Would you believe...

I actually installed the thermostat that I just received from www.oneprojectcloser.com! It arrived today and I had it in and working in about an hour. The hardest part was figuring out the wiring, I can't stand looking at wiring diagrams.

Below: one of my little helpers helping me unpack


Below: before and after


And it works! I've only played with it a little bit and already I'm really happy with it. Thanks again One Project Closer!

Well, we got something accomplished this weekend.

We got the Christmas Tree up!


I had planned on replacing the cracked cast iron drain pipe coming down from the 2nd floor bathroom but that didn't happen. I did manage to take pictures of it though.

Below is the new PVC section that our plumber put in:

Below shows the cracked section that I tried a temporary epoxy patch on - didn't work.

I did also manage to get to Home Depot with all 3 kids in tow. I picked up a section of angle and through bolts that will be used to support the pipe as I cut the section out. Hope to get to it this week!

Yes!

I won the Trane giveaway from www.oneprojectcloser.com! This is something we really needed at home and it couldn't have come at a better time - it's freezing outside.

Now the trick will be to get it installed this season or at least before its technology becomes outdated. Not that I think it will be difficult to install, it's just that I have a knack for getting things done in a timely fashion.

Giveaway from One Project Closer.

Once again www.oneprojectcloser.com is having a great giveaway. This time it's a Trane Progammable Thermostat that will definitely help with our home heating cost. Follow the links to their site and enter for a chance to win.

Wow, It's been over 2 months...

... since we grouted the bathroom floor! And I'm sad to say there has been no further progress. My plan for the week is to resort back to the late night/early morning (2-3am) renovation schedule.

As a classmate used to say during Grad School "SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK!"

New Jersey needs a change!

I don't claim to be politically aware in any sense but I'm trying. And when things in our State don't seem to be getting any better I think it should be time for a change. So I added a little button on the side to support change. Sorry for blogging about this here but if things don't get better I may not have anything to be blogging about.

Price Pfister Faucet Giveaway.

Another giveaway at One Project Closer! This time it's a Price Pfister Kitchen or Bathroom Faucet.

We could sure use a new kitchen faucet. Actually, we could use a whole new kitchen but at this point we'll take what we can get.

So go to their site and enter for a chance to win!

Fall to do list.

It's getting cold outside again. Or should I say, it's getting cold inside! A week ago I woke up, looked out the window and thought "Wow, it's foggy outside." It turned out to be condensation on the windows from the house being 20 degrees colder inside than outside! So our house was basically acting like a glass of ice water in the summer with us swimming around on the inside. Only it wasn't refreshing, it was freezing!

Along with the cold comes a whole list of things to do. They include winterizing, raking leaves and keeping unwanted bastar... I mean critters out. To "winterize" the house I plan to continue making the interior storm windows (window link) and hopefully finishing the attic insulation.

For raking the leaves I plan to RAKE, no big surprise there. Part of the reason we named our home Forest Hall is because we are surrounded by trees and every fall the amount of leaves to be raked is just a lot! I'm always looking for better ways to get the job done but all I use is a Toro electric blower, a rake and a tarp to drag the leaves to the street. Can you find the kid in the picture below?

And speaking of critters, the last time I poked my head up in the attic I noticed some insulation piled up in places that looked like squirrel nests. I think it's about time I took care of this problem by finding out where they are getting in before it starts to get really cold. I know I don't want a repeat of the last squirrel incident (squirrel link).

So the plan was to grout the floor last night...

... and it actually happened! That's right, this is not a joke, I actually grouted the floor last night! I was expecting to hear some clinking of loose tile as I wiped down the floor but I didn't hear it. Or I was expecting one of the kids to wake up in desperate need of a life saving drink but that didn't happen either. So I went for it. I started the whole process around 10pm and finished up at around 2:30am. Yes, I'm a little tired today but very satisfied.


We used Laticrete 1600 unsanded grout with the 1776 grout enhancer instead of water. Part of the hold up (other than loose tile) to grouting was due to Mrs. Forest's choice of grout color. She wanted it to be gray and at first I didn't agree but we all know how that goes. So while shopping at Lowe's for the grout of course they didn't have gray in the unsanded grout. Mrs. Forest decided that we could mix white and black together to make the gray, again I wasn't sure if agreed and my fear of mixing and screwing it up really held me back.


Last night we mixed the two together, added the grout enhancer and it came out looking great! Props to Mrs. Forest for choosing the color and for mixing.

Some other updates:

- Almost done with the window sill, hopefully just needs sanding and match up to the existing.

