We got it. We have scrubbed, grouted, scrubbed, cleaned, washed, and we believe we have it properly done. Looking very good in there.
Now we need: a towel rack, 2 lights, 2 cabinets (36″, glass); the tp holder, the tub fittings, the hole for the vessel sink and faucet drilled, the sink and faucet installed, drawers put back, and the shower curtains up. Then we’re pretty well done. We’re thinking of hiring the guys for the cabinets. Jane and I are tired and sore, and those cabinets are heavy. We know HOW to do it, but are not sure we want to heft them up there. (Attach level board to wall exactly just so, heft cabinets onto board and screw through back top rail to attach same to studs. It requires getting them up there and one person holding same steady while partner drills holes and attaches screws inside cabinet. And we’d just as soon not, at this point. We’re getting tired enough to make mistakes.
There are times when the right man for the job is a man. Sometimes muscle mass is as important as know how. The room will still be a testament to female power.
Sometimes the right one is someone else. Congrats on the tile. Let some guy or girl earn their keep and do the cabinetry for you, at least. Consider getting someone else to do the other too. Result: You both can sit back to a well deserved rest, enjoy your newly outfitted bathroom, and have a nice meal and drink, and relax. Then you’ll really feel like writing. Just because you both *can* do a lot, doesn’t mean you *must*, if you’re so tired and sore you’re not able to enjoy or do much for a few days. I say this because (a) it’s not my budget 😉 and (b) I’m not nearly as good at doing it all myself.
Actually—we got one cabinet up. But it’s a lot of futzing. We took the decking we have for the little bridge, as yet unassembled, stacked it on the new counter (with a thick dropcloth) and hoisted the cabinet onto it, put in a center screw to hold it to the wall, leveled it with a spirit level, and screwed it into studs (mostly: used a couple of anchor-screws).
So we have one done. We’re tired.
We have one jog in the new plumbing: it’s going to need an extension for that. And we can’t find the hole-bits we need for the lighting. We know the box they’re in: but it’s Catch-22: the place is in such a mess we can’t find the box with the bits we need to finish the job so we can clean up the mess. Though it’s much less mess than it has been. I’m voting for biting the bullet and buying a spare set of hole bits, which I swear we have kicked around the project for four weeks, and of course now can’t find.
I imagine you are both looking forward to a nice long soak in your newly appointed tub to get the aches and kinks out. I hope the bathroom will be completed soon. Indulge in some nice bath spa goodies and enjoy the fruits of your labors!
Soak accomplished. Thank goodness. We are watertight… except the koi mural, so it was baths only, no shower—we have to pick up some grout that’s a bit darker than what they sent us.
There is nothing like a good hot soak for sore muscles. Did you draw straws to see who went first? What did Shu make of the hoomans voluntarily getting into a tub full of water and (shudder) getting wet all over?
If you do decide to do it yourselves, make a kicker. Use the wall cleat, as mentioned, and
cut a board to prop under the front edge of the cabinet. That will support it till you run the screws in.
If you’re doing a run, screw the boxes together through the front stile, as well. That helps keep
a nice, tight appearance at the face. Pull the doors, measure and pre-drill for the studs.
If they have adjustable shelves, pull those, too. Hope these tips give you the edge if you do
decide to go for it.
Speaking of soaking, CJ:
If the grout you used is the usual sanded-plaster type (not sure it’s actually plaster, but at any rate the non-epoxy type) it needs to be misted repeatedly with water over a course of days or it will crack… which can be, I can tell you, disheartening after all that work. The grout package should say what’s needed (also you can add latex additives when mixing the grout which makes misting unnecessary).
Thanks, all!—and thanks for the heads-up on cracking. I doublechecked: we have a polymer type that’s ok. We’re safe!
I just realized we haven’t heard about the fishies recently. Your koi in the pond out back are undoubtedly still hibernating, but what of the tanks?
We moved the baikur tank off the kitchen counter: when it went from a 10g to a 30, and took up a third of my counter space—it was a hassle, especially when construction started and tools started landing beside the butter and jam. Now it has a stand (we pulled in the one we were using as a table in the garden) and is under a window in the kitchen, I have banished the tools to their former stretch of counter, and all is well. The koi are still sleeping. The marine tank seriously needs us to take about a square foot of coral to the shop for trade-in and I think I need my refractometer calibrated. I’m dubious of the salinity reading—but as long it’s within the several point range, ie, between 1.024 and 1.026,it’s ok.
And what about the kitties? Jane mentions Shu (the helpful home remodeler) from time to time, but nothing lately about the pair of them interacting.
I missed a picture that would give you a sugar surfeit for a week: both of them heads-down in the food dishes, tails crossed and recrossed into a perfect heart, black and ring-tail.
They’re that way. We had to put them in my room together while the workmen were here, and they undoubtedly curled up together on my bed and slept through everything.