Tomorrow, we have "Normal Day". The boys are more excited about that than they were about their own birthdays. Zorak and I are, too.
Today was a short day, filled with unexpected surprises. Some good, some wretched. First, though, Carolyn, good question! The shower is actually still in there. We haven't the energy or the heart to tackle it yet. From what we can best figure, though, the shower is held in place by the lathe that squeezed through to the studs and insulation on the back. That also seems to be quite the hoppin' joint for the pill bug colonies, so (and we are completely making this up) we're guessing they found the most secure spot in the walls to hang out? Plus, there's plenty of archaeological, erm, evidence to suggest that other "cultures" have camped there before, as well. It's just gross. I'm thinking we should fill that room with cement and turn our back deck into a master bath!
Today was a Big Day for our marriage: Zorak topped his all-time Most Romantic Gift Ever, knocking my arm guard from its ten-year standing in First Place, by presenting me with a Spartacus Bar for pulling up the subfloor. (I've provided a link because a simple Google search will melt your eyeballs and then you'd never find my beloved wrecking bar. *blush*) For me, this is terribly romantic because it means he knows me well (ie. I hated not being able to get that floor up and offering to do it for me would have made me feel even more useless), he loves me to pieces (ie. but would rather have me all in one actual piece), and he is a wonderful provider and protector (ie. now my knees, arms, back, and hands don't hurt!) What could be more romantic than one gift that says all that?
So with Mighty Spartacus at hand, I was able to finish pulling up the truly horrible hallway subflooring (and all eight thousand nails holding it down) in a short day's work. The hallway looks better, and I'm ready to tackle the living room/kitchen space now!
Fortunately, that space is now ready to be tackled. The kitchen wall is non-existent, the ceiling is prepped for repairs, the linoleum is up, the carpet is up, and the layout is ready to make a dry run with panel-templates. (Might as well recycle the panels before we get rid of them, right?) The entire space has a completely different feel to it, and the house is beginning to show the promise of its end design. It still smells, but even that seems to be fading (or we're getting used to it, which is a deeply disturbing concept...)
The living space subfloor would have been done today, but for an incident that happened late this afternoon, which left us all shaken enough that we called it an early day and came home. I'll blog about it later, but not tonight. Everyone is fine, and we're all safe and healthy, not to worry. And, it was very nice to come home, bathe all three boys, enjoy dinner and a movie, and relax for a bit as a family.
We should be laying subfloor on Friday and ordering cabinets over the weekend! This week will be the plumbing and wiring week. I probably won't blog much of that unless Zorak spells it out in layman's terms for me. If someone out there is just painfully curious about the plumbing and wiring process, well, this is probably the wrong place to go for information. Cute boys? I can fix ya up. Wiring diagrams? Shyah, I still get excited when I can get my sketches to look remotely like what I'm talking about.
During quiet time tomorrow I need to call the County Guy, A Chimney Guy, A Glass Guy and the Dumpster Guy. Possibly the Rock Guy. I hope they answer their phones during nap time! Zorak has a convoluted list of his own to pursue. And the boys have cookies to bake. It should be a wonderful, exciting week.
Kiss those babies!
~Dy
7 comments:
Glad you get some rest and I'm glad everyone's OK!
It looks like most of the worst (as far as ickiness goes) is over. I'm so happy for you!
Hugs & love
So which parts of the houes are still there? Some inner stud walls, that you may be rearranging? Not even the kitchen sink?
The shivers running down my back are prompting me to press this shower issue just a little more. So, Dy, are you trying to tell us that all the flooring had completely *dissolved* from underneath the shower??? I mean, surely there HAD to be flooring of some type at some time, say when the shower was originally installed? But then, that begs the question of how many showers had been taken by the previous occupants while hovering in mid-air like a cartoon coyote who just stepped off a cliff? (But congrats on the Spartacus -- it looks fun to me!)
Sounds like you guys are making wonderful progress!! Very impressive! I can only imagine what wonderful memories your boys will take away from the Forever Home Makeover process. :0)
WOW!!! I just caught up, you have been some busy beavers! LOL!
I've heard about those "Guys", hopefully they will be awake.:-)
Jess, yes, we're nearing the summit of the ick. Yay! It feels really good.
Heidi, the kitchen sink was laid atop the rotted out counter - Zorak just had to elbow it to get it to pop out. The pipes underneath were duct taped together. It was quite the industrious experiment in Bad Ideas. We used it for an experiment in how high steel will bounce when dropped 25'. That was kinda fun. :-) But, pretty much, yes, stud walls... trusses... oh, windows and external doors! Those are still there. Otherwise, though, it's empty and beautiful. :-)
Carolyn, yes, there was floor. Once. Long, long ago, before the lousy tile job and poor plumbing took their toll on the wood below. Under the shower, or rather, near it, there's evidence that there was the planking, the MDF subflooring, and several layers of linoleum, plus lathe and mortar. It's sad, b/c the planks spanning the joists throughout the house are thick, straight and solid - except where they've rotted into oblivion. But stoopid things like no solder on the water pipe leading into the house, and bent pipes leading from drains to who-knows-where (we have one we still haven't figured out where it drains to, just that it... um, does. LOL) have affected the beauty, integrity, and smell of the house. *sigh* We've got to figure out how to replace the planks spanning the joists in that room. That's the next task for that bathroom, after we move one wall out another foot or so to give it a) more room, and b) some kind of a ledge with which to build a Brave New Floor!
Yeah, this is a lot of fun. We're enjoying it, mostly.
Dy
When I was 5 months pregnant, (2nd, 3rd, and 4th times) I was a big slug. I sure wasn't doing massive house rennovations. I'm doing fairly nothing now with no excuse at all.
I am so impressed and humbled.
Oh MDF. We have none of that thankfully. But we did hear about MDF and tile when we went to tile class.
"How do you tile over MDF?" was asked.
The answer, "You cut it all out and put down a plywood subfloor and then you mortar, backer board, mortar, tile."
I am amazed at all the progress. I haven't even finished my bathroom.
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