January 2015 – Anything Boys Can Do…

January 23, 2015February 2, 2015

It’s almost a bathroom!

It’s been a busy and tiring week, but the result is that my bathroom is almost done! On Tuesday night, I got home from work and had dinner and then started to tackle the grout in the shower. Started at about 7. Had to run out between 8 and 9 to pick up more grout at Lowe’s, and didn’t pack it in until after midnight… and I still wasn’t done. I learned an important lesson: when you are grouting, work on only a small area at a time. If you leave the grout on for too long (more than about 15 minutes), it hardens and you have to scrape it off. That really sucks!

On Wednesday, Jim came and routed the floor and sanded the drywall. When I got home, I finished the shower and the primed and painted the walls where the toilet and vanity would go so that Jim could install them an Thursday. That all came together well.

As of now, there are only a few things left to do: finish painting, touch up a few spots of grout, and caulk. Here are a couple of shots of the pretty new fixtures. They’re the Ashfield line by Pfister in Tuscan Bronze. I love the water pump-style handle! I promise more photos soon, when it is all done.

Also today, the Gord’s Basement Waterproofing guys were here for the second day digging down as far as the weeping tile on the side of the house to waterproof the house. Jim said that yesterday, they had to jackhammer down about 2 feet, because the ground was so frozen. They were finished by 2:45 this afternoon, and for the most part, you would not know they’d been here, they left it so neat. Now I’m confident that I can have the basement finished without worrying about dampness or leaks.

Ok, that’s it for now!

January 18, 2015February 17, 2015

Can A Girl Get Some Insulation?

Hi friends! It’s been a little while since I’ve taken the time to post an update, so I will try to give you some of the highlights.

First, I can’t believe how poorly insulated this house is (and I dread the first gas bill!) I mentioned before that there was none downstairs – just paneling over cinder blocks, but upstairs, too! I took ripped out as much as I could of the kitchen last week, and the walls were plaster over this gypsum stuff, which is basically layers of compressed brown paper – like a thick cardboard box.

It had a foil back. And then there is a layer of tar paper on the block wall. Here’s a photo, after I ripped most of the wall out.

I salvaged one upper and one base cabinet (after scrubbing it thoroughly – you can see how much mouse poo was beneath it) and have taken them downstairs for storage in the laundry room.

I found some Melamine Paint at Home Depot, which I have always found to be the best product for cabinets, and I am going to paint them white, so that they match the washer and dryer.

I’m back to work now, so Jim does the work during the day (check out my beautiful shower) and I clean at night.
I swear, I have not done as much vacuuming and mopping floors in a lifetime as I have here! We’re constantly making messes and having to clean it up.

I have also hung new blinds in all of the bedrooms… got a great deal on Levolor blinds from Lowe’s, and had them delivered for free. Three blinds cost less than two would have elsewhere!

Finally, this weekend, my friend Shawn came over to help me out for a couple of hours. I was determined to do some major demo in the basement. I’d started to smash off the ugly bricks that were on the walls beside the fireplace, so by the time Shawn arrived the basement was covered in fine red dust. He helped finish removing them and then we ripped the paneling off of the rest of the basement. Shawn also removed the ugly 70s exterior lights that served to light up the “kitchen”, along with the range hood. He also disconnected the stove plug. Then he disconnected the water supply and cut the drainpipe and we pulled out the cabinet and got it into the dumpster. Here is the before and after.

The dumpster will be picked up tomorrow, and while it isn’t completely full, I now feel like we have filled it up enough to get it out of my driveway!

Since my last post, I had a birthday and celebrated with my friends, and then with my family. Thanks to all who joined! At the family get-together, I saw someone who was once a love interest… and it has been over 20 years since I’ve seen him. I was pretty speechless – and that happens almost never! He, of course, is married with children, but it was good to see him. 🙂

More soon.

January 7, 2015

Raining Mouse Poo

Hey all. Today is Wednesday, and it is a Damn cold Wednesday. Welcome to January in Canada. I’m just waiting for Jim to get here to continue working on the bathroom. Yesterday, he got the drywall on the ceiling. That was interesting… first he had to strap the walls with wood strips that the drywall wood we screwed into. Then he trimmed the drywall to fit, and then it was a 2 person job to lift the sheets up to the ceiling (while standing on a ladder, of course) and then prop the sheet of drywall up with the strapping wood. It would be very dangerous to try on your own, I imagine. Now the ceiling is drywalled. Next step is to install the bathtub.

American Standard tub - it was on sale at Lowes! — American Standard tub – it was on sale at Lowes!

While Jim was working on the ceiling, I went to work in the kitchen. I’d started taking down some cabinets the day before and wanted to continue. Funny thing is, I’d unscrewed 2 of the cabinets from the wall the day before, but they were still hanging. The tiled and grout were holding them in place. As I started to chip out the grout and tile, and pull the cabinets down, one of them started coming apart and I found mouse droppings – I wasn’t sure where they were coming from, but keep in mind that I haven’t used these cabinets at all, so I figured it must have been in the corner of one of the shelves. Eventually, with the tiles free, the cabinets finally started to fall and as they did, it started to rain mouse poo. Disgusting! I even had one on my shirt. Gag. Apparently, they had made quite a comfy home for themselves running on the tops of the cabinets, between there and the bulkhead. I can’t wait to pull the others down and see what else falls in me. Next step, obviously, was to get out the Shop Vac and start sucking it all up, before the pets got interested, and then to remove the pieces.

Ok, Jimmy is here. More later…

January 2, 2015

Basement Blues

Happy New Year! Ok, it is Friday, January 2nd, and a lot of people are back to work today. Had a nice visit from my sister’s family yesterday, and time with two of my adorable nephews, and now I have today, and all of next week, off!

A couple new developments to report this morning:

1. Foundation Flaws

My electrician, Rich, came by on Monday and walked through the house with me to get a look at what all needs to be done. In order to do some work in the kitchen, such as adding the dishwasher, I had to remove the paneling on the wall downstairs (where the wire will run). Well, I got started pulling off the trim and paneling, and discovered a couple of cracks in the foundation.

This was something that was identified in the home inspection, and we’d negotiated a small savings from my original offer, but actually revealing cracks in the blocks that had potentially been leaking for years (paneling was probably up since about the 70s) was quite eye opening. Why wouldn’t it have been looked after years ago? They had to see wet spots at times! Anyway, I contacted two companies on Tuesday. One was able to come out that afternoon, the other booked me an appointment for January 9th. When the guy from the first company, Gord’s Basement Waterproofing, came out, he provided an estimate to dig down and waterproof/seal in 3 places – around the 2 cracks, plus a large spot along the front step (underneath which the cold room has a significant leak) – all for $2,300 plus HST. Sorry, other company, but this will be repaired before you can even fit me in!

2. Playing with Fire

Next up was the fireplace inspection, this morning. The Insurance Company refused to insure the house at first, because I couldn’t provide them any details on the fireplace/wood stove. Then they insured me, on the condition that I have a WETT Inspection and Sweep completed within 15 days. I booked Richard Haart, who used to do the inspections in my condo. He arrived this morning and advised that the firplace is actually an insert, and that is not to code as it has a pipe that is only 6 inches, and the gases, heat, etc. that are released into the chimney (which is much bigger than 6 inches) can cause explosions. He is going to have to remove it, and I am hopeful that what is left can actually be a working fireplace. He said it depends on if the damper remains in place. For now, he is going to write me a letter with these details, in order to satisfy the Insurance Company, and try to get the work done in about a week.

Next up is the electrical work. Rich will be here in am hour, and start some of the work, and then he’ll probably be replacing the electrical panel next week.