Contractors finish up the new bath and insulate the attic

(posted from home)
(This post covers 8 - 23 May, 2012)

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Wednesday, 23 May -

Today we had the insulation team from John Myers and Bob-the-electrician here. The insulation guys were very efficient and only took a few hours for the entire job of adding six inches of insulation to the existing insulation, bringing the R-value to the recommended R-38 (about 12 inches).
They first installed vents ('baffles') above the soffit vent openings and placed six-inch batts of fiberglass insulation around the perimeter. They then blew in the remainder of the insulation to the level of the batts. They arrived at 0800 and worked till about noon.
Bob's main job today was to install the electrically-heated floor mat's thermostat, the light fixtures, the shower fan, the smoke detector and to move the one flourescent light fixture in the mud room. He arrived about 0830 and worked till about 1400.
Labashi had a medical appointment in the afternoon at Hershey.
That evening we watched 'Temple Grandin', an excellent movie with Clare Danes as the autistic and talented Temple Grandin. Good one!

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Tuesday, 22 May -

Today we had Rob and Steve here again. They painted another color coat on the bathroom interior as well as the trim and installed the vanity. While installing the vanity Rob accidently drilled into one of the pex water pipes in the wall. He heard it immediately so stuck the screw in place while he turned off the water supply. Steve drove in to Lowe's to pick up a Gator Bite junction and they repaired the pipe, then put things back in place. They had to cut into the wall for the repair but the cut was behind the vanity. After repairing the pipe Rob mounted short pieces of wood to the inside of the blue board, then screwed the cut-out piece back into place and caulked the seams. The problem originated with the installation of the pex just below the height of the vanity cabinet. A blocking plate had been placed over the stud (where the pipe ran through it) but that just caused Rob to try again a bit
to the right and just in the right place to pierce the pex.
We picked up the Miata this afternoon. The inspection went okay except for the fact that it needed a set of tires. I had hoped to avoid that since I'm planning on selling it soon but they were dangerously dry-rotted.
That evening we finished the first disk of 'Saving Grace', Season One.

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Monday, 21 May -

Today Rob and Steve were aboard from Red Oak. They spent the day installing the two passage doors (bathroom-to-guest-room and mudroom-to-family-room), the shower door, baseboard trim, and door trim (and painting). Steve painted the bathroom and mud-room walls with a masonry primer (on the new veneer plaster) and then painted the color coat in the bath. They did run into one problem. The thermostat in the guest room was too close to the doorway and did not leave sufficient room for the trim. Rob cut out the trim but we objected ; the thermostat cover was difficult to remove and it just looked unprofessional. We had talked to the general contractor about that several days ago and he had promised the thermostat would be moved. That word apparently didn't get to Rob. Steve said they'd try to move it but that may not be possible because of the house-jack in the wall there. I looked up the photos I took before the wall was closed up and found there should be enough space but it was unclear whether the wires would be too tight to move the box a quarter-inch left.
I worked on the Miata a bit to get it ready for inspection tomorrow. It has a leaky tire and I had to take the air tank up to the gas station for air to get that resolved. I also cleaned the interior and topped off the battery charge. That afternoon we took it up to the garage for tomorrow's appointment.
That evening we watched the first two episodes of 'Saving Grace'.


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Sunday, 20 May -

Jonathan came in again today to grout the tile. It looks great!
Once he finished I buzzed down to Starbucks for a quick coffee, intending to go on to Rocky Ridge for my walk. But the more I thought about it the more I realized I'd better mow. The grass is growing incredibly fast now and already looks a bit scruffy. And it's supposed to rain a good bit over the next several days.
I returned home and spent the next several hours mowing.
Labashi continues planting pachysandra in the shady area beside the barn.
We didn't have a movie but watched a bit of PBS, then retired early to read.

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Saturday, 19 May -

Jonathan Gilbert was aboard again today, this time installing the bathroom tile. We talked to him early on after noticing the electrical wire coming out of the heating mat. It appeared to be on the wrong side of the room. He showed us the custom-made diagram for the room which showed him how to install it and that was the source of the error. The diagram was apparently made before we discussed where to put the thermostat and electrical connections, assuming it would be on the far side of the room. Fortunately, Jonathan was able to embed the wire in the thinset to run it to the correct side.
I installed the new filter and sparkplug in the mower and tested it, then turned my attention to Labashi's car. I had bought some tar remover to try to remove sap from the front fender. The sap was quite extensive--- a dozen or so ugly drips and streaks. I soon ran out of patience with the Turtle-Wax product and looked around for something else. The internet told me mineral spirits would work but I then ran onto my little can of Goo Gone Extreme which said it worked on tree sap. And did it ever! I've never seen anything work that well on sap. I tried a small patch of sap on the headlight cover and saw that removal left a smear. But the Turtle-Wax remover took that off. I then tried it on the car's paint and found it did the same. Just a swipe or two with the Goo-Gone-Extreme rag, then clean a bit, then apply the Turtle Wax Tar Remover and clean that off. Total time-- about 30 seconds per sap streak!
That evening we tried to watch a Netflix DVD but it turned out to be cracked and would not play.

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Friday, 18 May -

Today we woke to colder-than-expected temperatures in the house. The overnight temperature had dropped into the high Forties and our inside temperature was 68 degrees. The thermostat was set for 74 degrees. This led to a call to the HVAC contractor. We learned the heat pump hadn't been set up to automatically switch between heating mode and cooling mode. This is apparently not routinely done in this geographic area. We have a heating season and a cooling season. That's a bit of a problem when days are in the Eighties and nights in the Forties. The contractor will be sending out a guy next week to review the settings and discuss the pros and cons of setting it up for automatically switching modes. I think the key will be the 'differential' setting. We'll see.
Jonathan-the-tile-man was aboard today. He installed the Ditra underlayment in it's bed of thinset and also installed and tested the heating mat.
I rode the F650GS in to Lowe's to pick up a sparkplug and air filter for the mower, then went on over to Park City Starbucks to pick up the case of double-shot lights I ordered last week.
On the way home I walked at Rocky Ridge-- 1:45 today.
That evening we watched Chris Rock's 'Good Hair', a very engaging documentary about African-American women's obsession with hair straightening and weaves. Well done, Chris!

