Home Sweet Home
Aug. 17th, 2003 11:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinanjuAfter just over a week of bunking in a friend's guest room, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
snippy and I are sleeping in our own home (and our own bed) once more. Well...she's sleeping. I'm not, yet.
My lovely and talented wife andsrunning have been remodeling our bathroom. Snippy has wanted to do it since she bought this place years ago, and finally--with some urging and encouragement from Srunning, she's done it. They started last Saturday with demolition. Pulled out the toilet, the vanity, the lightbar. Then they ripped out the plaster walls and then--with the enthusiastic help of some friends--pulled out the lathe as well. Pulled up the floor (several layers), and eventually yanked out the bathtub. When they were done, the room consisted of bare floorboards, bare studs for walls (backed by lathe and plaster on the walls of the adjoining rooms, and bare studs where the ceiling had been.
Then they replaced and repaired some floorboards, some of which had been cut in...odd places by previous homeowners. Over the course of the last week, they then: replaced the ceiling; had an electrician come in to add an electrical outlet, upgrade the wiring, and install a ventfan, and generally make sure it was safe; installed a new tub (cast iron, unlike the original steel tub; it was awfully damned heavy); framed and built a wall for the showerhead & plumbing end of the shower enclosre (which also serves to create a small loset area; put up sheetrock for the walls, put up...uh, something heavier for the shower enclosure; taped and puttied (or whatever the proper term is) the seams of the wallboard, sanded it down, then did it again twice more; had a plumber in to do some work getting the bathtub and shower plumbing just so; laid down the sub-flooring; primed all the walls and the ceiling; installed the new floor; textured the ceiling; textured the ceiling; installed the new vanity and countertop; installed the new toilet; reconnected the toilet plumbing; tiled the shower enclosure to the ceiling, and tiled the other walls to approximately waist height.
We (he said, using the royal pronoun despite mostly being an observer) still have to paint the walls and ceiling, grout the tile, wait for it to dry, then caulk the showever enclosure and tub, reconnect the plumbing for the vanity and the tub/shower, and have the electrician return to complete his work (installing the ceiling light/vent fan and switches and sockets had to wait til the other stuff was done, though the wiring is already in place). So we won't be able to use the shower for several more days, but at least we can sleep in our own home again.
I'm mightily impressed. My sweetie (aided by Sarah, who has done this sort of thing before) planned out what they needed to do, budgeted for it, and spent the last nine days busting her butt to get it done. Like all battle plans, it didn't survive contact with the enemy--it's taken longer and cost more than originally expected, but she was prepared for that and it hasn't exceeded the reserves she held back for Just Such Emergencies (tm). And while it's not entirely done yet, the remaining work can be done over the next few days.
snippy is exhausted now, but she's got a lot to be proud of. She's got more work ahead of her, and I anticipate providing lots of TLC while she does it, and afterward while she's recuperating from the effort. She'll be posting before and after photos in her LiveJournal, so if you're interested, take a look.
snippy and I are sleeping in our own home (and our own bed) once more. Well...she's sleeping. I'm not, yet.My lovely and talented wife and
srunning have been remodeling our bathroom. Snippy has wanted to do it since she bought this place years ago, and finally--with some urging and encouragement from Srunning, she's done it. They started last Saturday with demolition. Pulled out the toilet, the vanity, the lightbar. Then they ripped out the plaster walls and then--with the enthusiastic help of some friends--pulled out the lathe as well. Pulled up the floor (several layers), and eventually yanked out the bathtub. When they were done, the room consisted of bare floorboards, bare studs for walls (backed by lathe and plaster on the walls of the adjoining rooms, and bare studs where the ceiling had been.Then they replaced and repaired some floorboards, some of which had been cut in...odd places by previous homeowners. Over the course of the last week, they then: replaced the ceiling; had an electrician come in to add an electrical outlet, upgrade the wiring, and install a ventfan, and generally make sure it was safe; installed a new tub (cast iron, unlike the original steel tub; it was awfully damned heavy); framed and built a wall for the showerhead & plumbing end of the shower enclosre (which also serves to create a small loset area; put up sheetrock for the walls, put up...uh, something heavier for the shower enclosure; taped and puttied (or whatever the proper term is) the seams of the wallboard, sanded it down, then did it again twice more; had a plumber in to do some work getting the bathtub and shower plumbing just so; laid down the sub-flooring; primed all the walls and the ceiling; installed the new floor; textured the ceiling; textured the ceiling; installed the new vanity and countertop; installed the new toilet; reconnected the toilet plumbing; tiled the shower enclosure to the ceiling, and tiled the other walls to approximately waist height.
We (he said, using the royal pronoun despite mostly being an observer) still have to paint the walls and ceiling, grout the tile, wait for it to dry, then caulk the showever enclosure and tub, reconnect the plumbing for the vanity and the tub/shower, and have the electrician return to complete his work (installing the ceiling light/vent fan and switches and sockets had to wait til the other stuff was done, though the wiring is already in place). So we won't be able to use the shower for several more days, but at least we can sleep in our own home again.
I'm mightily impressed. My sweetie (aided by Sarah, who has done this sort of thing before) planned out what they needed to do, budgeted for it, and spent the last nine days busting her butt to get it done. Like all battle plans, it didn't survive contact with the enemy--it's taken longer and cost more than originally expected, but she was prepared for that and it hasn't exceeded the reserves she held back for Just Such Emergencies (tm). And while it's not entirely done yet, the remaining work can be done over the next few days.
snippy is exhausted now, but she's got a lot to be proud of. She's got more work ahead of her, and I anticipate providing lots of TLC while she does it, and afterward while she's recuperating from the effort. She'll be posting before and after photos in her LiveJournal, so if you're interested, take a look.