Day 30 - 31: Bathroom Remodel-- Almost Finished!

Rick worked throughout the day yesterday in an attempt to finish the walls around the tub enough to get ready for primer and paint.  We won't be able to finish the tub area, but we can at least get the room "company ready" for when my sister and brother-in-law come for a visit.

The pictures tell the story of two coats of primer, then two coats of paint.  He also patched a little place near the curved lip of the tub where the Swanstone may not cover.

The drywall above the tub area and the backer-
board walls are covered with two coats of primer.
The primer will help seal the backer board for the
Swanstone.

The mirror shows Rick "in the tub" painting
the drywall above the tub area.

No countertop or sink installed yet, but the rest of the room
is ready for visitors.

The shower curtain adds a little life to the room.

The countertop is ordered; it will be available in a couple of weeks.  The same is true for the Swanstone.  It is ordered and projected to be here in about the same time frame.  Now we pray that everything will come in on time and without damage.

Today Rick finished all of the painting and we installed the molding around the closet door.  We cannot install all of the molding around the main door until we get the granite countertop installed.  It is much easier to cut the molding around the granite than to try to shape the granite around the molding.

A few minutes ago we re-hung the shower curtain.  We are finished with the bathroom... for now.  Once the final pieces arrive, we will be able to finish the molding and baseboard.  Then we can spend some time finding the perfect accessories to decorate the room and to make it complete.

With relatives in town, we look forward to a great Thanksgiving week.  Happy Thanksgiving to all who are reading this blog.

Day 29: Bathroom Remodel

Lindsay yelled at us yesterday, telling us that we had to do more than just work on the house.  I guess if one reads this blog, it seems that is all we do.  While that is pretty much true, we DO get out occasionally to church, to the grocery store, to the drug store, to the Big Box stores, and even, occasionally, to cool places like the library or the park.  (I admit, though, we have yet to get out the bikes!)

Yesterday we actually went to the Library.  I was looking for Ordinary Grace by William Kent Kreuger, the book that my book club in Green Bay just finished.  Although I found many books by that author, the Library did not own Ordinary Grace.   When I came home, I checked the Kindle Lending Library.  No luck borrowing the book either.  I could buy it for almost $12.00, but I was too cheap to do that.  I remembered, though, that Tom Lowe was supposed to have a new book out, so I checked Kindle for that.  Luck at last!  I ordered A Murder of Crows, and it only cost me $4.99. This book (#8) is the latest in the Sean O'Brien series.  You can borrow my Kindle, Steve, to read it when I am finished.

This morning started with Rick running to the store to buy an oversized corner that will wrap the shimmed out wall at the tub's head.  I stayed home to do the normal Friday chores of changing linens, scrubbing bathrooms, and washing clothes.

A new corner starts to blend the shimmed wall with
the wall next to the closet.

When Rick returned, we sanded the plaster from yesterday and he installed the corner.  It will need some building up, but at least the tub no longer has a gap between it and the wall.  Plaster is a marvelous thing!  How we are going to install the Swanstone and have that corner look right is another story.  That will take some planning yet.

If anyone wants to come and sand tomorrow,
you are very welcome to do so.

We took a break at lunchtime.  We bought sandwiches at Publix and packed a picnic.  Then we drove down to the Marina, found some free parking spaces, and had a lovely lunch.  From there, we walked to a couple of shops looking for accessories for the new bathroom.  Although we did not find anything, we know that this weekend the city is sponsoring a huge art fair.  Perhaps we will find something unique there.  (See, Lindsay, we do get out of the house for some fun things once in a while!)

The weather was beautiful for a picnic lunch.
The weather forecast for today was for
"abundant sunshine" according to the Weather Channel.

This afternoon Rick added a second coat of plaster to the corner.  We are trying to get the room in presentable shape before our company arrives for Thanksgiving.  The room will not be complete, but it will be close.

I have started to clean the house.  With plaster dust everywhere, this will be an on-going task.  Today I tackled the blinds in the master bathroom and in the Florida room.  I have three finished in the Florida room, and three to go.  I had to pause and wash out the blind-cleaning tool, it was so dusty.  That just tells me that my efforts are worth the results.

Each day we get a little closer to having this room finished.  Thank heavens this is the last room in the house!  I don't think I could tolerate much more remodeling, and I am sure that Rick feels the same way.

Day 28: The Bathroom Remodel Continues...

I'm tired tonight, so at last I will keep the narrative on this brief.

Rick did a great job with the cut-outs in the
backer board. The spout for the shower head
will come through the upper drywall area.

We started the day adding the backer board and the drywall to the end wall of the tub.  Then Rick spent some time mixing up a little mud to put the corners IN the corners and at the juncture between the walls and the ceiling.

The corners where walls meet ceilings are the worst!
They are a pain to get smooth yet defined.

Alfonso came from the granite company mid-morning to measure for the granite vanity top.  He also measured the windowsill so we can add quartz.

We traveled to the granite company after he left because we had to choose the quartz for the windowsill.  I wanted to keep it mostly white to blend with the window and to match the rest of the white-with-grey-speckles tile windowsills in the rest of the house.  We chose Glacier White because it was not too thick and was the right color. We both hope it works all right.