- Put the new breaker in the subpanel for the radiant heat, still working up the nerve to wire it up. Should be straight forward though (damn, did I say that out loud).

Hopefully, I can keep up the motivation. Next major step is tiling the walls...

Hoping to grout the floor tile sometime soon.

I had planned on having the bathroom floor grouted this weekend, but I found some more loose tile. I don't know how I missed them, I even had my daughter help me look (yes, she is old enough to help now). After we ran our fingers over each tile on Sunday and put down more loose ones, I ended up finding more last night.

Everything was ready to go and I was wiping the tile down with a damp sponge prior to grouting. Sure enough I hear "clink-clink." And it wasn't just one little tile, it was a group of three. What a PAIN IN THE A$$!

I Lied!!!

I'm not done with the floor tile. I found some more loose ones the other night. Part of me just wants to just grout them in and call it good, but they will most likely pop up later and result in more work. And I've had about enough of extra work.

I am almost done with the window sill and hope to get pictures of that up soon.

Stay tuned again...

Back to work!

I'm finally getting back to working on the bathroom and to adding posts. Hopefully, it will continue.

Quick update on progress:
- Finished putting down loose floor tile that didn't have thinset under them.
- Slowly rebuilding the window sill with wood putty.
- Plan to grout or at least mix a test sample for the color we are trying to achieve.

Stay tuned...

Bathroom update...

I actually did some work on the bathroom this past Saturday. I managed to strip most of the paint from the window sill. The last few layers proved to be much more of a pain in the a$$ than the first few. And it didn't get to the point of seeing the beautiful wood, covered by years of paint, moment that I had hoped for. What made it easier to stop was knowing that it would be painted white anyway. At least I think it's going to be painted, unless Mrs. Forest had a change of plan.

I also started rebuilding the missing portion of sill with wood putty. I went with some cheaper stuff, again because it was going to be painted. Of course, it's not going as smooth as I thought it would. But then again, nothing ever does...

Plan for the weekend.

I'm planning to get back to work on the bathroom this weekend, yahoo! Well, at least part of one day this weekend as we have a kid birthday party to attend on Saturday at 5pm and I'll be with the kids all day Sunday.

Hopefully, I will be able to get the following done:
1) Finish stripping window sill.
2) Rebuild missing portion of sill.

Not too ambitious, I think...

Still here.

I haven't posted in awhile, partly because I've been swamped at my day job but mainly because no progress has been made on the bathroom. A few things are happening this weekend but hopefully I can get back into gear next week and get things done! So stay tuned...

Whenever I forget why we're doing this...

...all I have to do is look around the house and enjoy the details.

Holiday Weekend Work!

I actually did some work on the bathroom this weekend. I really needed a change of pace from getting the floor ready to grout so I decided to start working on the window.

I started the window sill repair on Friday. I'm using a combination of a Dutchman and wood putty. The Dutchman will serve as a support for the putty as I didn't want to shell out the cash for the expensive epoxy wood repair product I wanted to use. I could have used just a Dutchman but I figured it would take a lot more work to blend it in with the existing sill. Below are pictures of the missing portion of sill and the Dutchman in-place.
The Dutchman was secured with wood glue and screws. At first, I thought the connection would not be sturdy enough but after the glue cured I have no more doubts about it.

On Saturday I figured that I should probably start stripping the paint on the window before rebuilding the sill with the putty. I used the SoyGel wood stripper that had been purchased years earlier for stripping various wood elements around the house. Of course the seal hadn't broken broken on the container until that day and there were some concerns about whether or not it would still work. Well, it does! This is the first time I've ever stripped paint and I'm really impressed with the product. See below for pictures of the stripper in action (No, it's not me)!

Some pictures for motivation.

Just took some pictures of the bathroom to get myself back into the project.

Below: Still need to strip the paint off the window. Oh, and tile the walls!

Below: I think the natural light gives a better idea of the wall color.

Below: Toilet area with dried thinset removed.

They pulled through!

Yes, the utility company actually got the rest of the tree removed! They came out yesterday at almost 8pm with 2 big trucks and a crew of 4. Not sure why they needed so many guys and for a second I thought they were going to trim the other tree that was hitting the power lines. Wishful thinking on my part, but at least the other tree is gone.

Maybe if we keep the front in its current overgrown state they will eventually remove all the trees for us! Again, wishful thinking...

Hope the utility company pulls through.

A few months ago our utility company's tree contractor came to our house to "trim" back the branches of a tree that was hitting the power lines. The trimming turned into a topping in which we ended up with a 15ft stump. The tree was in pretty bad shape and was covered with poison ivy so I wasn't sorry to see it go. I would have just liked to see it all go.

