Shower base chosen, tick.

Settling on a shower base has been the most difficult part of this project. I'd rather chip tiles off the walls for a week than look at any more options that stop water cascading through the ceiling to the shower room below.
So far we have decided on
1) keeping the thirty-eight year old terrazzo base
2) getting a custom-made shower pan, tiled in
i) glass mosaic
ii)mesh-backed pebbles
3) ceramic base
4) acrylic base
5) tiled pan
6) another acrylic pan
We rejected the first once we started the demo, if it looked old and grubby at this point what would it look like with shiny new tiles on the walls and floor? The second had the tile designer and ourselves going crazy trying to find something that went with the other tile choices and the style of the house. The third was Steven's favourite but looked to busy with the mosaic accent wall. The ceramic base was my preference. I wanted something that looked like this



But the cost would be prohibitive and the sizes are European so we'd have to re-frame and there was a long lead time (which at this point wouldn't have mattered but that was before we knew the window would take a trimester to build). I'm determined to have this in the master bath remodel, though. We'll have to make the floor extra waterproof because it's a no-lip system.
Bck to the project in hand. We settled an an acrylic base and then we looked at them and they were all horrible. Cheap feeling and nasty looking. So we went back to plan b. But the thought of a lead pan or a "hot mop" rubber system had me freaking. After all the "hot mop" is the stuff they put on flat roofs and we all know how long that lasts!
Then I walked into Finishing Touches, the local fixture store in Huntington, and told them of my problem, and they showed me an acrylic base that didn't feel like plastic, it felt like ceramic.


It came in a gazillion colours and although it was twice the price of the Kohler looked twice as nice and came in the correct size. And if we install it and find it is too shiny, they sell a teak insert for an only slightly shocking price that looks very zen.
At this stage in the process, money feels like the least of the remodel problems.

(mostly) Excellent service

I spent Tuesday evening online ordering some of the fixtures for the new bath. Shopping around for the best price takes time but beats the hell out of driving round visiting every plumbing supply store and bath showroom in a twenty mile radius to find a Tenso faucet. And that was after I'd visited the Grohe website to locate the dealers. Every one could show my a picture in a catalogue but no one had the model in stock. I'd seen the faucet on the website and had the dimensions but I wanted to see it in real life. I wanted to see how shiny it was, how big, how bulky. After a really frustrating four hours and nearly half a tank of fuel I gave up, came home and started searching online suppliers. By 5:00 pm I had not only ordered the faucet but a matching shower valve trim and a Freehander shower.
Then I moved on to the vessel sink. I'd wanted a bronze tempered glass sink but I was concerned that the color might not be as pictured on the websites and once again I couldn't find anyone locally who had anything in stock - not even the snotty hardware store in Nassau County, NY where the salesman's first question wasn't "Were you looking for glass, ceramic or stone?" but "How big is your budget because we only deal in expensive sinks, we're a high-end store, that's what our clientele demands." (note to self: wear a huge diamond ring and borrow Louis Vuitton bag when shopping in Great Neck). He showed me a bunch of catalogs and gave me a price on a glass vessel that I could beat by $180 elsewhere. Superb customer service.


I identified a cute Italian ceramic vessel sink at Qualiytbath,com, emailed them about lead times, had a reply within 10 minutes saying it would ship 5-7 days after the order was placed, ordered it at 5:30 pm and it arrived by UPS at 3 pm yesterday. Less than 24 hours, free shipping and no sales tax. Oh, and no snotty salespeople of course. I rounded off the evening by ordering the towel racks, toilet roll holders, robe hooks and finally a Toto Maple Softclose Toilet Seat.
Just to prove that I can shop locally without feeling like I'm wasting the salesperson's time, I ventured out again to look at lights and had lots of help from The Lighting Gallery in Huntington. I explained what I was looking for and was directed to contemporary vanity lights. A few questions later and I had the perfect solution: a bar light that won't detract from the mosaic tile but will still make a statement and will fit in with the style of the house. I did have to pay NY sales tax but I got excellent service and I got to feel the merchandise too.
It's all coming together at last. Today, before 9:30 am FedEx dropped off the faucet and shower. The trim is promised, via the wonderful UPS tracking system, for Monday, the other things by the end of the month. The plumber is getting the actual toilet for me and the Grohe shower valve and now he, the handyman, the other contractor, my husband and myself have all agreed on the dimensions of the shower I can go ahead and order the base, safe in the knowledge that five people can't be wrong. Can they?

