A Plumbing Day

No, I have not finished the bathroom. I may never finish the bathroom. I have lost so much steam on this remodel it's not even funny.

But when I got a call from my wife as she was driving up to a day of training that doing something about the leaking valve in the shower upstairs, I decided, okay, I can at least replace a valve.

Ended up replacing two.

The one upstairs went really smoothly. No hitches at all. But I'd used the valve I had bought months ago to replace the leaky one in the basement.

So I went to a local hardware store to get a new valve.

I tried to install it, but should have known it was going to be trouble when one of the gaskets fell off as I was holding the valve. It put it back in place, greased it up and tried to get it in place, but it jammed. So I pushed and pushed but the stupid thing wouldn't go in all the way.

Getting it out was even worse, and by the time I did I'd torn both gaskets in half.

So I tossed the valve, went to the big box store, bought another valve had had it installed in about five minutes after I got home. Word to the wise: The big box store has the better valves, clearly.

While I had the water turned off, I thought I'd go for a trifecta and replace the faucet in the main floor bathroom, but that proved beyond my patience today.

A real plumber put in hard lines for this one. One of the valves is frozen open. And the honyock used some kind of metal clamps to hold the faucet to the sink and they're rusted and wouldn't budge. So I'll take two out of three . . . 

Now I want to go to bed. I'm pooped.

I Should Probably Learn how to Lay Tile

One of these days, I should probably learn how to lay tile.

What's left? Well, the tile by the water valve is sunk in a little bit, so I probably have to take that out and redo it. Not looking forward to that. But I've also got to finish the glass accent, then decide how to top if off. I'm hearing rumblings from Michelle that she doesn't want the glass right at the top. But I'm dealing with huge tile, and I've only got four pieces left of it. I might have to go to Lowe's and find something I can put on top of the glass row to make it not at the top (aside from the edge tile, which will be the top).

Getting that row of tile in between the tub and the tile I already placed was tricky as always, but I got it. And only really screwed up on one cut, so I'm feeling pretty good about the day.

I also did some cleaning -- not near enough, but got a start on it -- so the next few rounds should be easier. I want to do some more cleaning tomorrow between Conference sessions.

One Case of Tile Left

Made progress today - again - on the basement bathroom. I'm down to one case of tile, so I may have to sneak over to Lowe's to see if I can snag a few more pieces. I might have enough, I might not. We'll have to see. But it is about as high as it's going with some additional trim pieces, so maybe not.

And that's good, because I'm utterly sick of this project.

When I posted this on Facebook, Meta AI offered to answer the question "Why is Brian getting sick of the project?" I'm not really sure they delved the depths of the possible answers:

Progress for both Bathroom and Dog

I really need to get this bathroom remodel done because in my Facebook memories I'm starting to see one-year anniversaries of past prep work in the bathroom, including the $1,600 job I had to farm out to the professionals.

That's a long time to be without a basement bathroom, though we do have three others to choose from.

Good news is another few courses of tile and I'll have that wall done and can move on to finishing the tub enclosure. Then it'll be a lot of cleanup and setting the sink and toilet in place.

I'm a little irked that the pedestal sink doesn't meet the wall at a 90 degree angle, but in researching the problem online, it seems that's not an uncommon problem. Part of it might be due to the fact the sink is one we found at a thrift store and the bowl may have been attached crookedly to begin with. So I'll keep experimenting with that and seeing what I can do to make things right.

I had hoped to get more done, but I also had to spend some time babysitting/sitting with Dottie, who hopefully has a better night tonight than she did last night, where she woke us all up at 1:30 am crying. Poor little thing.

$65 Dollar Hole

 

That's a $65 hole in the tile and I only had to cut it twice, but I did it myself. And it was not as nerve-wracking as I expected it would be.

Now I just have to convince my wife that I can amortize the cost of that diamond bit set over several projects . . .

But as a friend pointed out on Facebook: Tool math.

