In which that was unexpected (Terrible Decisions, part XIV)

On December 22, 2013 By Luther M. SilerIn idiocy1 Comment

This is Mr. Bulkhead:

Mr. Bulkhead lives in my bathroom, above my tub. He holds my shower fan and is covered with tile on his lower side. Until this evening, I thought he was full of blown-in insulation from the attic. Then I dremeled my way into him to see what I was in for when I demolished him later this week.

I was a bit startled with what I found.

If you were to poke your face directly into the hole up there, this is what you would see– a perfectly clean and dry space (any dust you see is from cutting through the drywall– not so much as a spiderweb despite the hole back there,) seriously over studded on the bottom (I assume to carry the weight of the tile?) and featuring unexpected and currently (that’s a pun) inexplicable electrical wires. I think that the one on the left runs to a power switch in the hallway– or maybe to the power switch in the bathroom itself, if it turns toward the camera and goes through a bunch of studs along the way. The other one is a bit of a mystery, because it’s not coming from the attic like all the other power lines in the house– I’m guessing there’s a junction box buried in the wall somewhere(*). Best guess is that it feeds a power outlet in the entryway to the house, although it seems like it’s in a weird place for that. Note the drywall along the back wall; that drywall has the bathtub surround tile on it once it gets south of the box.

Here’s the fan:

I cannot believe that that rinkydink summamabitch has been keeping my bathroom dry all these years; that tape should have dissolved somewhere in the eighties. The new fan is considerably larger and more powerful; we got the best one we had available to us.

Hooking it up is gonna be interesting. I had the idea that we’d be pushing away a bunch of insulation around it, moving the ceiling up, and tying it into the existing vent pipe however that might be done; the nice clean box we have is now calling that plan into question– like, maybe we keep the damn thing now that we know what it looks like? I dunno. We’d still have to redrywall at least the “floor” of the thing since the ceiling tile still has to come down. That electrical line in the back has me concerned, too; to keep that in the wall we’d have to notch out the studs back there or something. Doable, obviously, but I wasn’t planning on moving electrical lines even if it’s easy.

On the plus side, the wallpaper removal has been the easiest thing in the world. I’m honestly not sure right now if this new discovery has made this job more or less of a pain in the ass. As always, I’ll keep y’all updated. Especially if I hurt myself.

Suggestions and advice are welcome, obviously.

(* It’s my understanding that you’re not supposed to do that? Although maybe that wasn’t code when the house was built? I dunno; right now I don’t even know what it’s back there for, so speculating about whether the possibly-nonexistent junction box is up to code or not seems kinda pointless.)

It’s gonna be one of those days…

On December 21, 2013 By Luther M. SilerIn idiocyLeave a comment

An I Hate Technology day, to be specific, because I’ve been at OtherJob trying to get my school stuff out of the way for Winter Break, and in an hour of trying this sentence is the first thing I’ve accomplished, because every piece of technology I own is falling apart on me all at once. The phone can’t grab a signal to save its life, the laptop won’t load anything, and the iPad is being a bitch about pairing with my keyboard. I have a lot of school stuff to do today– my plan is to have nothing work-related hanging over my head for the rest of my break so I can focus on the bathroom and, well, lazing around, and that’s not going to work if my entire kit betrays me at once. In particular the laptop, which I think I’ve got behaving again– it hasn’t deleted this yet, for instance– has me alarmed, as it’s about four years old by now and starting to show its age. In the strictest sense of the word, I can afford to go buy a new laptop this afternoon, but I made it a line item in the grant and I’m really hoping that I can keep it going until spring and then find out somebody else is gonna buy one for me. We’ll see.

Ignore the condition of my bathtub– that’s a consequence of the filter I chose; while I’m not going to pretend my tub is pristine it certainly doesn’t actually look that bad– and take a look at that wall. That’s maybe 40 minutes of work yesterday evening, which means that if I put a couple of hours into it tonight stripping the wallpaper from the two walls that need it done right away is going to be a much, much easier project than I had anticipated. I basically just ran a scoring tool over the wall a bunch of times and then applied hot water– from the teapot on my stove into a Febreze bottle and then poured over a rag. I had initially had the idea that I’d use the Febreze bottle and just spray the hot water directly into the wall; it turns out that aerosolizing even very hot water that way cools it off instantly. I can literally spray water from a plastic bottle that is too hot to hold directly onto my arm and it feels cold, so using a rag was the only way to do it. The wall still feels a little rough to the touch but it looks great; I figure a little cleaning and it’ll feel fine too.

This is good; I needed the first project to go well, even if it was a simple one. The next step is to knock out the bulkhead and install the new shower fan, which is not going to be simple. Hoping to get started with that on Sunday and Monday; I’ll keep you updated on the disaster. Whee!

The first of many oversights

On December 13, 2013December 13, 2013 By Luther M. SilerIn idiocy5 Comments

Friday. Alhamdollilah.

There’s apparently a sumbitch of a storm headed our way but I can’t get enough of a handle on it to determine how much bad weather we’re actually supposed to catch– while I’m usually not the type to get all yaah blaaah weather forecasters, dude, it really seems like this time none of my usual sources have any kind of common theory on how much snow my area is supposed to get; estimates range from one inch (effectively, none) to over a foot, which would mean that I wouldn’t have to go to OtherJob tomorrow. And since I’ve spent most of this week avoiding work in general, another day where I didn’t have to do anything would be nice.