A call to the utility ended with them stating that they just trim back branches and did not remove stumps. Stump!? If I had the skills I could make it into a totem pole! I ended up calling my town and they said they would remove it sometime in the fall.

Well, a few weeks ago the same tree crew came out and cut down the stump. But this time they left a long 10ft section in our yard and three 2ft sections next to, what is now, a real stump. It's been there for about 3-4 weeks and I figured they would come back and remove it. I would cut it up myself for firewood if it didn't have poison ivy vines all over it. Maybe the crew thought we wouldn't notice it in the Forest.

I finally had enough of waiting and emailed the tree supervisor at the utility. I was surprised to receive a quick reply stating that the rest of the tree would be removed early this week. It's Wednesday and we're still waiting, hopefully they will pull through.

The sink is in!

No, not in the main bathroom project; in the downstairs halfbath. Ever since the frozen pipe incident a few months ago, the hot water had been shut off to the sink. We had a little get together with some friends this past weekend so we figured it would be nice if they could wash their hands with warm water.

Here's the nice little pink number we've lived with for the past 6 years! Please don't flood my inbox with requests for this beauty!

Above: Checkout the painted PVC drain and copper supply lines!


Above: Tight clearance with the door limited the options for a new sink.

Here's the new sink purchased from Lowe's. Everything pictured came in the box, it also came with the pedestal that is not shown.

And here she is in place.

I'm surprised at how smooth everything went and now have more confidence to do the upstairs sink. The old sink came out without any major issues and attaching the new values was a breeze as I used these push-connect valves from Brass-Craft. I'm a little freaked out by how they work though as they are free to rotate while connected and still have fears of coming home to a flooded basement again.

All that is left to do is to seal under the faucet and the drain as I didn't have any plumbers putty and just wanted to get the sink in. Also, the sink has to be secured to the wall better. The bracket that came with the sink just doesn't have a big enough lip to catch the sink. And as the plastic (yes plastic) wall tile compressed from tightening the bracket screws, the short lip became more of an issue as it was pulled away from the sink.

The grand plan is to replace the tile with beadboard, tile the floor and replace the toilet. Or basically remodel the whole thing. But that shouldn't happen before The Nemesis is complete!

Where are all the bats?

The other day one of my neighbors and I were exchanging our recent house project war stories and he stated that at least I won't have a bat problem in my attic this year. I didn't know what he was talking about and after talking a little more we confirmed that it was one of our other neighbors that had the bat issue.

But now I wanted to know why he made the statement as my wife and I had talked about getting a bathouse to help control the mosquitoes in the yard. Turns out the bats in the Northeast are close to being wiped out by disease (NJ.com)! Not only is this bad for the bats, it's bad for everyone as a single bat consumes thousands of insects a night, including mosquitoes.

Hopefully, all the researches can figure out what's going on with the bats. In the meantime, we need to find another solution for mosquito control. I first heard of this product (my mosquito deleter) over at www.thisyounghouse.com and it looks like it will do the trick. I just ordered some and am awaiting their arrival, I will report the results in the near future.

Paying the Price for being Lazy!

Last night I spent a few hours scraping the dried thinset off the floor tile that we had put down on Friday night. Of course, the right way would have been to wipe off the mortar as it began to set while we were laying the tile. But at 4am, the last thing I wanted to do was stay on my aching knees and clean off the tile.

I would like to say that after a few hours all the thinset had been removed and the floor is ready to be grouted, but NO! I was almost finished the toilet area, what a B$&CH! I did find a good use for an old plastic gift card though, a thinset scraper. So there we have another useful DIY tip! I'd like to say that the whole reason I left the thinset to dry on the tile was to test out my new handy dandy thinset scraper, but NOPE! I was just being lazy.

Motivation!

I'm planning to enter the bathroom project in this contest.

It expires in September of this year so it will motivate me to finish the damn thing. We should win for "Longest bathroom renovation project in the history of the world!"

Another Late Night.

Stayed up 'til 5am on Friday night to finish tiling the floor. Didn't think it would take that long but I guess when you start at 11:30 pm that's what you get. The rest of the weekend was pretty much shot as usual so I'm glad Mrs. Forest and I spent the time to finish the floor.

Did I ever say that I'm not detail oriented? Or at least, not put little mosaic tile, piece-by-piece, along a wall, in a tight space, oriented? Well, I'm not! I'm just thankful that my wife did most of it.

Well, here's to the start of another week. Hopefully we can grout tonight, but wait a minute I need to go to Lowe's to get the darker grout! Looks like it's going to be another late one...

