Twice the bath

So this spring break I'm focusing on trying to get my downstairs bathroom that was a half bath completely renovated and converted into a full bath with a standup shower. It's something I've been kicking around for a long time and I'm finally ready to make it happen. Here are some pictures after the walls/ceiling have been torn out, the shower is roughed in, and the electrical is run. I'm going with recessed lighting if you're wondering why it looks like someone punched a few holes in the ceiling. Those can't actually go in until the greenboard is up on the ceiling--tomorrow's project.

Still alive

Okay so I haven't really updated in a LONG time. I've been beyond busy and it often comes down to 20 minutes of working on the house or 20 minutes of blogging at the end of the night. I think you can tell which route I've been opting for. Rather than try and recall everything that I've done here's a snapshot of how things look right now with some quick explanations.

Bathroom Furniture

This is the vanity and mirror from the upstairs bathroom. The bathroom is going to be a white ceiling with gray walls so the red on white should look very sharp. Very New England.

Bedroom set

Heres the bedroom set that Tara and my mom picked up from an estate sale for $100. The thing on the other side of the beam is another dresser of similar size. Considering it came with a twin bed set (box spring, frame, mattress) it was a steal.

Cabinetry

These are about two thirds of the cabinet doors. My mom sanded them down, primed, and stained them. This is after the first coat of polyurethane. They need steel wool then another coat of poly and they'll be set. They're coming out way better than I thought.

Dining Room

Though it's a bit of a mess right now, the dining room is just about done. The walls have been painted along with the ceiling. All it needs is for the door trim to be finished/painted then of course the floors.

Electric Panel

God damn that's some sexy wiring. At least I know if the whole pharmaceutical sciences thing doesn't work out I can always take up electric contracting.

Kitchen

Alright so I didn't clean it up before taking a picture like I said, so sue me. At least the appliances are moved in. I need to hook up the dishwasher which will probably take a solid day and the oven is already going. The kitchen is painted like the dining room and after the cabinets go up it's just about done.

Living Room

What a difference a coat of paint makes. Under the pile of crap in the middle of the room you can sort of make out the new couch. The old one got the boot. It still needs another coat.

Master Bedroom

Paint is up and though it looks pretty awful with the green trim that's left, things will really turn around after a bit more painting.

Upper Bath

This is where my main focus has been the past few days. The tub is refinished. The tub surround is up and caulked. The window frame is painted and drying. The walls are primed. The ceiling is painted. The furniture is painted. There's a box of new fixtures waiting to go up. I need to paint the walls, cut the new linoleum for the floors, add some rubber molding around the base of the walls, paint the trim, and reinstall everything. Though it sounds like a lot it's moving along great.

Who doesn't love demo?

7/3 Tuesday -- I took off a bit earlier today and met up with Erik in the afternoon. He took the task of tearing out the rest of the plaster in the dining room while I got cracking on some odds and ends. He really brought it to those walls and a small ~1ft x 4ft section of plaster over the counter is all that remains. The walls at some parts were full of literally garbage: beer cans, broken plaster, newspapers (dated 1979), god only knows what else. No wonder why I couldn't get the wire snake through to where I wanted to put the light switches. Anyway we got that all cleaned up while I had painted the front door, hit the steps with a second coat, caulked up the cabinet holes from the old hardware, and pulled up some of the floor in the bedroom closet where I want to raise the height of the staircase ceiling. I found finished hardwood floors under the carpet. If I took a picture of it you'd understand what a weird place this was for it. Anyway I pulled up those boards to use for replacing some of the more beat up boards else where and by the time I was ready to cut some flooring it was 9:30 and too late for power tools.

