Contractors build the new bathroom
(posted from home)
(This post covers 1 to 7 May, 2012)
-----------------------
Monday, 7 May-
Rob and Steve from Red Oak were aboard today, starting at 0800. Steve is the team leader and got Rob started then went off to another job for a few hours and returned around noon. Rob, and then Steve, put in the studding for the new bathroom walls and removed the forms for the concrete floor. Our electrician, Bob, came at 1430 and began pulling back wires while the other guys worked. They finished up at 1530 and Bob then had access to install the wires for the switches and fixtures in the new bath. He worked until 1830.
Labashi spent an hour to two planting pachysandra this morning, then spent the mid-day portion of the day with her Mom and Dad at a physical therapy appointment for Mom.
That evening we watched 'Life, After All', a South African movie about a girl, Chanda, who tends to her AIDS-stricken mother despite the objections of the entire community. We get a glimpse of the shame of the community and its ugly results.
------------------
Sunday, 6 May -
Contractors are off today, of course.
Labashi and I wanted a day out-and-about today. After a lazy morning we drove up to Harrisburg's Whittaker Center for an IMAX movie. We saw 'Born To Be Wild 3D'. What a treat! I normally wouldn't have gone for this story about rescue facilities for baby orangutans and elephants but had seen a trailer for it in Florida last year. The photography was fantastic! I'm not the biggest fan of 3D but there were several shots where I thought 'this shot alone is worth the price of admission'. Highly recommended.
We then went to the Doshi Gallery at the State Museum for 'Art is an Entree, Not a Dessert', a 40th anniversary exhibition. We also toured the museum. I love the Hall of Pennsylvania Mammals and its world-class dioramas.
We then went to the 'Mid-Town Scholar' bookstore. This was our first visit and we found it fascinating but we'll have to come back for a longer visit. We were getting tired.
We had been trying to come up with a place to eat and had stopped at Mangia Qui only to find it had just closed for the day.
We then drove down SR 283 to Lancaster's Gibraltar Restaurant (across from Franklin and Marshall University). We've only been there once before about five years ago and we had tried another time or two when we were in the area but it happened to be closed.
We had excellent (and strong) cocktails-- 'AnjouTini' and 'Mediterranean Sea'. My appetizer was a tomato soup and it was without a doubt the best I've ever had. I had the crabcakes and Labashi had the pine-nut halibut. Again, highly recommended.
Back home we watched 'Finding Your Roots' with Henry Louis Gates. Tonight he was tracing the families of Sanjay Gupta, Martha Stewart, and Margaret Cho. By that time it was too late to start a movie so we watched a bit of the 2012 Comedy Awards but-- well, it wasn't funny.
----------------------------
Saturday, 5 May -
No contractors today. I finished the reorganization of the closet this morning. I made an aggressive effort to discard clothes and shoes I don't need and took the time to label shelves to help keep me organized. I was surprised how much space I was able to open up. The closet had been jammed but when I finished I had open space, both on shelves and on the hanger-rod.
That afternoon I buzzed down to Starbucks on the F650GS. As I parked the bike I noticed a white GSX 600 parked outside. Inside I saw a familiar-looking young woman wearing a mostly-pink leather jacket. I did a double-take. It was one of the baristas – ( I think she may be a manager). I had talked to her briefly about riding while waiting for my coffee. But she had never mentioned she has a bike! As it turns out, she had only bought it earlier this week. We chatted a bit about our riding histories. She had apparently done some riding with her husband but had divorced two years ago and was just now getting back into it. Very cool!
After my coffee I rode up to Rocky Ridge for my five-miler. This one went very well-- I even jogged a bit of it-- maybe a half-mile--- toward the end.
That evening Labashi and I watched 'The Good Wife', 2.1 – 2.4. Good stuff! The writing staff is on it's game.
