Saturday, June 16, 2007
Toilet Paper It Is
Renovations.
ARGH!
For the past number of weeks we've had a friend of The Squeeze's in to do some renovations to the house. The ensuite and powder room are gutted, leaving us with one bathroom that we are able to use. Not a problem really, that's what most people have and it seems to work for us. Where the frustration comes in is all of the planning, selecting and revising that needs to be done to make these things happen.
The walls of the main floor, stairway and hall have all been painted and it looks SO much better than they did when we moved in. The rest of the projects are a bit slow, but whatchagonnado? Remember Murphy Brown? Remember how she had Eldin the painter who was working on her house for the duration of the series? That feels like us. Joe just might wind up on the permanent payroll here. If Brynn and Zoe lived with us, he could be their nanny...er...manny?
The ensuite project began with me taking some measurements before we (and by 'we' I mean 'he') knocked down the wall between the old ensuite and walk-in closet. I roughed up some sketches and things looked good. Toilet, bidet, vanity and big-ass shower. I figured out electrical, lighting, plumbing and venting locations. Somehow along the line we decided we should probably do things legally and get a building permit for the remodel. I called the Building Department at city hall and found out what I needed. We filled out the application and submitted existing and proposed layouts. We waited the 10 business days for approval and got it no problem.
The Squeeze and I stopped in at a bath showroom and looked at some options. "Cultured marble is the way to go. No groutlines," the lady said. Hmm...good idea. I hate the stains you get in the groutlines. So we called them back to set up an appointment. We arrived for the appointment at the designated time to find their doors locked. Due to a major power outage during a big storm that blew through that afternoon, they had locked up and gone home. The Squeeze managed to get in the following day while I was at work and get some pricing. YIKES! The shower alone would cost us about $6,000! Since it's not a standard size we're dealing with it has to be custom, and like I said, I really hate those stained groutlines. We've decided to go with the custom cultured marble base and we'll tile the walls. That should cut a few grand off of that tab.
On Thursday, The Squeeze stopped in at Homo Depot to order the toilet and bidet. He called me to inform me that the bidet is about $1,100.....and that's without the taps. Taps are another $700 or so. That's crawling up on $2,000 for a butt sink. We made the decision right then and there to get rid of the bidet idea. Like The Squeeze said in front of Eldin...er...Joe, "for five bucks I can buy a length of hose". God help me. TMI!
So what did that mean? Back to the drawing board. Now I'm yanking the toilet and bidet from their location and replacing it with a large vanity, and replacing the vanity with the toilet. The shower remains in its place. The beauty of this new plan is that the doorway doesn't have to be moved now. However, we have decided to go with a pocket door instead of a regular swing-in door. Much better use of space, and quite frankly, it's just us...we rarely close the door. Hell, we're usually in there at the same time anyway. Of course, lighting and plumbing needs to change. I called the Building Department to see what we need to do now that we're changing things. I have to submit new sketches and hopefully they can approve the changes immediately. Let's hope, because we've booked an inspection for Wednesday morning. Joe will have about a day and a half to get all the framing and plumbing rough-in done. No pressure.
But wait....there's more. After deciding on where to put the toilet now, I discovered where the floor joists are. Guess what? A joist falls right at the 12" mark from the wall. Right where the toilet drain has to go. We could frame a bumpout wall behind it, pushing the toilet forward 4", but that leaves only about a 28" space between the front of the toilet to get to the shower. A bit tight. So I've decided to turn the toilet 90 degrees. That will give us another 10" to the path to the shower. This should all work out.
More will be revealed, I'm sure.
ARGH!
For the past number of weeks we've had a friend of The Squeeze's in to do some renovations to the house. The ensuite and powder room are gutted, leaving us with one bathroom that we are able to use. Not a problem really, that's what most people have and it seems to work for us. Where the frustration comes in is all of the planning, selecting and revising that needs to be done to make these things happen.
