Zoom-b-day

We haven't gotten together in what seems like ages.  But when we do.  It's always a funny sequence of comments and jibs and jabs.

And it's like we picked up where we left off.  These guys/gal are some of the reasons I am the way I am.  We are all part of each other's family.

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I've known these dudes since my elementary and highschool...and we are missing our token girl in this pic, but her internet sucks at the cottage.  She did join us but I was having so much fun I didn't think to snap a screen shot until we restarted the 2nd zoom mtg that evening.

It was a birthday wish.  Thanks for Anne for adding another TODO item

to my long list to get these guys together.   I was in the middle of working on the flooring upstairs and didn't even have my computer connected.  I was trying to get people together.  Not everyone is using the same msging platform.  Frig not everyone was responding.  Except for Derrick and Sandra. Heck I didn't think I'd get this done.  But I think she knew that I'd get it done.  I'd get email reminders every so often for progress.  I could tell she's a PM.  I even recorded it for the last brother to break the 50 year over the hill mark.  Everyone was telling me why don't you just get him on this Zoom?  I D K.  But i think it was supposed to be a surprise?  That was one the requirements I got from Anne. Damit.  Quit changing the scope!  At least I delivered what was asked.

That's the dude we did this for...the immigrant cleaner/nanny/driver with his oxyclean tabo ass on the couch.

Happy birthday Baloney!

Sukatan!

I just got introduced to this game Catan.  And man did I suck!  And is Kieran ever good.  He's got a winning record against just about everyone we've played against.  But yesterday I finally won my first game of CATAN!

I'm not really sure how I won.  But the dice just kept rolling my way.  And I was making deals and whenever the 'Robber' came up, I sometimes had no cards to steal.  It just worked out.  It's not a good idea to stockpile cards.  You need to make something happen on your turn and make deals when you can.

When I would give up something in a trade, I'd end up getting it back on the next roll of the dice.  

And neither of my two opponents really were keeping tabs on my progress as I was behind in points.  Also I was never a threat to win in any prior games.  So they ignored the 'old guy' playing.

But in a few turns I quickly caught up and won!  I could not believe it.  I've been close before and lost.  But it was my first win at Catan!

If you haven't played it.  You gotta try it.

Train tracks

I thought we were going for a consultation on his mildly crooked teeth.  Didn't think I'd be leaving with a bill for the downpayment on a car.   But it is what it is.

I was more concerned with him getting cuts on the inside of his mouth from the hardware.  But they have new stuff that is less prone for that sort of occurrence.  We were going to go for that but the scanner that is used to map his mouth was acting flakey so we just went with the standard metal James Bond JAWS villain type.

His teeth are mildly crooked.  Mostly the bottom front.  The top goes on first.  His mouth was a bit achey for 2 days and he took some advil or tylenol.  Then it was okay.    I didn't realize that the wire changes from smaller to bigger as they need to be stiffer as time goes on.  They basically glue the mounts on to his teeth and set the wire in that.  Takes about 90mins for everything and out the door.  Well that's what I set on my Green-P app for parking.  So it was less than that for the actual procedure.

He goes in end of Sept for the bottom.   At least adjustments are free.  But replacement for parts are not.  It's like a repair schedule at a car dealership.

Many of Kieran's friends have braces.  I guess this is the age since they are growing so much that everyone seems to have it and it's not a big deal.  At least for boys.  They all have it and food stuck to their braces and spitting out food everywhere is the norm.  Luckily for boys, they find this stuff humorous.  And less self deprecating. It's less so for girls, i would think.  So Kieran didn't care what we got him for braces.  He was okay with the less expensive version.

We did get a handy waterpik type cleaner to help him with the maintenance of the braces.  I got it off Amazon for $30 bucks so we all use it.  Beats flossing.  Except water goes everywhere.  Feels like i should use it in the shower.

COVID 18th

Believe it or not there's both of us in this photo.  Tresa is in her element.  Floating in the lake like she's on the couch. 

It's our 18th wedding anniversary and this year we are just steam rolling through our house.  Making the changes we have been planning and working on it together.  

It's been a lot of work.  But it feels amazing the results.  Especially when it turns out better than you would have thought and when you do them together.  

Sure we have had our sessions of head butting.  But as long as you make progress together and accomplish things together.  That's all that matters.  It is really great for Kieran to see what we can do if we set our minds to it.  More importantly... If we try.  It means that HE can accomplish anything.  That nothing is unattainable if you find a way.

18 was a year where the world didn't stop.  But changed forever.  Sure you could wish or hope for things to go back to the way they were eventually.  That summer heat will eradicate the virus.  Miracles can and do happen.  But in reality you either adjust with it or you go nowhere.   And wash your hands!