----------------------------
Friday, 4 May -
This morning I updated the blog and posted it to the web. I then patrolled my regular web news sites before breaking off to do a cleaning cycle of the filters in our Rabbit Air air purifier. It has three air filters, a very fine-meshed screen for larger particles, a HEPA paper filter, and a carbon filter. The screen and carbon filter are washable and we vacuum the HEPA filter. I see some folks clean the filters once a month but that seems like overkill to me--- I'm thinking quarterly seems about right.
We've had this air purifier for 13 months now and feel it's worthwhile. Its sensor detects smells (like cooking smells) and seems to do a very good job of eradicating them. We've seen a reduction in the amount of airborne dust and that's easy to tell for us. We have glass tops on the end-tables and entertainment console so dust shows up quite easily there.
That afternoon I began reorganizing and stowing my closet. I had painted it a few days ago but wanted to give the paint plenty of time to dry.
The temperature climbed to 90 degrees today but it had a slow start getting there. We coped with it fine. The house didn't have time to over-heat so we got by without AC or even fans.
The weather has been oddly cold overnight lately. We've had frost the last few nights and morning temperatures around 40. Afternoon temperatures have some days been in the Eighties but others only in the Fifties.
Labashi has been spending much of her time outside. She has been preparing the soil for planting in the shady area just east of our little barn. She has been hauling bag after bag of soil amendment and topsoil and bought seven flats of pachysandra as well as three cherry laurel bushes.
--------------------------
Thursday, 3 May -
Our contractors aren't working today. The concrete floor is curing and the electrical contractor isn't available until next week. Framing-in of the bath and electrical work begins Monday. Brian-the-plumber will be back Tuesday to put in lines to the bath. Hopefully we can also get the heat pump started up for the first time next week and the water-treatment equipment put in service.
I spent the morning online with several little things. Dad is interested in finding Mom a replacement computer so I spent some time with that. Best Buy has a Gateway computer on sale for under $300 and that would do the job. But I'm not sure it's a great solution given that Mom says she no longer wants to deal with the computer; it's too complicated. I was thinking an iPad may be a better solution so did some googling on seniors using iPads. There are many recommendations for it but some who have tried it ran into problems with their parents adapting to the touch interface and quickly losing interest in trying.
Around lunch time I drove Mocha Joe over to the Giant to cash in the 70-cents-per-gallon discount on gas before it expires tomorrow. That was worth it-- $15 saved on the fill-up. Gas had hit $3.99 recently but had dropped back to $3.79 so I got it for $3.09 today.
That afternoon we went over to Mom and Dad's apartment. Dad and I did a bit of work on Photo Gallery to get him started organizing his many photos with tags. Labashi and I then made some calls regarding his 'communicator', a machine which wirelessly collects data from his heart pacemaker and relays it to the doctor. The unit sits in his bedroom and on a weekly basis collects the data as he sleeps. If there's anything significantly wrong, the cardiologist is alerted. Otherwise it sends the data every three months (in Dad's case, anyway).
I picked up take-out ribs from the Texas Roadhouse for supper and then we had a pleasant evening catching up on family news.
Back home, Labashi and I watched 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo', the American version.
I liked the Swedish version better. I don't know that I could have done a better job cramming so much information into such a short time but I felt very glad I had recently read the Blomquist/Salandar trilogy. If I hadn't had that background I would have been frustrated viewing the movie. I don't remember the Swedish movie being so dependent on a viewer's pre-knowledge of the storyline.
--------------------------
Wednesday, 2 May -
Brian's job today was to get his plumbing installation successfully inspected. He came over around 1100 for the inspector's planned arrival between 1200 and 1300. He cut off the new installation from the old and sealed off all openings for the pressure test. He then put a pressure guage mounted in a rubber cap on one of the uprights and an air valve in a rubber mount on another one and pressurized the system.