Custom made

No photos for this post, although there are some links further down.
I finally found someone to make me a floating vanity. Hurrah. I thought this would be a project that the handy guy who likes to work with wood would love but he doesn't have a workshop so he didn't want to do it, although he was happy to mount it on the wall when we found one. My second choice was the trim carpenter but he had never made a cabinet so didn't feel confident.
Let me tell you I'm not asking for anything complicated here: a box 36"w x 22"d x 20"h; three full sides; one stile frame; a bottom; a top with two holes cut out, one for the drain and one for the tap (faucet); two full-overlay doors. That's it.
I even went to IKEA and Kraftmaid with the intention of using an over the refrigerator cabinet but they are 24" deep and it's a tight space. If I had the tools I'm sure I could have sawn 2" off the back of a cabinet and dovetailed it right back on. But never mind.
I then spent hours, days even looking for a vanity that didn't make me want to vomit or run screaming from the store or that was going to cost the price of a holiday in the Bahamas. Nothing. Rien. Nada. Niets.
Then yesterday I was out looking for faucets when I stumbled upon a cabinet maker who will knock me up the box made to my specific dimensions in wood or wenge veneer. He sketched it out as I described it, called it clean, modern and streamlined and said it would take a couple of weeks to knock out. It will have a rolling drawer and a half rolling drawer, so getting to the toiletries will be easy. The wenge sample was gorgeous and looks like this but the unit will look more like this. I will take the tiles in when I get them so I can pick a co-ordinating top in granite or quartz.
And we ordered the window (also custom made from Marvin) so we are almost home............

Decisions

We have actually made some actual decisions. Firstly we ordered the tiles from Porcelanosa. The floor and accent wall tiles are the same ones we chose back in October but I decided that the rectified wall field tiles were too classic and so we chose a more contemporary 12"x12" tile that should also be easier to lay.



Then the champion procrastinators finally got down to business and read through the contractors' bids, then phoned them with follow-up questions. It was a no-brainer. The guy we have used before, who does the work himself, who has worked for our neighbors and who we trust to deliver what he was contracted to do was significantly cheaper than the other guy who arrived without a tape measure and sent me to a fictitious plumbing supply store to look at shower bases because "tiled bases always leak". When I asked this guy how he came to his "Basic 8'x 5' Bath" price he told me that because we had done all the demolition ourselves he used the price of a 8' x 7' bath. Now, normally doing the demolition would make the price cheaper (as it was with the contractor we chose) but it seemed here that it was costing us money. Anyway, I really only wanted the tiler who works for this guy, I don't need a GC who pops in every day or so to check on what his guys are doing, and I certainly don't need a flaky GC.
The Marvin window will take four weeks to arrive so no cement board can go in until that's here. In the meantime we will start the electrical update and the plumber will move the vent and pipes and replace the copper waste pipes with PVC. We need to order the rest of the fixtures this weekend and with room for delays we should be done by Steven's birthday in March.

A little more demo

Although we'd agreed we wouldn't tackle the master bath until the boys' bath is finished I got a little bored today and took off the shower doors and hauled them out to the dumpster. Then I took off the door to the medicine cabinet. The one Steven cracked with his elbow oh, nearly twelve months ago. That baby had twelve screws and took me an hour to get off. It also weighed more than the shower doors combined. Still it has now joined them in the dumpster. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the medicine cabinet out as the screws are bent and somebody nailed it in for added strength, so I'm leaving that job for Steven.

I even tried once again to clean the tiles in the shower, now the doors are off it's much lighter in there but, nope, that dirty grout is not getting any cleaner.


My prediction is that by Sunday evening there won't be any tiles, grubby or otherwise in the shower. Now, if I could only find a tiler who is happy to install rectified tiles with 1/16th grout lines...

Frustration and furry animals

We spent New Year's Day in a fruitless frenzy trying to take down the old media centre/bar in the den. This was my fault. I thought because we had the dumpster we could just knock the baby out and the replace the carpet later. I thought it would be an easy job.
When it came down to it, after we'd spent an hour clearing everything out of and off the bar and then finding new homes for the junk, Steven took a screwdriver to the back of the unit and pronounced it wasn't going to be so simple. Some of the wires for the cable and electrics come out of the floor. The cables that run to the speakers in the other rooms in the house run through the HVAC vents (?!?). In short, he didn't feel confident taking it all to bits and being without a TV or music for days or even weeks.
So reluctantly we cleaned the unit and put all the stuff back.

