Our Olde House: April 2023

Ding dong the hedge is gone, and I did not get stung.  Everyone, even me, has noticed that honey bees disappear at night; I decided to attack the hedges at dusk.  Since the flowers were facing the street, I came up behind the hedges on the house side with my chainsaw on a stick and was able to cut them all down.  Rolling them out to the curb for pickup was a bit of a chore that probably also provided some unintended entertainment for the neighbors.

The hedges rolled into two large piles of branches which the City’s claw picked up in only two grabs.  We did leave behind about ten azalea stumps, counting both sides of the walk.  I have not been able to remove any stumps using brute force and ignorance, and it is doubtful they could be pulled out with anything less than a Sherman tank.  We were watching a Bonanza rerun on TV and a traveling salesman demonstrated how a few sticks of dynamite would obliterate a stump; Miss Sherry suggested that we have a stump grinder come first.  While we were waiting for him to show up, I managed to retrieve a variety of stuff that was lost in the hedge, including some random bricks and a few low voltage yard lights; who knew.

During one of our cold and rain every day stretches, and against our better judgment, Miss Sherry and I decided to replace something in the house that was not yet broken.  Our reluctance to begin this type of task may sound silly, but we have not attempted this feat before because every repair we start uncovers many more things that need to be repaired or replaced too.

We know that we need to update some things in the house, in addition to the  repair and replacement of the broken stuff.  I had already replaced the sink and flooring in one bathroom, and reset the toilet, so the only remaining item to update was the stall shower.  The faucets in the shower drip for awhile after being turned off and the shower floor had seen better days.

This existing shower is a one-piece fiberglass enclosure with a shower curtain instead of a door, and we wanted to improve this bathroom with a shower makeover.  I began by looking at fiberglass stall showers, basically a new version of what we had.  While shopping for these I came across tile showers with glass doors that looked really nice, were easier to keep clean and would last much longer.

With renewed enthusiasm at making a quantum improvement to our house, we went to look at different patterns and colors of tile for the new shower.  Miss Sherry and I quickly agreed upon tile for the walls with matching small hexagon tiles for the floor.  We ordered the tile and all of the other stuff needed to complete the project and put down a deposit.  We all agreed to wait for all of the items we need to actually arrive before starting demolition, to avoid any delays to supply chain issues.

After a few days we got a call that everything had arrived and they could begin work the following Monday, with the project being completed that week if “nothing unexpected” was found that needed to be fixed.  Based upon a decade of experience fixing stuff the likelihood of them not finding something unexpected was pretty slim; but we pressed on and agreed they could start that Monday.  I moved my bathroom stuff out of this bathroom, and into the other bathroom with a shower for the duration of this project.

Monday arrived with removal of the existing shower as the day’s only task.  We were exhausted since neither one of us slept much worried about what unexpected something would be found after the shower was removed, but at least we would know that day and go from there.  After a couple of hours of very loud sawing and banging they said the shower was removed; reluctantly and somewhat terrified we decided to look where the shower had been.

We could hardly believe our eyes when we looked, because there was NOT even the slightest hint of a leak or drip, in fact the framing for the shower looked brand new. This has never happened before, I say redundantly again.  The weight of ten mules was immediately lifted off my shoulders.  Miss Sherry and I looked at each other and smiled; then we looked again where the shower had been to be sure we were not hallucinating the first time we looked.  The crew said goodbye, the plumber would be here tomorrow.

The remaining work on the shower came off without a hitch and with each daily task being completed early.  The next day the plumber changed the hot and cold water pipes and installed the new faucet and shower head, and even the waterproof walls were installed that same day.  The next day the shower floor was created, the new drain was installed and the floor tiles were set. The following day the tile walls were installed on three sides, from floor to ceiling and around the new faucets and shower head pipe.  On Friday, mortar was installed between all of the tiles, which basically completed the shower.

We did not run the water for a few days until the mortar set.  The guy came to measure for the glass door for a custom fit that turned out perfectly; it did take about a week for the glass door to be made and installed, but after that the new tile shower was done and done, and I moved back into my bathroom.  This was absolutely the best improvement we have made to our house so far, and the entire crew were superbly professional and highly skilled artists.