If there is one word to describe our 18th year together it's together...   the amount of progress we did in our home.  I couldn't have done it alone.  Well I could.  I couldn't have accomplished it on my own.  By which I mean,  it wouldn't look nearly as good.  And wouldn't be as fulfilling.  Help is always welcome.  But getting in there and being a big part of the change.  And wanting that change.  That makes it even better.

Before we did the floors.  Kieran was asking about when we were doing it.  I wasn't sure if he was looking forward to it or dreading it.  I'm sure it was the former, because he said he wanted a new bed frame.  So did Tresa.  And now we are working on the garage and reorganizing it and making it better...together.

I'm looking forward to the year 19.  As it feels like we are hitting the ground running.  Sure there's always hurdles, but it feels like we'll always find a way to overcome them together.

Happy 18th Anniversary!

Summer Reno-cation

The plans for replacing the upstairs flooring was supposed to happen next year.  But with COVID-19 going on and maybe COVID-20and 21 on the horizon and the USA being number one in Pandemic with no signs of slowing.  Well.  We might as well keep working on our renovation checklist. Getting this done would mean the last of the big upheaval renos would be checked off.  So why not.  Why not...cuz it's a big upheaval.

I was hoping to have done the subfloor before I took vacation at the start of August.  But that was delayed.  Since Aug 3, we have been on a whirlwind of hammers, screws, plywood, saws and glue.  I initially thought I had booked only 1 week and that'd be plenty for laying down new flooring.  However I hadn't ripped up the old flooring and put down the sub-floor.  And when I checked again I had booked 2 weeks! So I figured that was plenty!

These were one of the 2 toughest weeks I have ever spent.

This was the complete opposite of Bit by Bit.  This was our Summer Reno-cation.  I didn't know how else to do this except complete rip out of the entire upstairs flooring, install subfloor then flooring.   Sounds easy peasy.  3 simple steps to execute.  What is missing are all the little details in between.

1) Rip up old flooring.  Remove all the nails, get rid of all the flooring somewhere.   This part was arguably the easiest.  Hammer and crowbar.  Start ripping it up.  Nothing to it.  Even if you are all thumbs. Then send it to the trash.  And you will save yourself a lot of money that you'd be paying someone else to do work that you could easily do yourself.   So do it.

2) Install sub-floor.  This was a bit more work.  Under the 1-3/4" oak strip flooring there already is a subfloor.  That's those diagonal boards.  However ours squeak and if the boards are old which ours was.  We installed 3/4" plywood on top.  Glued and screwed.  Sounds easy.  Well we needed 14 sheets of plywood.  Try bringing that home in your car in 1 trip.  We worked on each room, getting 4-5 sheets at a time.  Trucking it home on top of my Venza roof rack.  Then I didn't have to worry about moving around 14 sheets.  They aren't light you know?  Each room would take 2-3 full sheets, then it was smaller pieces.

But before you do all of this, you need to make sure the floor is flat.  Doesn't have to be level, but it NEEDS to be FLAT.  Otherwise you will have a big problem installing the new flooring.  The old flooring was less than 3/8" thick.  So it'll bend around any bump.  This new 1/2" engineered flooring was 5" wide.  It wasn't very forgiving.  So I had to address that humpin our master.  That meant pulling up the floor

boards, exposing the joists and shaving it down.  Then putting it all back.   Then laying down the  plywood on top of that.  It wasn't hard, but it wasn't easy.  But it was necessary prep work.  If there is one thing, the better you prep, the less issues you will encounter when you install the new flooring.  I had to do the same work in Kieran's room.  I didn't realize there was a hump there too.   I did this one faster as I'd already done it once before.

Making repeated trips to HomeDepot to get plywood was not a big deal.  It was tiring hauling those 4x8 sheets around and up the stairs though.  And don't forget to get deck or floor screws and PL300 subfloor glue.  Once you do this, your floor will feel solid.

3) Install the flooring.  Before you even get to this step, you need to measure out your square footage that you intend to install flooring on.  Then you need the stair nosing ordered.  And you can't start without installing the stair nosing first.  And you should take a cut off piece of flooring and undercut all the door trim using a multi-tool, so the new floor boards will go under them.  Other wise you will have all these ugly gaps around your doors.  You will also need to borrow a nailer and compressor, without this you won't be able to nail them in.  if you don't have a compressor.  A manual nailer is an option but you need a sledge hammer and a Hulk or Thor to operate it.  So good luck.

When laying out the boards, you will need to keep in mind how the seams line up.  You don't want a pattern emerging.  You want it to look as random as possible.  Ours was not random at all.  Tresa selected each and every board i nailed and/or glued in.   She examined the lines.  Making sure they didn't line up with the prior rows.

