Yesterday morning, I hit the road before 7 a.m. and headed to our family's summer cottage. After thinking about it for five or six years, it was time for our bathroom to get a facelift.
The contractor and son showed up about half an hour late, but that was okay--as they had originally intended to start today. Everything was going to go just as planned and the refit would be done by Thursday.
Okay, that was the dream. The demo went fast. Off came the old paneling, off came the old medicine chest (which had a light incorporated into it). First fix, adding a plug. (The old medicine chest also had a plug on it -- way up high, difficult to use because you couldn't SEE it.) First problem, no ground. A plug within five feet of a sink needs a ground fault interrupt (is that right?). Off to the store to buy wire. (While that happened, the old wallpaper got scraped from the walls.) Next thing you know, holes being drilled, wire being strung. Two hours later -- a plug that works and we won't get fried.
Lunch break--lunch break!
In the afternoon, we looked at the mold on the wall from the sweating toilet. I knew that toilet was a problem, but I didn't know HOW much of a problem. Turns out there's an easy fix--IF I want the toilet to wear a sweater for the rest of its life or IF I can find a styrofoam insert to go in it OR if I can fashion an insert out of stryofoam myself. That's for another day. But we don't want mold on the drywall or to undermine the new floor (when it goes down).
Next up, framing in the new medicine chest (the old one was horizontal, this one is vertical), and adding the new light fixture, or at least putting in a new junction box. Oops--major 2 x 4 in the way. Smiling contractor says he'll find a way to get it in there. It only took about 90 minutes.
Late in the afternoon, drywall compound went on the walls. Contractor left an isolating fan to try the mud. Why? Oh, we're on water and the humidity was about 90% yesterday. (BTW, it DID dry. At about 3 a.m.)
Refitting the bathroom is kind of a bittersweet thing. My Dad built the bathroom. When he bought the place, there was a toilet on a little screened porch. That's it. Dad and my brothers added two decent sized bedrooms and converted the toilet on a porch to a real bathroom with a shower. Dad didn't have a lot of money back then and "it's only a cottage," so the bathroom wasn't exactly pretty, but it was functional.
Dad didn't like the idea of changing things, so I didn't feel comfortable even painting the bathroom (I had the color picked out six years ago). Now that Dad's gone, we decided we would replace the paneling with beadboard and paint the wall above it. It kind of escalated. Oh, let's put in a plug. Oh, lets get the new medicine cabinet (which necessitated the light). And now ... we have to address that sweating toilet.
The original estimate was two-three days. Now we're looking at four to five. And if you're wondering why I don't have any pictures, I did bring my camera, but don't have the software on my laptop to download them.
But I've been asked by Facebook friends to show lots of pix, and I'll probably just upload it all to facebook sometime next week. I'll keep you posted.
Is there a room in your house that needs a facelift?
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UPDATE: Not only was the toilet sweating, but it was cracked, too. Luckily, Hubby was no the way with some other supplies and he picked up a toilet, too. So that'll get installed today (thank goodness. It's a long walk to my neighbor's house in the middle of the night). And wasn't it nice of my neighbor to let me use her facilities during the l-o-n-g day our bathroom was out of commission. (Yea, Cindy!)
Lorna,
ReplyDeleteWe just finished the bathroom makeover from hell. Should have taken a few days - dragged on over a month. Partially because the contractor ripped out the old shower before realizing the door for the new one hadn't arrived yet. But it's done now and it's beautiful, so hang in there.
Linda
I can't remodel the house we live in right now, we live on an Army Post. But I have helped my sister on her home. First it was just painting. Then she asked her hubby's drunk friend to put in new windows, trim, doors and remodel the bathroom. Well half the new windows are in. The trim is rotting away in the basement so she has exposed areas around the windows where you see the sealant he put in. The bathroom is a nightmare. All the plumbing in the house needs to be redone. So there is leaking everywhere. So much so that the floor around the tub and under it is rotting now. He didn't do the dryway right. Now there is a huge gap in the dryway. You can see the "seem" and he tried to hide it with a piece of the trim that he was suppose to put around the windows. He removed the tile floor but badly put cheap tile on it. You can imagine how it is like trying to clean this bathroom. I am so surprised the floor hasn't given way and sent any of the family members to the basement below. The reason he got the job was my sister's hubby's uncle is holding the estate until my neice and nephew reach age 21. And his friend "won" the contract. I don't know why they refuse to pay the uncle a visit with pictures. I am sure he would take the friend to court but would send a contractor out to re-fix what the friend messed up. But really what the house needs is demoed and a new one put in its place. I won't even go into details about her poor kitchen! (She don't even have a stove in there!)
ReplyDeleteWe're remodeling the upstairs bathroom in our house and have finally finished the downstairs bathroom. These things do drag on and on. Your cottage sounds like my in-law's cottage on a lake in Maine, even the bathroom add-on.
ReplyDeleteIn the 70s we completely remodeled a fixer-upper (more like disaster) house in NJ. Our neighbor called us Bozo Construction Co. We worked on it for 7 yrs. and then Dave got transferred. I cried when I said goodbye to that house.
Don't worry too much. Your remodel seems to be going at about the correct speed and/or difficulty. Nothing that needs you to pull your hair out ... too much. If you can get everything fixed in 5 days, do cartwheels and pop a cork! You're really going to be surprised what a difference the 'new' bathroom is going to make.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't be too sad about the change. Look at the good use you and your family have gotten out of your dad's original work! I'm sure he'd much rather you 'freshen' up the bathroom than zap yourself on an appliance or get sick from mold.
Looking forward to the pictures. :0)
I just painted the laundry room and our bathroom. I would like to paint the bedroom, however, I have to wait for the electrian to show up. When we turn on our bedroom light, it crackles and I am pretty sure that isn't a good sign.
ReplyDeleteNext summer...I hope to have new hardwood floors installed in the living room and bedroom.