We will return to the granite company on November 28 when they pull the slab from which we will cut the vanity top.  We want to position the cut to get the best piece of granite for the room since we will be looking at it for the rest of our lives.

Tomorrow will bring about a second coat of mud on the walls, and perhaps we can install some of the baseboard and molding that I painted today.

Day 27: Bathroom Remodel

Today we set the house on fire...

The first order of the day was to order out the Swanstone.  If you have been following this blog, you know that Rick tried to order it yesterday at Home Depot.  We cancelled that order and received confirmation of the cancellation, so Rick felt comfortable ordering the Swanstone today through Lowe's.  We would love to just order it direct, but doing so will cost us way too much in shipping costs.  By going through Lowe's, the shipping is free. The Swanstone should be delivered sometime in early December.

Rick got grumpy, so I took the car and went to the drug store to pick up my prescription.  By buying so many expensive drugs (which are free now that we have met the yearly deductible), we earned $10.00 of CVS cash.  We have earned cash often but rarely take advantage of it; however, this time I did.  Our church is collecting food for an area food pantry, so I spent the $10.00 buying basic foods: peanut butter, soup, pasta,  and mac and cheese.  It took me very little time, and the food will go to help others.  Win/win.

The wall before Rick added the shower.  Those
two water pipes were the last to be connected,
and the only way we could do that was by soldering
within the confines of the wall.

Rick put together the shower today.  He soldered more joints than I want to count, but that was needed to get all of the pipes to go where they belonged.  We welded most of them together on a table outside; then we had to come into the house to attach it to the water lines.

The shower valve had to be braced since it is
so heavy.  Once positioned, though, this shower
is not going anywhere!

Positioning it took a little time, but eventually it was hanging where it needed to be.  So picture this: the last two connections need to be made while the shower pipes are hanging between to studs in the wall.  I tried to hold a wet shield up to protect the wall, but in the end the wall got a little scorched and the "shield" I was holding totally ignited.  Thankfully, it was a very small fire, but it certainly did not smell good.  We were lucky that the weather was great today, so we could open the windows.  And yes, we know that we could have purchased a heat shield at the store which would have prevented this problem, but in the end the plumbing is up and the house did not burn down.

We tested the shower and nothing leaked, so tomorrow we can put up the backer board and finish that wall.  Then we just have to prime everything and eventually paint the drywall on top.

I painted the first coat on the molding and baseboard that we purchased a few days ago.  Within the next few days, we can put these pieces together.  Then we just wait for the Swanstone to finish that room.

Yum!  Oatmeal raisin cookies.

As a change of pace, once we cleaned up all of the building materials, I got out the mixing bowl and made a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies.  I love these cookies and the recipe I received from Mom.  The recipe is typed but has Mom's handwritten notes.  Behind "1 cup margarine" Mom wrote for me when I was a new bride, "2 sticks softened."  After "1 cup raisins," Mom wrote, "I heap it up.  I like lots of raisins." I smile each time I read that. I know that the recipe is automatically doubled.  My Dad loved cookies so much that Mom quickly learned that a single batch of cookies would not last very long.  To save herself time and effort, Mom always baked a double batch.  So I baked five dozen oatmeal raisin cookies today, and unlike our earlier antics, I did not burn anything!

Day 26: Bathroom Remodel

We have walls!

Rick got up this morning, took a couple of hours to get his weekly allergy shot, and then ignored that he was supposed to take it easy for a couple of hours by immediately changing into his work clothes.

Last night I suggested that since we have to "stack" the backer board on the back wall, that we put the smaller, cut piece on the bottom.  That way, we would have a ledge on which to place the top, full, heavier board.

This morning, Rick added support structure between the studs so we would have a good surface on which to screw in the top of the lower backer board. That helped when we got around to building the back wall.

The south wall and the lower back wall are in place.

Rick had to trim a few inches off the south backer board wall.  We carried it in using drywall carriers, and we discovered that the sheets were not terribly heavy or difficult to handle.  Yes, Rick was sweating by the time he got screws in every 6 inches, but the board itself was fairly easy to place and install.

The back wall went up next, and again we had no trouble.  The stacking game worked well.

The wall keeps going up!

Finally, Rick cut the drywall that will top the 60 inch Swanstone wall.  Yes, that will take taping and mud once again, but that job can wait until tomorrow.

Regular drywall tops the cement backer board since the
Swanstone will only be 60 inches tall.

This afternoon, we tried to order out the Swanstone.  Our big mistake: we tried to use Home Depot.  They still have not given us a refund for the cancelled tub even though Rick has spent countless hours trying to get our money back.  We have disputed the charge with the credit card company, sending them all of the paperwork that proves we cancelled the order.  When Rick talked to Home Depot last night, a woman told him that for our "inconvenience" we would get 10% off our next order. She said that after we order online, just call the Online Order number and whomever answers will apply the discount.

