Anything Boys Can Do… – Page 2 – Stories from a woman who isn't afraid of a little DIY

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.

December 31, 2014February 17, 2015

Meet Stanley

Hey friends and family! Welcome to the last day of 2014. Yup, it is December 31st and it has been a busy and productive week.

Last post, I mentioned that I was heading downstairs to try to get the washing machine hooked up. Well, a bit of advice – especially to you ladies: get a pipe wrench. This is mine.

It’s a Mastercraft (that’s a Canadian Tire brand) and I’ve had it for several years, and I couldn’t have connected the washing machine without it. First, I needed it to turn off the water. The round taps were so stiff that my little lady hands wouldn’t budge them. This isn’t good when you’re trying to disconnect a hot water supply from an old washing machine! I adjusted the wrench so that it was big enough to fit over the handle, and voila, it gave me plenty of leverage to turn the tap off. I also had to use it to loosen the connection on the hose and tighten the new ones onto the new washing machine. Done! The unfortunate thing, which really bugs me, is that only while connecting the washing machine did I notice that it actually has a dent in the front. Shame on Future Shop for delivering me a dented product. Of course, you have to sign-off that the machine was delivered with no damage, which I did, but the laundry room is so poorly lit that I couldn’t see the dent. It doesn’t impact the performance, though, so I’m just going to let it go.

Next in the update department – the stove plug. This thing was a bit of a mess, but managed to chip out the tile to expose the metal plate for the outlet, undo a few screws, and rotate the outlet 180 degrees. Then refastened the screws and done! Made Christmas Eve dinner for my family that night!

On Boxing Day, I went with my friend Brandie to our friend Jimmy’s annual Boxing Day Blow-out. Ok, it was less of a Blow-out/Drunk Fest this year, because 1) Jim moved to Burlington, so we can’t stumble home across the street anymore and 2) Brandie and I both had our family Christmas gatherings the next day. We didn’t stay too late, but it sure was nice to see Jim’s new home, meet BabyMac and see Jim’s kids, Sarah, Wil and Andrew and our friend Shawn and his son Tyler and girlfriend Elora. During the party, I firmed up plans with Jim for him to start working on my Bathroom Reno on Monday.

Here’s a picture of the bathroom before, when it was advertised in the Real Estate listing. Tile from floor to ceiling, very dated turquoise fixtures, etc. Definitely time for an overhaul. I’m happy to jump in and do construction/lifting/tearing out, etc. but I won’t touch plumbing and I won’t touch electrical, so in this case I called in someone who can do it right. Enter Jim. And Stanley. The Stanley FatMax 36″ Wrecking Bar.

I’d been to Lowe’s on Sunday, and Stanley Fat Max tools were on for 25% off, so “Stanley” was only $15. Worth every penny. On Monday Jim and I set to tearing down the bathroom. Here’s Stanley hard at work. Yes, I know, the rear photo in the Yoga pants is regrettable, but let’s move past that… removing those tiles was much easier with a strong wrecking bar! I also smashed my finger pretty good between the wall and Stanley, but it’s not broken. After removing all of those bloody tiles (that’s a plaster wall) we had to put them into contractor garbage bags and take them out into my garage. Thankfully I HAVE a garage. Now I just need to arrange to have all that crap hauled away.

After day 1, we had the tub, plumbing, toilet and vanity removed and all of the wall tiles. Day 2 was another adventure entirely: Even Stanley could not budge the floor tile, which was laid on top of about 2.5 inches of loose cement and wire mesh. Jim had to bring in the power tools – a hammer drill – and basically chisel it out chunk by awful, heavy, nasty, dusty chunk. The entire house was covered with a layer of dust afterwards. Gross. And once again, we had to pile it all into garbage bags and haul it out. Which then makes me shudder at where all of that crap will go after it is dropped at the dump. Land fill. Terrible and wasteful. It makes me want to use only wood in my house, so that at least it could be incinerated. By the end of Day 2, it was looking much better. Here are a few more photos. Now, since it is New Year’s Eve, the work is on pause until Friday. See you then.

Happy New Year!

December 23, 2014December 31, 2014

Moving In

Hi! It’s December 23rd, and I’m sitting in my new home, in my new living room, on my couch. Yesterday was moving day and I’d hired a moving company and 3 men. The company was called Mig29 Movers. Mike and his crew, Mike and Brandon, were awesome – we even enjoyed a shot together at the end of the move (mmm… Polar Bears)! On previous moves, I’ve gotten family and a U-Haul, and I’ll never do that again. The only negative about the day is that the truck was packed up and ready to roll and I was will anxiously waiting the key to the new house. They had to wait for about an hour and a half (which I was paying for, of course) before the deal was closed and the key was ready. Once we got here, to the new house, it only took them about 2 hours to offload.

Today was a jam-packed day of deliveries. First, the new washer and dryer were delivered. I bought Samsung top-load High Efficiency machines this time. The guys who delivered them arrived just after 8am, but they didn’t connect the appliances – the old washing machine was still connected so they wouldn’t touch it. I said to just leave them, I’d look after it, but so I haven’t been able to get the hot water turned off – the tap is really stuck – so I might need to actually find my pipe wrench and see what I can do.

Next, after the appliance guy, the Bell guy came to install my 15 mbps Internet. He worked at it for probably almost 2 hours because there were issues – not at my house, but at the source – but all is well now, and he was really nice.

