Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Bitter.

Is how I would describe our temperatures for the last few days.
And here you thought I was talking about my demeanour?   Only on certain days.

It was "warmer" today,  but of course (of course!) the wind was so furious that it felt like "bitter".   Geeez!

But hey,  it's winter.  And here we are.  We've been warmer.  Glad for central heat is all.

I'm at a bit of a Christmas standstill on the bathroom front.
 
As I mentioned,  the tub is out.  Took it off to the metal recycling place yesterday.
It only weighed 220?  Seemed heavier.  Whatever.  Got a little cash.  Enough for breakfast.




Normally I don't bother with that whole "going over the scales" thing,  and simply put metal stuff out at the curb.  It magically disappears.  Always.  Dishwashers,  stoves,  you name it.  Even (or maybe especially) my old defunct snow thrower.  
But I was curious,  and there were a few other metal bits that I had been saving up.  Hate to see metal stuff go into the landfill.  It all can be re-used.

Then tomorrow,  it'll be another trip to the "Transfer Station"  (read..."Landfill")  with load number three of renovation stuff.

I'll try and save the boxes if I can.  Sometimes the "helpers" are a little overly helpful.






This is why we didn't get a bin.  No need with the pick-up truck.  Came in handy on Sunday for our annual Christmas Tree foraging expedition as well.  (And THAT was cold,  let me tell ya.)

Not much else going on.  I do have a few more bathroom pics,  but certainly nothing earth shattering.





I'm using cement board for the shower surround.  I have yet to build the third wall.  That'll be after Christmas at this point.
The house is "masonry brick"  construction.  On the other side of that tar paper is a thin layer of parging,  cinder block and brick.  A bit different from "balloon frame" construction that's used these days.  
Um,  it isn't going anywhere.
Unlike our neighbour's house just behind us,  there are no ominous cracks running anywhere.  The downside however is,  the only "insulation" is an air space between the tar paper and the inside wall.
Somehow that doesn't seem...adequate.

So that's the reason I'm putting in foil backed Styrofoam.  Has to help.  That,  and sealing any and all cracks with spray foam does make a difference.  This place was drafty like you wouldn't believe when we first moved here!    New windows made a huge difference,  along with trying to seal up just about any gap I could find with the aforementioned spray foam.  Awesome stuff,  even though a little expensive.



That's about it for today.

It's this or silence.

Thanks for stopping by.

Keep that stick on the ice.

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Now what?

As of today   Monday,  I was up to this point.




And of course,  this tub probably weighs more than my tablesaw.  Like,  we're talking...heavy.  This thing is maybe 600lbs?   Don't know.  

Won't ever know.

So, after having a little discussion about getting it out of there,  Travelling Companion put in a request to some sort of  "Junk Removal" place.   There's a "scheduled appointment" for tomorrow some time.  I forget when,  and it doesn't matter,  since they were supposed to contact me at some point to confirm.  Haven't heard a peep.

As of today I was starting to get a little agitated,  since I can't do too darned much except fuss with the drywall on the one bit to the left there,  since I really need this thing out of here.

Tried calling.  Line's busy.  AND,  it turns out there were a couple less than stellar reviews on Yelp.  Hm.  OK then.  Called somebody else.

Or,  chatted with someone else,  as I was looking on a particular website and a chat window popped up in the lower right hand corner.

Now, quite often I either ignore that kind of thing,  or move on or whatever,  but this time around I needed someone to come and take a look.  So I started "chatting" with Alison, or Andrea or whoever the heck it was. 

And so,  this afternoon at the scheduled time,  sure enough a young feller from ANOTHER junk removal place showed up.

You might have figured out by now that,  I was really looking for the easy way out?  Like,  Muggins here didn't want to do any heavy lifting. Period.

Now,  I have to say first of all,  he wasn't all that big.  I mean,  I was expecting a big burly guy.  Junk is usually heavy.  
I mean I know,  little guys can be all "wiry" and strong and shit,  but if you're 98 pounds sopping wet, that doesn't exactly instil a lot of confidence.
I'm just saying.

Anyway,  he took a couple pics,  went out to the truck to call his boss,  and came back in to report that, "they couldn't do it".

Ah.  Youth and exuberance.  Or well,  youth and inexperience.

So,  whereas he was talking about at least four guys and the fact that they don't have any straps,  and that they've had issues before, etc. etc. It turns out that all that was required was,  one old guy and a sledge hammer.