If you aren't so choosy.  Take the first board.  Cut it anywhere in the middle and start laying down the next set of boards until you get to the other wall.  Trim to fit.  And you do the same for the next rows.

You will also need to get reversing strips.  You can only nail on the tongue side.  If you need to reverse the direction of the boards you need reversing strips.  It's basically a tongue that you install on the groove side and then nail in.

On the 2nd floor we needed to start at the stairs.  So the stair nosing needs to be cut and installed first.  It's glued and nailed or screwed down.  If you screw it down, you will need plugs to hide the holes.  If you nail then get some wood filler tinted to the colour of the wood.  

When you are not able to use the nailer because it's too close to the wall, then you need to glue it down.  You can also use a brad nailer.  The PL glue is strong so you don't need to put any nails but it's a good idea to put something heavy on the boards you glued down, until the glue has set.

Installing the last board can be tricky.  Just saying.

4) Once you got all this done.  Then all you have left is the trim.

5) and put the doors back.  Might have to undercut the doors.

In these 2 weeks.  We went to the cottage for a few days so that we could sleep in a bed.  Our home has been turned upside down.  Everything that was upstairs that wasn't too big had to be removed and put elsewhere temporarily.  When we were here working on the flooring, our air mattress had a leak and we'd end up on the hard floor by dawn.  It was rough sleeping at night.  All I was missing was a tent.

As I ripped up the flooring and installing the subfloor.  Tresa decided to repaint all the rooms.  White.  And the ceilings too.

We also moved the FLOS light we had into Kieran's room.  Now there's only 1 remaining dome light left in our home.  And I'm dying to replace it.  And it will be chucked!

She also decided she finally wanted to get into the 21st century by replacing the last closet without a Solutions closet organizer.  Hers.

Then my trusty shopvac that'd I had had for over 20yrs started to call it quits.  It was murphy's law too.  I was at HomeDepot getting vac bags for it and saying to Tresa how long I've had it.  Then it died.  So I found an amazing deal on a brand new one on Kijiji and after using it for less than 24hrs.  But it had this smoke smell from the get go, but it worked.  Then we noticed it's suction wasn't as good as when we first started using it.  It went kaput.  I could not believe it.   So I replaced it with the same model from a big box store.  No harm no foul.   And I got back at it.

It took us a long time to do the hallway and office.  We got Kieran's room done in a day!  It was 11pm when we finished but it was 1 day.  We are now on our last room.  And the Reno-cation is over but the flooring install continues and it looks fantastic.  And I didn't even have to under cut the doors.  I was so surprised!  1 less thing to do.  The reno gods were smiling on me.

Upstairs flooring

We finally reached a major milestone today. We are 99.9% complete with the flooring.  I have 1 partial row left to cut and install.  Having the wall there and it being such a skinny piece, it's a bit tricky to install that last row.  You have to install the last full board row and that skinny row at the same time.  Otherwise you'll need to cut it extra skinny to get it in.

I did have to undercut the doors only for the master.  Thankfully it worked out. I still have to install the final trim around the baseboards.  But that is minor work that can wait until I tidy up the garage so that I can work in a saw dust/hazard free zone.

Now we can start the work to get our house back in order.  Last of the major house upheavals is done.  Good for another decade at least.

Bit by bit

This is a do over of a reno I first tackled almost 11 yrs ago. I've acquired quite a bit more skill since then. This project was initially started shortly after our kitchen and bath projects when we noticed the laundry floor drain was no longer holding the water in the trap.   We noticed that slight stank of sewer gas and that initiated the effort to replace the original clay trap with an ABS one.

I almost wish we could have replaced ALL the clay pipes under our basement with ABS.  But that would involve opening up the floor in the basement rec room.  It wouldn't be that hard to do.  As it would be straight sections of 4 inch pipe.  But the work to access those pipes to replace would be more work, a lot, but yeah...more work for me.  Doable, tho, yes.

But i'll leave that for another life.  For now I'm just working to replace what I put in 3 yrs ago with an enhanced version with a tee for the laundry tub and washer box and another tee for both the new toilet that replaces and relocates 

the existing, and the shower that replaced the old one that we took out 3 yrs back.

Bit by bit we've been saving up and making purchases towards this project.  And what was originally a rejig of what was already there, became an effort to make what we had before better.  And by better to us that means, cleaner and simpler lines and a layout that makes more sense and improves the flow and functionality of the laundry / 2nd bath space.

