A rennovation exploration

Tile - Part 1

posted by Our House @ 4:23 PM 0 comments

The cabinets are in!

Three days of hard work and the kitchen is starting to take shape.

Before

posted by Our House @ 7:55 PM 0 comments

Lessons learned

Fun lessons for your next rennovation project:

• when you buy a replacement trap or any plastic compression joint take the little tapered plastic gaskets that comes with the pipes and loop them into a necklace. it's a great present for mom - she'll love you like she did when you were little and cute and her new necklace stops as much water as putting the gasket into the compression nut. After basking in mom's adoration, go to Ace and buy a real rubber gasket for each nut, put that in there and have a no-leak job every time.


• The drill bits made for drilling masonry by the people (tapcon) who make things specifically for screwing into masonry aren't even remotely as durable as the ones made by Bosch. They're also more expensive. Additionally as a reminder, if the drill bit went into the hole silver and comes out blueish black it is now hot enough to cause you to say bad things and lose your ballance on the ladder - don't touch it.


• you want a hammer drill for tempered bricks. we already knew this, but really, you want a hammer drill. Don't waste time and money thinking something else will work, it won't.


• adding hot water to your powdered joint compound because the cold water is turned off is a good way to have a rather solid glob of joing compound that you can't work with. Use cold water if you need the joint compound to be workable for more than 3 minutes.


• If you spill the PVC glue in the basement you should leave the house for at least a weak or have a handy supply of long reeds so you can breathe air from outside the house. Before such a spill you should write down your name and address so you know who you are once you regrow the brain cells lost in the experiment.

posted by Our House @ 7:17 AM 1 comments

there's a hole in the pipe dear liza

Won't the fun ever stop?

This past weekend we put in two new windows in the kitchen. One went in smoothly and re-affirmed Mark's faith in his window abilities, the other stayed more true to the theme of the house.



After much shaving, sanding and grinding the second window went in while it rained. Fortunately the rain was a nice slow drizzle and the flowers and lawn loved it. Even better, none came inside. Unfortunately we don't own a power planer and mark shaved the window opening with a knive and rasp...good times.

The first cabinet and section of counter top was also removed this weekend. We're past the point of no return!

The project of note, however, was the lead pipe for the bathroom (downstairs) sink. The previous owners have outdone themselves on this project. Uncle fester or whoever he was used a combo of hot glue, construction adhesive and spray foam to create a royal mess of a pipe that should have just been replaced. one little leak under the sink turned into a long section of lead pipe removal and some fun with the giant copper T that leads to the main sewer pipe.

The various adhesives mentioned above were used to plug several leaks, all of which opened up as we tried to remove what we thought was one leaky little section. Hopefully the moron who did the patches can find this listing....dear moron, come get your perferated lead pipe we're holding it for you and Mark would like to talk to you about hot glue as a plumbing tool.

Anyway, the pipe doesn't leak any more. the sink still does, but that's only because it's not connected to the pipe yet. we have to buy some hot glue for that.

posted by Our House @ 6:59 PM 1 comments

fraternal order of masons

We've recieved our tile lesson and done our first masonry project! Now we're anxiously waiting for someone to reveal the secret hiding place of the Knights Templar. Stay tuned for the next post "Mark drank from the grail and melted all his skin."

The shower is looking good and all of the tile is done. Once we figure out which sealer to use we'll put on the last touches. We did a final leak test and everything passed. Once the grout is sealed we'll find a way to hang a cool curtian and we're in business and smelling like roses.



The third time has proven to be the charm for the pedistal sink. Either that or a real rubber gasket. We finally broke down and replaced the piece-o-crap gasket that came from home depot and got something that actually fills the gaps between the pipes. Miraculously this 99 cent upgrade stopped the leak in the drain.

posted by Our House @ 11:00 AM 0 comments