More Work on the Tile

This morning I woke up pretty refreshed, something that I have not felt lately. Kathleen got up before I had a chance to make myself breakfast and so she made egg yokes for herself and one egg yoke and her egg whites for me. She also made some hash brown potatoes.

After breakfast, I loaded up the dishwasher and Kathleen turned it on when she finished putting things in it.

Our plumber arrived about this time and hooked up the show/bath fixtures and also the sink fixtures. When Stan arrived he cemented the sink to the vanity top and then cemented the slab to the top and the sink. So now we have water to the bathtub and sink but we really should not use it until the tile is grouted and sealed.

Pat, our plumber finished around noon and after he left Stan started working on the tile again. Here are a couple pictures of the tile, the shower/bath fixtures and the sink fixture.



Well, tonight is our small group and so I need to eat and then head out so I am just going to publish this and call it good for tonight.

Tub/Shower Surround

This morning after I ate breakfast I changed my clothes and went to meet with the guys at 0930. While I was gone the fellow came to install the tub/shower surround and by the time I got back home he had finished two sides and was working on the third. Kathleen had moved her SUV out of the driveway and so when I got home I parked on the front lawn since his van was in the driveway.

The mail had come while I was gone and Kathleen had put it on the kitchen table, so after I changed my clothes and sat down at the kitchen table and went through the mail. There really was not much there other than a few catalogs. This week I have really gotten the catalogs; Monday I got twelve, Tuesday another six, yesterday four and today only two. I do not think that there are many more catalogs to be had so I think that I have just about run the course of catalogs.

Since Kathleen's SUV was not in the driveway, I got out my blower and blew off the driveway up to where the installer was parked. Then when he left I did the front sidewalk and the rest of the driveway to the street. Then I moved my Jeep back onto the driveway and into the garage.

Here is a picture of what the surround looks like. There is some masking tape on a couple of the pieces so that they will stay in place until the cement dries. He said I should probably leave it on for another day or two and I said that would not be a problem since the shower and bath water is not hooked up yet.



I reheated the Swiss steak left-over from last night and put it on half of a slice of dark rye and put some cheddar slices on the other half and then toasted them in the toaster oven. Kathleen had left a part of a banana on the counter so I finished that for the rest of my lunch.

Then I went outside and cut some long stemmed roses and brought them into the house. I trimmed off the thorns and put them in a crystal vase so that we could enjoy them.

I had kind of though that Kathleen might go to the store and get the tiles for the wall so that Stan could start doing that tomorrow, but she did not so I guess that it will either have to wait until Friday or next Monday. Stan did not come over today since the tub/shower surround installer was here and it would have been hard for him to have gotten anything done.

Well, around 1815 I called Kathleen on the intercom to see if she was going to do anything for dinner and when she had not come downstairs by 1845 I decided that I would make something for myself. I was kind of in the mood for some melted cheese sandwiches so I made myself a couple on dark rye. So after I put my dishes away I came into my office to write my blog.

Kathleen finally came downstairs a little after 1900 and fixed herself something to eat. Well, I think that I have run out of things to say, so I will just publish this and call it good for tonight!

Started Tiling

This morning was rather clear out when the sun finally made it up but it was also cool feeling although the temperature was in the mid fifties it still felt like winter. This morning when Stan got her he and Kathleen discussed how she wanted the time laid out and what kind of border she wanted. This is how the tiles looked last night when Stan left:


So by the time Stan got started it was just about noon which was okay since once he finished with the main section there was nothing else for him to do until it had a chance to set a little. As it is he is coming back Friday morning to clean out in between the tiles and do a little clean-up.

Stan finished tiling around 1400 and when he finished I helped him load his equipment into his pickup and he got out of here before dark.

Tonight Kathleen heated up some soup for dinner; I had chicken gumbo and she had lentil soup. After eating I loaded up the dishwasher and asked Kathleen to turn it on when she finished eating and then turn it on.

Kathleen just took off for a grocery shopping trip, I would have gone with her earlier in the day but I am just too tired to go tonight as I usually am this time of night. Anyway here is a picture of what the tile looks like after Stan left:

And the Rain Begins Once Again!