As we were waiting for the inspector the concrete guys showed up. Greg and Javier from Noll's Concrete (from Thomasville) rolled in with 16 bags of Quikcrete 1101 pre-mix, their wheelbarrow, and hand tools. The inspector--- Jeff from Commonwealth Code Inspection --- arrived shortly thereafter and only needed a few minutes to examine the plumbing installation and sign off on it. Brian re-connected to the old-work and gave us the okay to run water and flush to test the connection for leaks. He was then done with our project for the day and will return next Tuesday to run pex for the bathroom after it's framed in.
As we were waiting for the inspection to finish I noticed there weren't many bags of concrete in Greg's truck compared to the size of the job. He said it looked like it'd be close and he could always run over to the local hardware store for more. As the guys worked I called the hardware store to be sure they had the Quikcrete and it was the 4000 psi version. They didn't have Quikcrete but did have Sakcrete so I looked up the product sheets on that to be sure it met the same specs as the Quikcrete. As it turned out we needed about six bags more. The form was a bit deeper than originally planned. It was nominally 2” but was deeper than that and the irregular trench also had to be filled. Greg zipped over to the hardware store for them (bags of Sakrete High Strength) while Javier worked the new pour.
The guys finished up around 1600 and Greg had to run Javier over to East York then come back for the final finishing. He returned around 1730 and worked for about 45 minutes. The final product looks great.
---------------------------
Tuesday, 1 May -
Brian and Rob were aboard today. Brian spent the day building the intricate set of drain lines at floor-level to accommodate the new toilet, shower and sink (in the new bathroom) plus a drain for the dehumidifier plus the two-inch line serving the utility sink, washer, and water-treatment equipment. Rob continued tearing out old work in preparation for the new wall configuration and for the concrete forms. He then tapconned 2x4s to the floor and built the concrete forms on them for the new bathroom floor. Then he cleaned the floor and applied a bonding agent to it. The bonding agent will help the new concrete adhere to the old concrete of the 35-year-old basement floor. Brian finished up around 1300 and went to another job for his company. Rob finished up around 1500 so I suddenly wanted a motorcycle ride and zoomed down to Starbucks for a caramel macchiato.
********** END OF POST ********
(posted from home)
(This post covers 1 to 7 May, 2012)
-----------------------
Monday, 7 May-
Rob and Steve from Red Oak were aboard today, starting at 0800. Steve is the team leader and got Rob started then went off to another job for a few hours and returned around noon. Rob, and then Steve, put in the studding for the new bathroom walls and removed the forms for the concrete floor. Our electrician, Bob, came at 1430 and began pulling back wires while the other guys worked. They finished up at 1530 and Bob then had access to install the wires for the switches and fixtures in the new bath. He worked until 1830.
Labashi spent an hour to two planting pachysandra this morning, then spent the mid-day portion of the day with her Mom and Dad at a physical therapy appointment for Mom.
That evening we watched 'Life, After All', a South African movie about a girl, Chanda, who tends to her AIDS-stricken mother despite the objections of the entire community. We get a glimpse of the shame of the community and its ugly results.
------------------
Sunday, 6 May -
Contractors are off today, of course.
Labashi and I wanted a day out-and-about today. After a lazy morning we drove up to Harrisburg's Whittaker Center for an IMAX movie. We saw 'Born To Be Wild 3D'. What a treat! I normally wouldn't have gone for this story about rescue facilities for baby orangutans and elephants but had seen a trailer for it in Florida last year. The photography was fantastic! I'm not the biggest fan of 3D but there were several shots where I thought 'this shot alone is worth the price of admission'. Highly recommended.
We then went to the Doshi Gallery at the State Museum for 'Art is an Entree, Not a Dessert', a 40th anniversary exhibition. We also toured the museum. I love the Hall of Pennsylvania Mammals and its world-class dioramas.
We then went to the 'Mid-Town Scholar' bookstore. This was our first visit and we found it fascinating but we'll have to come back for a longer visit. We were getting tired.
We had been trying to come up with a place to eat and had stopped at Mangia Qui only to find it had just closed for the day.
