A Bathroom Remodel--Day-by-Day
Day Three
Wednesday, Feb. 11th.
Another day, another dollar. It's 4:00 a.m. and I step outside once more. It's 33-degrees and clear--I see several planets and many stars--and best of all, there's no breeze. When it's sunny and there's no wind, working outside is enjoyable, even when the temperature is in the thirties and forties. Of course, most of our work today is inside, but on a bathroom job, the workers must often go back and forth, from inside to outside, and vice versa, so having it temperate outside helps speed up the work.
Okay--let's cut to the chase. My list for the bathroom crew:
1. Make curb and pour sloped bed.
2. Install insulation, all wood backing for seat and grab bars, and tile backer board.
3. Prime cabinets.
4. Stay out of electrician's way. The electrician is due to install fan/light today.
Yesterday we got approval from the customer on the vanity top and the medicine cabinet. The medicine cabinet can hang on the outside of the wall or be inset--the customer chooses inset, which the crew and I agree with.
My other list: T.G. asked for the next three days off to pursue refinishing some furniture, and with a light work-load, I said, "Okay." Of course, the work-load picked up immediately afterwards. I received two rolls of screen spline via UPS that I've been waiting for, so need to send someone to repair some screen doors, we have a glass shower door due in that must be hung as soon as it arrives, and we picked up a job replacing a plywood sub-floor in a house up for sale--the kind of work that the customer needs done ASAP. Plus, I have two estimates to work up-- a large commercial job for a beauty salon and another bathroom remodel. On the commercial job I must draw up plans and get them to my electrician, who will be on our bathroom job today. My list seems endless.
Okay--and here's the way the day went. It's now 5:00 p.m.
Kirk and Steve called me at 11:00. The drain for the shower was off-center. "By how much?" I asked. "Four inches." Oh, great. I had been there yesterday when Steve laid it out for the plumber. We made certain the center point was off the inside of the curb, not the outside, as the plumber's helper was trying to make it. I guess we all walked out of the bathroom to discuss another matter, because when we went back, no one noticed the drain was off-center. Without the curb up, it's difficult to tell. As soon as Kirk and Steve built the curb today, they noticed it. They insisted it wasn't their fault.
Blaming others is a time-honored tradition in remodeling, It's never anyone's fault who is on the job, it's always the fault of someone who isn't around at the time. I told them I didn't care whose fault it was--were they going to fix it? Or, had they called the plumber? They had done neither.
I called Mike-the-Plumber and told him the problem. He immediately told me it wasn't his man's fault.
See what I mean?
I told Mike I didn't care whose fault it was, we needed it fixed or we were in trouble. "Whose fault it was is now totally irrelevant--it just has to be fixed!" I said, in as urgent a voice as I could without yelling. He understood, and 30 minutes later the drain was centered. It was a whole lotta fuss over a simple fix-it-up-and-go-back-to-work solution.
It does put us behind, however. Now Steve and Kirk--or someone--has to work over the weekend if we are to finish on time. So be it.
The guys did get all the deadwood in--for the seat and the grab bars--and installed the niches, and got the tile board up. Which is good, but not great. Tomorrow, I expect great.
My other list went like this: we got the screens installed; Wesley has just about finished at my house; the glass door didn't come in; the plywood floor customer didn't bring the signed contract or the down payment by, so it;s not a priority yet; the table Mechelle and I took to the flea market yesterday sold today; I wrote two pages in my book; I finished figuring and e-mailed the bathroom price; and I almost finished the drawings for the hair salon.
Whew. It was a busy, and yet, to me, a fulfilling day. We overcame what Kirk said in his message to me, was "a terrible problem." Nuts. A problem--any problem--is just something waiting for a solution. We persevered--we hung in there and we lived to remodel another day.
Until tomorrow,
Earl.
Okay--and here's the way the day went. It's now 5:00 p.m.
Kirk and Steve called me at 11:00. The drain for the shower was off-center. "By how much?" I asked. "Four inches." Oh, great. I had been there yesterday when Steve laid it out for the plumber. We made certain the center point was off the inside of the curb, not the outside, as the plumber's helper was trying to make it. I guess we all walked out of the bathroom to discuss another matter, because when we went back, no one noticed the drain was off-center. Without the curb up, it's difficult to tell. As soon as Kirk and Steve built the curb today, they noticed it. They insisted it wasn't their fault.
 |
| A good shot of the two molds for the niches--a double and a single--and deadwood for one grab bar on the wall, and the fold-up seat on the back wall. |
Blaming others is a time-honored tradition in remodeling, It's never anyone's fault who is on the job, it's always the fault of someone who isn't around at the time. I told them I didn't care whose fault it was--were they going to fix it? Or, had they called the plumber? They had done neither.
I called Mike-the-Plumber and told him the problem. He immediately told me it wasn't his man's fault.
See what I mean?
I told Mike I didn't care whose fault it was, we needed it fixed or we were in trouble. "Whose fault it was is now totally irrelevant--it just has to be fixed!" I said, in as urgent a voice as I could without yelling. He understood, and 30 minutes later the drain was centered. It was a whole lotta fuss over a simple fix-it-up-and-go-back-to-work solution.
 |
| This shows Kirk and Steve after the plumber has relocated the drain. Kirk is covering the drain with cement. |
It does put us behind, however. Now Steve and Kirk--or someone--has to work over the weekend if we are to finish on time. So be it.
The guys did get all the deadwood in--for the seat and the grab bars--and installed the niches, and got the tile board up. Which is good, but not great. Tomorrow, I expect great.
My other list went like this: we got the screens installed; Wesley has just about finished at my house; the glass door didn't come in; the plywood floor customer didn't bring the signed contract or the down payment by, so it;s not a priority yet; the table Mechelle and I took to the flea market yesterday sold today; I wrote two pages in my book; I finished figuring and e-mailed the bathroom price; and I almost finished the drawings for the hair salon.
 |
| You can easily see the curb in these pictures--where Kirk rests his left hand, above. There is tile backer board on the shower walls, and you can see where they have cemented the joints and the niche forms with thin-set to stop leaks. |
Whew. It was a busy, and yet, to me, a fulfilling day. We overcame what Kirk said in his message to me, was "a terrible problem." Nuts. A problem--any problem--is just something waiting for a solution. We persevered--we hung in there and we lived to remodel another day.
Until tomorrow,
Earl.
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