Floor!

Dad brought the grinder so that we could grind down the rough concrete around the toilet.  That's what prevented us from laying the floor last weekend.    Dust was flying everywhere, even with the little ShopVac sucking it up right behind the grinder.

We had to open up all the doors and windows to air out the house.  Luckily, it was a rather warm January day, so we didn't actually mind.

We got the concrete smoothed out and started laying the floor.  It was soooo much easier than last time.  Smooth concrete makes a big difference.  After a lot of clicking together, hammering, and using the pull tool, we got it all put together.  I LOVE it!!

I painted around the cut out for the toilet.  That way, any moisture will be at least partly blocked from entering that way.  I also got the medicine cabinet hung.

Tomorrow, the room will be finished!

Mom spent the day cleaning more of the ceiling.  Not the most exciting to write about, but it's making an amazing difference.

It's A Small World

I got to the house Saturday morning before my parents.  I started scraping the walls of the study to get them prepped for texturing.  When Mom and Dad showed up, we decided to go to the ReStore in Roseville.  More good finds!

Upon walking in, I went to the tile section.  I was immediately blown away by what I found.  A few weeks ago I ordered decorative tiles for the kitchen.  I got to pick brand, color, and size for the design to be printed on.  I chose some that would be easy for me to match locally.  As luck would have it, the exact tiles I need were in great supply here, so I got 230 of them.  Whohoo!!

At the same time, Mom found another overhead fan/light in really good shape with no parts missing.  Dad also found a good shovel and attic vent.  We also found a great well-kept GE gas range.  And this really cool sofa:

Like usual, I'll post the grand total for all this gloriousness at the end.  You should be getting better at guessing prices now. =)

Upon returning from the shopping excursion, we talked with Neighbor.  Dad had a thought he knew her, and he does!  They used to work together and she's quite excited that I'll be her new neighbor.  She said she can give me quite the run down on the history of my house as she's lived next door for 35 years.  Pretty cool, and crazy.

After lunch, I mixed up some joint compound and filled in low spots in the study walls.  When all the low spots get filled in, we'll be able to texture it.  Mom cleaned more ceiling.  It's quite a disgusting job as she's cleaning off years and years of nicotine stains.  Her water turns nasty brown really quickly, but it's making a beautiful difference.

Dad hung my light in the living room.  This was something that took some doing over more than one day.  The house was not originally wired for overhead lights.  The switches are connected to nearby outlets.  A while ago, Dad changed the wiring for the living room, so now the switch is connected overhead and the outlets have nothing to do with the switch.  Final result:  Happy Silk and a nice light.

I left as Dad was hanging the light to go hang out with The Girls.  After our night of fun, it was back to work Sunday.

Dad worked on rewiring the study for an overhead fan/light.  Mom kept cleaning the ceiling.  I applied more joint compound.  By the end of the day, Dad was the only one with anything picture worthy.  Mom had more clean ceiling and I had more compound on the walls.  Dad had another light hung, this time in the study.

While applying joint compound this afternoon, I attempted to sit down to work near the floor.  When I did, I felt something enter my thigh.  I sat on a nail!  It was on a piece of trim that had been taken down.  Luckily, it didn't go far and I had gotten a tetanus booster in October.  Mom put antibacterial and a bandage on it.  I'll keep an eye on it for the next few days, but it should be alright.



Grand total for the shopping trip: $370.22.  How close did you come?

Highs and Lows

The day started off with loading up a bunch of random appliances that had been left behind from Previous Owner.  (So, it appears that Previous Owner was a hoarder.  Based on conversations with Neighbor and paperwork from violations, the place was an absolute dump with tons of junk in the yard.  Turns out the bank paid to have the back cleaned up and installed the fence.  It looks to us like the clean-up company didn't take the appliances, but left them in the shed.  There was a fridge, freezer, water heater, and TV.)

We took the appliances to a local recycling place that accepts appliances.  They take them free of charge - much better than the dump!  It was super easy.  We just drove up, unstrapped the load, and they tipped it all off the back of the truck.

We made it home in time for lunch and just about noon - which was the goal because Building Inspector was scheduled to arrive sometime in the afternoon.  Dad and I started working on the bathroom floor.  First, laying down visqueen.

Sometime in the midst of this is when Building Inspector came.  He came into the garage saying, "I'm supposed to be signing off that there is no more garage conversion and that's painfully obvious."  He then checked the water heater.