We then drove down SR 283 to Lancaster's Gibraltar Restaurant (across from Franklin and Marshall University). We've only been there once before about five years ago and we had tried another time or two when we were in the area but it happened to be closed.
We had excellent (and strong) cocktails-- 'AnjouTini' and 'Mediterranean Sea'. My appetizer was a tomato soup and it was without a doubt the best I've ever had. I had the crabcakes and Labashi had the pine-nut halibut. Again, highly recommended.
Back home we watched 'Finding Your Roots' with Henry Louis Gates. Tonight he was tracing the families of Sanjay Gupta, Martha Stewart, and Margaret Cho. By that time it was too late to start a movie so we watched a bit of the 2012 Comedy Awards but-- well, it wasn't funny.
----------------------------
Saturday, 5 May -
No contractors today. I finished the reorganization of the closet this morning. I made an aggressive effort to discard clothes and shoes I don't need and took the time to label shelves to help keep me organized. I was surprised how much space I was able to open up. The closet had been jammed but when I finished I had open space, both on shelves and on the hanger-rod.
That afternoon I buzzed down to Starbucks on the F650GS. As I parked the bike I noticed a white GSX 600 parked outside. Inside I saw a familiar-looking young woman wearing a mostly-pink leather jacket. I did a double-take. It was one of the baristas – ( I think she may be a manager). I had talked to her briefly about riding while waiting for my coffee. But she had never mentioned she has a bike! As it turns out, she had only bought it earlier this week. We chatted a bit about our riding histories. She had apparently done some riding with her husband but had divorced two years ago and was just now getting back into it. Very cool!
After my coffee I rode up to Rocky Ridge for my five-miler. This one went very well-- I even jogged a bit of it-- maybe a half-mile--- toward the end.
That evening Labashi and I watched 'The Good Wife', 2.1 – 2.4. Good stuff! The writing staff is on it's game.
----------------------------
Friday, 4 May -
This morning I updated the blog and posted it to the web. I then patrolled my regular web news sites before breaking off to do a cleaning cycle of the filters in our Rabbit Air air purifier. It has three air filters, a very fine-meshed screen for larger particles, a HEPA paper filter, and a carbon filter. The screen and carbon filter are washable and we vacuum the HEPA filter. I see some folks clean the filters once a month but that seems like overkill to me--- I'm thinking quarterly seems about right.
We've had this air purifier for 13 months now and feel it's worthwhile. Its sensor detects smells (like cooking smells) and seems to do a very good job of eradicating them. We've seen a reduction in the amount of airborne dust and that's easy to tell for us. We have glass tops on the end-tables and entertainment console so dust shows up quite easily there.
That afternoon I began reorganizing and stowing my closet. I had painted it a few days ago but wanted to give the paint plenty of time to dry.
The temperature climbed to 90 degrees today but it had a slow start getting there. We coped with it fine. The house didn't have time to over-heat so we got by without AC or even fans.
The weather has been oddly cold overnight lately. We've had frost the last few nights and morning temperatures around 40. Afternoon temperatures have some days been in the Eighties but others only in the Fifties.
Labashi has been spending much of her time outside. She has been preparing the soil for planting in the shady area just east of our little barn. She has been hauling bag after bag of soil amendment and topsoil and bought seven flats of pachysandra as well as three cherry laurel bushes.
--------------------------
Thursday, 3 May -
Our contractors aren't working today. The concrete floor is curing and the electrical contractor isn't available until next week. Framing-in of the bath and electrical work begins Monday. Brian-the-plumber will be back Tuesday to put in lines to the bath. Hopefully we can also get the heat pump started up for the first time next week and the water-treatment equipment put in service.
I spent the morning online with several little things. Dad is interested in finding Mom a replacement computer so I spent some time with that. Best Buy has a Gateway computer on sale for under $300 and that would do the job. But I'm not sure it's a great solution given that Mom says she no longer wants to deal with the computer; it's too complicated. I was thinking an iPad may be a better solution so did some googling on seniors using iPads. There are many recommendations for it but some who have tried it ran into problems with their parents adapting to the touch interface and quickly losing interest in trying.
