Back to Work

The sun is shining, the parrots are squawking, and the temperature is 81 degrees.  Hm-m-m.  I think we are in Florida!

Our trip back to the Sunshine State started at 4:30 on a frosty (31 degrees) morning in Wisconsin.  We were on the road to the airport by 5:15 and white-knuckled it through morning rush-hour Milwaukee traffic to arrive in good time for our flight.  A snafu on Monday resulted in a long call to the airlines who lost our "early bird" boarding.  After negotiations -- including a demand for a refund of our $25.00 early boarding fee-- we were upgraded to boarding status A2 and A3.  Of course, keep in mind that this was a flight to Florida, so after all of the old folks in wheelchairs were boarded, we still ended up in the fifth or sixth row of seating.  Ah, well, a quiet businessman sat with us, the flight was smooth, and we made good time getting away from the Frozen Tundra and into the land of swaying palm trees and warm breezes.

Our transportation on the Super Shuttle also went well since we were the first ones dropped off when we left the airport. A quick look at the house showed that all was in order, and a $110 trip to Publix filled our refrigerator and pantry for a little while.

Since our Internet worked but our TV didn't when we arrived (no great surprise), we had a quick dinner in the Mall where we then visited the BrightHouse store to get our cable TV reset.  I am glad the trip is over.  For whatever reason, I was absolutely exhausted last night and getting into bed by 10:00 p.m. East Coast time was just fine with me.

Today going to DalTile was first on the agenda to pick out new tile for the master bathroom shower floor.  We knew what we wanted to order for the walls, but we had to choose a new, non-slippery pattern for the floor.  We were able to find what we wanted, so we then were off to ProSource to order the tile.  We were not sure that our tile contractor could put 1 x 2 tiles on the floor, but as luck would have it, our contractor was at ProSource when we walked in, so we were able to both consult with him and then to confirm that ProSource could get the tile.

Once we were finished at the tile store, we went to Lowe's to get a quote for the fence. The worker there talked to Rick for a long time and then gave us a really good deal on the fence components.  He said that he would save us almost $600, and his quote reflected that.  Of course, he was pushing us to order immediately, but we have to get the permit and get our own time schedule in order before we do that.  The shower has to come first...

Like all remodeling, things have to be done in the right order.  Before we can have a new shower put in, we need to take out the old shower, add a ceiling fan and a new ceiling, and then wait for the plumbers and tile contractor to come in to construct the shower. Thankfully, our tile contractor is very busy right now and was relieved that we would not be ready for his workers for a couple of weeks.  So far, so good.

A trip to our favorite stores (Lowe's and Home Depot) to buy tools to destruct the shower had us ready to go.  Unfortunately, only one of us can fit into the shower at one time, so once again the brunt of the construction work fell to Rick.  He started by removing the 1960's recessed-in soap dish and said, "Oh, oh."  I sighed.  That is not a good sign.

The hole for the old soap dish reveals a blob of cement on top
of wire mesh.  The opening is surrounded by 1" cement board
constructed in 1960 when it really was made of cement!

His verbiage was the result of finding that the 1/4" tile was plastered onto a good, old-fashioned solid 1" concrete board backed onto a wire mesh.  Read carefully.  Note I said, "Concrete board" and I mean that in the truest sense... when Rick hit the wall with a concrete hammer, it barely made a dent.  They don't make houses today like they used to. We tried a hammer drill with a chisel bit.  Uh-uh. We tried a Saws-All with a masonry-cutting diamond blade. That was like trying to saw down a giant redwood with a small saw. Nothing seemed to work.  After an hour of labor, Rick had two 1 foot by 1 foot holes taken out of the wall.  At that rate, Christmas would come and go before we had the shower down.

Back to the store we went to get both another tool and to buy some stronger ear protection.  Everything echos in a shower. This time we came home with a non-electric, Rick-operated hand tool: a four pound sledge hammer with a wedge-end opposite the flat side.  A couple of good whacks with that hammer had the walls starting slowly to crumble. Don't get me wrong.  This is still going to be a tremendous amount of work, but in the end, we think the results will be worth it (if we are still alive and can enjoy it!).

With new ear protection in place, Rick works at ripping out
the layers of tile, plaster, cement board, and wire mesh.

The wall behind our destruction is the back side of the
cement blocks that are the walls of this house.

Actually, the exercise will be healthy for us, and I have to admit that working again and seeing results feels good.  However, ask me how good this will be if Rick cannot move his arms tomorrow.

The only good thing about seeing holes like these
in the shower is the knowledge that we were the
people who caused them to appear.

We have been at Gladys now for just about 24 hours, and we already have half a bin full of debris, sore muscles, and a sense that we have never left. So are we sorry we came?  No, not at all.  Old Gladys will keep us young and healthy, and in the end we will have a beautiful, functioning master bathroom once again.