A Prime Schedule

We have made a schedule of what we need to accomplish prior to the permit expiration in February 2012.  Besides needing flooring in the bathrooms, laundry room and kitchen, we need to have the walls and ceilings primed and sealed to complete our permit requirements.  So our plan is to do a room every weekend we are up there between now and the end of the year.  That will leave us a couple of months to work on the flooring part.

We are also trying to work out the details to have a new workshop/shed built in the backyard to hold the new tools I got when my Mom moved to AZ.  This past week Laurie's brothers laid a 10'x24' concrete slab for the workshop floor.  The shop will only be 10'x14', but we wanted an extra 10'x10' section for outdoor work.  We are working on a couple of ideas for the actual shed.  We know the style we want and can get a Tuff Shed through Home Depot, but our contractor, Craig, says he can build it for us.  We gave him our plans and he is supposed to come up with a bid for us.

Future home of the workshop

Extra concrete made a nice slab for the hose

We got a late start on Saturday, but managed to get the hallway and laundry room primed and sealed.  It was tight quarters with both Laurie and I working in this area, but it went well as she did all the edging and I did all the rolling.  We finished almost at the same time.  The work went so well, we decided we had time to prime the walls outside the pantry and den as well.

Short hallway primed

One side of the main hallway. . .

and the other side

The laundry room

Front of the den

Front of the pantry

As usual, we try to make Sunday a rest day, but early in the morning I decided to see how hard it would be to take up the tile in the hall bathroom.  Laurie does not like the white tile squares and we hope to find a flooring we can use throughout the whole house.  After just a short time of chipping, I found that the backer board used to put the tiles on was not only screwed down, but cemented to the floor.  The removal process was very slow and I only got about a 1/3 of the way done.  I will continue to work on this over the coming weekends.

The hall bathroom floor tile partially removed

With Laurie working, we have found that it is better to get back to the valley a little earlier on Sunday so we have time to get prepared for the week.  This time we decided to leave an hour earlier, around 4pm.  We were not even a 1/2 hour on the road when we came to a dead stop with people standing around outside their cars.  Not too long after we stopped we started moving again very slowly.  Laurie was able to look up traffic information on her laptop and finally learned where the accident was and that we only had a couple of miles left to go.  A van had gone off the road and caught the landscape on fire and had happened at 2:30pm.  The fire was already out by the time we drove by and we never did find out if anyone was injured.  We did not get home as early as we'd planned, but we did get home safely and that is always good.

Stats: 0 Home Depot trips; 1 Walmart trip
Remodeling expense 10/11-10/23: $1,012
Remodeling expense to date: $34,332

An Extra Three Day Weekend

Since Laurie's new job is with a government agency, she gets some of the uncommon holidays off from work.  This weekend was Columbus Day and I was able to take the same day off to give us both a long weekend.  Our original plan was to get some painting done around the house, but those plans changed as the weekend went on.

First, we have decided to move up our schedule to have a workshop built in the backyard to be able to move all the new tools we got from my mom out of the house.  We have decided on a 10x14 structure with an additional 10x10 concrete apron.  The best place to put this is where the current aluminum shed sits.  Laurie's brother does concrete work and will build the slab we need for the shed.  He was available to do the work next week, so we needed to move the current shed.  We moved all the stored items out of the shed and were going to disassemble it when I got the brilliant idea that we could just move it.  I knew it was too heavy to just pick up, but we had some leftover 10' black drainage PVC pipe that I thought we could use to roll the shed to the middle of the yard (approx 20').  We put four pipes under the shed and it rolled very easy, then we would move one pipe from the back to the front as they became free.  Once it was in the right spot, we put it back up on its blocks and put all the stuff back in it.

The old shed moved closer to the house

The stakes show the new concrete slab area

Laurie spent the afternoon at the hair salon.  She was able to find a hair stylist that periodically works weekends, the other stylist she has been using doesn't.  So while she was getting her hair done, I installed the medicine cabinet in the master bathroom.  The job went fairly well, but I found that my stud finder did not do very well on the older wall that we did not replace (we did not replace the drywall in the bathrooms and closets). So instead of screwing the cabinet into studs, I had to use wall anchors.  But it seems to be holding and looks good.

Now we can see ourselves again

Since we did not want to put up all our light/fan fixtures until the painting was done, I bought some inexpensive light bases at Home Depot and put one up in each room so we had more light at night.  I did not attach them to the brackets so we can leave them up while we paint.  It is so much better than carrying around a flashlight.

A very inexpensive way to have light - just over a buck

Sunday was going to be a paint day, but Laurie's brother was planning to stop by in the morning to scope out the concrete job and I did not want to start painting and have to stop (too much cleanup), so we spent some time in town shopping, and went to a craft fair, waiting until he got to town.  After meeting with him and going to lunch with he and his wife, I did a couple of more additions to the master bath and the kitchen sink.  I added a towel holder to both the bathroom and kitchen cabinets and put up Laurie's make-up mirror and a robe hook in the bathroom.  I cleaned out the hallway and laundry room and removed the hall bathroom door to give us room to paint.  We also had to clean out the guest room so we could put up the inflatable bed and make some room as my mother may be joining us on our next trip.  By the time all those tasks were done, it was getting late and I was no longer in the mood to paint.

The towel hook worked best here than on the wall

Reusing one of the old bathroom towel bars

Found a better spot to put this. . .

