Angela Law

It has been suggested by more than one person that perhaps our bathroom is possessed by malign spirits and that is the reason why we’re having so many problems with our remodeling project. So, I performed an exorcism of sorts this evening. Brian’s skeptical, but we’ll see how things go from now on. I’ll keep you posted.

Already, I see an improvement. I wouldn’t say we worked in the bathroom this evening, but we did disconnect the toilet to see what the problem was. The job was surprisingly easy (it doesn’t take long to disconnect a toilet) and we didn’t make a mess because we sucked all of the water out of the toilet with a shop vac before attempting anything. Yesterday’s problem turned out to be a simple misalignment of the wax ring. I think we might try one of the new non-wax gaskets for our next attempt. That way, if there are any issues, you can make adjustments rather than run to Lowe’s for yet another wax ring.

***Clutch, “Burning Beard”, Robot Hive/Exodus

Two words more than adequately describe this evening: toilet disaster.

With a little effort on Brian’s part, the toilet was installed. We were happily playing with the new flushing mechanism when I noticed a little bit of water on the floor. That sucked because obviously the seal between the toilet and the flange wasn’t good. It was too late to work any further, so we started cleaning up, with the intention of re-tackling the project some other day. I went to the woodshop to put some stuff away and saw gallons and gallons of water all over the floor, dripping from the ceiling. Most notably, it was all over the maple that is reserved for the vanity.

Lessons learned:
1. flush once and check the woodshop for leaks
2. hire a plumber

Things certainly didn’t go how I hoped today. Right after work, I busted my ass to get the toilet and tub areas painted. Our intention was to install the toilet this evening. We started working on that after supper only to find that the new shutoff valve we bought was the wrong kind. We went to the hardware store up the street and bought a new one. This one was the wrong size. Then we ran to Lowe’s and bought another one. This time it worked.

Brian attached the wax ring to the toilet and set it on the floor. It didn’t look like it fit properly (it was too small–probably because the ceramic tile raised the height of the floor). Since it was 9:30, we didn’t feel like running to Lowe’s again, so this will have to wait until tomorrow. Also, the bolts that were in the toilet flange were too short. New bolts were supplied with the wax ring and they look like they’ll work, but we had a scare when we thought the old bolts weren’t going to come out.

This is the worst project we have ever worked on or ever will.

Will it ever end?

I actually feel like we accomplished something today. After I got home from work, I texture painted the bathtub area. After Brian got home from work, we removed the rest of the damaged plaster from around the tub and replaced some of it with drywall. We didn’t even work that long today. I guess I feel a sense of accomplishment because there is no more damaged plaster. Hooray for us! Granted, I’ll have a lot of patching to do once we get the rest of the drywall in, but since the tub surround is going to cover all of it, I can get away with doing a half-assed job for my patching.

If tomorrow goes how I hope it does, I will finally feel like we’re getting somewhere with this project. Keep your fingers crossed…

I forgot to mention this in today’s bathroom remodeling post. After Brian cut the hole in the roof, out popped the cat onto the roof. I thought we were going to have to call the fire company to get her off. It took a few minutes of coaxing, but Brian managed to get her to go back through the hole and into the attic. A few minutes later, she popped her head out again, but Brian was on the ladder and made her go back in the attic. It would’ve made a great picture, though. But, I was not prepared for a potential photo op this evening.