After he left, we got back to work on the bathroom floor.  It's linoleum (real, not vinyl tile) with a cork backing.  It's the snap together kind.  Dad had already roughly laid out how the tiles would go.  Of course, we need to cut some lengths and around the plumbing for the toilet.  Here's what the first one looks like - I love the color of it!

We made some good cuts, tapped them together, and attempted to install the second row.

This is where things got hairy.  The two rows wouldn't snap together.  There is some rough concrete around the plumbing opening.  We knew about it, but hoped everything would be fine.  Alas, no such luck.  We need to grind down the concrete bumps.  Dad will bring his grinder next weekend and we'll work on other projects for the rest of this one.  And, make do without a toilet....

Mom was a cleaner today.  She cleaned the bathroom vanity and medicine cabinet so they'll look good when we can finally put them in.  She also did some removal work in the study - the weird closet door that was there.  She pulled up a corner of carpet in the closet area and found the tile original to the house.

So, all in all, a good day.  So glad that all the inspection stuff is over and done with!  Large load off my shoulders.

City Code Enforcement Inspection

So, inspection was scheduled yesterday at 8:30 am.  On my way there, Mom calls and says the inspector is there already!  She was actually there when Mom and Dad got there.  They got the inspection all done before I arrived - I got a recap.  Inspector says it looks good to her, but I need to get a Special Inspection by the Building Department before it can be officially signed off.  However, the Unsafe to Occupy signs can be removed. Yay!!

I head over to City Hall and the Building Department before I have to leave for work.  There, they tell me it will be better to get a building permit than a Special Inspection.  The special is good for just one inspection, so if anything else was found, I would need another and have to pay again.  So, I applied for a building permit to remove the unpermitted structure.  I know it sounds weird, but, hey, it's bureaucracy.  So, I called and the inspector for that will be coming out this afternoon.  Hopefully, it all goes well and I can be done with that annoying stuff.

Fingers Crossed

The city inspection is scheduled for Thursday morning.

BFD

Light day today.  Started the day with no work - watched the final Raider game of the season.  Mom and Dad left this morning.  I got to the house about 4 or so.

Best Friend's Daughter (henceforth, referred to as BFD) wanted to help, so she came along.  We needed to put on a second coat of paint in the bathroom.  The paint that went directly over old paint was nice and shiny like semi-gloss should be.  The paint that went over our texture spots made of joint compound was not.  It had absorbed way more paint so the shininess was missing.  So, second coat of paint was our task.

BFD didn't have painting clothes, so she borrowed some of mine.  She's considerably smaller than I am, so everything was quite baggy.  Made her look like a little kid.  She had never painted before but was excited about it. I had to show and explain it all, but she did well.  Tried doing the brushwork around the edges of things.  As she saw me using the roller, she thought that would be more fun so we switched.  She did a good job!

It was much faster with two of us, but also a bit more complicated.  We had to pay close attention to what parts had been done and which hadn't.  Also harder because as a second coat starts to dry, it matches what's already there!  We got it though and it should look good when it's all done drying.  The room is so much brighter now that it used to be.

Pearls & Lace

I spent the day in the bathroom.  First, I primed the walls.  While that was drying, I put some joint compound in the living room along, shockingly enough, a joint.  After lunch, paint!  Rollering the paint (Pearls & Lace is the color) on is so much fun!  I love the way the room looks now.  It's so much lighter than before.  Next weekend, we'll install the beautiful floor and put the fixtures back in.

Dad did a variety of things today.  First, he put all the random boards and appliances away so the yard area looks neat for when the inspection gets scheduled.  He also took down the ceiling trim from the whole house. After I was done painting, we both did some texturing of the living room.

Our texturing method (for those of you who may be interested):  Mix up compound, a little runnier than usual. Glop it onto the texture trowel.  Fewer, smaller globs for daintier texture.  Then smoosh it up to the wall, totally flat.  Smoosh 2-3 times.  Repeat.  Once there is a fairly large area of globs on the wall, use the trowel to flatten the globs and smooth everything out.  At this point, each glob will be just slightly above the rest of the wall.  Then, let it dry, sand it the next day, and it's ready for painting.  It's great for hiding any imperfections that there may be in the wall - which there are plenty of in this old, abused house.

Mom spent the day washing more of the ceiling.  It's slow going but looking good.