2.22.2009

We're so close! - 02/22

Oh we're so close to being able to bathe and shower in my bathroom again!!! I'm very excited.
Over the past couple weeks Josh has gotten all the tiles off, the bad parts of the walls cut out (including behind the bathroom door where some water damage had happened too). Our friend, Paul, came out Thursday night to help us out. He and Josh got the new taps installed, and got the gyproc put up - we chose to use blue gyproc for behind the actual tub surround, except for on the end wall as we didn't cut any out there. The blue stuff is treated with something to resist mildew growth.
So, that took until midnight on Thursday - and poor Paul had to drive home yet!
On Saturday Paul came out again and he and Josh got to work. It took a while, but by 1am we finally had the surround all put up and the caulking (though we got a tape thing, it's nicer looking than caulking and we'll see how it holds up) done around the tub itself. Taps and knobs on and ready to go.
I'm hoping by the middle of next week I'll finally be able to shower upstairs again! Though I still need to get a new curtain rod first.

There are a bunch of new pictures up on the other site of the bathtub progress.
We ended up just getting a cheaper 5 piece tub surround. We had originally thought we'd get the more expensive one piece one, because it should last longer than the 5 piece ones. But then, when removing tiles, the tub itself got a big chip in it.
So we thought maybe we'd replace the whole tub, too.
Then the water heater exploded and there went our tub.
Back to the drawing board - we decided just to get this 5 piece surround instead. It should last about 5 years before needing replacing. By that time I'm hoping (that is if we're still here by then) we'll be able to afford one of those really nice 3 piece tub installs (tub, surround, and ceiling piece). Until then, this surround will do and does look much nicer all ready than the tiles did!
We're going to get some moulding to do around the outer edges of the surround, to finish it off. I think it will make it look very put together.
Then if we can just get the bathroom painted and maybe some kind of flooring put down I think the bathroom will look okay... has to be better than this 70's bath we have now!

2.15.2009

pictures and videos up! - 02/15

Well, there's one video I can't get to work on there... the first skating one... but I'm working on it. And there's one from back on Jan 15 of Ruth and Zech playing Wii that I just got up today.
A preview...
Ruth and Isaac playing their video games together
I thought it was very cute, their feet together
There was a nice snowstorm that day, too. Glad we'd decided not to go to church that morning!
And a lovely shot of our bathroom. Josh is working on it.
And there's more ripped off/out today. I'll get a new update picture this afternoon!

2.13.2009

what a week! - 02/13

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day (tomorrow)!
Last Friday (the 6th) Zech was having a fit at supper, wouldn't eat, didn't get dessert - just generally a bad night. Josh poured a bath and had Isaac in it. He got Zech undressed and put Zech in the tub, but Zech pulled away from Josh and ended up putting his shoulder THROUGH the bathtub wall. Yes. THROUGH the wall. To be fair, there was water damage behind there and the wall was soft, but we were hoping that it would last a few more months at least.
In looking at the wall and what was behind it (which actually wasn't as bad as we expected), and pricing out tiles vs a new surround, we've decided to just pull down the tiles (salvaging as much of the good drywall as we can) and put in a new surround. While we've got the wall open, we're going to put in new taps and whatnot back there, as right now the shower doesn't work - there's no pipe going up for water. We aren't going to put in a new tub, though... unless something worse happens while Josh is tearing out tile (he's all ready gotten a chip in the corner of the tub, but we can live with that spot).
So, that was our weekend, dealing with that. And the kids had dance classes on Sunday instead of Monday last week (teachers were going to be away Monday). All that kept us pretty busy!
Sunday night a big storm hit - freezing rain and then a bunch of snow on top of it, a nice slick mess. The road looked like a skating rink! School was closed, for Josh and Ruthie. We were all home, doing nothing. The kids went for rest time and I put on a load of laundry (my washer tells a time, it takes 54 minutes for that load). When the washer was done, I brushed my teeth and started downstairs to shower (remember, the tub walls are ripped open!). Get halfway down the stairs and hear an odd sound. Look closer and realize there's WATER ALL OVER THE BASEMENT.
Called Josh down. He ran outside to check (hoping!) that it was the outside tap left on again (happened last winter/spring) or with the storm and warmer weather there was a bunch of run off or something. Nope. It was the water heater - water pouring out the sides of it, everywhere. Shut the water and power off to the heater, and started sucking up water off the floors. Josh called all the plumbers around here, but there was either no answer or the plumber was away at all of them. So he called Paul who said, yes, he's done a water heater before. Good!
We ended up going in to the church for our pot-luck/bible study evening Monday night. Josh and Paul went to get a new tank after that and drove out here and put it in. Thank goodness we have a friend like Paul close by!
So, I'm not sure what can happen next here, or what's going to fall apart. I hope it's not any of us!

Speaking of that, Ruthie had a bad cold and got really gross looking eyes last week - pink eye, I think, but from the virus that caused her cold. We got some polysporin eye drops last Saturday and have been using them 3-4 times a day (3 when she's at school, 4 when she's not been). Her eyes are looking much better, but we'll continue the drops until the week is up for them. Her cough is pretty awful sounding, though. I hope that clears up soon, too.

I have a few new pictures (some of the bathroom) and a couple videos from skating yesterday! I wanted to make sure to get another video of them skating because the weather has suddenly warmed up here and we're not sure how long the ice will last! Well, a few days ago it was anyways. This morning it was -20 again.
I'll post when I get those uploaded, hopefully this afternoon.