Monday Musings

It's been a while since I've sat down and reminisced about the past week.  I think at this point, I'm going to have to go back and think about my past month!  It doesn't seem like much has happened, but when I think over all the little things a lot of big things have happened.

Happiest of Easters!

Two of our kids were home for the weekend.  It's not as nice as all 3, but I'll take it!  Considering oldest child begins finals in a week, I understand his hesitation to come home for the weekend.  It would definitely put a crimp in your study plans for finals!  We're going to swing up and grab him the week before graduations, and then he's going to hang out with us for a while after graduations so that we'll all have time to spend together before middle child begins working in the real world.


The Zombie Gospel
Our pastor was reading the Communion Liturgy on Holy Thursday when he made a most interesting slip up...
The liturgy reads "Jesus came to feed the hungry and heal the sick"
What he said "Jesus came to eat the sick"

One of the most solemn moments of the liturgy in one of the most Holy moments of the year quickly became one of the most hysterical.

He stopped himself and said "I guess I've been watching too much Walking Dead lately!"

I still laugh every time I think of that moment!


Bathroom Renovations Begin
So, since the Property Brothers have ignored my repeated requests to come out and help us renovate our 1970's extravaganza of a bathroom, we've met with the contractor and signed paper work.  We've already done a lot of the work ourselves.  (Removal of the tiles around the bathtub.)  He's going to do a lot of the work, but we've got a fair share to do ourselves in order to keep our costs down.  We need to paint the ceramic tile to look like white ceramic tile.  And we've got to replace the baseboard heater in that bathroom.  It rests on the floor, so we need to replace it BEFORE the new floor is laid down.  The goal is to have all of this finished before Mother's Day.  Do you think the goal will actually be met? I don't!!!  It's going to be a very hectic month!

(Hey Jonathan and Drew- don't worry, we have so much more that needs to be done around here.  If you're looking for something fun to do, let me know.  I've got some thoughts about replacing the roof and adding a front porch to the house next year... I'd love to have your input.  Honestly, if anyone from HGTV would like a shot at helping us update a 1970's rancher, we'd love to have your help!)

Cancer Sucks
I've lost family members to cancer.  I've had friends struggle with cancer.  But this week has truly sucked.  A friend of mine, Barbara, entered Hospice this week.  Barbara is 55 years old.  She's been living with cancer for 17 years.  Her husband died of brain cancer 8 years ago.  Her oldest son died at the age of 3 from cancer.  Her second son went through a go round with cancer when he was seven.  he's been in remission for 20 years.  She has two younger kids who are cancer free, but they are young to be left as orphans in this world.  One is graduating from college next month, and the other is a sophomore in college.  God Almighty, that family has been plagued by cancer.  Many prayers that the children experience peace in the upcoming days and month.

Welcome to the Night Vale

http://www.welcometonightvale.com/listen

Now this is a fun set of Pod Casts.  It's off beat, slightly wacky and imaginatively fun.  Having said that, I'm enjoying listening to it.  I found it through the library - it was recommended listening.  Now that I've started listening, I don't know if I can stop until I finish all 105 Episodes.  Great, first there was Game of Thrones (which I just now caught up on - I'm ahead of the books I've read now, and I no longer know what's going to happen next or the motivation of the characters.  I seriously need to get back to reading the books.) and West World (3 more episodes to go) and now there's Night Vale.  Seriously, you story tellers out there need to stop doing such a good job!  How is a librarian supposed to concentrate on just one thing when you all keep cranking out such awesome tales?  You can find Night Vale here: http://www.welcometonightvale.com/listen

Kitchen Woes

I ended up having to call in a plumber to fix the plumbing work my husband had done under the sink.  In spite of the hours he had spent working on sealing the plumbing, water continued to pour out through every single join in the pipes every time we ran the water.  He had pans set up underneath of the cabinet, and told me "he'd get back to it" if we ever decided to sell the house.  The plumber came yesterday, and in just a little under 2 hours, he refitted all the plumbing under the sink.  Not only had husband used the wrong size pipes under the sink, he had attached all of the plumbing above the air vent. No matter what - because all of the water was draining out above the vent, we were going to have a leak under the sink.  I believe this is what caused the original leak.  My father in law did the plumbing under the sink 12 years ago when they still owned the house and remodeled the kitchen.  He was trying to save a few bucks by doing the plumbing himself. 