This morning was very overcast when day brake came and later on this morning it started drizzling. It never did rain, but it drizzled off and on most of the day. I was out earlier this morning and it had not yet started drizzling but when I went out to bring the yard debris container it was just starting.

Stan arrived a little later than he normally does as he had stopped off at his parents place before coming over. This morning he made the template for the vanity top and we discovered that the sink that we bought was going to be too large so Kathleen took off to return it and ordered a smaller one. Here is the template for the vanity top:



Stan also had to leave to return the hearing aids that he had on loan. While they were gone I reheated up some of the pea soup and had that for lunch. Stan returned in a little over an hour and put the cement board flooring in place; once it was cut out and laid out, he took it up and then mixed up the glue and the put the boards back down. Here is a picture of the cement boards before they were screwed down:



After they were all in place he screwed them all down to make sure that they did not move and that they were well tied down. After the glue dried a little we started laying out the tile to see where everything would go.

We are going to have a boarder all around the room and we wanted to make sure that everything would look symmetrical and fit before we started putting the tiles down permanently.

When Kathleen came home she wanted to see how a couple other options would looks so we rearranged the tiles again so that she could evaluate the different looks. By this time it was getting time for Stan to leave so he told her to think about it tonight and whatever she decides he will start the tiling tomorrow.

Kathleen had stopped at the German Deli on her way home and picked up so sausage and German potato salad for dinner tonight. Well that is about it for today, Kathleen is watching Becca and Alexis tonight while Tami is in her class so we need to eat pretty soon.

The Vanity Cabinets are out of the Living Room and Installed in the Bathroom

That is what the new bathroom light looks like without it being on early this morning. I think that it shows it much better than lasts nights photo.

The first thing we did when Stan got her today was to finish installing the switches and after checking out the wiring we reinstalled the new dimmer switches that we bought. I did not want to install the new dimmers until we checked the circuits with a regular switch first.

The new dimmer switches are digital and are rather expensive but they are really nice. They turn the light on slowly and it comes back at the level that it was shut off at. It also turns the lights off by dimming until it is completely off, which is really nice on the eyes and better for the bulbs.

After we finished that Stan installed the vanity cabinets; there are four lower ones and two upper ones. We did not install the one that goes over the toilet but the other one we put up, I just have not installed the door back on the one upper cabinet.

So that is about it for the bathroom remodel for this week. Here are a couple pictures of the cabinets.

Bathroom Progress

Last night after I finished my blog I put insulation in the bathroom walls. Just thinking about it now makes me itch and while I probably should have gone to bed I wanted to get that done last night instead of this morning.

Stan and Pat, our plumber, were suppose to be here around 0900 this morning so after I finished breakfast I went outside to rake leaves as rain is predicted for tomorrow.

I got the front lawn raked before Stan got here and since he had some work to do inside I decided to finish raking the back yard while I had everything out. Pat arrived just as I was putting my tools in the garage and by the time he brought his tools into the house I was back inside as well.




Kathleen went to Natalie and Zander's Grandparent Day at their school, I could not do because one of the two of us needed to be here to answer questions and also help Stan run the Cat-6 wire for Kathleen's computer. As it turned out it was a good thing that I was here as Stan did not have a drill long enough to go through all the flooring and I was able to get my old lamp drill that I use to use on my lathe as it was almost two feet long.

Around noon time Pat had finished installing the plumbing hardware as well as the bathtub and took off. After Pat took off I finished putting on the connectors on the wire that we had run up to Kathleen's computer room. The other end goes to my computer but I have not hooked that one up yet.

Kathleen came home and had a good time with the grandchildren and brought home some chocolate milk and a bag of chips that she did not eat for her lunch. After she got settled back in she worked with Stan as to the placement to the grab bars for the tub.



Stan had a meeting to go to so he needed to leave early and since for the next three days the people who are hanging the drywall will be here. Since he will not be able to work on the bathroom until they are done he took his tools with him as he had a couple small jobs to do for a couple days I helped him gather up his tools and load them into his pickup and he left about fifteen minutes later than he had planned on but he thought that he would be okay in making his meeting.