OK.  Sounds good.  The Swanstone walls, trim, and alcove cost a sizable chunk of change.  We ordered online (as instructed), and then Rick called to get the 10% savings.  The woman who answered said that she could not deduct 10% after the order was placed.  She said that she could cancel the order and then replace it, applying the 10% discount at that time. Yeah, right.  This is how we got into the problem in the first place!  Rick told her that he would take their 10% and "shove it where the moon don't shine." Then he went back online and cancelled the order himself.  Bottom line: do not order anything online for in-store pick-up from Home Depot.  Once they get your money, they take forever to refund it if you refuse or cancel the order.

We did a little shopping this afternoon, getting some plumbing supplies that we will need to put in the shower valve tomorrow.  We are going to wait to make sure that our last online order for Swanstone from Home Depot is indeed cancelled.  Then we will buy the Swanstone through Lowe's.

Day 25: Bathroom Remodel

Since we have been at this remodel for almost a month, we freely admit that we are to the point where we just want to complete it.  We know, sadly, that it will not be complete before Thanksgiving, but we hope to have it all done by Christmas.

Whoa!  That is different from what I wrote a couple of days ago, but things -- once again-- have changed. Two days ago I called Sarah and told her that we would not be doing anything until after Christmas.  The thought of having this hanging over our heads for the holidays makes me nauseated, though, and neither of us really want that.

Rick has been researching Swanstone again, and today we made a decision. Since we cannot find tile that we really like, and since we do not want to spend every last cent of our budget on not-so-wonderful tile, we have unanimously voted (2-0!) not to have tile installed in the bathroom.

Instead, we will install white Swanstone solid surface with an arched alcove that will accommodate soap, sponges, and shampoo and conditioner bottles.  We will do the work ourselves which will allow us to control the timing of installation, the quality of the work, and the costs of the whole project.  We have been hesitant to do this project because of the labor involved; however, we were hesitant to do the fence for the same reason, and that turned out well. The only really heavy piece, other than the backer board themselves, is the 60" back piece.  Once that is up and installed, the rest of the project should go well.

We both are relieved to finally make this decision. We will order the Swanstone later this afternoon and pray that the company can deliver it to our local Home Depot without damage.

After looking in various stores, we finally
bought this curtain at Macy's. Since we
purchased the towels there also, everything
matches perfectly.

In our quest to keep this project moving, we purchased a new shower curtain yesterday.  I washed it yesterday and ironed it today.  We hung the curtain to see how the room will look and to "hide" the unfinished tub for now. Additionally, we reinstalled the closet door to keep the closet clean and the hallway door for a semblance of privacy.

The inspector came to out house today to approve the mast move and the new outside electrical meter and box.  The inspection was fine.  We now possess one more signed permit from the city of Dunedin. What a relief!

The backer board, box of screws, and the new
baseboard and molding await our attention.

Our final trip of the day was to Lowe's.  We purchased backer board (heavy!), cement board screws, one more piece of molding, and one more piece of baseboard.  Once those are painted, we will be ready to finish that part of the project, too.

Our purchase of these materials shows our commitment to this new course of action. As I said in the past, our motto is, "Never look back."  We are going forward with this project, and we both are happy that we are doing so on our terms.

Day 23 and 24: Bathroom Remodel

Friday morning started with the installation of the toilet back where it belonged: in the bathroom rather than in my Florida room.  We are happy to have two working toilets back in this household even though we may not have a working sink in the main bathroom yet.

We then went to Pro Source in search of new tile for the bathroom.  We knew that Pro Source is a huge showroom of tile from many manufacturers, and we hoped that we could find the perfect tile. We found a 12 x 24 all white tile with a subtle wave pattern that we thought would be perfect.  Kevin, from Pro Source, found a couple of small decorative tiles that also might work with the main tile.  We knew that Sarah was going to be working in her showroom, so we took the tile there to consult with her.

She liked the wavy tile, and she also liked the way the small tiles that she had originally chosen went with the wavy tile.  We rejected the other two small tile samples from Kevin due to problems with color or with the shell material that one had.  Sarah warned us that the shell was fragile and would not hold up well to cleaning.  Great! We had a choice, or so we thought.  Then we started to talk about the bullnose, which for the chosen tile came only in a 2 x 24 inch style.  That did not work.  The 2 inches is not deep enough to go tot he back of the alcove I wanted to put into the back wall. OK, we did not have a choice.

This morning we took the wavy tile sample back to Pro Source.  We spent two hours looking for something else, and we came up empty handed.  Were we crazy looking for tile that will cost us a fortune to install?  Perhaps.

I was so frustrated that I wanted to cry.  Rick just got angry.  We started to think that perhaps we should go back to Swanstone (boring, sturdy, but heavy and hard to install) or even a Veritek (acrylic, flimsy, but cheaper and easier to install).  We drove out to Pinellas Park to a Ferguson showroom to see if we could see samples of Swanstone and the colors.  They did not have any in the showroom since all Ferguson dealers do not carry Swanstone despite that their web site indicated they did.

We stopped at Home Depot on the way home.  They DO carry Swanstone, and we both agreed that the only color that would work is pure white.  Fantastic.  We are back to boring.

