Renovations, June 20
Today was all bathroom. But it’s all ready to be plastered and painted.
The room looks a lot bigger now that the box with the tub is gone. (It also smells a lot better now that the dead rat is gone.) The tub and shower fixings are installed. Now, about the tub…
I pretty much just went down the catalog and picked the first one that was 5 feet long and 32 inches wide. I didn’t pay any attention to the depth. This tub is 20 inches deep. It may not sound like much, but that’s really deep.
Add to that the floor is not level. My old tub was not installed right and it always had water in the bottom since it didn’t drain right. In order to get this one level and to get it to drain right, one of two things had to happen. Either the tub had to be raised to get it level, or they’d have to dig into the main drain stack and lower it. Dealing with the common area plumbing is a non-starter, so raising the tub it was. The top of the tub is now 24 inches from the floor with a four inch gap between the bottom of the tub and the floor that has to be covered somehow. But that tub is a really high step-over. I suppose once I get old, I can sit on the edge and swing my legs in.
The shelf over the shower turned out really nice. I’m thinking about changing my mind and not having doors installed. I think it might look nice with some curtains and just leave it open. I think that might address any humidity issues that come up with having a storage unit over the shower. I’ll have to think about that some more, though.
The dual shower heads are in. They were able to find the right diverter, so that’s all good. I’m using the normal shower head that came with the package as the rainhead. I can change it later pretty easily.
So it’s all taped and ready for the plasterer to come on Saturday morning. I doubt I’ll see them between now and then. They have some taping to do in the kitchen. It was very humid the day they were here, so the tape wasn’t sticking and they didn’t finish. They may come back today, but I’m not expecting it.
A couple of days for the plaster to dry, then paint, then start installing the tile. Things are moving right along.
I checked the calendar this morning, and I leave for my pledge ride three weeks from tomorrow. Everything is lined up and I just need to let it happen, except the countertop can’t be scheduled until the cabinets are in. That’s going to be very, very tight. The builder said that if they don’t make it, he can have someone here to let the countertop guy in. Result!
I also looked at the budget this morning, and if I take a page from the Congress and move the countertop off budget, I’m right on target! Even with the countertop, I’m within 5% of my estimate, so I think that’s as good as can be hoped for. I checked my Visa card statement online this morning and the billing cycle ended yesterday. One thing I can say, is that next year I’ll be able to buy one of everything in REI with my point rewards.
