Beethoven In Trance - Episode 57

can't remember when is the last time I blogged.

it's been a busy summer so far. We kicked off our garden project this spring and added a small flower bed in the front of the house and planted some more flowers in the old flower bed. We planted all the vegatables on the side of the garage, and just digged another garden on the other side of the backyard. We haven't finished fencing yet, and will have to do that as soon as possible.

We finally started our bathroom remodel project last week. It was estimed as a $700 project including retile, and refinish bathtub, then paint. As for now, the project cost is hitting $2000. My neighbor was helping me with the project, and right after we started to take off the tile, we found it would be better to tear down the wall instead. One side of the wall behind the tile has been molded, and had to be replaced. So, one thing lead to another, before I knew it, we had taken down three walls surrounding the bathtub, and another wall next to the door. We also took down the wall paper that was painted. The wall paper only covered half of the wall so there would be some sanding to do. I have been scraping the cracking paint off the wall for days and there is still more to go.

We bought the fixture from Lowes and it was on clearance. The fixture had a broken piece though. I was thinking buying a replacement at that time. Interestingly we were looking for a plumber at that time, and my neighbor found a plumber, and he brought them in for quoting. The plumber suggested we call the manufacture (Delta) to ask for a replacement. My neighbor called and the company said they would send me a new one. Great. fixture is done then. By the way, we never realized how expensive bathroom fixture is untill we started to look for one... After the plumber quoted us $850 for the job, my neighbor decided to say goodbye to them, and brought in his cousin who I also know and went fishing with before. He quoted me $300 for everything (well, my neighbor needed to work a bit for the low price). The pipe work was done last Friday and I took my neighbor's family and his cousin to a Chinese buffet for dinner. Everyone was happy about the food because we were all starving.

We have put up some 'Fiberock' board around the bathtub on which we will put up the tile. Will need to buy tiles, adhesive, and grout today, it's gonna be another $200 or so.

We bought the paint from Sherwin Williams, total $200 including primer, paint, brushes and rollers. I will still need some painters tool and white paint for door and windors trim.

The dry wall guy showed up last Friday and helped putting up the Fiberock and he will put up dry wall today. After that, my neighbor and I can start painting and tiling. He has a tile cutter that I can borrow.

We would need to remove the vanity and toilet before we paint.

After these jobs are done, I will call in the bathtub refinisher to refinish the bathtub. It's gonna be another $300.

I am so looking forward to getting this project done. It seem a second bathroom is really neccessary in a situation like this. I have been taking cold water shower outside with garden hose for the last three days. Getting a shower in the basement seem to be a great project for next year.