Ironically, we did find some DalTile at Home Depot that may work for us in the end.  Go figure.  We go to fancy showrooms and find what may work at Home Depot.  We still are not sure, however, that we want to spend the money on tile installation.

At this point, we may put in the acrylic which we can do ourselves.  It is about 1/5 the price of hiring someone to install tile.  Since the bathroom shower is used only a few times a year, we may choose that option in the end.  I can save a lot of money and just buy a nice shower curtain to keep it out of sight.  In the end, that may be the best use of our resources.

A toilet paper holder and towel rack show progress.

When we came home, Rick added the toilet paper hold and matching towel holder in the bathroom.  We may not have a sink yet, but when we do, we will be ready with a towel!  Each small piece contributes to getting this bathroom back together, and that is probably the only positive move we have made in the last two days.

Tiny red bracts are peeking out from the end
of some branches of the bougainvillea. 

One happy side note: almost a month ago I fed my bougainvillea plants some nutrients called Bougain.  This plant food was supposed to promote growth and flowers.  Today, for the first time since I planted the bushes last year, I am starting to see evidence of flowers (actually colored bracts) on my bougainvillea plants.  At least something is starting to bloom!

Day 22: Bathroom Remodel

As we approach the finish line with this room, we are both excited to get everything in place.

Rick started with sanding the plaster from yesterday and getting a coat of primer on the new drywall before he showered and changed to drive with me to the doctor.

The south wall needs only the blinds installed
and a new windowsill to be complete.

My news is that the doctor took me off Imuran, a drug that I was taking to combat my immune system from attacking my muscles.  After three years, I am totally off all dermatomyositis drugs.  I am both elated and scared to death that I will have a relapse.  The elation comes from ceasing to take a drug that has some nasty side effects.  The fear is that I will have to start the drugs at a later date if my body starts to attack me again. I guess time will tell.

We returned home and Rick added a coat of teal paint on the walls.

After lunch, we met with Sarah to see what she had designed for the bathroom.  We also got an estimate that damn near stopped my heart.  Of course, the estimate had a "range" because we have not yet chosen tile. Still, I could pay for half a semester of college for Owen with what they estimate the job could cost.  Sadly, we have neither the will nor the skill to put up tile ourselves, so we will try to choose wisely, shut up, and pay to have the tub surround finished.

The larger tile coordinates well with the
tub and with the floor.

The smaller accent tile, however, just does not
look right in the room.

We looked at various tile and chose a couple of samples to bring home.  We liked the larger tile, but the tiny tile accent is a no-go.  We just do not like how they go together.  Also, we need to make sure that the tile does not fight with the countertop and flooring.  I hate picking out tile almost as much as I hate choosing carpeting or wallpaper.  You could not PAY me to be a designer.

Once home, Rick was anxious to put the bathroom back together.  We hung the new light fixture, and that part of the room I really love.  I think that once we get the new countertop and hang the mirror, that wall will look great.

Our new light adds a modern, bright touch to the room.

Naturally, just as Rick was trying to hang on to the light fixture to attach the wires, the Schwan's man came, so I had to take a break to take care of our order.  By the time I returned to the bathroom, Rick had the light installed.  We still have to run to the store to get bulbs, but at least that part of the job is done.

The vanity is back in place.  Now it awaits a
sink and granite countertop.

We completed today's work by putting the vanity back in place.  Then I called the granite company and set up an appointment to have them come out and measure for the granite and for the windowsill.  That measurement will take place on November 17.  We won't have a countertop installed by Thanksgiving, but that is OK.  We will have a working toilet in the room by that time, so that is good.

The toilet will go in tomorrow.  We will revisit Sarah to see if we can figure out what to do with the tile choice.  I suspect that Rick also will install the shower valve for the tub one of these fine days.

We were supposed to have the new electrical meter and mast inspected tomorrow, but we got a call from the electrical contractor saying that the inspectors will not be coming.  Tomorrow is Veteran's Day, a national holiday, so no city workers will be working.  The inspection is moved back to next week Monday, and that is fine, too.

Rick is "watching" the evening news by snoozing on the couch.  (I guess that's why we tape it!)  He worked hard today to get the room back together, and he is exhausted. We  both are glad that in a couple of weeks, the room will be complete.

Day 21: Bathroom Remodel

Much was accomplished today, so my bathroom is slowly being transformed from a construction shell back into a working bathroom... but not without a struggle.

We knew that the bathtub was scheduled to go in today, so last night Rick and I put down three layers of paper to protect the newly polished floors. That turned out to be both good and bad.  More on that later.

While we waited for the plumbers and the tub, Rick worked on finances and on watching what will happen to the world now that Donald Trump is President-elect.  I was upset, and when I get upset, I either clean or bake (or garden where I can kill things!)  Today I chose to bake, making 83 fresh peanut butter cookies.

The first batch of cookies cools on the rack.

