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!