And then some devil prompted me to wonder again why the was a hole under the light on the unit. We'd thought it was to push the lamp cord through and it would connect to a socket at the back of the unit or even in the basement. But although we'd poked and prodded at it when we first moved in we couldn't find a power source down there so we'd let it go. Now I was curious and we had a tool we hadn't had two year's ago: a flashlight! Steve said he'd run down to the basement if I shone the light and see if he could see it. So I shone it, and then I squinted down the hole.
The following exchange then took place:
Steve: I can't see a light
Modernemama: No, But honey, I know why they drilled the hole.
Steve: Why?
Modernemama: Because they lost their gerbil.
Steve: What are you talking about?
Footsteps up the basement stairs and then he took the torch from me and looked for himself.
Steve: Hmm. I saw that before. I thought it was a shadow.
Modernemama: The shadow of a dead gerbil?
Steve: Sweetie, that's not a gerbil, it's more of a garden rodent.
So now I not only have to live with an ugly media cabinet in the den but also the knowledge that there is a dead rat inside it and the only way I am going to be able to get it out is to demolish the thing once and for all.
And it took me two days to get the speaker cables back in the right order on the stereo receiver (a 1970 Russound model MP3) but at least the iPod is plugged in and we have music throughout the house once again.

More demo

original 1968 formica
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

When you've hired a dumpster and learnt how to swing a sledgehammer to great effect you might as well use it.
We couldn't do anything else to the boys' bathroom in the way of demolition so we moved on to the laundry room. Actually I take no credit for this, the "we" was all "he". He cleared the room, unsrcrewed the upper cabinets and resorted to the sledgehammer when the were unresponsive. Then he carted it all out to the dumpster, which is now full.
I'd like to clean up the walls and hang new cabinets but he thinks it will be better to wait until the kitchen gets replaced in 2008. My original thought was to do this room and use that s a makeshift kitchen while the big room is being done. But I can see the benefit of waiting - that way we can go throughout the kitchen, mud room and laundry with 18x18" tiles, and get a clean, continuous look.
The only question is whether I can live with a half-demolised laundry room for 20 months.

Santa? No, the demo man

Santa? No, the demo man
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

He's looking surprisingly chipper for a man who just rearranged the back of his new car on a dumpster. If you add the cost of the bodywork to the renovation we are now seriously over budget. Grr. His only excuse? "I forgot it was there". Huh.
I knew it was only a matter of time before he "personalised" the car but on our own driveway? The morning after he filled the dumpster? How is that possible?
Anyway, the ceiling is now down, we can see where the hole in the flashing round the vent pipe caused the water damage, and the assessment is that it's not too bad. The biggest relief is that there is no longer any smell of mold or rot in the room so I think we can change the cruddier insulation and start putting things back together again.
Next on the list: change the wastepipes to PVC, upgrade the fan to a quieter model, install a light over the shower and a GFCI circuit.

The shower pan nightmare

Floor under shower pan
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

The terrazzo shower pan is no more. Steven drilled a couple of holes, hit a chisel with a hammer and used a sledgehammer vigorously for an hour or so and that base stood no chance. I'd been dreading tackling this beacause I'd heard horror stories about how difficult they were to remove. It turned out to be fairly easy. That was the best part of the day.
The second good thing was that forty minutes after ringing to enquire about dumpsters (skips) we had one sitting on our drive. And two hours later we had just about filled it.
It was far harder carrying the lumps of broken terrazzo out to the dumpster than it was breaking the shower pan up. That stuff is heavy. But here's the scary bit: the pan was just resting on the floorboards. No plywood reinforcement, no tar-paper or liner. So when you break up the shower base tiny pieces of terrazzo rain down through the cracks in the floorboards onto the bathroom ceiling below. And when you switch on the light in that bathroom you realise that not only does that no longer work, but the fan has stopped also.
Now my problem is that we still have to take up the cement floor tile bed. I imagine that this has a liner because otherwise what stops the mud falling down the spaces between the floorboards? But what if it doesn't? How much debris can I afford to let fall onto the ground floor bathroom before the ceiling collapses? The nightmare continues.....

