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For ages, the bathroom has been open concept and was looking like this:
With no contractor I could trust, or that was of a reasonable cost, I finally broke down and decided to do the job in stages and hire the trades as needed. The decision was fortuitous as I have encountered unexpected large bills the last 2 months, so now I can draw out this project as I have the funds to complete it. So, this was the week I chose to take a couple of days vacation so that the following could happen:
Wednesday evening the plumber showed up and did his thing. Once he was done, I tore out the sheetrock that was behind the shower and pried up the linoleum tiles that would be in the path of new framing. The next morning I uhhooked the plumbing to the vanity and slid it into the craft room to get it out of the way.
Thursday morning the electrician showed up and the carpenter wasn't far behind. After they consulted each other, the electrician disconnected hook ups but the wires had to stay in place (very restricted access thru the attic), so the breakers were kept off while the carpenter tore out the old wall. The delivery of sheetrock and lumber arrived about 10 so I had plenty of willing hands to help unload it (not much - 10 sheets water resistant sheet rock, 2 sheets of regular sheet rock, 8-2x4's and a sheet of plywood). Since I was paying the electrician for the whole day, I had him replace the hall and office lights with ceiling mount lights also. Once the carpenter was to the point he needed the electrician to help line up the wires, and then everything was hooked up in its new place. By the time the both of them left, it looked like this.
And since the electrician had a lot of down time that I was paying for, I asked him to help me hang sheet rock in the basement work room (before pictures from September):
Friday was a carpenter only day; he built in the pocket door and framed the third wall for the bathtub (and got the tub set up so it was level). In the process, we decided to go ahead and sheet rock the ceiling over the tub prior to building the third wall - it made for easier sheet rocking and worked out great using one 4x8 piece of rock, only needing a cutout for the fan. He also got the hallway side of the wall sheet rocked, so it was no longer open concept:
Note there is no hanging light in the hallway. A good thing as it would have been a pinata while he was getting the sheet rock set!
This morning the plumber came in, got the plumbing situated, installed the surround and installed the hardware. He also ran a new drain line for the vanity as the old one was a mickey mouse job.
Monday the carpenter will return to install the sheet rock on the inside of the bathroom wall so he can install the trim for the door. He'll also sheet rock above the surround and then do a coat of tape/mud (I will do the rest). That will be it for a while as I probably won't put in the vanity and linoleum until next spring. I want to wait until the rest of the ceiling is sheet rocked, then the rest of the walls can be sheet rocked and all can be painted prior to installing the other new stuff.
Oh, and Home Dep*t delivered the replacement vanity on Friday as well as taking the damaged one away. So it now resides in the basement. Funny thing is that the finish on it is much better than any of the original pieces, so I may not do any extra polyurethane on it (or may, who knows what whims will posses me?)
I think it will be great taking a shower in the morning - haven't had one since Wednesday and washcloths can only do so much :)
This morning I took the bike in for winter storage. Left the house at 34 degrees and it wasn't much, if any, warmer when I got there before they opened at 10.
Looking forward to next March or April when it is warm enough for me to pick it back up!
Over the last several weeks, the Jeep has not been doing so well. I believed it to be a transmission issue so I asked my local mechanic to check into getting a re-manufactured tranny for it. Seems that it is super special and there are none to be found (combination between it being fairly new - 2010, manual instead of automatic, and a 4WD instead of AWD). In fact, one of the mechanic's distributors said that he had been searching for the exact same tranny, for someone else, for 2 months.
On 11/3, as I was driving it to the mechanic for him to check out, it got way worse. After he took it for a test drive, he told me he wouldn't even try to drive it home if he were me.
So, I drove to the local Ford dealer and started looking at the used vehicles they had. I ended up test driving a 2004 Explorer that had just been traded in with 130,000 miles. Not having time to search other venues (and not having other venues within walking distance to check out), I decided that the price was something I could live with. We agreed upon a price, with the stipulation that they would do all work needed to pass inspection (I already knew that the steering rack needed replaced), and they set up the work order.
I rode my bike to work the rest of the week, used it to get groceries over the weekend, and rode to work on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Those last two days were a chilly 24 and 26 degrees in the morning - which was a fine time to find out my heated gear controller no longer worked (hadn't used it but a couple of times since I got it last year). Oh well, I didn't freeze to death so I can't complain too much.
Tuesday night the Explorer was ready for me to pick up so I walked part way to meet up with the salesman, who drove me the rest of the way to the dealership.
It rained the rest of this week (or most of it), so I was glad to have the truck. Tomorrow I should actually see what it looks like in daylight - I've only seen it in the dark of morning or evening.
I'll have my mechanic continue looking for a tranny for the Jeep. It would be nice to get it fixed since it gets twice the gas mileage as the Explorer and is more suitable for everyday driving. However, the Explorer will be good for hauling a trailer, should I ever get one, and can haul a bunch more pellets both volume and weight wise even without a trailer, so will be handy to have regardless if I can ever get the Jeep fixed.
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