The plumbers finally arrived and started by taking out the old drain.  What should have been a fairly easy job -- chip out the inch or so of old tar, expose the old drain fitting where it meets the cast iron pipe, remove the old drain, and install the new -- turned into a two-hour ordeal.  For a reason long lost to history, the one to two inches of tar that plumbers used to seal out termites while they sealed in the drain pipe was in actuality about eight inches of thick, black tar.  And under the tar was cement encasing where the drain connected to the main cast iron pipe.

Eight inches of tar reveal concrete at the bottom
of the drain pit.

What a nightmare! The two plumbers took turns with a hammer drill chipping out enough huge chunks of tar to fill a five gallon bucket.  Then they found the cement.  Getting rid of all of that took them the better part of two hard-labored hours.

A five-gallon bucket is filled to the top with
chunks of old, smelly, sticky tar.

The excavated drain area with layer of tar, concrete,
and dirt looks like an archeological dig. (We found
no dinosaur bones, however.)

After lunch, the men returned to bring in the tub.  I am glad that we put paper down from the front door to the bathroom.  The tires on their dolly left dirty tire tracks all through the hallway, and I would not have been happy having the dirt ground into the newly polished floors.  I give the men credit for being very careful about maneuvering the tub around hallway corners and doorways.  We opened the front doors widely, but the bathroom door took a bit of precise movement; however, none of the walls or woodwork was damaged.

Sadly, when the men were turning the tub into the correct position before they put it flat, one corner of the tub caught a little of the paper, ripped through, and scratched the floor.  We have not removed all of the paper yet, so we have not assessed the full damage.  When we remove the paper, we may have to call Finish Line Flooring back in for a small repair job.

Once the tub was in the room and down, the men had to slide it into position.  This is where the paper got in the way.  Most went well, but the paper ripped in two places and the ripped pieces got stuck halfway under the tub.  Since the tub weighs 316 pounds, lifting it to extract the bunched-up paper was no easy task.

The new tub, still sporting packing patches on top, finally
rests in place.

Then they discovered that the floor was not level, and the tub rocked from -- of course -- its back, right corner.  Rick and the lead plumber finally were able to add some plastic shims under the tub to even it out, so all should be fine, now, for the tilers to add backer board.

Sarah actually called us this afternoon.  She has the plan for the tile complete and was waiting to get it back from their estimator.  She said that she would call us tonight to set up and appointment to see the plan, but since she has not called back yet, I think chances of hearing from her yet today, once again, are nil.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

We did learn that a 60 x 30 inch tub really is NOT 60 x 30.  This Kohler tub is about 3/4 of an inch short, so the tile people will have to add a double layer of backer board at the head of the tub.  Thank God that Rick had not added the shower valve yet!  I will have to come out further from the wall than anticipated.

One other small task we completed today was changing the filters under the kitchen sink for our filtered water.  Why is it that everything one wants to reach under the kitchen sink is always in the back corner behind something else?  At one point I thought Rick would have to stand on his head to get the filters changed; however, the filters now should be good for about two years since we only live here part time.

After the plumbers left (the labor was more expensive than the parts!), Rick brought in and installed the last of the drywall.  He taped it and mudded it twice today, so it should be ready for sanding and painting tomorrow.

The completed wall is the last of the drywall
for this room.  With a bit of sanding and paint,
it will look as if it has always been there.

Like a large jigsaw puzzle, the pieces are starting to fall into place as we reassemble the bathroom.  Once we complete the painting, we can carry the vanity back into the room and affix it to the wall.  Then we can call in the granite people to measure for the vanity top and sink.

We can put the toilet back into place, install the shower valve, and schedule the tilers.  After three weeks of labor,  the room is starting to resemble a bathroom again.

Day 19 - 20: Bathroom Remodel

We waited all day yesterday for Sarah to call, but she never did.  She told us she might call us on late Friday, but probably not until Monday.  Since today is Tuesday, I think she is a bit late.  Whatever.  We really only need to talk to her to get some kind of an idea of how far out the valve for the shower needs to protrude from the wall.  Rick said that he will just make the pipes long enough to cover our bases.

Otherwise, we don't need to pick out the tile yet to somewhat get the bathroom back in order. Once the tub is in tomorrow, we can then put up the last of the drywall, mud, sand, and paint that, and then reinstall the toilet.  We also can move the vanity back into the room and call the granite people to come and measure for the vanity top.  We have the sink, so they can take that to install since it is an undermount sink.

But what about the floors?  Thankfully, the one call we did received late yesterday afternoon was from the man from Finish Line Floors.  He told us that he was in the area and wanted to make arrangements to come and work on the floors.  Rick explained to him about the tub being installed on Wednesday, so (bless his heart!) he came over last night to grind and bleach the "problem" areas of the floor.  He was here until almost 6:00 p.m.

The brown ridge line where the old tub ended is gone.

The area next to the wall no longer is stained.
New baseboard molding will finish the look.

He promised to come back at 7:00 this morning to take up the bleach and then to return in early afternoon after he finishes his other job in the city so he can polish the traffic patterns in the floors. He arrived right on time, so I expect he will be back this afternoon to finish the job. We will have everything completed before the tub is installed.  Hooray!

