Little Projects Add Up

Time tumbles slowly on and zips at the same time. We are nearing the end of March and we move out of our apartment in less than a month. Headed to North Bend Park for camping the day we move out of the apartment. Hopefully we will be out before the 26th. My brother, Ed, introduced us to the John H. Kerr Dam and Reservoir area when we first moved to Richmond, back in the day of camping in a tent. A great deal has changed since then. Mike nor I are both unemployed, we sold a house, we bought a camper! and then bought a house. This is about remodeling the house. 

I left you with the master bath was gutted. Today the tile guy, Mario, cam to start the tile process. Before his arrival we had the plumber, electrician, and drywall installers come in and fix what was needed. All rooms except the rooms they were working on where done (exception hardwood floors still need sanding) painted, trimmed, cleaned. It is amazing that each trade did a little damage to some other area of the house. The plumber cut through the sheetrock in the adjourning room in several places.

I could go on and on about the damages and the work we need to do fix it ... but it makes me very angry. Very angry indeed!

So we now have plumbing but I would not recommend them. It is scary when they say everything is done and turn on the water only to hear bone curling yells of TURN OFF THE WATER! Oops they forgot to cap something in the crawlspace. A week later and so far no leaking. 

 

We have electrical updated but I did not take any pictures of that so you get to see it with drywall installed. Love my purple drywall.

The drywall was in place on Saturday and Mario could not be there until Wednesday so we painted  the ceiling twice and the walls once as we assume we will need to repaint the walls as they might absorb some damage!

Love the color, Aquitaine. Miek and I spend hours picking out colors. We have a PowerPoint with a mock up of the room and then swap colors to see which we like best. The mock up has the wall and floor tile, the niche tile and the vanity color in it. It is very helpful. So we painted both bathrooms the same color.

The hall bath has gone through some changes as well. The grout company came in and regrouted the walls and repainted the floor grout. I was not impressed with their work and had them come back to touch it up. This was considered done.

I sent an email to the owner and asked if this was considered finished. The worker came back on a Monday to fix the job, I basically pointed out everything I wanted fixed and watched him work.  It looked much better when he was done.

Also had the tub resurfaced which looks amazing. Super professional, friendly, informative and quick. Highly recommend A&J Resurfacing. 

Before:

After! Absolutely gorgeous. I am afraid to use it as I don't want to scratch it which I can't but still....it is pretty and clean! I am all about clean. They also caulked the tub!

Old lights:

New lights, need to get Edison bulbs. Goal for this weekend. These bulbs are better than none. They have an extendable rod so I can lower them if needed.

Still need to caulk the window, add the vanity, and the new shower fixtures. Need to figure out how to clean those towel holders as you cannot remove them, clean them and then put them back.

I hate to admit this but I spent 3 hours cleaning the toilet. We removed it to have the tile cleaned and regrouted so while it was out, my hands went in with a gallon of bleach $6.00 versus a new toilet for $190.00. 

Oh! So as I was typing about the cleaning of the towel bars I jumped down the rabbit hole and Googled it. Low and behold you can buy replacements. The hole is always easier to navigate when you know what something is called. So for future reference...Spring End Wall Mount Replacement Towel Bar. Now that I know what I need to do I have to go measure the bar and figure out the dimensions I need. Cuz nothing is ever standardized to make life easier and one size does not fit all.

What else....

Master bath has the Schluter products installed and ding the water test tomorrow. Fingers crossed it holds water and does not leak.

Lots of tools needed for creating a curb less shower. We designed it to age in place, meaning we can walk or wheelchair in without needing help or fear of falling.

Takes several days just on prepping the area for tile. Cut and place the boards, then wait for it to set. Then add more boards and wait for that to set. You can see one of the 3 niches going in. The wall you see is on the long side of the shower with the frameless sliding glass door going across from it. Also you can see the handles for the shower valve which are not on the same wall as the shower head. I wanted to be able to turn it on without getting wet. Yippee. Water will be warm when you get in and not have to jump around as it warms up or cools off.

Finished the mop boards in the rooms that were damaged do to workers.

Mike has had several accomplishments but no pics to go with them....

He reworked the HVAC duct work from the trunk line to the office in the crawl space in order to drop the floor for the curb less entry.  He cut out and patched the original run and then moved the new one and secured it.

He insulated the crawl space and the attic in regards to the master bath.

He sanded, cleaned and spray painted the HVAC floor covers and screws for all the rooms.

Got to work outside a few days and Mike bought another new toy. He bought a DeWalt electric chainsaw. We both love it 💜. He is DestructoMan! As sad as I am too clear cut the property it needs to be done in order for us to have an alternative septic solution. So bye bye weeds.

Mike is so much better at getting the before and after pictures from the same angle.

Removed 5 trees growing out of planters from 1968. They rooted through the pots and into the ground and under the garage. Removed English Ivy from the front and side, also in planter pots, 10 to be specific. You can see the discoloration on the garage from the wines growing. Still need to clean the outside of the garage. 

We are ready for the fire pit with out cut and piled wood.

Tree garden is now a stump garden as we cannot remove the stumps until the new septic is installed. The tree roots are entwined with the leach field pipes.

The brush pile grows but VA does not allow brush fires until May 1. We will have a a fabulous bonfire once time allows and permit is in hand.

We have left some of the trees alone and hope they are not in the way of the new septic and French drains.

He also added drain spout extensions in the flood zone areas. The down spouts stopped at the side of the house causing water to enter the crawlspace and/or  wash out the foundation, stairs, and cobblestone patio. French drain will help redirect all the water to a more appropriate location.

Some Winter Honeysuckle and Yoshino Cheery. Both are gorgeous and smell wonderful. The 

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bees love them too so I am all over it.

Rainy day projects have me painting louvered closet doors. I am so tired of this project. I refuse to do any more doors at this point in time. So far I have completed 1o closet and 5 room doors, still have 4 to do. Also did all the shelves in the closets. You can see it is worth the effort just not loving the work of it.

Takes several days for each door. Both sides of the louvers need to be done at the same time so they do not drip on the other side. Paint, drip duty,  flip, paint, flip, drip duty and repeat until no more drips then paint the flat side. Repeat the entire process when dry. The garage was setup so I could six doors. I had one high table that I would paint on and then move that door to a lower drying area which were storage crates stacked on top of each other and drop clothes on them to protect them. Did I mention the sanding that needs to take place before the painting begins? Did I mention that the sander broke on door 12? Ugh my deltoids are getting a work out.

Let's see what else....

Oh pocket door! First time for us to install one of those. We did self closing open and close. Ed helped us with the framing on this as well as most of the other jobs.

It is so nice to have some one who knows what needs to be done. Helps that he has all the tools as well. Mike had tool envy so he is acquiring the tools that Ed has been using. 2 new favorites are DeWalt oscillating multi tool and nail pliers. These 2 tools have saved us so much time. 

New brushed nickel hinges and door pulls on all doors have been updated as well. Some with keyed locks some with button locks and some without.

I guess that is all for now. Early mornings meeting skilled tradesman is not fun for me. I still like my sleep. Up and out at 6:30 am. I thought when you got old you liked getting up in the morning....I guess I am not old enough for that, yet! 

Soon we will be living there and all will be as it should be in the world.

Mike did not proof this so apologies for the numerous typos. Will correct soom.