Paint and Tile

As always, Freyja is in the middle of any activity.

Zachary addressing Freyja

Getting a better look at things in upside down view.

Tiling is a tedious process, but Zachary gets a lot of satisfaction out of the process.

Zachary wanted to try something a little different this time on the tile edges, using metal edging verses a rounded off bull-nose tile around the outer edges.

The tile needs to be grouted and sealed next, once the tiles are hard set. Then onto the ceiling, installing the toliet, trim, door, switches/outlet, fan, mirror, shelving and towel racks. Getting there!

Bathroom Progress

I am a little behind posting progress on the bathroom so here are a few pictures of the drywall, cement board and floor tiling stage. Instead of putting the full wall back on the back of the bathtub, we decided to go with a half wall instead. The doorway is narrow already and was such a pinch point to begin with. Hopefully it will feel a little less claustrophobic entering the bathroom now.

Shower and tub area. The curtain will wrap around.

Of course Freyja inspects the work at every stage. She is hard to please.

Painting, more tiling and cabinet to come.

Demo Days

So in my last post about our leaky water pipe and no plans to renovate that bathroom in the near future... well plans changed. We are renovating it and its now the top of the master project list. At least the reason wasn't our own wandering interests this time. 

Shortly after Zachary patched up our leak, we had an home inspection with our house insurance. The pipes were still exposed at the time and the inspector just noted it as in process of renovation. Few weeks later, our insurance notified us they wanted us to submit completed renovation photos of that bathroom within 30 days. Sigh...  So we are renovating the bathroom. Its okay, needed to be done anyway.

There were many layers of wall paper to peel away to get at the drywall.

And like our master bathroom, this shower has rock cemented to the walls. Zachary's arms really love these rock walls...

We are keeping the old tub in place, it is in good shape.

Zachary has begun putting in the flooring, new drywall and cement board. More to come soon.

Leaky Pipe

Shortly after we got back from our 3 week trip up north in Wisconsin in May, the beginning of June presented us with a damp mystery. The door way floor boards between the second bedroom and hallway were starting to bubble up.

After investigating the roof, attic and duct work, we were no closer to finding the water source. The padding under the flooring was sopping wet. Noticing the baseboard in the bedroom was damp too, we turned our attention to the second bathroom. The second bathroom is the only room completely untouched by our renovations so far, as we were leaving it for after we get other projects completed. (And also not doing any demolition in there until we need to rent a dumpster again, probably when replacement windows/siding is underway). Our master bathroom renovations is 98% complete, so we have been using that bathroom primarily and not using the second bathroom much anymore

Zachary noticed it was damp under the sink at the wall in the vanity. Since it is planned to be gutted eventually, he tore out the sink and vanity to get at the pipes.

Sure enough, there was a hairline crack in a water line, it was misting ever so slightly, slowly making that wall wet. We had the water shut off while we were away the month before, so who knows when the pipe started leaking. Then while repairing the bad joint, another started leaking. Zachary patched up both and no more leaking! This would have been a bigger mess if this occurred on a finished wall without easy access.

So the second bathroom is half out of commission now, missing a sink. We aren't going to try to put the old vanity back in, it was in rough shape to begin with and we rarely use that bathroom now anyway.

Good news, the 3 damaged floor boards in the hallway are in a convenient spot to remove and replace with new boards, as we have a extra box of that flooring hanging around. Whew!

Garden Wall & Gate

Since we are way behind on posting some projects, we'd thought we would catch up on a few and get back up to speed again.

Early last fall we built a garden wall and gate on the west side of the house, between our house and the neighbor's fence. Zachary laid 2 runs of concrete blocks with mortar. After they set, he skim coated the walls.

Once the skim coat had enough time to cure, about 2 weeks, he painted the walls with a exterior primer.

After the primer was dry, the finish color went on. We went with a beige, something neutral enough that would coordinate with whatever the color the house will be in the future.

He built a wooden gate and mounted it on the walls, along with wrought iron planters that we have had following us around for a few years. I always liked them, just didn't know where to put them. The walls seemed like a great place for them. I thought about putting real plants in them, but knew it would be a hassle trying to keep something alive in a small pot and also risk staining the walls, so we just went with some artificial greenery.

Dust

Zachary has been busy in the shop with projects lately, with fresh dustings of sawdust weekly. Many projects to post about, soon of course. :-)

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! After going to bed well before mid-night the night before, we started the 2016 with sea side donuts from Thomas Donut Shop. An excellent resolution. And maybe to blog more. :-)