Xmas Day 2006

demo left wall
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

Some people eat turkey, some open presents and some spend the day with relatives. We do demolition.
Steven stepped up and removed the partition that was preventing us from taking off the last of the wallboard. There's a little mould on the ceiling that was under a piece of framing, but nothing worse. We will experiment with diluted bleach to remove it, but unfortunately there's also a tiny hole in the ceiling where the wood slipped as it was coming out. Whoops.
He is finding that demo is rewarding and kind of fun too. The next job is to try and prise (hammer, drill, jackhammer) the terrazzo shower pan out. We'll see if he's still having fun after struggling with that for a couple of hours.
Wish us luck.

Down to the studs

Finally.
I've been taking the wallboard off over the past couple of days and I made a couple of discoveries. One was a few scary alien-like corpses that could be either large insects or small birds or even actual aliens. They were behind the vanity wall and they had been dead for a very, very long time. I would have taken photos but I didn't want to terrify anyone into sending out the exorcist. The other was some clean, white mice skeletons behind the wallboard on the opposite wall.
A way nicer surprise was the extra foot of space I uncovered behind the shower. It seems that those terrazzo shower bases came in a standard size, 4'x 3', so they built the shower to fit the pan. I discovered this when I couldn't get a piece of sheetrock out because it had been framed in. When I demolished more wall I saw that a frame had been built onto the sheetrock and there is no reason why we can't take it out and have a 5'x 3' mud-base tiled shower. It will make the room a little larger and only add another three square feet of shower tiles to the ever-expanding budget.

No plumbing fixtures

No plumbing fixtures
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

I had to suck it up and call the plumber to remove the valves so we could turn off the water. While he was here he took out the toilet and hauled it away and put the vanity and very heavy countertop out for the garbage. The garbeage men arrived ten minutes later and that's the last we'll see of that baby. Will have to tip them big time on Friday as they have been dealing with a lot of demo trash.
The plumber asked if he was coming back to replace the waste lines with PVC. It hadn't occurred to me but as we don't know what sort ot mess they could be inside it makes sense to do it when the wallboard is out. He also said they could replace the supply lines. With PEX? I asked. No, with copper he replied, it's been tested for years. So you take out the copper pipes and solder more copper in there. Hmm.
The he asked what we were doing about the shower base. Mud, I said. Oh, lead pan? I do that.
What? They still use lead and copper in NY? I just freaked at the thought of more of these heavy metals being brought into my house. The explanation that they've been in use for years doesn't cut it for me either. If I followed that logic I'd be cooking over an open fire lit by rubbing two sticks together.
It is the C21, right? Even in NY?

Vanities

We made the decision that the bathroom vanity is toast so I took a break from tile destruction today to check out a few vanities in the local showrooms. I know I swore I would never set foot in Expo again but I was desperate and willing to explore any option.
The first thing I noticed when I walked in the door was that the new Kraftmaid Venecia kitchen displays were finally open. Last time I was there they were waiting for the granite countertops to be installed and I asked the "Can I help you guy" what the cabinet price per linear foot would be. I was told they were very expensive (the doors come from Italy, you know) so they would run $1800. Well guess what? That was another price pulled from the ether by someone who didn't know what he was talking about and couldn't be bothered to find out. The prices on the vignettes ranged from $440-$998. Pricey but half what I had been told. This lack of attention to detail (aka customer service) didn't surprise me but it didn't put me in a positive mood for vanity shopping either.
Of all the vanities on display, and there are lots to choose from, only one would work in the space. This simple square box from Kohler's Purist range is a whopping $1450 for a 24"x22"x16" box.

.
So, practically speaking, to hold toiletries and towels you would need two, plus a countertop and then the sink and faucet. At least $4000. Crazy money.
I didn't find anything I liked anywhere today but at least when I got back home, I found that the garbage fairy had been, swept the bathroom floor and taken all the boxes of debris to the garage.
It's a slow process.

A lot of old drywall

or a valance of tiles

This is where I finished today. There is a 2" (60cm) border left around the room plus this tiny bit behind the door



I just ran out of boxes to put the debris in, otherwise I might have pressed on to the bitter end. I can't do anything about the "valance" as I'm not supposed to jump on and off ladders at the moment and my arms won't reach up there without a lift.

I had hoped someone would volunteer to help me but so far that hasn't happened, although last Saturday he did carry to the garage one (1) box of old tiles. This morning I suggested that getting a plumber to take out the old toilet would make us look like pussies, we can easily do it. The look I got back means I'll be finding out on my own.