After he left I took out the box that the tub had come in; it was nice not to have that sitting in the living room after a couple of days. Both Pat and Stan were amazed at how deep it was and after seeing it in place it is about six or so inches taller than our old tub.

Well, tomorrow the guys that are doing the dry walling are suppose to be here around 0800 tomorrow morning. besides the bathroom we are also redoing the lower section of our bedroom and a couple places where we had some water damage a few years ago so that is why it is taking a couple days to do that. There is also the closet in my office that we tore apart while we were doing the bathroom so that will get fresh dry wall as well.

Since they are doing our bedroom ceiling over our bed I will need to take that apart tomorrow morning before they get started. We are also having a light coating of texture added to the walls and ceiling in the bathroom, so that will probably make up the third day.

Tonight we had another dinner of the pot roast that Kathleen had made the other night; this is the third meal that we have had form that roast and there is still enough for at least one more meal.

I think that is all I can think about for tonight my eyes are itchy from the dust and insulation so I think I will sign off.

More Remodeling

It has been a few days since I posted anything mainly because Wednesday Stan cut his finger on the saw and went to the hospital to get some stitches. That day we started re-framing the studs in an area where we had to take the old ones out, that is when Stan cut his finger.

Thursday he did not work so I cleaned up the mess on the floor and finished pulling the nails that were left when we tore the dry wall off. And I also raked the front and back lawn and blew off the driveway.

Yesterday we took out the old bathroom window and put the new window in which pretty much took the whole day. Here are a couple photos with the old window out and before the new window was put in.



Today we went to Becca and Alexis's last soccer match of the season and then went shopping for things for the bathroom. We picked up a couple light fixtures and fan for the bathroom.

Then we stopped off at Bergerville for a pepper jack cheese and bacon burger and black forest shake. Since we were just a few blocks from home we headed that way and stopped at the last farmers market at the end of our street before arriving home.

After a brief stop we took off for George Morlan plumbing and picked up a nice Koler under cabinet mount sink and Delta "Victorian" faucet set. By this time we were pretty worn out and so we headed home.

While we were there we checked up on the toilet and bath tub that we ordered and one will be in in a week and the other probably next week; just in time to be installed. The cabinets that we ordered are now in so when we are ready to install them we can pick them up.

Well, that pretty catches my up and now I am ready to eat dinner as it is a little after 1900

Remodeling Update

Yesterday Stan worked on rebuilding the flooring structure where the wood was not as structurally sound as it needs to be. While the tub we took out was probably ten times heavier than the tub that we are replacing it with the structure is now probably now ten times stronger than it was before.

While Stan was busy in the house I was outside raking; I raked the back yard two times because it was windy enough and the leaves were wet from the rain during the night that they just kept coming down.

Later on in the afternoon I raked the front lawn, and there were quite a few more leaves then there usually were. By the time I got around to raking the front lawn the wind had died down and when I finished there were no more leaves that fell.

This morning when I got up there were only a handful of leaves on the front lawn so I did not even bother to rake the front lawn this morning but I did rake the back lawn and when I finished the lawn still looked pretty good unlike yesterday.

When Stan got here he finished with the floor support and when we finished that we put down the tongue and groove plywood. Once we had that screwed down we finished pulling down the rest of the dry wall from the walls and ceiling.

I decided that starting fresh would be easier and provide a better surface with which to work. As it turned out in some areas there were five layers of really thin sheet rock and in some areas there was firtex under the dry wall so I am glad that I decided to go to the studs and put all new dry wall up.

I finally ran out of steam and so tomorrow morning I will have to carry out all the small pieces of dry wall and sheet rock. Another reason that I wanted to remove all the dry wall and sheet rock was so that we could put the outlets, switches and lights where we want them.

Well, this should catch everyone up to date with the remodeling activities. I think tomorrow after cleaning up the mess on the floor we will re-route the wiring and start building the area where the tub is going to go.

