Upstairs Done

Short and sweet.  Lots of work to hang doors and final paint.  Our neighbor brought over a few beers and gave me a hand with a few of the doors, cutting my time in half.  Much easier with two.

The carpet was originally scheduled to be installed last Friday (2/11/11), but apparently the delivery truck left Texas with our carpet sitting on the dock...  Not sure how that happened, but turned out to be in our favor.  I had estimated the remaining work to be 2'ish hours.  Well, two days later it was done.  We added cleaning out the ducts to the "to do list" with the extra time.  Lots and lots of nasty stuff pulled out of the ducts.  When the carpet finally arrived in Denver we were ready.

Happy with the color and pattern.  The upstairs feels soooooo quiet now.  It also feels soooo new.  Funny how the final touch gets the most attention.

Some of the upstairs bathroom.  Clean and ready for business.

Upstairs Trim

  

I had lots of conversations with finish carpenters on how to install molding, looked on-line, and tightened my belt.  We searched high and low for a match on the existing trim and just couldn’t find it.  There was no way to build up trim to match the existing, and extremely costly to have it custom milled. 

Our neighbor told me of Sears Trostel in Fort Collins as being a specialty supplier with prices that Home Depot couldn’t match.  The drive up north was worth it. 

We found a baseboard that provided a close match and was in stock.  I’m staying away from mentioning prices, but it was a steal. 

The existing molding in the back bedroom (upstairs) that was added at some time by the previous owner had to be free.  It didn’t match the house, the era, and was in bad shape.  Ripping it out was satisfying.

No real tricks here.  We used a 30° miter cut for all splices, and lots of angle finders for the corners.  There isn’t a square corner in the house, so lots of trial and error.  Redoing all the molding gave us a great opportunity to seal air spots in the floor, and really insulate around the windows.  It made such a difference when the temp’s dropped below zero.  No more drafts.  We also held the trim up ½” from the floor to provide a place to tuck the carpet under.  To keep with the era, we also opted to use pilth blocks at the base of the doors.

We knew the choice of the trim was right when we had a contractor over who asked how we restored the existing molding.  Perfect!  The base and casing looks like it was installed when the house was build, except nice and new.  

For the other bedroom we opted to refinish the existing trim.  It was in decent condition and only needed new casing on the door.  Lots and lots of scraping and wood putty did the trick.  It’s not perfect, but a world away from where it was when we bought the house.  Being able to say good enough has been a challenge.  It’s a fine line between reasonable and over-the-top.  Threw in the top photo here for a little before and after shot.  I know the before shot misses detail, but it looked like crap.  We generated piles of debris while scraping the multiple layers of paint off.  Some blue, and some black...  From the paint choices I believe crack addicts had to lived here before. 

We also spent some time refinishing the window at the stair landing.  Lots of time with paint stripper.  Not fun and not really worth it.  It turned out nice, but nowhere near new.  Its really lots of time/work for marginal returns.  In reality, you could buy new casing and rosets for the same window for around the same price of the paint stripper.  

Focus is on getting the upstairs 100% before the carpet arrives, and give us a place to hide from the remaining work downstairs.  

Two Steps Forward

It has been some time since we updated the blog.  We’ve been focused on getting the house ready to move in at the end of this month, and keeping up with work.   I’m glad to say we’re moving in at the end of the month, and Melissa and I still have jobs!  It has been challenging at times, but well worth the effort.  I can’t say how rewarding it is to really know your house, and all the details.

The upstairs bathroom turned out better than we imagined.  It was difficult.  Sometimes one step forward, and two steps back.

The first backstep occurred at midnight just after Christmas.  We had picked out the perfect floor tile, but not for this bathroom.  I still hope to find a good fit for it at the next house.  The problem with the tile was that it was too busy.  It completely distracted from the shower and our intended focal point.  It took what was a clean design and gave me a headache.  After laying the tile we stood back, drank a beer and agreed it didn’t work.  The time to remove was then, so out came the shovel.  It’s something to dig out what you just spent hours installing.

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I visited a local flooring supplier with photos to get ideas.  He came up with the perfect tile, and at a cost much less than we had figured.  All in all, the new tile added around $150 to the project.  Pennies to what we’ve spent.  He told me that he’s had similar experiences and has learned to tone down the floor tile.

The white square tiles finish the room perfectly keeping it simple, yet elegant. 

The other step backward occurred when the shower door installer came to as-build the opening.  Long story short, to get the frameless door we wanted we had to provide additional support for the pivot side.  I had to remove some of the tile and build a small block.  Firstly, I really didn’t want to remove tile that was money-on.  It was not easy to hit all the angles and maintain tight finish lines.  Secondly, the wall needing the support was not at a constant angle to anything.  This equated to a major pain in the ass.  I did a lot of shimming and lots of cursing to get it right. 

Here is the finished product.  We still need towel racks and such, but that’s just minor details.  No more mixing mortar, no more wet saw, no more digging out finished product. 

Lessons learned; I’ve said it before, but don’t be in a hurry when laying tile.  Layout is everything.  Watch for slight color variations when buying tile from different manufactures (we used Daltile white, the American Olium white is very different).   Lastly, add water to your mortar in small amounts.  Mortar will quickly go from holding tile to a vertical surface to soup with ¼ cup of water. 

BTW- the bead board was awesome to install.  I love working with wood ,not mortar.  

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.