Note to self: Just call a plumber.  Saves time and money in the long run.

Look at all that pretty new plumbing!  See that pipe that goes back into the wall?  That's the vent.

We still have some work to do.  The laminate back splash on the counter will never again look "right".  We didn't remove it before we lifted the counter top in order to slide the cabinet underneath.  I've got some thoughts about what I want to do with that in the long run.  But for now, it's just leaning against the wall.  I have thoughts of a tile back splash.  I have thoughts of taking down a couple of kitchen cabinets in order to make the kitchen into an "open concept" space. But for now, my thoughts are going to wait.

To date, here are our expenses:

Plumber: $278

Kitchen Sink:               $316.94
Home Depot Run #1:      $20.90
Home Depot Run #2:      $15.78

New Base Cabinet for Under the Sink: $198
Home Depot Run:                                   $198
(Knob for front door, mold approved face masks, tarp, etc.)

Total Expenses to Date: $1027.62

As you may recall, our original budget to fix this was  $1500.

Since we had to call in a professional to handle the plumbing, I'm so very glad that we had some extra cash in the budget to handle the plumbing!

We still have $472.38 to fix the back splash.

I think we're going to take a break on kitchen remodeling for a few weeks before we hit up the back splash.  I want to enjoy using my kitchen for cooking before we have to shut it down for more work!

 Other Posts in This Series:

We Have Running Water in the Kitchen!
Progress!
Progress of One Kind and Another
 It Only Looks Like We're Not Making Progress
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

We Have Running Water in the Kitchen!

As we join the continuing story of Ye Olde Broken Down House, we recall that our heroes had found a massive water link under the kitchen sink. Not only did they shut off the water to the kitchen, they also tarped off that side of the house so that mold removal & remediation could be done without endangering the residents of the house. 

Our heroes were able to replace the cabinet under the kitchen sink last weekend. This weekend, the challenge was to bring running water to the kitchen. 

Now, let us join the saga already in progress:

We found a sink that covered the existing hole in the counter. It looks funny when its not in the cabinet, doesn't it?

The sink was carefully lowered into place, and properly sealed to prevent water damage to the cabinet. 

Look at that back splash. Seriously, we really need to do something with it. It doesn't look good.  I also need to paint that windowsill.

The pretty new sink with the pretty new faucet!  You turn on the faucet, and water comes out & doesn't leak!

You know there's a catch here, right?  There's a leak in one of the new pipes. Husband is diligently tracking down the source of the leak. While I've kind of enjoyed the experiment, he really wants to be able to use the sink in the kitchen again!  (Picky, picky, picky)

I'm now eyeing that back splash. We really need to do something about that.  It did not weather the counter top lifting well. I also REALLY need to paint the windowsill.  I didn't realize how bad it was until I started looking at the pictures.

Hey, Property Brothers, we still have a massive problem in the form of our hallway bathroom that needs to be dealt with!  Seriously, that project has been a thorn in our sides for 8 years.  I'd love to have somebody who knows what they're doing step in to help us fix that!

Our budget for this home repair was $1500.

Here's what we've spent so far:

Kitchen Sink:  $316.94  (faucet was included with the sink)

Home Depot Run #1: $20.90

Home Depot Run #2: $15.78

Total This Week:  $353.62

Total Last Week:  $396.

Total to Date: $749.62

Other Posts in This Series:

Progress!

Progress of One Kind and Another

It Only Looks Like We're Not Making Progress
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Progress!!

This weekend was a great weekend for kitchen progress!  We were able to get a new cabinet in under the old countertop without breaking the old counter top!

I can't tell you how happy I am that this worked out so well! After pricing out counter tops at Lowe's and Home Depot on Friday, saving the existing counter top became a priority. 

Before we go any further, let me state that we have a laminate counter top over particle board, which gave the counter some "play" - or an ability to bend without breaking. This never would have worked with a solid surface counter. Even with this thought in mind, we were prepared for the whole counter to break while doing this. 

