line was easy, but matching all the diamonds was not.  I won't say how many hours we spent on this, but more than I worked out in the last two weeks.  I'm guessing another 10 hours and we will have a real bathroom in the house.  I'll be sad to see the porta-potty go.  So will the neighbors.