Also: While Future Tiling Me understands why Past Tiling Me leaves the thinset bucket all gunked up because it's "easier" to clean up dry thinset than wet thinset, sometimes Future Tiling Me thinks Past Tiling Me is a bit of a jerk.

Toilet, Soon

I didn't want to. Really didn't want to. But the only way this bathroom's gonna get done is if I do it.

Part of the reason: The very extended warm period we've been enjoying (40+ temps right up to Christmas) has faded, leaving us with a typical January, so the thought of using my wet saw left me, ha, cold.

Nevertheless, I did this earlier today:

The little trim pieces look like hell in this picture, but I've since cleaned them up so they look a bit better than this.

Was also lucky I was wearing my old pants:

Why even mention it? Because I've picked up my Dad's habit of just starting work no matter what clothes I'm wearing. Sometimes that means I have to clean my clothes, but since I was already in my grubbies, I don't have to get as stressed with my pants looking like this.

I should try to do a little bit more today, so I can get the sink and maybe the toilet put back in place next weekend. They've been missed.

Basement Bathroom: More Progress Made

Tile is going up, but going up slowly.

Today's progress:

At first, I wasn't all that convinced the floor tile really matched the wall tile. But it's starting to grow on me.

That bit around the sink drain and valves took some doing, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

I've got a row of glass tiles that'll go on top of the tile you can see behind the sink, and then a finishing tile to bring us up to where the drywall will be textured and painted.

Do Not Look Directly at the Outfit

Curtailment is here, as evidenced by my outfit today.

I did, in fact, go out in public with this, to two stores, and returned with some silicone spray and a garage door remote and four bottles of Diet Pepsi. No, my wife was not with me. She'd have sent me to the showers beforehand. My excuse? I'm working on the basement bathroom tile. Finally.

Again With A Bathroom Update?

I can officially say that the wallboard in the basement bathroom is finished. Behold:

I also got the floor cleaned up and checked that the floor grout hasn't lost its glow in the dark abilities -- which it has not.

I'd like to work further, but Michelle really wants the lawns leveled out, so that's going to be my next big push. Maybe I can get back to the bathroom later this fall. I'm not particularly fond of the idea of working with wet tile during the winter. Not that it's cold inside, but cold outside where the cutting occurs.

We're all ready to have a sink and toilet in the basement again. I'm ready for the bathroom to go back into use, as it's become a haven for the stupid wolf spiders Idaho has in abundance. They get into the bathtub and can't get out, so they shrivel up and die.

A Few Updates on the Bathroom, and on the Fridge

I'm beginning to sound like a broken record here, I know. But the bathroom and the mysterious fridge recovery continue to dominate the week, into the weekend now.

First, the bathroom.

I got some drywall up, but that was about it. I ran out of drywall screws and had to go buy some more, and by the time I got home from that, Michelle and company were home from camp and that meant a lot of hauling stuff into the house and then taking the camper with really full wastewater tanks to the dump station. Fun times. And all the travel had really loosened up the black water tank, so the camper was rather pungent inside. Hopefully it's better now. I flushed a lot of water through the system.

Evidence of the drywall in place. I have a little bit more wallboard to put up, and I need to cut a bigger hole around the valve area so plumbers can get in there in the future though it might be easier going in through the closet on the other side of the wall. It's a good feeling seeing all those exposed studs getting concealed again. But the thought of moving on to the tile makes my lips numb.

Then onto the fridge: I enjoyed a big glass of cold milk tonight, straight from the fridge. Wow. Don't take a functioning fridge for granted. It's been nice having it working again. We just need to go to my father-in-law's house to retrieve the rest of our food now.

WALLBOARD UP!

That first photo is significant, in that it shows the wall board I've had stashed in the hallway is finally (mostly) in place in the bathroom. I really lost my steam on this project this summer, but I'm weary of not having a functional bathroom in the basement.

Thanks to Tina Renee Cleverley I have a piece of drywall to hang up as well to finish roughing things in, but that'll be tomorrow. I'm beat.

