Days 5 and 6: No work done. Plumber will do the rough in
on Monday.
Day7: Plumber was a no show. Electrician did the rough
in, including the exhaust fan we bought.
Day 8: Plumbing crew of 3 guys worked to remove the old cast iron
drain, which is in the wall down to the basement. They cut a hole
in the wall of the downstairs bathroom for more access. Lots of
banging and dust. Initially they wanted to put the drain and water
pipes in the "pinball" closet, exposed or perhaps boxed
in. I said NO. Pipes in the wall is much more tidy. I
gave them a startup check. The sink in the other upstairs bathroom
is now inoperable. Sorry Kathy. Electrician came back and
did the rough wiring as I had specified. (grumpy guy who was
trying to ignore me.)
Day 9: City electrical inspector came but wouldn't give approval
until the heated floor is installed. Plumbers worked most of the
day doing rough in. Still not finished. Exhaust fan and
drain vents were installed. Water turned off most of the day. (I
shouldn't drank so much coffee!)
Day 10: A lone plumber showed up to do the water pipes.
Arrived at 10 AM and left at 3PM and took some time for lunch.
(What ever happened to 8 hour work days?) Water pipes less than
half done. It appears that the plumber forgot one of lines to one
of the sinks.
Days 11-12: Rough plumbing done and put on pressure
tests. City inspection tomorrow.
Day 13: Working on towel warmer radiator
installation. Exhaust fan is vent is installed. Electrical
and plumbing inspections done.
Day 14: All the construction debris cleaned out and work begins
on the flooring and augmenting the floor joints.
Day 15: April 1. Subfloor installed. City inspector wants
hurricane straps added before passing. Most of the insulation was installed.
Days 16-18: Dry wall put up (green board) and two coats of
"mud" applied. Last Friday, the contractor left the
windows open to facilitate drying and two birds took up residence.
Kathy shooed them out.
Day 19: A quick third coat of drywall mud applied.
Day 20: Shower floor pan put in and waterproof membrane for shower
started. Shower will be inspected by the city before the tiling can
begin (maybe Friday). For the past week, Kenny is working alone in the
bath for a couple of hours per day. Progress is slow.
Day 21: Kenny, our project manager came in this morning with
another guy who he said was an "expert" on the installation of
the shower waterproof membrane he had installed. (cement board is
usually used in showers, but the membrane is a new approach) I
kept my silence (not easy, but suggested to Kathy that perhaps they
should have had the expert do the install) while they inspected the
shower membrane. After the inspection, Kenny said this was
his FIRST membrane install, but he was confident and has watched the
instructional video. Kathy asked him if he had stayed in a Holiday
Inn express last night? Kenny did some trim work on the windows for
a couple of hours. Left early with three buckets of water in the
shower floor to test it.
Day 22. Monday. City inspector OK'ed the shower. Kenny
did a small amount of window trim. Tile guy was a no show. Kenny
departed at 10:30.
Day 23: Tile guys came. Put down the "underlayment"
on the floor and the electical grid for the heated floor. They
stacked their tile supply in the garage. Will return tomorrow for
the floor tiles. Underlayment must dry for a day.
Day 24: Before the tile guys showed up, I (since I am the painter for
interior work) primed the wood trim (as advised by Kenny) adjacent
to the tile to be installed. Also, as a test, filled a few nail
holes in the new trim.
Days 25-35: Taking some time off from postings while I played with my
race cars. We painted the bath over two days. When the electrical
guy came in to do the final wiring, the exhaust fan did not work.
After much worry since the fan is buried in the ceiling, the electrician
found that the fan blades were binding in the housing. Easy fix.
Final plumbing done 30 April. Bath is mostly complete, except the
cabinet guys (Furr) need to return to retrim the medicine cabinets to
our spec and move them 6 inches higher.
Day 36: May 11 the glass contractor is scheduled today to
install the shower enclosure glass. Shower door got chipped and
will get replaced on 19 May. Toilet paper holder to be
installed by Kenny. Kathy has spent several days on line
considering window treatments that will not interfere with the garden
view. She will make curtains from some Door County material
she has. She bought a new sewing machine toy and I have to
figure out non-intrusive curtain rods.
May 19: Replacement glass shower door is installed. Still
waiting on the cabinet guys to revise the medicine cabinets and move
them higher on the wall.
Jun 2: Furr guy came and move the medicine cabinets up 6 inches
and installed the correct trim at the tops. I patched holes.
Bath done.
