The hardwood floor is slowly progressing through the house. A few years ago I had nailed down bamboo in the dining room. Ripping it out was not as bad as I thought it would be. Bamboo is really fibrous so I assumed it would pretty much shred as I pried it up, but it held together and comes up quick with a hammer and pry-bar.
Back on the road
I managed to mostly finish up the electrical/lighting but then it is back to the road for a quick detour to Custer, SD. Everyone is having a great time but it’ll be good to be home soon and not have to drive for a while.
Break time
It took me a few days to get into vacation mode. Sorry to all if I was too grumpy at first (my mind was set on working on the house and wasn’t ready to switch yet).
You never know what it might be attached to…
Taking a break from the bathroom and getting started on the kitchen. The plan is to do about half of it now and the rest once I can get the new cabinets.
Continue reading You never know what it might be attached to…
Time Savers
While ripping out the walls and floor to prep for the shower, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with not knowing the best way to put the shower together. There is the old fashioned way of building the mud base, using the rubber pan liners, etc.
Then there are the newer methods with preformed, tile-ready pans and water proofing membranes.
This’ll work
We’ve had this rock polisher sitting in the basement for years. My dad and sister used to polish rocks we found on trips 30+ years ago. I was a little scared to open it since it had been sealed up for a couple decades. Inside we found a few rocks my dad must have started and forgotten about.
One stone at a time
Carol and V went on a week-long mission trip. Time to break some stuff…
Using a cold steel chisel and hammer, one stone at a time pops free of the grout and thinset. Several of the first stones chipped, making it not looking likely that I would be able to salvage enough for the shower floor but once I got going at it, most came up whole.
Wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff
A few days off to get ready for and hang out at Convergence. I finished up V’s TARDIS costume the night before.
There were lots of craft activities for the kids this year in the Sandbox. The Zombify Your Plushie event was worth the trip (but really rather gross).
Bigger on the inside
This little pantry closet gives its life so that we can have a second shower.
Several of the diagonal floor boards are, split, cracked from knots, or have dry rot. I’m hoping to use some of these aged boards for a step later in this project.
A Thousand Stones In My Way…
I redid this little bathroom about 7 years back after J had flooded the floor while playing in the sink…
The natural pebble stone floor was something I wanted to try at the time (and was cheap enough since it was a small space and Costco had them).
The plan is to chisel out all these stones so that I can reuse them for the floor of the new shower…