I don't know that I'll start on the tile this weekend, but I certainly want to get things to the point that I could begin laying things out. Mostly because I want the toilet back, but also because I'm really tired of the bathroom sing being in the study and blocking my bookshelves.

$126 in Overcharge . . .

Here, I present evidence of . . . something.

On Saturday, I was at the Home Depot buying some hardie board as I continue working on the basement bathroom. They no longer carry the kind of hardie board I'm used to using, but the stuff they had was similar in price and size to what I'd been using, so I got it.

At the checkout, the UPC scanner couldn't read the symbol printed on the board. The cashier looked it up in the system and said "Okay, $36, does that sound right?"

No, it did not sound right. The price on the shelf was $14 and some change. But the cashier insisted the price was right for the merchandise. Maybe the sign was wrong, I thought. So I paid.

But all that day and into Sunday it nagged at me. So I got onto their website and found, yeah, I'd been overcharged $22 a sheet. What they'd sold me was their bigger sheets, but I'd come home with the smaller ones. The ones I need.

So back to the depot I went on Monday. That meant finding the receipt -- not a problem, I have them in a folder like the nerd I am -- but it also meant hauling the six sheets of hardie board out of the basement and back into the car so I had some kind of physical "proof" that I had indeed bought them. I wanted to avoid that step, but Michelle said it would probably be a good idea to take them.

I did get my money back -- a total of $126; the tax alone almost paid for a single sheet of the stuff I needed. And they did indeed want to see the stuff I'd bought. I'm glad it worked out. Next time, I'll be a bit more stubborn at the store.

Decorated in Early Demolishkion

Yanno, I know I just got the floor done. But that was only the first of many, many stages to renovating this bathroom. On to the next phase, which is removing drywall where the hardiboard for the tile is going to go.

So I got all of the drywall coming out removed, cleaned up the ensuing mess (except for the crud that fell in the bathtub) started stringing ethernet wire through the wall so I can get a concealed connection to the router upstairs for the network swich I'm putting in downstairs, and got some insulation put in the wall that is shared with the study, becase I'm kinda tired of knowing when the whole western world is taking a dump.

Michelle, meanwhile, has been in the front entry, busily painting. We've had a greeny look to that part of the house since we moved in, and she finally decided she wanted to get rid of it. She and I (mostly her) spent some time patching holes and gouges in the wall, including from when we moved a piano in before we technically owned the place. It'll be nice to have a better-looking entry.

And in the basement, I'm looking forward to soon having the sink and toilet back.

It . . . Could . . . WORK!

So it was do or die day today, bathroom grout-wise.

And lest that sound a bit too dramatic for bathroom grout purposes, allow me to tell you a story.

Back in 2003, we were going to remodel this basement bathroom. Dr. Who themed. We found online some glow-in-the-dark grout that we thought would be a fun way to do the floor a bit differently. So I bought a one-pound bag.

You'll note it's now 2025, meaning that bag has floated around the house for more than two years.

But the bathroom floor tile was in, ready for grouting.

I took the bag outside and left it in full sun for a few hours. Brought it in, and the glow was weak and spotty. I was disappointed. But I thought I'd try something else: I put it in the bathroom, turned on the LED lighting, and closed the door. About forty minutes later, I checked on it, and it was indeed glowing brightly:

The picture does't do it justice. It was *really* glowing brightly. And not spotty like it had been out in the sun.

So it's only a pound, and though the floor is small, I had my doubts it would be enough. So I cut it a bit with some white grout, grouted, and still didn't have enough. So I went online and bought another bag of the glowing stuff; it'll be here Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the floor:

Again, the picture doesn't do it justice. It's really bright. It does fade over time, but a bit of light on it brings it right back.

I'll have to put a good grout sealer on it, but I'll test it first to make sure the light can still get through or whatever. But I'm excited with the results.

So in the words of Dr. Frankenstein:

THE NEW CHORE LIST IS HERE!

