Back to the bathroom renovation

 

Monday Feb 6 Back to the bath renovation.

 

There are an overwhelming number of wall covering materials, the majority of them can be installed by do it yourselfers, but one one reason or another, we could not find anything that fit the plan. I mentioned earlier one wall was 16 feet tall and we wanted to make a feature wall there. Most of the wall covering materials we kind of liked would cost a wopping $1000 for materials. That was a mental block we kept running into, but Millie also had a vision of a piece of art that would dominate the space.

 

She planned to make it herself, I think it cost $17 and some trim lumber we had in the shop wood rack. I think she’s got the gift for this stuff; it’s perfect for the wall.

Wall art by Millie

It’s February 8^th and the end is near. We have been in the final assembly phase of the project for several days now. Having the floor tiled seemed to be the turning point. There is no more destruction, all our efforts now are installing fixtures.

 

Wednesday Feb 9

 

Today we set the free standing faucet for the soaking tub and also set the tub in place. The faucet was an item of great anxiety for me. I researched extensively all the possible faucets, downloading the spec sheets and installation instructions for each. Decision made, we ordered the one we wanted and I set the PEX water lines exactly to the specifications from the manufacturer. I know I should have had the part in hand before I laid my lines but we didn’t want to drag this project out all summer.

 

Weeks later the faucet arrived, it was not made to the spec’s they spelled out in their literature. The two flexible water lines extended out the bottom of the stand a measurement of 5 ½ inches, they were supposed to be 1 ¾ inches. My water service lines are set in concrete, there is no moving them.

 

We now had a $300.00 faucet that will not fit. The lines inside the faucet stand had a standard ½ FPT fitting on the lower end but a custom fitting at the upper. The ends are crimped in place with a ferrule like a hydraulic line. This is not something we were going to be able to have made locally. I procrastinated a full day before taking my cable cutters to the stainless steel jacket of the water tubes.

 

I made my cut so I would have two options once I was able to see what the size and material of the inner tubing was. It was the exact dimensions of PEX connectors, I used a PEX connector and S/S clamps. I have PEX tools for both the clamping bands and copper crimp connectors, but I think in this case the S/S clamps will give us a secure assembly.

 

The rest of the install went smoothly, I had predrilled the tile and concrete for the anchor bolts the night before. Millie held the 42 inch tall faucet upright while I made the connections to our water service and then set the base to the floor with the anchor bolts.

 

The tub has been sitting in the bedroom for several weeks so it didn’t take long to move it into place and get the six hidden feet adjusted to sit soundly on the floor. The drain also went as planned and soon the tub was in place under the fancy looking faucet.

 

We achieved out objectives for the day before 3pm and decided to get a jump on tomorrow’s project. The vanity, complete with the stone double sink top has been sitting in the garage for nearly a month. Securely packed in foam and cardboard, I still walked a wide berth when working out there. I was happy to get it moved into the house undamaged this afternoon.

 

It is very heavy; we jacked it up with a floor jack to put a borrowed platform truck. I made two temporary ramps for the steps at the front door and Millie and I wheeled it thru the house and into the bathroom like we knew what we were doing!

 

There is only one thing on tomorrow’s schedule, setting the vanity in place and making all the connections to put it into service. I know it will take at least one trip to Lowes for S traps, hopefully we have the rest and it will go smoothly.

 

February 12, 2022 Saturday. Securing the vanity to the wall and doing all the hookups took much longer than anticipated. I finished it this morning with a little caulking. I also touched up a few spots in the shower floor grout. The bathroom renovation is pretty near done.

 

I came up with an innovative solution to securing the soaking tub to the tile floor. After researching online and finding no acceptable method I looked inward for I knew I could do better. After experimenting with several ideas, I hit upon the perfect method, Velcro! I used industrial strength Velcro on all six feet under the tub’s fiberglass shell and the mateing pieces of Velcro are self stuck to the tile floor. The tub feels as solid as a rock, but can be removed if necessary to access the drain pipe.

 

Tomorrow I will take a load of packing materials to the recycling center, stop and check the RV at the storage lot and then return unused materials to Lowes. I may do a little housekeeping in the garage in the afternoon, but by Monday I should have my workshop clean, organized and ready for the next project!

Before and after

The end

 

 

The Isaacs

 

Feb 5 Saturday. We took a break this afternoon and went to the Alabama Theater in North Myrtle Beach. The Isaac’s were performing and Millie had said she would like to see the live performance. live.

 

To tell you the truth, up until we got there I thought they were a gospel group. Praising the lord is part of their genre, but they are also Bluegrass, a little bit country, a lot of their own writings of which classification I have no Idea. If it isn’t hard enough to put them in a group, they also played a Beatles song and another one from the Rock era, I forgot which song it was.

Lilly Issacs

 

Confused yet? Well, they are also story tellers and regaled us with story's of their journey through the music world. The family matriarch, Lilly Issacs told a harrowing story of her entire family starting with her grandparents on both sides perishing in the Nazi death camps of World War Two. I almost forgot, they also sang two songs in Hebrew, Old standards, I recognized the music, don’t know the words.

 

Wait, didn’t I say they were a Gospel group, yes they are Christens, they converted for Judaism some time ago. It was an interesting evening; I was entertained by most all the music, and moved by their stories of toil and trouble. Mostly I was impacted by the holocaust tragedy. I thought about it for several days afterwards. It was a mostly senior citizen audience and I remember thinking, its sad there are no young people in attendance to hear this story. People should never forget when a madman led a country of sheep to do his biding and slaughter 6 million Jewish people. All told it is estimated 70-85 million people both civilian and military perished in the war before the killing stopped.