Rot free windows

jane's demo
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

I found out how that window stayed rot free (at least on the inside) for the past 40 years. Teak trim, baby. I demo'ed the frame today and the window is builder's standard pine, but it was framed inside with a sloping lower edge of oiled teak. A brilliant solution and if the tiler can't find a way to tile neatly around the replacement I might have someone build me another teak ledge. And maybe we'll add a teak shower seat while we are at it.

Taking it off

...one tile at a time.
Although the tile was laid in 12x12 mesh backed sheets, it doesn't come off like that. I take the chisel or a long-handle flat-blade screwdriver and tap that with a hammer.This loosens the tile so it pops out or I prise it off. It's slow but it's not too messy. I am doing it in 30 minutes stretches, and I like to complete an even section and then clean that up before I take a break. So far I have filled four boxes, six Trader Joe paper bags and a wastepaper basket.





At least the floor is done-that really was the easiest part.
Steve took off a door from the vanity and turned the water off on one faucet. The other one is apparently stuck. This is a major inconvenience as I wanted to get the countertop out so the garbage guys would haul it away today. Oh well, if he can't budge it at the weekend I 'll have to get the plumber to do it when he takes out the toilet and fits a thermostatic valve for the shower

The demolition continues

I can't believe how easily the floor came up, or at least the first few square feet. I've taken off 3sq", so only another 27 to go! I barely have to tap it with the chisel and whole sections of tile spring into my hands, leaving the grout to be swept up later.


Earlier I took the medicine cabinets off the wall. I was really surprised to find how clean it was behind them, because you never know what you are dealing with when you start these projects. Once again I thank the original builders who worked clean and built solidly. I wish they were still around.
Actually taking out the cabinets did lead to a discovery. We decided to save them for the moment and store them in the boy's bedroom next to the bathroom. When I cleared a shelf in the closet I found a white yarmulke, size 7 1/4". Not riches, but a part of the heritage of the house.

Renovator's Remorse

We have begun to get quotes for the bathroom renovation. I can see that this is going to be a long process. We've already started with the "what ifs". The first what if was really quite sensible. What if we replace the window before we re-tile the bathroom? The window isn't failing but it nearly forty years old and has had some repair to rot outside. It is also a sealed unit. It would make sense to replace it now with a venting one and I think we should have another Marvin awning installed. So the budget expands, and the timeline extends.
Then there is the vanity question. We have a floating vanity in this bathroom that I love. My original plan was to keep the unit and junk the marble top but we have to take the unit out to strip the tiles behind it so will it stand up to this treatment bearing in mind it is laminate? Can I find another floating vanity that I like at a price I can stomach? And as for a not-hideous medicine cabinet, why are these things both ugly and outrageously expensive?

I'm beginning to regret starting this and there is a long way to go. Renovation should be fun and I'm not feeling it.

Electrical switches

Electrical switches
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

I finally put another piece of the electrical lighting system jigsaw together this weekend. I located the outlets for the centre switch on the seven-gang in the kitchen. This has been bugging me for thirty months. But I'm getting there. In case I forget it goes like this:
Top panel L-R: spots in great room; cans in kitchen; cans in eat-in part of kitchen
Centre Panel: socket with horizontal switch (still a mystery). Vertical switches: pond pump; tree lights; exterior rear floodlights; great room balcony lights; great room third storey lights; chandelier
Bottom: dimmer switch for umbrella pendants.
Now I only have to figure out that horizontal switch, the switch by the kitchen slider, the one by the front door and the two by the grarage doors. And then I can get the x10 system we inherited to work too.

Now we're demo-ing

Actually, it's less "we" more "I" as Steve has gone to Los Angeles. He said to leave it and he'd get round to it at the weekend. When I asked which weekend it turned out to be Xmas. I think I can have the walls stripped before then.
It was no wonder we had a leak. The wallboard at the bottom of the shower was completely black and rotten. Whoever replaced the shower valve didn't caulk around it and water has been dripping down there for who knows how many years. All that damage for want of five minutes and a $5 tube of caulk. Luckily, the wood behind seems sound and every other piece of board is dry so far. It doesn't really matter as we're going back to the studs and putting in cement backer board but if the wallboard is dry there is less chance that we'll have any structural problems or other nasty (expensive) surprises.