Workbench Creations

Wow, nice walls, Mello! So much better than the depths of dismal pepto bismol pink popcorn that was there before. Congrats on a job very well done.

Rumour has it that Kris is still looking for a new bath. Such a shame...

Far Newbies you guys seem to moving right along. Looks great. When do you want to come to my house and redo my bathroom?

The first house we lived in was a wreck. Thankfully the owner was willing to let me fix it up, and he provided the materials. No cost and much latitude with the landlord when we needed a break or a favor! We left it MUCH better than we found it, and they are still renting it out to this day, despite that it was ready to fall in when we found it in '91.

The first house we owned was also a wreck. $20,000 in materials and ten years of "hard" labor (of love) later, we sold it for twice our investment. Not bad... a 100% profit in 10 years, plus the advantage of not having enough ambition to find the nearest bar! Hated to leave the place, but the wife wanted a new home built in the woods and on it's own little slice of heaven.

What did the smart guy do? He built it with his own two hands! It took the better part of two years of every non-working/sleeping minute of his life - but the satisfaction will live on forever!

There is nothing like the sense of accomplishment that comes with building/rebuilding your own space! Great job and keep up the good work.

Funny thing. The missus wanted a new sink, faucet and vanity in the downstairs powder room. (Water closet minus the tub or shower for those of you across the pond). The existing faux marble molded sink was developing those characteristic cracks in the bowl after 20 or 30 years of use.

Well. The house is 36 years old. Really, I was just going to replace the sink.

Oh yeah, and the harvest gold () toilet that uses too much water. And ok, the harvest gold pattern linoleum tiles on the floor. And remember the wall paper that the kids poked a few holes in the corners with their curious fingers? We'll just pull that down and put on a nice fresh coat of paint. Oh, now I see why the previous owners put up wallpaper. The drywall is bloody mess.

I can't seem to completely shut off the water to one of the sink supply lines because the valve is so corroded after 36 years. So I'll have to sweat on some new valves after the new drywall goes up. In the meantime I put a bucket under the valve to catch the drips.

As I start pull down drywall, I find mounds of mouse shit. Oh great, now I have biological hazards with Lord know what diseases pouring out onto the floor because the stupid ass builder didn't even attempt to block any of the plumbing openings leaving a virtual superhighway for rodents to live cozily and warm in the meager R-7 insulation in my outside walls. Remember the old, noisy exhaust fan? It doesn't exhaust anywhere. The duct to the outside was barely attached, the backflow flapper didn't do anything, and the screened over vent under the overhang was so clogged with dust it was virtually impenetrable. That's OK because that's when I discovered the 1/2 inch wide gap between the top of the siding and trim of the overhang open to the great outdoors. No wonder why this bathroom would be refreshingly brisk during the winter months. Nothing a few more nails and some caulking didn't fix after twenty minutes up on a step-ladder.

So we buy a new exhaust fan with a built in light too. And new ductwork and a new under eave vent grille, four inch instead of the old three inch. After I clean out all the old insulation and mouse detritus I found that the smell of mouse urine becomes, ummmm . . . noticeable. I found by cleaning the wood framing and sheathing with a bleach based cleaning solution, the smell was noticeably reduced and a coating of spray shellac eliminated the last vestiges of mother nature's calling cards.

Remember the toilet? Well, the closet flange looked like it could have been taken off the deck of the Titanic. Another trip down the plumbing aisle. Since I don't want to sweat on the new supply valves before I put up the new drywall, I'll need to put in some ball valves in the basement water lines to the bathroom so we can continue to supply water to the rest of the house.

I thought wall mounted light fixtures ought to have some sort of box attached to the framing for support. Some Einstein of a previous owner just decided who needs a stinking electrical box when you can use that funny little metal strap with the fixture to bridge the hole and hold the fixture to the wall. Barely. I found enough toggle bolts at the bottom of the wall cavity to open up my own hardware store. When the toggle bolts stopped holding the owner decided on the strap tactic. Sure, just let the wiring with the wrong size wire nuts dangling in the wall cavity. That funny bare copper wire in the Romex cable? It doesn't seem to do anything so no need to connect that either.

I think my wife is documenting the odyssey on her Facebook page. I'll see if I can post a link. Still a work in progress. I should have taken more pictures. I just never thought I was going in this deep.

"In days of old

When knights were bold

And toilets not yet invented

They dug a hole

In the middle of the road

And sat there, quite contented."

-Anon

How times have changed.

Oh my goodness-- a kindred soul! Your story mirrors our experience in the sense of projects that are opening-a-can-of-worms. What seems like a basic "Oh, it's minor cosmetic issues, throw on a fresh coat of paint!" becomes totally remodeling a kitchen and bathroom.

My sympathy for your efforts-- would love to see the images on facebook! ^_^