New Bathtub and Subway Tile

Just a quick post to show you the new bathtub. It is so beautiful and CLEAN.

The rest of the bathroom is not quite up to this standard yet. I really want to gut the exterior wall so I can insulate it. I found out when we removed a closet in my living room that they did not insulate the walls behind closets. I have no idea why that would be true, but it is. So the bathroom closet is along an exterior wall and uninsulated. I'd like to make sure that whole wall is done right. And then I plan on tiling the floor. After that my bathroom will be done. Next project would be the kitchen.

Remember I am a slow renovator so the kitchen will probably be a year away.

Ok, So the House is done, Now What?

Yes, we basically finished John's house. I need to spend more hours underneath the house taping the air barrier better. We need to paint the outside, but the house is livable and John is very happy and comfortable. It is living up to expectations so far. His power bill the last month the we worked on it where we had constant air conditioning and power tools running was $58, I think. One morning as he left, the temp was 68F inside the house and going into the 80's outside that day, he meant to turn the air conditioning, but forgot. When he got home the temperature inside was 70. He would have set the AC on 72. Nice. The house holds the temperature very well. 

It is extremely sturdy and quiet. John keeps hearing noises that have been bothering him a little bit, but he thinks it's the refrigerator as nothing else makes any noise in the house. 

The housewarming party was a great success. I didn't take any photos as I was talking to everyone. 

Anyway, what is next? My house and Kathy's house. I have had a Christmas wreath-making party 3 times in the past, but skipped last year since John was living in my basement and we were busy working on his house.  I think the wreath-making party is a really fun way to start the season. I'd like to get some stuff ready at my house so it looks really festive for the party. But there are some obstacles and challenges in my home. Or in other words, some real problem areas. 

For starters, I didn't have a light that worked in the kitchen for years. There was an ugly boob light that just wouldn't work. I thought the problem was the 2-way switch, but apparently it was the light itself. Rich (my brother-in-law) switched out the light for this one. It really works, but as you can see it exposes another problem - old cracked plaster on the ceiling that desperately needs to be patched and painted. 

Kitchen light challenge

Next, when I worked on my house and had it covered with a layer of polyiso foam and re-sided, I that the brick stairway redone to match the house. Only problem - they did a terrible job. They used slate that is too thin for steps and not adhered well. Danger. Danger. I don't really know how to fix this problem by the time of the party. We've got to something though.

Front steps challenge

This is the back wall of my basement. I think I have solved the water problems in the basement by grading that area and a french drain in the backyard, but until John moved out I was unable to see how moldy it is. We'll scrub the walls, then repaint.

Basement wall challenge

My basement stairs are covered with this horrible green vinyl stuff. I was driving me crazy so I started peeling it off. I will probably only be able to do the landing and not the whole stairway as that would probably be too time consuming, but I think I can make the landing look much better. (Almost all of my photos are iPhone photos, but this is a particularly poor photo. Still you get the idea.)

Basement stair landing challenge

When John lived in my basement he refused to leave that bathroom door open despite the serious mold and humidity problems. The ceiling was solid mold. What you see below is the bathroom fan and ceiling AFTER scrubbing the ceiling. Needs lots more work. That bathroom will be gutted and redone sometime in the future (the future to me is 3-5 years, I kind of work on the slow renovation schedule).

Basement bath fan challenge

And this is the shower ceiling after I spend days cleaning the shower itself. I think what happened here is that someone added a bathroom light under an aluminum false ceiling. It has seriously corroded over time. I'm going to sand it and repaint it, but not take it down yet. I've got to do something with the upstairs bathroom pretty soon so I need this shower, but I would like it to be much more pleasant before I use it.

Basement shower challenge

The other  serious problem areas are replacing the upstairs bathroom tub and tile around it and then uncluttering my porch and back bedroom. I find uncluttering harder to do that scrubbing walls or sanding floors. 

Thank you for taking time to look at this little blog. I hope you are doing well. 

Almost Done

Today the stair guy is installing the newell posts and handrail which means that we can FINALLY go for our certificate of occupancy (CO) tomorrow or next week. Getting the CO doesn't mean that John can move in just yet though. We've still got some painting and floor work to do. Apparently you do not have to have your floors done before being allowed to move into your home. A homeowner might just want naked oak on the floor. It's not a code violation. The challenge may be to keep John from moving in before we finish the naked oak floor.

Anyway, here a few photos from the past few days. This is the upstairs bathroom.

The sun tunnel provides an incredible amount of light.

Now here is the Toto Promenade toilet. John says it is the best thing I have ordered for his house. He's still a little miffed at some of my paint choices.

One thing I really like about the toilet is the large flat top. In a small bathroom that makes a big difference. 

This photo shows the porch floor with the second coat of Waterlox. Rich (my brother-in-law) has been doing the staining and the floor finishing. It's beautiful.

Porch floor with 2 coats of Waterlox

The above porch was designed to be a cat porch where John could let his cats stay most of the time without them doing their cat business all over his house. Before we could get the house built, his favorite cat, Nub, died from renal failure (which might explain why he didn't use the litter box reliably). The only cat left was Gump seen below. Gump is 18-years-old and very skittish, almost feral. Somehow we were able to merge him with my cat family and he has now become my cat. That allowed the front porch to be simply a porch, not just a large litter box. Also he is good about going in the litter box so he has not become a problem for me. 

Gump begging for food.

Next I'll get some photos of the stairs. The stair guy (I don't know the name of his company off the top of my head) is amazing and quite meticulous. I think you will be impressed.

That's it for today. Thank you for looking at my blog.