Husband began the day by measuring out the holes for the pipes, and cutting out the corresponding holes in the bottom of the cabinet. He measured out the interior height under the countertop and then cut the base of the cabinet until it was the correct height. (Power tools are crucial with these steps.)

You remember the mantra measure twice, cut once?  Husband measured 5 or 6 times before he cut anything.  Thankfully, we had no cases of  "cutter's regret!"

He then removed all of the screws holding the counter top to the cabinets, so that there would be some play with the counter - and the ability to lift it up, if need be - while trying to slide the cabinet in.  This is where he got very creative.  He used a car jack on either side of the opening - and a very large board - to push up the front edge of the counter while pushing the cabinet under.  This is the part we weren't certain would actually work!  We were expecting things to break here, so he cranked it up just enough to give him the under counter space he needed.

The jack and board combination.

Here, you can see the very scary bowing of the counter.

Slow & steady, he slid the cabinet in under the sink. The water under the sink has been turned off since we discovered the leak, but the hoses still have water in them, so he hung the hoses out of the kitchen window while sliding the cabinet through, and then he put a plastic trash bag in the bottom of the cabinet & put the hoses inside of a bucket, on top of the trash bag, just in case if there is any water that wants to sneak out. 

Hey presto - one very tense hour later, and the cabinet is in place!  

 Pushing the cabinet in just a little more....

That's all he got done this weekend. Next weekend he's going to install the sink, and then we'll call in the plumber to attach everything in here AND the plumbing in the shower in the hallway bathroom!!  Two birds with one stone!  Can you believe it?  We might actually have a working shower in the hallway bathroom by the end of the summer!!!!

Okay, one teensy problem, that backsplash along the back wall ended up coming loose.  Husband is going to pull it off and reattach it to the wall.  He's waiting for everything to settle down, and he wants the weight of the sink in the counter before he does it, though.

Hey, Property Brothers!  Take a look at what we just did!  We managed to save the kitchen counter and remaining cabinets and cut down on kitchen waste!  Only one cabinet was toasted - the rest is still working, and everything is level now.  BLISS!

So, Johnathan and Drew, the 2 not so young, not so photogenic homeowners could still use a little help with that hallway bathroom.  And then there's the matter of the master bathroom which became an official problem over the weekend..... 

This week didn't involve any expenditure of money - just expenditure of physical labor.

As of right now, we're still under our max budget of $1500.  We've spent $396 to date.

Next up?  Purchasing a sink and a faucet.

Other articles in this series:
Progress of One Kind and Another
It Only Looks Like We're Not Making Progress
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Progress of One Kind and Another

Our poor kitchen.  Pity me and my husband.  We've been locked out of the kitchen for close to a month now.  Granted, I'm not the world's best cook, and I don't always enjoy cooking, but when you can't get into your kitchen you really begin to miss it after a while.

We're making significant progress now.  The pace is picking up, and I am so very, very excited to see how fast things are moving along!

The sink has been removed from the counter.  We were both very surprised at the condition of BOTH of the joins underneath the drain in the sink.  Both were corroded.  The left sink bowl hadn't started leaking yet, but I honestly think it was only a matter of time before it started leaking.  The sink itself is only 12 years old, so I don't understand the corrosion and deterioration.  You might want to have a look at the pipes under your own sink and see how they're holding up. 

Wow, isn't it pretty?  We left the lower pipes, and more importantly the "U" bend, or trap intact.  This allows water to remain in pipe and keep sewer gas from coming back up into the house.

The view from the front. FYI - we DID turn the water in the sink OFF before we began taking this apart!  If we hadn't, we'd be dealing with even more water.

The sink and the faucet, out in the carport.   I'm also very concerned by the amount of mold and mildew behind the faucet and behind the drain/vent for the dishwasher.  I'm concerned that there is going to be damage to the drywall.  I guess we'll find out soon!

This week didn't involve any expenditure of money - just expenditure of physical labor.

As of right now, we're still under our max budget of $1500.  We've spent $396 to date.
The crucial moment is now.  The next bit hinges upon our ability to get the counter top out without breaking it....

I've stopped all mention of the Property Brothers around my husband.  He's feeling stress enough about this without my harping on how much faster/better Jonathan and Drew (and their crew of many tradespeople) could get this done.  Right now, it's just one guy with the help of his rather inept wife and overeager sons.