(Racks brain for a couple of minutes; comes up with zero entertaining anecdotes)

Oh, here’s a thing: It took me way too long to realize this, but one important thing I left out of the big Terrible Decisions update last week? Wallpaper. There’s fuckin’ wallpaper everywhere in my bathroom, and that’s gotta come off, and by my reckoning that’s gotta come off first, before literally any other work of any kind happens. So… this week, and starting this weekend, because I want that done before my two-week at-least-get-the-tub-done clock starts ticking over winter break.

At least it’s a really small bathroom.

I know nothing about wallpaper removal except that it is said to be terribly annoying. As I firmly believe every single thing having anything to do with home improvement to be terribly annoying, I have no trouble whatsoever believing this. So you’ve got that to look forward to this week, along with maybe a couple of 2013-listy sorts of things.

Just, uh, nothing interesting today. That’s okay, right? Please say you still love me.

SAY IT GODDAMMIT.

EDIT: Just checked. Traditional wallpaper. Just… kill me.

Terrible Decisions update: The Big List of Lists

On December 5, 2013 By Luther M. SilerIn idiocy10 Comments

So… remember the bathroom update? I haven’t mentioned it in a while because school started and we had to push everything back to when I had the time and the sanity to do it: in other words, winter break. Which is in three weeks, which means that the planning has shifted into high gear. I put this together tonight; I’m sharing it with you guys because 1) I think it might be entertaining to see just how unprepared I am to do this right and 2) I’m hoping people smarter than me will spot issues that I might not be aware of yet.

Copied and pasted from Evernote, here you go:

Project 1: Eliminate bulkhead

1) Clear insulation away from inside attic.
2) Remove existing bathroom fan.
3) Demolish bulkhead.
4) Secure/install new bathroom fan.
5) Install new cement board ceiling.

Potential issues: 1) Electrical incompatibilities; 2) structural incompatibilities; 3) Incompatibilities with position of vent ductwork.

Necessary purchases: 1) Cement board; 2) Screws; 3) drywall mud 4) mudding tools/sandpaper

Possible purchases: 1) 2x4s for structure? 2) possibly something to extend/move vent ductwork. 3) moisture barrier 4) new wiring (hopefully not)

Timeline: 1 day.

Project 2: Demolition of existing bathtub surround.

1) Pull down tile.
2) Pull down drywall.
3) Remove existing shower fixtures.

Potential issues: 1) Mold issues behind wall; 2) leak issues behind wall; 3) plumbing incompatibilities with new shower hardware (call plumber for this if necessary)

Necessary purchases: None for demolition, but we should have shower hardware before doing this so that we can compare it to what’s behind the wall.

Possible purchases: None.

Timeline: A couple of hours for demo and clean-up; possibly a couple of days if we have to wait for a plumber (can do other two walls while waiting)

Project 3: Construction of new bathtub surround/ installation of new shower hardware.

1) Install moisture barrier (???), cement board, second waterproofing layer?
2) Measure/drill holes for shower hardware
3) Mortar, tile, grout.

Potential issues: I probably suck at this. Measure thirty times before tiling once. Make absolutely sure we have carefully researched every step before doing the work; only one chance to do this right. Terror. Do we mud cement board before putting tile on? Assume no, but find out.

Necessary purchases: Cement board, screws, possible sheeting for moisture barrier/waterproofing layer (spread-on?), shower hardware, tile cutter (borrowed/rented), mortar, grout, mortar/grouting tools

Possible purchases: None I can think of.

Timeline: At least a full day; probably two, especially if we need a plumber before doing one of the walls.

***WORK CAN STOP INDEFINITELY AT THIS POINT***

Project 4: Demolish rest of bathroom

1) Carefully remove mirror from wall; take downstairs
2) Remove hardware from walls
3) Demolish sink/vanity (plumbing will be a pain in the ass, since I don’t know how to remove it)
4) Drain & remove toilet.
5) Tear out drywall behind toilet, where tub was leaking
6) Remove tile kickplate around base of walls
7) Remove door and door…frame?
8) Remove floor tile.
9) If putting in floor heating, pull drywall on wall that we need to run wiring through.

Potential issues: Removing the floor tile is expected to be a pain in the ass. Dealing with the plumbing to remove the sink could potentially be difficult. Hopefully do all this with as little damage as possible to existing drywall other than the piece we know we need to replace. Removing the painted door frame without damaging the drywall seems… optimistic.

Necessary purchases: None, unless a special tool is needed to remove the linoleum floor tile; unexpected.

Possible purchases: None that I can think of.

Timeline: Please, God, don’t let this take longer than a day.

Project 5: Fix rest of bathroom.

1) Install floor heating, if that’s happening. Possibly replace power switch on wall if needed.
2) Install new drywall as needed. Mud, sand, etc.
3) Install new tile floor
4) Install new vanity, including necessary plumbing hookups. In process, attach new sink to new vanity. Also attach new sink hardware to new sink once it’s attached to the vanity.
5) Install new toilet
6) Cut door to size for new flooring; reinstall
7) Install new framing for door (match old, if possible)
8) Repaint (before or after vanity installation? Hmm.)
9) Hang new mirror and new hardware

Potential issues: I have no idea how to do any of these things. Timing on painting. Electrical work necessary for floor heating may be problematic. Tile must be measured and cut perfectly the first time, and I’ve never done it before. Plumbing hookups on vanity must be leak-free. Toilet must be leak-free. New door framing must line up. Drywall needs to be proper size and look right when mudded. No good way to cut door down.

Necessary purchases: Mortar, grout, drywall, mud, screws, acquire circular saw (borrow), door framing, paint, new hardware.

Possible purchases: Floor heating unit.

Timeline: God help me, hopefully only a couple of days.