The walls of the main floor, stairway and hall have all been painted and it looks SO much better than they did when we moved in. The rest of the projects are a bit slow, but whatchagonnado? Remember Murphy Brown? Remember how she had Eldin the painter who was working on her house for the duration of the series? That feels like us. Joe just might wind up on the permanent payroll here. If Brynn and Zoe lived with us, he could be their nanny...er...manny?
The ensuite project began with me taking some measurements before we (and by 'we' I mean 'he') knocked down the wall between the old ensuite and walk-in closet. I roughed up some sketches and things looked good. Toilet, bidet, vanity and big-ass shower. I figured out electrical, lighting, plumbing and venting locations. Somehow along the line we decided we should probably do things legally and get a building permit for the remodel. I called the Building Department at city hall and found out what I needed. We filled out the application and submitted existing and proposed layouts. We waited the 10 business days for approval and got it no problem.
The Squeeze and I stopped in at a bath showroom and looked at some options. "Cultured marble is the way to go. No groutlines," the lady said. Hmm...good idea. I hate the stains you get in the groutlines. So we called them back to set up an appointment. We arrived for the appointment at the designated time to find their doors locked. Due to a major power outage during a big storm that blew through that afternoon, they had locked up and gone home. The Squeeze managed to get in the following day while I was at work and get some pricing. YIKES! The shower alone would cost us about $6,000! Since it's not a standard size we're dealing with it has to be custom, and like I said, I really hate those stained groutlines. We've decided to go with the custom cultured marble base and we'll tile the walls. That should cut a few grand off of that tab.
On Thursday, The Squeeze stopped in at Homo Depot to order the toilet and bidet. He called me to inform me that the bidet is about $1,100.....and that's without the taps. Taps are another $700 or so. That's crawling up on $2,000 for a butt sink. We made the decision right then and there to get rid of the bidet idea. Like The Squeeze said in front of Eldin...er...Joe, "for five bucks I can buy a length of hose". God help me. TMI!
So what did that mean? Back to the drawing board. Now I'm yanking the toilet and bidet from their location and replacing it with a large vanity, and replacing the vanity with the toilet. The shower remains in its place. The beauty of this new plan is that the doorway doesn't have to be moved now. However, we have decided to go with a pocket door instead of a regular swing-in door. Much better use of space, and quite frankly, it's just us...we rarely close the door. Hell, we're usually in there at the same time anyway. Of course, lighting and plumbing needs to change. I called the Building Department to see what we need to do now that we're changing things. I have to submit new sketches and hopefully they can approve the changes immediately. Let's hope, because we've booked an inspection for Wednesday morning. Joe will have about a day and a half to get all the framing and plumbing rough-in done. No pressure.
But wait....there's more. After deciding on where to put the toilet now, I discovered where the floor joists are. Guess what? A joist falls right at the 12" mark from the wall. Right where the toilet drain has to go. We could frame a bumpout wall behind it, pushing the toilet forward 4", but that leaves only about a 28" space between the front of the toilet to get to the shower. A bit tight. So I've decided to turn the toilet 90 degrees. That will give us another 10" to the path to the shower. This should all work out.
More will be revealed, I'm sure.
# posted by Dave @ 9:34 AM 
Comments:
<< Home
You so did not post this on Saturday, June 16!!! I was just here yesterday (or was it the day before) and there just the Pants post!!!
You're qbpfn-ing!
You're qbpfn-ing!
Sorry kat.
The post was written on that date but I didn't publish it until the other day. I considered scanning my sketches of the floorplans and putting them in here, but I came to my senses and axed that idea.
The move, if it happens, probably won't be for a year or two. Hopefully we'll get back a portion of the cash we're sinking into this place. Nobody would buy it if we left it like it was when we moved in. Well...except us, that is.
Post a Comment
The post was written on that date but I didn't publish it until the other day. I considered scanning my sketches of the floorplans and putting them in here, but I came to my senses and axed that idea.
The move, if it happens, probably won't be for a year or two. Hopefully we'll get back a portion of the cash we're sinking into this place. Nobody would buy it if we left it like it was when we moved in. Well...except us, that is.
<< Home