Other Posts in this Series:
It Only Looks Like We're Not Making Progress
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

It Only Looks Like We're Not Making Progress

We found a leak that had gone on for far too long under out kitchen sink last month.  Husband pulled out anything that was wet and biodegradable from that area and threw it out.  We put up a big plastic tarp on this side of the kitchen and walled it off from the rest of the house.  We have the dehumidifiers going in here constantly, but for the last week, no water has been in the reservoir. I'm taking that as a good sign.

All the wet wood is gone, gone, gone.

While this part of the kitchen has been drying out, we've pulled out all of our scouting skills, and have been cooking out on the grill and propane camp stove a lot.  It's been a challenge, and not in the way you might think.  Do you like bugs in your spaghetti?  The bugs like spaghetti.  They fly over the pot, get zapped by the hot steamy water and fall into the pot.  We've put a lid on the pot, lifting only to stir the spaghetti, but those little guys are wicked fast!  I keep telling myself it's extra protein....

We are very fortunate that the water damage didn't extend to the sub floor, into the basement, or under the hard tile floor.  (Although I really wouldn't mind getting rid of that tile.... but I am not ready to put out money for that expense at this time!)

We were out looking at cabinets this weekend.  Our biggest concern was that we were going to have to rip out all of the old cabinets and replace them.  I had hopes of pulling out just the damaged cabinet and re-using the existing cabinet doors and faces.

On our scouting expedition to Home Depot and Lowe's, we found an exact match for the cabinet size.  We might end up switching out the doors so that they match the existing cabinets, but the wood on the face is an exact match.  (Thank you to the previous owners (OK, my in-laws) for using stock cabinetry when they remodeled the kitchen!)

Hey look!  It's a new base cabinet!

We are going to replace the sink and faucet when we replace the bottom cabinet.  I have hopes of getting a garbage disposal installed, too.  And a plumber to make sure it's done correctly.   This part of the job will not be a "do it yourself" fix.

The bigger question includes the existing counter top.  We're going to  have to pull it up and out in order to replace that cabinet.  The counter tops themselves are in good shape.  I really don't want to replace them if we don't have to, because we've got a significant amount of counter top space - it's a long "L" shaped piece of counter right there, and then there's a very short "L" shaped piece of counter top on the opposite corner of the kitchen that I don't want to replace - because nothing is wrong with it - but if we replace that counter top on one side, we'll have to replace it on the other side, too.  The counters themselves are 12 years old.  I know they aren't the "hip" thing, but they work.  I guess we're going to have to wait and see if we can successfully remove the existing counter top without damaging it when we go to replace the base cabinet.

Middle child is back at work this week, but he'll be home for a couple of days next week.  He and husband are plotting to fix this on Monday and Tuesday of next week while he's home.  Another week without a kitchen.  Another week of "interesting" meals.  I see more salads in our future.

You know, I don't think the Property Brothers move this slowly.  I watch their shows all the time, and it's less than an hour from start to finish.  Obviously, we're doing something wrong!  I can mention this here, because I'm afraid that if I mention this, even jokingly to husband's face again, he's going to file for divorce....

Here's my Property Brothers moment:
Can the homeowners come in under their $1500 max renovation budget?

Total spent so far:
Lowe's, 6/12/13 $198
New Base Cabinet for under sink.

Home Depot, 5/29/16  $198

doorknob, 2 mold approved face masks, 1 large (10'  x 25') tarp, reusable latex gloves with extra long cuffs, bleach, tarp tape, small sheet of plywood, propane tank for the grill.

Total Spent to Date:  $396


Other Posts in this Series:
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Jonathan and Drew - if you're reading this - 2 not so starry eyed, not so young people looking to fix the house that's been in the same family for 46 years could use some help!

One step forward, two steps back.

Have you ever watched the Property Brothers?  You know, Johnathan and Drew talk some young, starry eyed couple into buying an old broken down home and then they remodel it for them.  We watch Property Brothers a lot, and husband and I not only critique the houses, but we also criticize the choices the young homeowners make.  