What we did:

• I replaced all the pot lights with LED downlights that enabled me to place lights where I could not put a light before.   
• I grouped all the switches to a single location.
• I put the dryer vent duct into the wall so that we could push the dryer closer to the back wall.  I recovered a few inches with this effort.  Not much for the amount of work I did.  But not seeing the duct made the cuts i got on my hands and knuckles worth the pain.
• I relocated the vent so that I could shrink the bulkhead where the gas pipe is also in, so that anyone using the toilet wouldn't bonk their head when they stood up from doing a deuce.
• I replaced the old washer box because I got the one with the proper colour coded valves for the hot and cold shutoffs.
• I removed the old door frame and installed a pocket door.  I always wanted to put one in the house somewhere.  Didn't know where.  But i just think pocket doors are so neat.    I also disliked how the old door would knock into the laundry hampers.
• I ran 2 new circuits to the panel to support a new outlet across from the shower/WC and also the in-floor heating that I'm going to install soon.
• I fixed up the window area so that it no longer had any trim.  It looks cleaner this way and we plan to do a similar implementation in the kitchen window.
• I then tied into the existing vent pipe so that I could connect the vents for the toilet, shower and laundry tub drains and have them vented properly.

I did all of this before spring brought the warmer weather.  That's when I planned to dig up the existing floor drain and work on the new drains required to service the shower, toilet and laundry tub/washer.   Eight months prior August 2019, I had borrowed a jackhammer to remove all the tiles and bust up the floor.  I laid plywood boards over the opening.  We hadn't even bought the new wall hung toilet or selected a shower base.  But I knew by doing this would force someone to get into gear.  That time stops for no person.  except for me.   I'm stuck in 2002 when we got this place.

So spring has arrived and I had finally gotten to the part of the reno that was the most daunting for me.  The drains.  How was I going to get all that black piping to fit under the floor.  How much floor do i need to break up.  I didn't know.  Not knowing was the worst part for me. I dislike guessing.  VERY MUCH.  Because it could mean, rework.  And the re-work effort is always more work.

I couldn't open the entire floor up.  I had to minimize it to only what i needed.  I guessed as to how much i needed opened.  Good thing it was a pretty close guess.  I didn't need to do much more.  But what I did need to do took me several more hours by hand to do.  And it was hard and dusty.  But it got done.

I wanted to hide as much piping as possible and come out from the wall to make the floor easy to clean.  So all the drains and vents run to the walls and run inside the walls.  Sounded easy, but it never works that way, something always makes it a challenge to achieve.  But somehow i figure out a way to make it work.  it's both a gift and a curse.

For just over 2 weeks I had this mound of sand piled high in the basement.  A few times I nearly fell into the trench I'd dug.  I thought I would be done installing the drains in 2 days.  Nope, not even close.  It took me 2.5 weekends to get everything done and glued.   I took my time.  It wasn't hard, but I had only so much material and I didn't want to redo things because I goofed.  Especially nowadays with the COVID-19 stuff going on.  But HD was open again so and I didn't have to order online and wait 2-14 days for my stuff to be ready for curbside pick up.

It was now May 25 and I arrived at a major milestone. To me the most challenging part was complete - the drains were in.  I had done something like this a few years back but nothing to this extent.  And it felt like a big weight had been lifted.   I was so happy.  The whole reason I was digging up the floor was for relocating the toilet.  Since i was doing that, I might as well improve everything else that could be made better.  So I did.  After 10 months of working on everything else I finally can get to the reasons for why this reno was intiated - the shower and the install of a wall-hung toilet in a new spot.  It felt great!

It's now Aug 1st.  And the hole in the floor is now cemented over after 11 months!  Kieran was a big help here.  It took us about 4hrs to do this work.  Mixing the concrete and pouring it into place and skimming the surface.  It's not completely smooth but that's okay.  There will be another layer of cement going over this and then floor leveller before the tile is laid on top.

The new copper lines are done, checked and double checked for leaks and flushed.  The OLI in-wall cistern is in, I even flushed it once just to show Tresa how it worked.   I am waiting to till all the walls are painted before I attach the toilet basin and disconnect the old one FOREVER! 

The sink is back in after nearly 2 months of sitting on its side, by the dryer. It's good to have it back.  It's nice to have all the drains done.  The room is small and it's starting to come together.

The shower base is in and walls are up.  I'm debating on whether to apply a waterproofing coating or not.  I'm not really sure it's necessary, but it's more insurance than anything.

So now all the walls and ceiling are covered in drywall.  Taped and mudded with an initial coat of mud.  All that's left is to mud, sand, mud and then final sanding, before priming and painting.  

The in-floor heating I'll connect once that's all done so I can verify it's working.  It's been a lot of work to get to this point.  Other than the old toilet needing to be removed and capped, it's the finishing work that is remaining. 

I knew coming into this project it was going to be a lot of work, but now that we're here now - it has been a lot of work for a small room.  A lot for after work and weekends DIY. And it's feeling pretty good.  Almost a relief.  The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.  Bit by bit.

2nd bath and laundry