While we are waiting for him to come back, Rick ran some errands and I decided to do some yard work.  I took the blower and blew the leaves out of my back corner garden.  It looks much better.  Then I cleaned the leaves off the patio with no problem.  While I had the blower out, I decided to clean up some of the leaves in the back yard.  Yeah, right.

Midwesterners who come to Florida soon learn that raking leaves down here is a totally foreign experience.  We are used to our trimmed, obedient northern lawns that have blades of grass that stand up like rows upon rows of disciplined soldiers on parade.  The leaves fall on top and the rake easily picks them up.  Not so in Florida.

Here the grass must be kept fairly long to avoid draught burn-out.  This gives the small, leathery leaves of the live oak and camphor trees that fall in our backyard the chance to really dive down and nestle into the bottom area of the grass.  Also, grass down here generally is either St. Augustine, which is as dense as an expensive carpet, or Bahai, which grows by sending out surface runners so the entire lawn is an interconnected spider web of runners and blades.  Neither grass is great to rake, but Bahai is the worst because the grass web grabs the tines of the rake and hangs on like a corpse's hand reaching up from the grave to hold on to something in the living world.

Raking leaves is a sadly, frustratingly, heart-breaking job. To add to the Midwesterner's confusion, the timing of the leaves falling from the trees is all wrong.  Midwestern leaves live a very regimented life. They bud in April or May, grow in June, provide shade for the summer, gloriously change color in September and October, and fall to the ground in October and early November.  The leaves are so regimented that cities can schedule leaf pick-up from curbsides with predictable results.  Usually all of the leaves are down and collected by the second week in November so the yards and streets are clean before the snow flies in late November.

Not so in Florida.  Some of the leaves are turning brown and falling in the yard now.  Some will continue to fall at a lazy pace through November and into December -- just enough to mess up the yard -- but the true "fall" in Florida usually does not happen until early spring when the trees are ready to start a new budding cycle.  The other strange thing is that the trees never lose all of their leaves.  We never see bare trees in Florida.  They just lose some of their leaves to keep homeowners on constant alert, and then dump their leaves when the weather or whims of some evil tree elves decide to drop them.

At least the patio and back garden are free from leaves!

So today I went into the back yard and tried to entice into my yard bag the majority of leaves in the side yard and around the patio  slab.  I worked about eight feet out, and that was enough for me.  The lawn is long and the leaves were stubborn.  I know that I will never get every leaf out of the yard, but I wanted to keep some of them from blowing onto the patio.

Sometimes God tries to help.  If we have a really, really, really strong wind, some of the surface leaves will blow to one side of the yard and collect along the fence.  However, to get all of the leaves to blow up out of the grass and collect near the fence requires a certain kind of storm.  It's called a tropical storm or a hurricane, and in both cases homeowners usually have more to worry about than bagging the leaves in the yard.

Living in Florida means that a person can work in the yard year round, and with the stubborn leaves and unyielding grass, taking care of the yard is a year-round challenge. However, yard work gives me a reason to exercise, and occasionally we both need time out of the house and into the fresh air.

UPDATE:

The floor in in the Florida room shines.

The floor man returned as promised at 11:30; he spent a couple of hours polishing the floors.  My kitchen gleams, the light coming in the front door is blinding, and the traffic areas are not dull anymore.

We cans the light!

Rick was not feeling well today because he went in for his allergy shot today.  The shots don't make him feel that bad, but the antihistamine really knock him out.  He was feeling a bit better by this afternoon, so after the floors were finished, we spent about an hour putting down three layers of paper to protect the newly polished floors.

New shiny pipes await our new bathtub and shower
fixtures.

Then Rick cut off the old bathtub pipes which were spliced together in three places with two longer pipes.  We can cut them down to size once the bathtub is in, but for now Rick wanted to get the low soldering finished before the new tub goes in.

Tomorrow we get the new bathtub.  I cannot wait to see the bathroom get put back together again.

Day 18: Bathroom Remodel

Daylight savings time actually gave us an extra hour to sleep last night, and I took full advantage of it!  We still were up early, so we made a run to Lowe's (just to get our daily Big Box Store fix) before we headed off to church.

We revisited a discovery that we made last year, and I hope that this year we do something about it.  We learned in the past, and had proven to us once again today, that certain building materials -- most notably paint in cans, caulk, Bondo -- do not last from one year to the next.  The cans start to rust even in our air conditioned storage.  The caulk and Bondo harden like concrete.  At the end of this building season, all of the "left over" materials will hit the garbage rather than waiting for us to return to unusable items next year.  If we don't use it, out it goes!  We may try to save some paint by transferring it into plastic containers.  We'll give that a try.  The caulk and Bondo, however, have a one-season shelf life in this house.

New studs show the improvement to the tub wall.

This afternoon we met the "schedule" as planned by my time-conscious husband.  He did a small repair job around a couple of faceplates in the bathroom and then attacked the tub wall to install new studs.  We needed to rearrange the stud pattern to accommodate our new shower valve.  We still cannot install the system until we talk to Sarah, but we have a good start on that project.  We would like to get it in before the tub is installed on Wednesday.