See,  it's cast iron.   Now,  there are a couple different types of cast iron,  and if I had hearkened back to when we had our oil tank removed,  I should have recalled when the owner of the plumbing company put on his overalls,  grabbed a framing hammer,  hopped up on the tank (ya, I'm not kidding)  and gave the inlet pipe a whack.  Whereupon it broke into several pieces.  I can't remember the term he used,  but let's just say,  it was the kind of cast iron that you can break.

I was kind of hoping for the same.

Turns out I got lucky.







And that kids,  is how it's done.

Now,  I'll readily admit that,  THIS IS HARD WORK.  I mean,  I've swung the sledge hammer here and there to drive in the odd stake or whatever, BUT beating on cast iron tends to make you break a sweat.   And even the pieces that were maybe no bigger than the size of a serving tray were HEAVY.  

Anyway,  it's done.  Now I can go on with my shower "prep".   And well,  I still have a whole bunch of tile to remove.   We did have a little "collateral damage",  but I won't go into that here.  
Such fun.

Thanks for lookin'.

Sticks.  Ice.  You know.


Saturday, December 3, 2016

Of course you know, this means war.

One of my favourite cartoon characters.

See,  I stepped outside ever so briefly this morning to hang a couple items out to air out,  and it would seem that we gained a visitor.

T.C.  and I were sitting here perusing something or other 'on the line',  when we heard the definite sounds of someone,  or something clanking about in the kitchen.


Here's one of his furry brethren:





Needless to say,  I didn't race off to get the camera,  so you'll have to take my word for it.

Enough of a challenge getting my shoes on.

This is when having "open concept" is not all what it's cracked up to be.  Thankfully,  we're believers in doors.  Door to the kitchen.  Door to the dining room.  Both closed in a hurry.
 
Next,  go around back and open the back door and herd the little bastard back out.

What I didn't know, after he ran downstairs to escape the old two legged creature with the stick,  was that he had already been downstairs,  up on the window sill trying to escape.  Chewing on our lovely cedar window.
Gah!

Anyway,  I'll just sand it down to make it look like it's kinda worn or something.  Thankfully he didn't damage the screen,  although it was half ways out.

The kids will think this is hilarious,  as I've had battles in the past with these little furry tailed rats,  but since they can no longer chew on the house,  I've sort of let them be.

Until now.

I'll not divulge any evil thoughts that I might have.  Best to not upset the squeamish.

Meanwhile,  the bathroom reno is progressing slowly.   I'm sort of having to do it piecemeal,  as we seem to be having some issues with a few of the items that we've ordered.   Like March for delivery??
No matter,  as there's plenty to do to keep me busy.

Ever since we moved here,  I've been annoyed by the fact that one of the light switches for the bathroom was out in the hallway. How does that make sense?
So if you happen to go in and forget to turn on the rest of the lights (there are two circuits),  you either need to suit up again,  or hope that nobody's around as you poke your head out to find the switch.

Fixed that.

The other thing was,  there was nothing even remotely like a GFCI in either bathroom when we moved in.  So we did the best we could at the time and piggy backed off another circuit.
You know what I'm talking about, right?



Later,  more or less in desperation,  I piggy backed off of THAT one to add a plug for a garage door opener.   I have to admit,  I had completely forgotten that one,  as there was this "mystery" wire that went down into the garage.  It didn't hit me right away (like,  we're talking a couple days here) but then I had that moment of clarity when I remembered what I had done.    To think I did that without cracking open nary a wall!

This time around though,  we be openin' walls,  and as I had the wall open anyway to put in the box for the heated flooring,  I figured I'd sort out everything I could.



That level is on there to remind me that I need to tweak the box a tad before putting up the drywall.
Not quite level.

So there was a certain amount of hole drilling and wire pulling,  as in total I added three new circuits. Bathroom GFIs,  garage door opener,  and the separate circuit for the heated flooring.   The deal there is,  they recommend a square box with two lengths of conduit,  trimmed out with something called a 'mud ring'.

Ends up looking like this:



Down at floor level,  the two conduits are there for the temperature sensor in one,  and the leads for the power in t'other.

While I was at it, I wanted a little cubby for recharging toothbrushes.

Don't ask.  I get these lame ideas.  And half way through the first stages of finishing off the drywall,  I start to question my sanity.

It'll look better when it's all done.



And that's about the extent of the excitement around here.

Tomorrow I'm thinking the tub wall will be coming down.

Not as easy as it sounds,  trust me.

I'll try to take photos.

Thanks for stopping by.

Keep that stick on the ice.