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Thursday, 17 May -

Today contractor Jonathan Gilbert came in to plan the bathroom floor-tile job. He had another job in the area and was just stopping by with Red Oak's Steve to be sure he understood the job starting tomorrow. We decided not to use the Hydra-ban waterproofing layer but rather use the Ditra underlayment system.
I made a motorcycle run into town to buy a mower blade and hose fitting. I finished setting up Labashi's hose cart. I had to cut leaking fittings off two hoses and replace them with new fittings and also added an angle fitting to try to relieve some of the strain on the hose junction as it winds around the drum.
That evening we watched the Spielberg movie 'The Adventures of Tintin'. That was a disappointment. We very much like the Tintin comics and this Americanization of it didn't work for us. I imagine the 3D version may have been impressive in theaters but I'd rather have seen a live-action version.

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Wednesday, 16 May -

Today Strine's Plumbing and Heating's Chris and Eric returned to start up the heat pump for the first time. It was a good day for it. The afternoon temperature soared to 85 degrees so the AC felt great. We did notice, though, that the AC took a long time to cool down the house. In fairness, the AC wasn't started up until around noon but the house didn't cool down to 73 until evening. That doesn't seem right. We'll see.
That evening we watched the last four episodes of 'The Good Wife' – Season Two. The writing has been wonderful this year!

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Tuesday, 15 May -

Tom-the-plasterer worked 0700-1200 and finished the mud-room walls (back side of the bathroom only). The work is just perfect. This is a plaster veneer over blue-board. The thickness of the plaster is only about an eighth of an inch and once dry has a shiny, hard surface.
Despite the rainy weather this morning I decided by mid-afternoon that I could mow. The grass was quite high and still somewhat wet where thickest so I had a battle on my hands. My old mower clearly wasn't up to the task and Labashi's self-propelled mower ran okay but kept jamming up the chute and had to be cleared a dozen times or so.
That evening we watched 'Rhino Rescue', a National Geographic special filmed in Botswana.

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Monday, 14 May -

Today we had contractor Tom Saylor in to plaster the new bath. He didn't make it until 1000 because of another job but worked through to 1730 to get most of the bathroom interior done (all but the two small end-walls above the shower).
Another rainy day today and my lawn is growing out of control.

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Sunday, 13 May -

No contractors today. I enjoyed the beautiful morning with a ride-and-read to Starbucks. That afternoon we took Mom and Dad to a Mother's Day dinner at Snapper's Restaurant in Mechanicsburg.

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Saturday, 12 May -

No contractors today. I took the F650GS into town to pick up my new walking shoes and then zipped over to Park City Starbucks for a case of double-shot lights. I also stopped by Backwoods Outfitters looking for 'One Shot' gun lube but they didn't have it.
On the way home I took my five-mile walk at Rocky Ridge.
Late that afternoon we had a lawn-guy come in for the Spring weed-and-seed-- the first time we've done this in many years.
That evening we watched 'The Good Wife' 2.13 – 2.15.

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Friday, 11 May -

No contractors working today. Labashi continues her marathon planting of the pachysandra. I assembled the new hose cart I bought from Tractor Supply and then made a run to the storage unit to take over boxes of sailing gear and other items we won't be needing anytime soon. I also ordered a license sticker for the Miata to ready it for sale.
That evening we watched 'Gasland', the fracking documentary. Well done, Josh!

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Thursday, 10 May ---

Rob and Steve from Red Oak installed the blue-board (a type of drywall) for the bathroom today. They installed it both in the interior walls of the bathroom as well as the mud-room side of those walls.
I did my regular coffee-and-walk motorcycle ride to Starbucks and Rocky Ridge Park.
That evening we watched 'The Good Wife', 2.9 – 2.12.

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Wednesday, 9 May -

Electrician Bob installed the new subpanel for the heat pump system today. Plumber Brian installed the shower valve and walls and re-plumbed the utility sink he had removed to make way for the new plumbing runs for the washer, dryer, and water-treatment equipment. Another plumber, Ernie, came by to start up the water softener and acid neutralizer for the first time.
I bought a new Tracfone while at Wal-mart the other day and charged up its battery today. The new one was only $10 and has a double-minutes feature so it's actually cheaper for me to buy a new phone than continue to add minutes to the old one. The $10 phone came in a kit with case, earphone, wall-charger and car charger. It's the same model I bought Labashi when her old one died a year or so ago so there should be no surprises with it and now we'll have chargers for both in both our vehicles.
I also mowed the grass today. I had problems with my old always-reliable mower and ended up having to take off the throttle cable and lube it just to get things going. Maybe it's not so always-reliable as I thought.
That evening we watched 'The Good Wife' 2.5 – 2.8.

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Tuesday, 8 May ---

Today contractor electrician Bob wired the bathroom and Brian-the-plumber installed the Pex for the bathroom fixtures. Bob also installed the shower vent to the outside.
I buzzed down to York on the motorcycle and ordered the special extra-wide Asics walking shoes I like at Flying Feet. I then went on to Harbor Freight and picked up a few odds and ends--- three more 27-LED lights for the inside of the ATV trailer and some storage boxes for small items-- bolts, screws, nails, etc. All were on sale for about half normal price.
We didn't have a movie that evening.


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