Home Improvement III

[Monster]

Don't rub it in too deep Steve.

Just trying to provide some comic relief ... I don't believe any of us would have remodeled using a saw & RTV.

[DanStokes]

Be strong and carry on. I, of course, would have tackled this myself and in 6 months we'd have a finished product.

Dan

[pdub]

Be strong and carry on. I, of course, would have tackled this myself and in 6 months we'd have a finished product.

Dan

After the meeting that just got over a few minutes ago, I wouldn't doubt it'll be 6 months before we get this one. Geez. I declare, this house is Christine the Car all over again, except built from 2x4's. Jimminy. Just gotta grin, that's all we can do at this point. Gyah-LEE. We could have left it all alone, but no we couldn't - we need a shower instead of a tub. I'm sure more folks than us have been through more stuff than us trying to get anything done.

We're good, we have another bathroom with a tub. I just had to recommission it. You wouldn't believe how much mold can grow in a bathroom when you close the door on it and leave it alone for a few months. That's probably not the right thing to do anyhow, close the door and leave it alone. Ewww yuck, I flushed the toilet and something went BOOM! Must have been an air jam or something from not being used. I can't figure out what that was, but it was loud.

[silver_bullet]

Petrified shart .....

[malc]

The terror of DIY.....

[pdub]

The terror of DIY.....

That's a real belly laugh, thanks Malc! But at the same time, it's all too real. Way too real.

[pdub]

Unit disclosed that she's been using the towel rack beside the toilet to pull herself up off of the toilet in the master bath (the demon shower room). Ohhh no, that'll be her next wreck when that wooden peg breaks one day soon. So I ordered us one of those commercial grade handicapped safety grab bars to put beside the toilet. It got here today. The shipping was almost as much as the grab bar. But it's in the house now.

I'm gonna mount that on a stud, straight up and down to make sure it's nice and sturdy. I had the wireless drill on charge, and went to get my stud finder. It was not where it's supposed to be. And it's not anywhere else, either. I used up all of today's good steps looking for it. It's just not anywhere.

So I went online and did a search for stud finder finders. I appears nobody makes a stud finder finder. So I had to order a new stud finder. It'll get here a lot quicker than the house-cutting plumber will. Lots sooner.

[corvettedad]

Unit disclosed that she's been using the towel rack beside the toilet to pull herself up off of the toilet in the master bath (the demon shower room). Ohhh no, that'll be her next wreck when that wooden peg breaks one day soon. So I ordered us one of those commercial grade handicapped safety grab bars to put beside the toilet. It got here today. The shipping was almost as much as the grab bar. But it's in the house now.

I'm gonna mount that on a stud, straight up and down to make sure it's nice and sturdy. I had the wireless drill on charge, and went to get my stud finder. It was not where it's supposed to be. And it's not anywhere else, either. I used up all of today's good steps looking for it. It's just not anywhere.

So I went online and did a search for stud finder finders. I appears nobody makes a stud finder finder. So I had to order a new stud finder. It'll get here a lot quicker than the house-cutting plumber will. Lots sooner.

I put one in John's bathroom to help him, but now he's bigger so now and I have to tear out the 1964 vintage bathroom and completely remodel it to fit John now.

[oletrux4evr]

Use the old finger-knock system to find a stud. Knock along the wall with one knuckle. It will sound hollow in the open (non-stud) areas, but have a distinct ring over a stud. You can verify it there with a finishing nail...........then drill, screw, and hang your grab bar.

[pdub]

I put one in John's bathroom to help him, but now he's bigger so now and I have to tear out the 1964 vintage bathroom and completely remodel it to fit John now.

Given the unknown amount of time it's gonna take it's ever going to take to get that plumber-contractor over here, I called the bathroom folks yesterday just to update them. Hey, I hate this, we're halfway but we're stalled. They made a note of it. I'll call them back someday when we're ready to finish.

I went up there and studied it. I can "see" what needs doing. I even came up with a better solution than what they came up with. Get a big ass hole saw, route the vent pipe through the wall into the bedroom closet, and then downrange a foot or two and then back into the bathroom closet and down to that crazy junction where all that PVC comes together. Cut the floor out of the bathroom closet to see what's actually under there, cap off the old vent path and tie into.....that's just too much for me.

It's over my head. I couldn't accomplish all of that on a good physical day 20 years ago, I can't do all of that. That's......that's over my head. So now it's wait. No telling how long. They may even forget we are here. We paid "down" on the job to the bathroom store but we still haven't given any of the other folks any money, all the different folks who have been crawling all over it. The roofer acknowledged my request for a repair but he's disappeared, too.

I can't imagine what it would be like to try to get a whole house built from scratch, trying to somehow coordinate all of that.

[pdub]

Use the old finger-knock system to find a stud. Knock along the wall with one knuckle. It will sound hollow in the open (non-stud) areas, but have a distinct ring over a stud. You can verify it there with a finishing nail...........then drill, screw, and hang your grab bar.

I tried that. I made two exploratory holes with a tiny nail where I thought the stud was, and I figured that was enough holes. This house even resists finding a stud.

[DanStokes]

Wish I lived closer. I can - and would happily - do both of those jobs. And I know where my stud finder is.....

OH - and if that wall was insulated (sometimes they do that to diminish sound from a bathroom) it's harder to do the finger knock thing.

Dan

[pdub]

So, this evening, here comes the roofer. He tried to text me I had my phone turned off, I was sound asleep in the couch. Unit was asleep on the other couch in the other room. The sound of the doorbell woke me up. What the.....WOW, the roofer. He fixed the roof. Basically a warranty job, no charge. A mighty friendly guy.

He brought a 20-foot extendable ladder, I've got one just like it under the house. It won't reach that roof. But guess what? He slung that thing out and stretched it out and set it up on the DECK, higher than the ground. D'oh...... I tried using mine from the ground years ago, it won't reach. And he turned the feet on the bottom of it around backward so the corners of the ladder dug into the wood on the deck and held it firmly, and up he went. That's why you call a professional, in my opinion. That's why you do.

[pdub]

Superman saw the roofer's truck parked in front of our house. He and Jeremy (the roofer) stood out there in the street talking for the longest time, looking and pointing. SM night have hired him to address an issue on their house. So a free service call can always turn into something else, maybe. That's pretty cool. I just wish the plumber would show up right about now so we could get our walk-in shower sometime later on. Ahhh the joys of home ownership. And if Dan Stokes lived next door to us, he'd be too tired to go racing after we completely used him up.

[pdub]

I just now fired the plumber on email. I've never fired anybody in my life because nobody ever worked for me before. I even typed, "You're fired." No uncertain terms. The bathroom store is working on finding us another plumber, one we can trust. The bathroom store folks are straight up, and more than helpful. I hooked up with that plumber operation on my own, an internet search. Shady, fishy. Don't go there. That didn't feel good but it needed doing.