Now the only thing one sees is the vent for the new fan.

Then we moved outdoors.  Rick took Bondo and repaired the soffit that we cut incorrectly for the fan on the south side of the house.  He also cut a plug to put into the old electrical mast hole in the soffit above the back slab.  We now have plugged, patched, and painted soffits once again.

Rick repaired the hole in the soffit; the wall repair
must wait until we have time and budget to hire a
professional stucco installer.

I hauled out the new baseboard and the molding.  After I sanded each piece lightly, I gave each a second coat of paint.  I took care of a scratch in the doorway to the bathroom also.

Steve and Chris came over for a visit and brought us some scrumptious-looking pie.  We will enjoy it for dessert this evening.

While the above does not seem like much, we actually crossed off five items from our "to-do" list.  The tub wall and the soffit repairs took quite a bit of time, but Rick is now content because he feels we are back on track with his agenda for this remodel.

We are hoping for a call back both from Sarah at the design center and from Nathan regarding grinding down the terrazzo floors.  If those two calls come in, we will be very happy.

Each day we make a little progress toward our goal.  We want to get the bathroom as intact as possible before Thanksgiving.  Just having the second toilet back in place and the vanity out of the Florida room will be a major improvement.  But this was enough for today.

Day 17: Bathroom Remodel

I mentioned in my last blog that Rick installed our new hallway light.  The box said that the fixture could use up to three 100-watt bulbs, but we thought that such illumination might be a bit much in our small hallway.  We took a chance by purchasing three 60-watt LED bulbs, hoping that would be enough.  After reading on the packaging that each LED bulb provided 800 lumens, I was sure we would have sufficient light.  Rick hit the switch, and the result was enough light to do major surgery on a microbe.  Wow!  No one needs more than 2400 lumens in any hallway in this city.

Reference photos help me locate necessary
structure once the drywall hides it.

One other thing we did yesterday was to take more "reference" pictures.  Any good remodeler knows that he takes as many pictures with measurements as possible while the walls are open.  My latest reference pictures were the location of the board onto which we will attach the new toilet paper holder.  Since toilet paper is a necessity in modern life, I don't want the holder to fall off the wall because we did not anchor it to a solid board!

We awoke early (again), showered, and dressed because I had to run to the hospital this morning to get some blood drawn in preparation for my doctor's appointment on Thursday.  We had discussed going to the Farmer's Market, but since that did not open until 9:00 (and my watch was lingering around the 8:00 a.m. mark), we came home.  Not to waste a moment, Rick changed clothes, went into the bathroom, and started to paint. (He also completely forgot about the Market.)

Rick carefully "cuts in" the corner and the wall
at the ceiling.

The new teal color will give the bathroom a
Key West look next to the white doors and woodwork.

I did routine household chores and cleaned our one functioning bathroom while he started to transform the bathroom. I knew he was getting angry with me for not changing clothes and helping, but I was pissed at him for being so one-tract-minded and forgetting about the Farmer's Market.  When he was finally done with the first coat on the bathroom, I suggested that we go to do some shopping, and he admitted that he had forgotten about the Market.

We went downtown and begrudgingly paid 75 cents to park for half an hour while we ran to the Market to buy some artesian wheat bread. The Market was busy and traffic was miserable as people drove around looking for free parking.  From there, we came home and had a little lunch.

Then we were off to Macy's to buy more towels since I had $15.00 of "Macy Money" to spend after our last towel purchase.  I wanted to get a couple more towels before they were not on sale anymore.  When we went to check out, however, the clerk told me that the Macy Money could not be used until November 9.  I said that I would not purchase anything at this time, then.  She told me that the sale on the towels would end tomorrow (November 6), but that a new sale would start on them on November 7.  Go figure.  Their towel prices are outrageous, so I am sure that they never sell any unless they are on sale. Why not just lower the daily price and sell more of them all of the time? No one is really fooled by all of these false "sales."

Once home, my Energizer Bunny husband immediately changed back into his paint clothes and put on a second coat of paint in the bathroom. We have now gone as far as we can go with paint until the bathtub goes in on Wednesday.  Then we can finish the walls and paint the rest of the room.

The completed walls are more muted at night.

In the meantime, Rick discovered that we have to move some of the stud walls at the head of the tub in order to properly install and support the shower valve.  We cannot completely finish that task until we meet with Sarah to learn the thickness of the backer board, tile underlayment, and tiles.  Sequential layers is the name of this game.

I battled low blood sugar all day long, so I felt totally wiped out.  I did change clothes long enough to paint the baseboard and the molding that we purchased yesterday.  I probably will do a second coat tomorrow. For now, it rests in the Florida room with the vanity, toilet, sink, and Kohler parts.

I have wanted all week to have a little time in the hammock with my book.  I am reading A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson's hilarious yet ecologically-impassioned tale of hiking on the Appalachian Trail.  If you saw the horrible movie with Robert Redford and Nick Nolte, please do not judge this book by that experience.  The book is far superior and worth the time to read it.