While that was still underway, my beautiful new GE Slate Kitchen Appliances were delivered. I swear… I would have been afraid to even try the range that came with the house. It was an Eaton Viking. I believe that Eaton’s went out of business in 2002 in Canada. According to what I can find online, this line of appliances was likely manufactured in the 80s. The fridge was from before the Energuide days. My home inspector said it would likely cost about 200 a year to run. The new one is estimated at $18 a year. Anyway… these appliances look great. The dishwasher and over the range microwave will be installed after the kitchen reno, but the Fridge and Stove are here. BUT… yes, you knew there had to be a BUT… the plug for the stove is a problem. See in the photo on the right – that’s the outlet that the ancient stove was plugged into. It sits only about 1″ off the ground (and that’s some really nice grout work around it, isn’t it?? On the left is the plug from the new stove, which needs probably 3 inches of clearance below the outlet in order to be installed properly. By all accounts, I can rotate the outlet… that’s the first project, tomorrow.

Next, the custom vanity that I ordered was delivered. I’ll save that for a post about the bathroom… it is quite lovely!

Finally, the fool from Rogers arrived. I currently pay $118 a month for Rogers TV and Home Phone. They arrived to install the cable, and the current cable hook-up is on the wall opposite to where I’ve placed my Television. When I spoke with the Rogers rep on the phone, he recommended that I get them to install 4 outlets while they’re here and I agreed. Well, this man arrives and after discussing the relocation in the living room, and checking out the basement where he’d have to add service, etc. he decided that he couldn’t do the job upstairs without having the cable fished through the walls, so he couldn’t/wouldn’t do ANYTHING. I’d have to call Rogers and have the service rebooked. I told him to leave. Are you kidding me? You can’t get some of it done so that I can actually use the services in some places? Nope, apparently it is all or nothing. Bell has a thing where you can do the “whole home” PVR and use other receivers wirelessly in the house. I’m seriously considering just cancelling my Rogers account.

Ok… that’s it for now. Tomorrow (Christmas Eve) is going to be a busy day with a few projects and my Mom, my Brother, and his Girlfriend are coming for dinner. I’m going to try again to get the washing machine connected now. Will let you know how that goes!

December 14, 2014December 14, 2014

Multi-Tasking

So here we are, December 14th. It is a Sunday, and I move a week from tomorrow. This photo pretty much sums up what my life is like right now: some wrapped up gifts for Christmas, which is coming very soon, some packed boxes, and my laptop bag – because I still have to work all week before moving. Yes, it is a lot going on right now!

Last week, I spent most of the week in Texas for the Dallas Digital Summit. It was a great conference with some high profile speakers. The content, which focused a lot on Search Optimization and Content Marketing was very relevant to my job right now. My impression of Dallas was that it was just another big city – it reminded me a lot of Buffalo, actually, but what struck me was the sense of Southern Hospitality. Yes, I was eating in restaurants and staying at a hotel, and that is the service industry, but honestly most of the people that I met and spoke with were very friendly and polite. We got to spend some time exploring the Fort Worth Stockyards, and I really enjoyed that. I bought a couple of souvenirs, and got a great deal on some Steve Madden boots, and flew back into a crazy snowstorm.

This week will be a lot of last minute work and wrapping up projects at my job before I take 3 weeks off to move and get into the renos. My work and commute usually has me out of the house for about 11 hours/day, so I’ll probably be able to spend an hour or two per day, at most, getting ready for the move. In all honesty though, I’m not terribly worried – I’ve gotten a lot done in advance in order to avoid a last minute panic, so I’m sure that it will come together just fine.

I’m excited. I’m looking forward to being in my new home, to starting my renovations and to making it a space that I can be really proud of!

November 26, 2014November 26, 2014

SOLD

Well, sort of sold. The super great news is that on Friday (November 21st), I received an offer on my townhouse. It was about $4,000 below my asking price, and the buyer wanted to have a 90-day closing because she hasn’t yet listed/sold her home. We compromised, agreeing to 6 weeks, and just $1,000 below asking (justifiable, because I now have to pay for bridge financing between the 2 closing dates). After finalizing the agreement on the weekend, with just the conditions of a home inspection and provision of an acceptable status certificate, things are looking good.

The home inspection was scheduled for Monday morning, and found just a few small issues that we’re going to be able to work out. Today, however, my agent advised that the status certificate that I provided (which is a package containing rules and regulations for a condo corporation, financials, etc.) didn’t contain the actual Status Certificate, which is the document that verifies that my account is in good standing, etc. This is absolutely not true – both my agent and I reviewed the documents and this paperwork was included – and we didn’t remove the docs before handing over the package to the buyer. Now, I’m waiting on the Property Management company to respond as to whether or not they can re-issue those documents. Super frustrating.

Another lesson learned from the process of selling your house: you must have the patience of a Saint. And, clearly, I don’t!

November 12, 2014November 26, 2014

Buy and Sell

If there’s one thing that I’ve already learned from this process, it is this: If you are thinking about buying a new house, SELL YOUR OLD ONE FIRST! I didn’t.

I found my “new” house in a very hot market. I saw it on a Friday at 1pm and while I was viewing it with my agent, the listing agent showed up and said that an offer was already registered and would be presented the next morning. My gut feeling told me that this was my house – that I needed to make an offer, too. I did, and the next morning it was accepted. I’d only been looking at houses for 4 days! Not only was it accepted, the sellers wanted a quick closing, so I agreed to 60 days. Exciting stuff.

Then, reality set in: I had to get my house on the market as quickly as possible. I have a townhouse, and in Mid-October, there were already 2 in my complex on the market and they’d been sitting on the market for about 2 months. Not good! It is now one month later. Only 1 month before the agreed closing date… and I still haven’t sold. I accepted an offer only after 1.5 weeks, but the buyer couldn’t get the financing approved, so we’re back to the start.

Here’s the place that I’m selling – take a look and share it with your friends!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9xG-QB9MBzU

Once this home sells, and I’m officially ready to move, the home renovation plans will go into high gear. I’ve already done lots of research and planning and shopping – can’t wait to share my plans with you all.