Spring is here (well, by the calendar, not necessarily by the weather) so that means the chore list I typed and saved last fall is now printed out with EXCITING cross-outs on it as I did complete some of the indoor chores during the winter.

Bathroom isn't as far along as I'd hoped it would be, because of the whole toilet flange thing, but nevertheless progress was made. Hoping we can pick out additional tile for the tub and backsplash this weekend between Conference sessions.

I've also made a lot of progress on the work connected to the "ethernet switch," except I haven't got the wire from the upstairs router to the basement in the walls yet. That'll be a bigger job that I just haven't tackled yet. And it'll be all done just in time for me to have to go back to the office this summer.

Last of the Tile is In

Last of the floor tile is in. I only had to cut the single tile on the right three times to get it to fit. I'm not very good at this.

Next is grouting, of course, followed by cleaning up the threshold between the tile and the carpet. Tiny things to do. Then the drywall on the wall between the bathroom and study have to come down because I've got to insulate the wall and run some ethernet cable through it while I've got things torn up on that side.

No one really seems to care, though. Boys reluctantly helped me retrieve a few tools, but made it seem like a burden.

Tile is Cut (Almost)

I felt pretty useless after work today, and since March had blessed us with a bit of sun, I got the tile saw out and cut almost all of the tile I need to cut for the bathroom floor. I may have some fine-tuning to do, but I'll figure that out after I get the floor cleaned and can start fitting the tile better.

This in no way gets me close to putting the toilet and sink back, but it's part of the process. Next will be taking down some drywall, doing a little electrical work, network cable running, and insulation -- I want some insulation in the wall between the bathroom and the study. Then there's a tile backsplash to put into place, but we haven't picked the tile for that job yet.

Entering the "Have to Move A Lotta Crap" Phase

In that project phase where the door had to go in order to get the tile laid, so it's a mess.

I'm not a fan of this phase, but it's necessary to get the tile done. I laid all of the full tiles today, and hopefully after a bit more snow melts off today, I'll be able to get the tile saw out and work on the cuts tomorrow, with the goal of finishing the tile tomorrow, sans grout. That'll be for another day.

Though it looks like I could lay a few more full tiles close to the door, the space is just a bit too short. I'll put the door back on before I do the grout, because nobody wants the door hanging out forever before I grout. The grout is supposed to be glow-in-the dark, and that works because the bathroom will be Dr. Who themed. Whether or not the grout actually will glow is up in the air. We'll see what happens. Also, I don't have a lot of it.

Meanwhile, I'm waiting on a delivery of more home network parts so I can keep that little project going too. I have at least one more length of ethernet I want to string, and I'm thinking I'll relocate a light in the hallway as I do that part, since I'm cutting holes in the ceiling anyway.

The floor isn't as level as I'd like it to be, but I think it'll still work. It's more level than it was to begin with.

Floor Leveling Done

I got the floor leveler poured in the basement bathroom last night. It surprised me how much of a full bag I used on the floor, but it's going to be good and level. If this bathroom floor, originally, were to the scale of the Earth, the toilet would have been perched atop Mount Everest. So a little nippy.

Now that it's had time to dry a bit, I can see that it has continued to level. I'm pretty excited to get it to this point. And it looks a lot better than the blue binder I had on the floor beforehand.

Next is actually work on the walls. I'm not going to do the floor until it warms up just a little bit more, and more of the snow melts. Maybe not this weekend, but the weekend after. We'll see.

More Floor Scraping

So I'm back to scraping the bathroom floor, now that the concrete has set. I think I've got enough scraped that I can start putting on the floor leveler, but we'll see how things look in the morning. The foam along the edges is there to stop the floor leveler from flowing where it shouldn't flow.

My goal is to have the floor leveler applied by noon tomorrow. If that goes well, next weekend I'll take down the drywall on the south wall, put in the ethernet cabling I want to and insulate it so I don't hear pooping sounds in the study.