So the work goes on.  Rick is remodeling the bathroom, and occasionally he comes out to do other essential living tasks.  I am watching the progress, handing him tools, and helping where I can while still trying to keep Gladys in habitable condition.  This coming week has tub installation, doctor's appointments, and electrical inspections.  Oh, and as of Tuesday, we no longer will have to endure political advertisements.  Life is looking up.

Day 16: Bathroom Remodel and Miscellaneous Other Tasks

Today has been an incredibly busy but productive day!  We have worked both inside and out, and we now can start to notice the results of our hard work.

Clean white paint brightens the bathroom closet.

Once again, we were up before the sun, and Rick had a paint brush in his hand before I had a toothbrush in mine.  The result is a coat of textured primer on all of the walls and ceiling in the bathroom, a coat of paint in the bathroom closet (which, somehow, never got finished in the first painting go-round), and two coats of flat white paint on the ceiling.  If a person did not know that we used to have a soffit in the bathroom, he now could not see signs of it in the ceiling.  I am very pleased with the results of all of Rick's overhead labor.

Please note that the above-mentioned work took four separate work sessions in the bathroom for Rick to complete it all.

Rick chips out the concrete and then fills
in the hole left by the old meter.  Note the pipe
from the old mast still on the wall.

Then we ventured outside. Rick wanted to chip out a protruding bit of concrete that was located behind the now-moved electrical meter.  He chipped it away, stuffed the resulting hole with some insulation, and cemented a fairly smooth surface in place.  That took care of one hole into the house.

Then we decided to see if we could remove the old mast.  The bolts that clamped it into the wall came out much easier than either of us had expected.  Once the clamps were off, we discovered that we could wiggle the pipe and move it slightly up and down.  Up on the rooftop went Rick.  He removed the clamping device that once held the wires, removed the cap on top, and wiggled the post once again.

I delivered to the rooftop our ever-faithful stubby construction sledge hammer.  As "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" played in my head, Rick took the sledge hammer and started to pound the iron pipe down through the hole in the roof and soffit.  I guided it from underneath.  When Rick had pounded it down as far as it would go from the roof, I wiggled it a couple of times, and it came down the rest of the way.  That mast was heavy, but I was able to keep it from smashing into our patio slab.  Step one accomplished.

All that is left on the roof is the old housing for the mast.

Rick left the wart-shaped housing for the old mast on the roof since it does offer protection from the rain.  He just needed to plug the three-inch hole where the mast had been.  Using layers of 6 mm plastic and aluminum tape, he was able to build up a rain-resistant covering over the hole.  Our roof looks like it has a giant silver pimple on it right now, and that is the way it will stay until we get the new roof installed.

Rick caulks the waterproof roof tar under the
rubber dam on the new mast.

Rain is predicted for this evening (slight chance), and since it has not rained since we returned to Florida, we would gladly welcome it.  Yet we knew that we had a little roof work to do to make sure the hole under the new mast would stay dry until the new roof is added in December.  Rick had purchased the necessary tar to make the roof water-tight.  Eventually the rubber dam that the electricians added to the mast will be tarred onto the roof, but for now it is loose so the roofers can work around the mast. Once Rick removed the old mast, he moved on to the new one to make sure that it, too, would not leak into the garage.

An ugly scar shows where the mast once hung.

The result is that now we have a nasty scar on our back wall that will need more patching and some stucco.  We need to call in the cable company to move the cable box first; then we can do repairs to the wall all at one time.

A text message from Home Depot informed us that our smaller replacement sink had arrived, so we made a trip this afternoon to pick that up.  Thankfully, that was in good condition.  While we were out, we drove over the Lowe's to pick up some baseboard and door molding.  We will add baseboard to the bathroom for the first time.  Before our remodel, the "baseboard" was pink tile.  We also will have to replace one piece of molding next to the door once we get the granite countertop installed.

At Lowe's, we looked to see if we could find the hallway light that we had seen a few weeks ago.  Our current light was gold and contained three "tulip" bulbs to match the now-gone lights from the bathroom.  We saw a brushed nickel, simple, three-light hallway light fixture that we thought would work with our new decor.  We found and bought it.

After we returned home, before we put the ladders away, Rick climbed up once again to inspect the gutters.  He removed a half- bag of leaves so if we do get rain this evening, it should be able to flow freely down the drainpipes.

The old light was fine for its day, but is very old-fashioned now.

Back inside, I started to work on this blog while Rick "just looked at" the new light fixture.  He asked if I wanted to put it up, and I told him,"No.  We can do that tomorrow. You have done enough today." So the next thing I know, I am typing this and I hear him tinkering in the hall.

"Are you putting in that new light?" I asked accusingly.

"Who?  Me?" he replied, trying to sound innocent -- which I knew he was not.  So now the old light is in the garbage and the new light hangs proudly in the hall.  I will match the new lights in the bathroom much better than the old lights, and with that exchange, we now have removed the last of 1960 from this house.

The new light has a modern look which will fit
in with the new bathroom lights.

Gladys has good bones, so we are grateful for the 1960's craftsmanship.  She will stand for a long time yet, and with the upgrades that we have made, she will be better than ever.