You see, we made one of those bad choices ourselves 10 years ago, but we didn't have Jonathan to fix things for us.  We just had the two of us, and the years of experience in home remodeling and renovation that we have picked up volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, Rebuilding Together and Christmas in April.  We were young and dumb.  We thought we had the skill and know how to fix this house up.  We were buying it from our in-laws.  Little did we know that the house was suffering from 30+ years of neglect when we bought it.

Over the years, I've shared stories with you about the ongoing attempts to fix the things that are horrifically wrong with this house.  It's been 10 years of non-stop surprises.  Our friends not so jokingly call this house "The Money Pit".

I thought we were mostly done with the biggest disasters.  As far as I knew, we only had the hallway bathroom left to finish.  I was setting aside money to get someone to come in and fix it over Christmas break this year.  

Sunday morning, we woke up to find a puddle of water on the floor under the kitchen sink.  We cleaned up the puddle and headed off to church.  After church, husband and I cleaned out under the kitchen sink to see if we could figure out where the water was coming from.  We started cringing and shuddering as we pulled out water logged paper towels and boxes covered in black mold.  We pulled the trash can close and shuttled everything directly into the trash bag.  Underneath it all, when we hit the bottom of this cabinet, we found this.  Can you see the damage to the back wall of the cabinet?  Can you tell that the bottom of the cabinet has rotted through?  Yep, Lord have mercy on us, this is going to be an ugly, ugly fix.  

Closer inspection revealed where the leak was occurring.  Just below the sink, where the drain joins the pipe.  You can see the black mold spilling down the side of the pipe.  It's all I can do not to throw up just looking at the picture.  And the damage along the back, next to the wall.  *blech*

That's a dangerous kind of mold, too.  This is going to take some serious work to remediate.  We can't take chances on any more of this getting loose in the house.  

We spent Sunday cleaning out the kitchen - we pulled out everything we are going to need in order to cook for the however many weeks until we get this cleaned out.  We pulled out the dehumidifiers, we pulled out the air filters, and we pulled out the microwave, toaster oven, and crock pots.  The microwave, toaster, and crock pots have now set up shop in the dining room.  We turned the refrigerator so that it is outside of the tarp, and we have access to it through the "other" side of the kitchen.  Everything else has been set up in the kitchen.

Before we even began demolition on this, we had to prep the area.  Tarps were purchased, mold filter face masks, trash bags,bleach, and heavy duty latex gloves were purchased.  The area had to be sealed off, and the ventilation to that part of this house had to be shut off before we even began to deal with the mold removal itself. 

Part of this repair is realizing that we will not have access to the kitchen door.  The one that leads directly out to the carport.  We don't often use the front door, so we went to open the door so that we could make sure we had a key that worked in the doorknob.  If you read yesterday's post, you know where this is going.  We went to open the door and the doorknob fell out in our hands.  That door knob is original to the house - 1970 - and it wasn't going back together again.  So, first things first.  We had to replace the door knob....  (This is beginning to sound a lot like the children's book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie", isn't it?)   After we replaced the doorknob, I took a good look at the door and realized that I probably should have given the entire thing a coat of paint before we installed the doorknob.  We do have more pressing issues on our mind, though.

Now that we had outdoor access, and a way to secure the house, we were ready to tarp the kitchen off from the rest of the house.  

Until this is finished, we'll have no access to the kitchen sink, the dishwasher, or the stove. Good thing we're a scouting family, or the challenges of eating without access to the stove might very well be an insurmountable problem when working with a budget that is this tight.  We're in for an interesting few weeks of meals!  On the bright side - since we won't be using the stove or the oven, our electricity bills should be lower!

So, you know that time in the Property Brothers where they show the reno budget and show you the prices of everything?  Yeah, that's where we are now...

So, with a $1500 reno budget, can these homeowners fix this mess?

Money spent so far:

Home Depot, 5/29/16  $198

doorknob, 2 mold approved face masks, 1 large (10'  x 25') tarp, reusable latex gloves with extra long cuffs, bleach, tarp tape, small sheet of plywood, propane tank for the grill.

Total to Date: $198

Jonathan and Drew - if you're reading this - 2 not so starry eyed, not so young people looking to fix the house that's been in the same family for 46 years could use some help!