Looking good a coat later

The last day I'll have to look at this

7/4 Wednesday -- Today was a big day, no questions about it. I got started around 11 and Erik was over again by noon. Our main project was to raise and widen the doorway from the kitchen to the dining room. It'll give me a little extra head room and really add to the fluid feel of the house. I originally thought it wasn't a load bearing wall but after doing a little reading found the contrary. Not a big deal. It had two 2 x 4's for the old header which I upgraded to 2 x 6's and added two studs under each side of the header where there had only been one. We ran into a bit of trouble trying to figure out how to transition from cutting the existing studs to getting the new header in place while still supporting the wall. Luckily I had a hydraulic jack in the truck of my car. We were able to jack a 2 x 4 up to the ceiling to support the wall and still had enough room to squeeze in one of the 2 x 6's for the header. With that one in place we could drop the jack and put up the other side. The picture I posted was taken before we added an extra stud under each side for additional support. Not half bad job for a couple of guys who really didn't know what they were doing. After talking to Charles, the neighbor who works construction, the only thing we maybe should've done different was put a sheet of 1/2" plywood between the two header boards so they sat flush with the rest of the studs. Not the end of the world, we'll just have to shim out the trim that goes up later.

A couple of sandwiches later we were ready to tear up the carpet in the living room--the last of the carpet still haunting the house. It was a bit tedious to get through but with Erik pulling tack board up while I hit staples we really got a good rhythm going and banged it out. The floors really have some potential but will need a bit of help getting there. After Erik headed home around 7:30 I went to give the door another coat of paint. I was super disappointed to find that yesterdays coat was all bubbles and awful. Even sanding was no help. I'm going to need to strip it back down and use a primer first. The steps had looked good but with today's rain (last nights actually) they started to spot a little. We'll see how it looks when they dry. I hit the part of the floor that was in really bad shape with some ammonia and retired for what was left of the night.

Such an improvement

Carpet no more

It almost looks like a kitchen

6/25 Monday -- I spent today trying to finish straightening out the wiring so the last sheet of drywall can get hung. I decided to knock out the plaster behind the sink to not only make it easier to get the wires through but to put more drywall in it's place for a cleaner look. I got the wires through and brought home another sheet of drywall (10' sheet on the roof racks of a Neon, w00t). Daylight took it's leave and without those wires hooked up I couldn't turn the circuits back on to keep working. Tomorrow I'll finish up.

Think PAST the torn out wall

6/26 Tuesday -- I got to work around eleven or so. It was so hot just working on hooking up wires I was dripping sweat. When I say dripping I mean literally to the point where it was pouring onto the wires I was working with. Gross. I finished hooking up the switches before Tara's dad arrived. He helped me hang the last sheet in the kitchen and get the sheet up on the wall. He lent a hand with cleaning up while I ran to home depot to grab some pigtail lights. I just need something that will hold a bulb and give me a few more working hours each day, the light fixtures can actually get mounted later on. Finished the electric finally and everything worked without a hitch, score. I went to the basement with Mr. Sullivan and we finished drylocking the part that was still uncoated. Turns out there's another part of the basement wall that's a little hurting. My aunt mentioned a process called pilastering where you put up half blocks and fill them with concrete against the existing wall, it's something to look in to. At least the kitchen looks half way presentable. Once I figure out what to do with the rest of it I can really get somewhere.

We're cooking now

You can't make an omlette...

6/19 Tuesday -- So the theme of the past two days has been deconstruction. I came home on Tuesday during a rain storm and frantically ran around trying to cover things and get others out of the rain. The cabinet was still out drying when the rain started. With the rain as it was I went to the basement to try cleaning up the root cellar. There was just so much dirt even with a hose and the wet vac I gave up on it for the time being. I started tearing down the ceiling in the kitchen so I can get some dry wall up. I got about half way before taking a break and immediately falling asleep. That was that.

6/20 Wednesday -- I finished putting the chest back together and while it wasn't amazing, it certainly wasn't a failure. At any rate I don't think the turtle mind. I finished tearing down the ceiling in the kitchen and well, it's not pretty. However, without the panel that runs around above the cabinets it really does open up some space. Interestingly enough when I disconnected the one wall socket in the paneling I couldn't believe how it was hooked up. Whoever installed it could have used less wire and had ground fault protection on all of the socket just by hooking it up properly. I've only been doing electric for a week and even I know that. After the ceiling was down it was still fairly early and I decided to tackle the pool. I figure why have someone take the metal to a scrap yard and get money for it when I can just do it myself. It only took about an hour and a half to get it done. It really opens up a lot of space in the backyard. That's when Tara came to deliver me some food and I called it a day. Hospital work tomorrow at 8:30, ugh.

They're just so dumb.

It could be worse, somehow

So much for that