. . .but this site still worked for a hook

The room can now have a guest again

We had a small spot left in the great room for the TV

On one of the previous days I noticed that the laundry room faucet outlet was leaking.  Not a lot, but enough for there to be water in the wall box and a visible drop.  I decided to fix it on Monday morning and that project took most of my day.  I had to break the box out of the wall, then the water connections had to be cut off and I had to use multiple tools to remove the wall outlet drain opening from the drain pipe (it had been glued).  We were able to get all new parts at Home Depot and I planned to use the shark bite connectors our electrician/plumber had used for the plumbing connections.  The problem was getting the connections made while installing the new outlet box.  After many failed attempts, I finally broke down (this was Laurie's recommendation) and cut the drywall under the outlets to give us a new access panel to the plumbing (we will trim the piece for future access).  Since the current pipes were shorter than I had thought, I had to add extensions.  This was much easier with the new panel opening.  The replacement box went in easily after that and Laurie likes that it is so much cleaner than the old one.  No leak and cleaner box, a double bonus, though I really wish I would have thought about replacing the box and connectors while the drywall behind the laundry room was off.

The new faucet fixture with the extended access hole

Looks much better trimmed out (the cutout will have trim too)

We took it easy for the few hours we had left in the afternoon and left for home around 4pm.

Stats: 4 Home Depot trips; 1 Walmart trip
Remodeling expense 10/3-10/10: $1,227
Remodeling expense to date: $33,320

Another Step Up From Camping Out

This weekend was our first "normal" weekend trip since Labor Day.  There was only one oddity and that was that we had to drive two vehicles up since we had kept the Jeep in the Valley after using it to tow the trailer. It gave us the ability to bring up our bikes and a computer chair we got for free (found it on the side of the road - just needed a small fix and it works wonderfully).  Laurie did not like this trip as she had to drive and she has trouble driving in the dark. esp. on winding roads.

Brought our bikes hoping we will use them more here

After having breakfast at Tiny's (since the kitchen was still torn up and the 260 cafe is still closed), we went to Home Depot to pick up the rest of the stuff that was on our bid from June.  They have been calling us every few weeks about this, but we had no place to store it while the taping/texturing took place.  Now we have some room so we decided to get the remaining items.  The hardest part of the pick up was hauling the twenty 12' 2x6 boards that we will use for the front deck.  Using the bike rack that fits in the hitch, I was able to put down some boards that gave me a 10' bed in the Jeep and it worked very well.  Now we have even more stuff stored in our great room and den.

2x6 planks to replace the plywood on the front deck

The rest of our bid order, minus some things we returned

In the afternoon I started finishing up our master bathroom setup.  We had brought in the vanity and top, but did not have time to install the sink fixtures and I am glad I did not because, in the meantime, we decided to go with chrome fixtures instead of the brushed nickel we had previously purchased.  After two extra trips to Home Depot, I was able to complete the sink setup, install a new curved dual shower rod, install a toilet paper holder and put up the cabinet/towel holder we had in there before.  We no longer had to wash our hands in the tub and could take a shower again.  Just a couple of more items to install next weekend and it should be complete, though more painting is definitely in the bathroom's future as Laurie decided she wanted a darker color for the walls.

The completed vanity

A closer, brighter view

A better shot of the top, sink and new fixtures

A new curved dual shower rod - one for towels, the other for curtain

Cabinet/towel bar back in its original place

A new light fixture and it is not from Restore

While I worked on the bathroom, Laurie organized our kitchen.  We had taken all our dishes home the last time we were up so that we could wash them at home and get all the drywall dust off.  These had be put back in the cabinets and, of course, completely rearranged from the way it was before (I can't find anything now).  Now we had the ability to use the microwave and other appliances.

The new kitchen layout, similar to the old one

Shelving is rearranged, along with items on shelves and cabinet drawers

This is essentially the same except for inside cabinet and drawers

On Sunday we took the next step up in our kitchen facilities. When we first started our rebuild, we were doing dishes in the bathroom sink.  Then we brought up a camping sink table and could transfer hot water to the sink for washing.  Next I installed a faucet that used our kitchen plumbing so we could have water right at the camp sink, but we could not connect it to the drain, so all the water was emptied into a bucket and dumped into the bathtub.  On Sunday I installed a double sink with drain connections.  This will satisfy one of our permit final inspection requirements to have a kitchen sink.

We had found a cabinet and double sink basin at Restore in town about a month ago.  The cabinet was missing a door, but we liked the color and it was taller than the camp table or our bathroom cabinets.  I originally was going to cut a hole in some leftover plywood to use as a countertop, but we stopped at Restore on Saturday (looking for bathroom fixtures) and found a small piece of formica covered countertop that was the perfect size for our cabinet.  I cut a hole in the top to fit the sink and secured it to the cabinet.  I reused the old faucet and all the drain connections from the original kitchen setup that we had kept after the deconstruction (did not keep the sink as it was cast iron and very heavy).  It only took two more trips to Home Depot to get some fill-in pieces I needed and, just after lunchtime, we had a working kitchen sink with drain connections.  It is much easier to do dishes, but now I need to tell our son that he has been replaced.  When he stayed with us he was the designated bucket dumper and that is no longer necessary.  I guess we will have to find him a new job when he comes to visit.

All this from reused materials

It ain't pretty, but it works and much better than we had

The drain system we missed for so long

The afternoon was spent relaxing (trying not to work to the end of the day) and then we headed back to the Valley with just one vehicle.

Stats: 5 Home Depot trips; 1 Walmart trips
Remodeling expense 9/18-10/02: -$199
Remodeling expense to date: $32,093