Around lunch time I drove Mocha Joe over to the Giant to cash in the 70-cents-per-gallon discount on gas before it expires tomorrow. That was worth it-- $15 saved on the fill-up. Gas had hit $3.99 recently but had dropped back to $3.79 so I got it for $3.09 today.
That afternoon we went over to Mom and Dad's apartment. Dad and I did a bit of work on Photo Gallery to get him started organizing his many photos with tags. Labashi and I then made some calls regarding his 'communicator', a machine which wirelessly collects data from his heart pacemaker and relays it to the doctor. The unit sits in his bedroom and on a weekly basis collects the data as he sleeps. If there's anything significantly wrong, the cardiologist is alerted. Otherwise it sends the data every three months (in Dad's case, anyway).
I picked up take-out ribs from the Texas Roadhouse for supper and then we had a pleasant evening catching up on family news.
Back home, Labashi and I watched 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo', the American version.
I liked the Swedish version better. I don't know that I could have done a better job cramming so much information into such a short time but I felt very glad I had recently read the Blomquist/Salandar trilogy. If I hadn't had that background I would have been frustrated viewing the movie. I don't remember the Swedish movie being so dependent on a viewer's pre-knowledge of the storyline.
--------------------------
Wednesday, 2 May -
Brian's job today was to get his plumbing installation successfully inspected. He came over around 1100 for the inspector's planned arrival between 1200 and 1300. He cut off the new installation from the old and sealed off all openings for the pressure test. He then put a pressure guage mounted in a rubber cap on one of the uprights and an air valve in a rubber mount on another one and pressurized the system.
As we were waiting for the inspector the concrete guys showed up. Greg and Javier from Noll's Concrete (from Thomasville) rolled in with 16 bags of Quikcrete 1101 pre-mix, their wheelbarrow, and hand tools. The inspector--- Jeff from Commonwealth Code Inspection --- arrived shortly thereafter and only needed a few minutes to examine the plumbing installation and sign off on it. Brian re-connected to the old-work and gave us the okay to run water and flush to test the connection for leaks. He was then done with our project for the day and will return next Tuesday to run pex for the bathroom after it's framed in.
As we were waiting for the inspection to finish I noticed there weren't many bags of concrete in Greg's truck compared to the size of the job. He said it looked like it'd be close and he could always run over to the local hardware store for more. As the guys worked I called the hardware store to be sure they had the Quikcrete and it was the 4000 psi version. They didn't have Quikcrete but did have Sakcrete so I looked up the product sheets on that to be sure it met the same specs as the Quikcrete. As it turned out we needed about six bags more. The form was a bit deeper than originally planned. It was nominally 2” but was deeper than that and the irregular trench also had to be filled. Greg zipped over to the hardware store for them (bags of Sakrete High Strength) while Javier worked the new pour.
The guys finished up around 1600 and Greg had to run Javier over to East York then come back for the final finishing. He returned around 1730 and worked for about 45 minutes. The final product looks great.
---------------------------
Tuesday, 1 May -
Brian and Rob were aboard today. Brian spent the day building the intricate set of drain lines at floor-level to accommodate the new toilet, shower and sink (in the new bathroom) plus a drain for the dehumidifier plus the two-inch line serving the utility sink, washer, and water-treatment equipment. Rob continued tearing out old work in preparation for the new wall configuration and for the concrete forms. He then tapconned 2x4s to the floor and built the concrete forms on them for the new bathroom floor. Then he cleaned the floor and applied a bonding agent to it. The bonding agent will help the new concrete adhere to the old concrete of the 35-year-old basement floor. Brian finished up around 1300 and went to another job for his company. Rob finished up around 1500 so I suddenly wanted a motorcycle ride and zoomed down to Starbucks for a caramel macchiato.
********** END OF POST ********
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 23:59
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