Finishing the First Week of Downstairs Remodeling

This morning I felt a little tired when I got up, which surprised me seeing as I had over nine hours of rest last night. I went to bed a little after 2100 and did not get up until 0630 although I did not get to sleep right away as around 2000 last night my body finally woke up.

A little after 0900 Pat showed up to start on the plumbing and by the time I left for my doctor's appointment around 1000 he had cut out most of the old plumbing for the downstairs bathroom.

Speaking of my doctor's appointment it did go okay today. My PSA level was 0.06 which is the lowest that it has been; the previous low had been .1 and that was a month after my surgery. I still have to go back in three months but I now have some hope that instead of every three months I will be able to do it every six month or even a year instead.

After the doctor's visit we stopped at the credit union so that I could deposit a check and then on to Home Depot to look at Swanstone for our tub surround and also to get some molding to go around our whole house fan.

We did not get back until after noon and by then Pat had most of the plumbing reconnected and moved. One of the things we had him moved was our outside back yard faucet bib; it has always been in an inconvenient spot and now was a great opportunity to have it moved

Where it was before I am planning on putting in a new deck and where it is now it is on the outside of the bathroom...much more convent. Stan was also back from his early morning doctor's appointment and was building up the outside wall of the bathroom.

What was there was not sufficient and some of it was rotten and needed replacing anyway. Now it is well supported although the tub we are putting in is probably a couple hundred pounds lighter than the one we took out.

Monday I think that Stan is going to put the flooring down and then the drywall for the first part of the week. Our new cabinets are in and as soon as the tub comes in Pat will plumb it. This new week we will have to pick up our tile for the floor and walls and whatever electrical outlets, switches, fan and lights that we will want to install.

I had a little more energy today than I have had all week and I felt better, but that is all relative compared to how I think I should feel I still have a ways to go. Well, I am tired even though the only thing I did today was rake the lawn; with both Pat and Stan working in the bathroom I thought that the best thing that I could do was stay out of their way.

Remodeling Continues

Today was one of my worst days as far as energy level goes; I never had any. At one point mid morning Kathleen suggested that I go outside and rake the front lawn to see if being outside would help rejuvenate me but even after raking the front lawn and the back lawn I still could barely get out of my own way.

Luckily Stan was primarily ripping up the flooring today. We took up the particle board underlayment yesterday but the sub-flooring was bad enough that it was easier to take it up so that we could reinforce the beams, which are on twenty-four inch centers (really old code), and add a couple between them for support. We are going to lay down tongue and groove plywood and then hardy board on top of that with the tile to go on top of that.

Our plumber, Pat Bedlion, came over to see what we needed done for the bath remodel. We are replacing most of the plumbing and re-routing many of the pipes. With the floor up and the walls out it is much easier to do it now than it will be anytime in the future.

So tomorrow both Pat and Stan are suppose to be working tomorrow; I also have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning to have some blood work done to check my PSA levels to see what is going on with my cancer. I am somewhat apprehensive that my cancer may be coming back, or more accurately reappearing somewhere else.

Well Kathleen just got back from the Lowe's and Wal-Mart so I think that I will just close as it is not the cheeriest blog that I have written.

The First Day of the Downstairs Bathroom Remodel

Well this morning I knew that I had to stay fairly awake and pain free as Stan was coming over to start the remodeling. So after breakfast I went out side to start raking until Stan got here, well I finished the front yard and then did the back yard. The back yard was not too bad as the leaves are not falling as fast as the walnut leaves in the front yard.

Since Stan was still not here I picked tomatoes as I had not done that in a couple days and then as I was getting my weeding equipment Stan drove up, so I helped him unload his truck and then let him get settled in as I continued weeding and then pruning the roses.

Here is what the bathroom looked like this morning after I had taken the sink and vanity top off before Stan Got here.



Here are a couple work in process photos:

Here is one with the bathtub almost out; we had to break it up to get it out:

Here it is finally out:

Well, I have gone past my point of exhaustion so I think that I am just going to sign off and call it a day...lots of pain medicine today!