IT'S DONE!!!

Monday, May 20 – Paul is happy to report that the bathroom renovation is completed.....whew! That was a bigger job then he expected. At least is took longer than he planned, but it's now done and looks wonderful.

One of his last jobs was to crawl up in the attic and attach a pipe to the exhaust fan to vent it outside. He had to do some serious squeezing to get that done, that's why he put it off to the end of the remodel. Actually, it went well and the job wasn't too bad. Marsha loves it!

Some photos of the finished product. Window coverings have been order.

Out with the old.

In with the new.

A well-deserved rest after a very big project.

The driveway guy is suppose to be coming before the end of the month. That's the next big job Paul really wants to get done around the house. A nice apron for backing in from the street and a nice gravel area for parking the 5^th wheel and his truck. Eventually he wants to run electric out to the RV parking area.

Paul couldn't sit idle very long. After running errands during the morning, he came home and started the demolition of the old sun porch. This is a real eye soar, and it will be nice to be rid of it. It's all aluminum so Paul will load the scrap in his truck and see what they'll pay him for it at the recycle center.

Ugly sunroom.

We think this carpeting is a throw back from the '60's.

It didn't take long (about a day and a half) to finish the demolition of the sun porch. The rear of the house looks so much better without that eyesore. It opens up the area allowing more sunlight to enter the kitchen and improves the view out the kitchen window immensely. Now to fix that wall and try to remove all that glue on the cement.

Now what does Marsha have next on his “honey-do list?” We have some grass to plant around the house so that would be a great “next job” for Paul. He needs a little break before beginning another BIG job.

Hopefully, our next post will be about the completion of the driveway.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day.

 

NEW WINDOW AND CULVERT ARE IN.

Wednesday, May 15 - Paul replaced the bathroom window. All the windows in the house will be replaced eventually, but Paul figured we should replace this one while we have things torn up.

Bathroom window is middle window.

So much nicer.

The township also showed up recently to lengthen the culvert under the driveway. We have a pretty narrow street and a very narrow driveway. That doesn't sit well with an RV owner. We struggled to get the 5^th wheel in it's parking space when we arrived in late April. So we had the township lengthen the culvert by nearly 20 feet. They do it for residents charging only for materials. For us the total cost was $161. Later this month, Paul has an asphalt company coming out to blacktop the area creating a nice apron for backing in the 5^th wheel.

Looks like some guy in the gray shorts decided to become the supervisor.

Marsha couldn't believe this guy was smoking a cigarette and using a blow torch. She thinks he is nuts!

They did a very nice job.

Bella has been keeping very busy loving the outdoors. She loves finding different places to hide. She enjoys watching the birds.

Marsha follows the rope. Bella has to be around here somewhere.

This is a new hiding place for her.

There is the rope again, but where is Bella.

Great hiding place, Bella. Can't even see you.

Oh, there you are!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

TILE DAY!

Saturday, May 11 – Dave, our daughter Kelly's boyfriend, came over this morning to help Paul tile the bathroom. Dave has laid tile quite a few times and volunteered to “help” Paul with the tile laying project – actually he was the tile man, and Paul was the tile cutter.

The floor ready for the tile.

After a few layout calculations, Dave started marking tiles to be cut and laying them as fast as Paul could keep up.

Dave teaching Paul how to cut the tile.

Paul practicing.

Dave shows Paul how to mark the tiles for cutting.

The cutting went well with only a few broken corners that Dave was able to use in other places.

The first piece. Mud.

Mud mixer.

Dave zoomed right along and within 4 hours the tiling was completed.

Dave gave Paul the honor of laying the last tile.

What a beautiful job! Dave sure did great installing the tile floor.

We are so pleased! Thanks Dave for a job well done!

We let the floor dry for a couple days and on Monday, Paul spread the grout between the tiles. That was easy and went pretty well. That will dry overnight and Paul can start finishing things up.

The finished product. We love it!

While the grout was drying, Paul converted the hall closet that contained the old washer and dryer, to a nice storage closet for Marsha.

Old

New

Marsha is thrilled with her new closet.

Paul has a little plumbing and electric to do before installing the vanity, then he'll install the medicine cabinets, lights, towel bars, shower curtains, finish up installation of the exhaust fan and install baseboards and window & door trim. Stay tuned for the next adventure.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day.

BATHROOM RENOVATION MOVING RIGHT ALONG

Week of May 6 – Having completed the framing, Paul tackled the copper supply lines and the waste lines. Nothing too tricky here but it's been awhile since Paul did any copper line installation.

This was the scary part…drilling the holes for the spout and shower head.

With the walls up. Paul checks for plumb.  Right on the mark!

With the bathtub surround completed Paul set his sights on dry walling. Dry walling is NOT a fun job. It's tough, dirty, and exhausting. The walls went up fairly well. It was then time to tackle the ceiling. Now that is not a one man job.

It's impossible to hold a heavy 4X8 sheet of drywall over your head and screw it in place at the same time. Sooooo....he had to recruit a helper. Come on down......Marsha! What a trooper. She really is willing to help when Paul needs another set of hands.

Of course, she suffers a height disadvantage so it's pretty difficult to hold those dry wall sheets over her head for very long. So Paul loaned her his biking helmet so she could use her head. Now isn't that a cleaver idea?

She did awesome and we had the ceiling done in no time. Paul spent the rest of the day finishing up the dry walling, taping the joints, and cleaning things up. Thank goodness Marsha helped with the cleanup because Paul was about to keel over!

Why the two colors of drywall you ask? The green around the tub is water resistant drywall, the white is the normal type.

The next day, Paul applied joint compound to the drywall seams, installed some cement board on the floor and began the rough-in for the new toilet location. He has to cut the cast iron sewer pipe and convert it to 3” ABS plastic. That's a first for Paul. Never did the cast iron thing before.

Paul rented a cast iron pipe cutter from Home Depot tool rental department and almost died trying to cut that pipe. After two and a half hours of pushing and pulling that cutter ABOVE his head, he gave up and took the rental tool back.

He purchased a diamond tipped blade for his sawzall and that did the trick. Should of thought of that method in the first place...jeesh!

Once cut, Paul easily glued up the 3 inch ABS plastic pipe and made the connection for the new toilet location and installed the toilet. He then ran the necessary copper supply line, patched the holes in the floor left by the old toilet and glued and nailed cement board down to complete the preparation for tiling the floor.

On Saturday, Dave, Kelly's boyfriend, and Paul will lay the ceramic tile. Dave has done this many times before. He even has a tile cutter. This will be a first for Paul. Let you know how it goes. Everyone keep your fingers crossed.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day.