Tools and progress

Anytime you are involved in a major building project, there are tools to acquire. For the bathroom project we have needed several new tools, some replacing tools that seem to have disppeared or been broken over time, and some new ones.

So far, I have bought a recipricating saw, a circular saw, a cordless drill, a drill with a cord, a pipe wrench, a chain wrench, about $120 worth of hole saws (that's 2 saws and an arbor, by the way), a Rotozip-type tool (Harbor Freight), and assorted bits and pieces of stuff.

The demolition is finally finished, and we have started with replumbing (more than once, as plans have changed). The hot water supply lines are all run, but turned off, and the cold water has one more connection for the shower that I'll make tomorrow or Monday.

Ready to start running the new water lines.

One of Beaux' friends was helping with the PVC supply lines, and apparently didn't use enough glue. In this picture, I'm checking the joints on the line for the toilet to see if it needs to be redone.

I was having fun playing with the glue and pieces-parts. PVC is so much better to work with than copper or cast iron!

The pieces of plywood for the floor have been cut and laid in place, but not screwed down, since we still need to do the drain lines for everything. I laid the shower floor in place and discovered that it came too close to the toilet, so the shower got moved to the other side of the bathroom and we are back to putting a small pedestal sink in next to the toilet.

Also, reading the instructions for the shower (always a good idea), I discovered that we need to put the sheetrock in first! So, we will start insulating and doing sheetrock work later this week, and then get the shower set.

I keep finding out that I have to do a bit on this part, then a bit on that part, so that the whole project is knitted together: I can't screw down the floor till I finish the plumbing, which I can't do till I have the shower in place, which I can't do until the sheetrock is in place, which I can't do until the floor is screwed down!

Good thing it's a small bathroom!

The bathroom remodel lives again!

We're finally back at the bathroom remodeling project, and hope to progress quickly. Beaux ran to the store and picked up a new reciprocating saw (the old one had died), and cut out the floor. Now as threatened, I can stand in the dirt and look at the bare studs!


I'm standing about where the door will be. The tape measure is so that I can see the measurements for the toilet. There will be plenty of space in front of it now!


The sink was going to go on the wall on the left, but there is a concrete sill from the original foundation there, so a brilliant idea occurred to move the sink to where the bathtub controls were. Now we don't have to move any of that plumbing! Additionally, the wall on the left becomes nothing but storage shelves/cabinets!


After extending the wall out to 36 inches, we're going to put a quarter-round shower where the light switch is now. Of course, we'll move the wiring first. The advantage is that once again, we don't have to move any plumbing, since the sink used to be there.

The boys are going to be able to do quite a bit of the work, but Beaux' time is limited as he is going to a school in Dallas next week. I'm sure I'll have to bring in my plumber to not only look the work over, but finish up parts of it. I don't have any problem with that though.

I'll post more as it happens...

Bathroom Update

Remember the bathroom I was remodeling before my son's house burned down? It's still bare studs and sub-floor. I had to stop working on it because kid problems overrode bathroom remodeling, and now it's been sitting for about 2 months (walled off by plastic and duct tape).

A few weeks back, I realized I had a Whole Life insurance policy my parents had taken out on me when I was around 5 (I'm getting dangerously close to 50 now). Realizing that Whole Life is evil, and that I have quite a bit of regular life insurance, I contacted the company and asked them to close the account. After filling out the appropriate form, and sending a blank voided check, I sat back to wait for the money to be deposited.

We came back from a camping trip today and happened to look at our bank balances, and guess what? There was a whole bunch of money there, and it turned out to be about twice what I had been expecting!

So, off we went to Lowes and Home Depot to look at bathroom stuff. Monday I'll be calling the plumber to set up what he'll be doing (and charging), and then it's back to heavy construction.

I'll post pictures as appropriate, and will keep this blog updated.

Upcoming project

A model railroader I know in Dallas made a display case for his On30 trains. I saw the pictures and dimensions, and thought that this might be a fun project (and would get my trains protected behind glass).



The drawing is a bit small (click to see the full-size drawing), but the case will be 24 X 48 inches on the outside, with 5 shelves 3 7/8 inches apart. I'll put plexiglass doors on the front to keep the dust out, and will stain the wood a nice color.

I'm looking forward to this project, and hope to get started in a few days. Of course, I will post pictures as I go.

Last of the fire cleanup

I thought I'd put up a few pictures of the last of the fire cleanup. The brother of a contractor Beaux used to work for offered to clean up the mess for $1500, which would come out of the money for the recovered metal. It sounded like a pretty good deal, so we said sure!

There was quite a big mess to clean up! They brought out a dumptruck, front-end loader/backhoe, and a big trailer.

Piles of debris and some smoke from fires started with the cutting torch.

Separating the metal out from the ashes and debris.

They dug a 14-foot deep hole and buried all the debris...it was mostly ashes anyway.

They collected 7000 pounds of metal! Unfortunately, the price of metal has nosedived to less than $.05/pound. They only got $149 for the lot.

This is how it looked when they were done. The site is pretty much cleared off.

One final note. There used to be a metal storage shed next to the trailer. There are plenty of pictures showing it. In the building were the only remaining things my sons had left, including Beaux' saxaphone mouthpiece from 7th grade and a dresser with some clothes, pictures, and other personal items.

A week or so after the fire, an individual, who I am not going to name because of the ongoing investigation, showed up with a trailer, loaded up the building, and took it home. He did not have permission to do this, and simply thought he could get away with it. The building had figured prominently in divorce proceedings, and the judge's decree specified that Beaux was to keep it.

When we contacted the Sheriff's Department, and they interviewed the neighbors, they all gave consistant descriptions of the truck, the trailer, and the two older "gentlemen" who had the cajones to do this in the middle of the day. One even thoughtfully provided a license plate number.

I understand that this individual has retained an attorney who is maintaining that the building is his property. He knows this is a lie, I know this is a lie, and the Sheriff's Dept. knows this is a lie. What kind of a person steals from someone whose house has just burned down?

Not only are his actions absolutely disgusting, but they will probably negatively affect his step-daughter who works in law enforcement. I certainly hope so, since she had to know about it at the time. I doubt he cares about that though.

I sure hope he enjoys "his" metal building...while he can.

Haven't forgotten about it...

Just been really really busy. I'll post more soon.

Fire cleanup

I went out at lunchtime today to shoot a few pictures of the cleanup effort where Beaux' trailer was. The metal framework is pretty much all cut into managable pieces, and is ready to be loaded up and hauled off for scrap. Everything else (pretty much just ashes and some wood scraps) will be buried.


This is just a view from the end where Patrick's room was, looking toward where Beaux' room was.

I'm standing in the kitchen. That is the furnace in front of me. Using a cutting torch causes lots of small fires, so there is some smoke.

This is a 12" steel I beam. A cutting torch makes short work of it!

Notice how wavy the I-beams are from the fire. Trailers burn pretty hot!

Beaux' computer. Patrick's looks a lot like this....

Beaux taking a break from cutting metal.

We found a beaten up and burned powder horn. I think it was a gift from the boy's grandparents some years back. It was probably old...

Patrick's cast iron frying pan. After I clean it up, and reseason it, you will never know.

Cutting some metal up. This was part of the front porch.