Finished...

...cutting the floor tiles for the edges and toilet area. Now I just need to remove the dry thinset that squeezed it's way between the grout lines and in the areas where the cut tile will go. Looks like another tedious job.

On another note, I have a useful tip - at least we think it's useful. Since our house is brick and surrounded by trees it gets really humid inside. So we run a dehumidifier in the kitchen but it does not have bucket bypass hose connection. When the bucket fills up, which happens a lot, we use the water fill the toilet tank after we flush. Now isn't that just "Green" of us, or should I say "Brown"!

Why is our house called Forest Hall again?

Maybe because at any given moment you can observe wildlife right outside the window. We're not out in the sticks either, we are surrounded by houses but basically have trees as a fence. It's great for privacy and we have our own forest in the middle of the suburbs. I took this picture from our dining room window, wish I had a better zoom lens though. It's Father's Day coming up? (shameless hint)

A Lot of Progress!

Well, not exactly. I cut more floor tile on Friday night for the edges and toilet area. It's not hard just time consuming, plus getting interrupted by either one of our two boys waking up crying doesn't help. I have a few more tiles to go and hope to have the entire floor down and grouted by this week.

I really need to accept the fact that the weekends should be spent having fun with the family and not get bent out of shape when I don't make progress come Sunday night. The kids will only be young once, the house will always be old and need work!

I did get to install these water hammer arrestors at the washer supply lines. We had purchased a new front load washer last year and since then the pipes were banging like crazy in the basement. It doesn't fill and wash like a top loader, at the start it spins a little, fills a little and continues the spin-fill until there's enough water to do the next cycle. The whole starting and stopping of the water was terrible on the pipes, I tried sucurring the pipes in the basement but that didn't work. Then I saw an episode of Ask This Old House and saw them install some local water hammer arrestors. The ones on the show were different and probably a better system but the ones available at Lowes were the ones below.



Let me tell you these work great! No more banging pipes and repairing future leaks in the basement! The supply valves and pink walls are another story...

Papa needs a new...

...anything from Home Depot!

Yes, another giveaway from One Project Closer and, yes, it's another Home Depot gift card! Just in time for Father's Day too, did I mention that I have 3 WONDERFUL children that make working around the house just THAT much easier?

So check out the One Project Closer site but please don't enter as I'd like to win! (Just kidding)

A new bathroom project!

As if there was not enough left to do with the main bathroom project, we decided yesterday to get a new sink for the half bath downstairs. Ever since the flooding of our kitchen this past winter, the hot water to the sink hasn't been reconnected. Believe me I tried reconnecting the hot water but the connection under the sink just wouldn't budge. So we decided just to get a new sink and have been looking for one small enough to fit. The bathroom isn't small, it's just if the sink is too long or deep then the door would hit it.

We were searching for a similar sink that is supported at the wall thinking that a pedestal or vanity would be too expensive. Well, last night we went to Lowe's and found a small pedestal sink called "Pedestal to go." It was surprisingly affordable at $99, plus it included the faucet, drain pipe and supply lines! We couldn't believe it and had to check the outside of the box 2 to 3 times for a "sold separately" line. It wasn't there so we said "SOLD!"

It's not exactly the style we wanted but for the price we couldn't pass it up. I plan to get it in this weekend but that may be a little optimistic.

Update.

Bathroom: Starting to lose steam again and only worked on cutting the floor tiles for the edges. Almost done with the sink wall. Thought I could create my own DIY useful tip by putting leftover thinset into a ziplock bag. Well, it works if you want to make bag shaped bricks! On to the next useful tip to be discovered.

Skunk: No luck in the trap, little bugger managed to reach the bait and not spring the trap on Saturday. On Sunday, something ate the bait and sprang the trap but was not available for an introduction. I'm still determined to catch tis thing without buying a bigger trap, but maybe I'll end up catching its babies!

Carpenter Bees: Sprayed the bathroom window with bee killer from Home Depot but have read online that only a powder (Drione) would work. The cost and whole process of the dust may warrant an alternative solution and I'm looking into this product (carpenter bee chamber) as a possible candidate. I also noticed more bees and sawdust at the garage and it may be the perfect place to hang the bee chamber.

Garage/yard Sales: My wife and I really like going to garage/yard sales and always manage to pick something up that we really need. Or at least need at the time that we see the item! If you ever come to our house don't be surprised if you start hearing a familiar theme song (ba-ba- bada).

Close Encounters...

... of the skunk kind! Last night while taking out the trash I ran into my little friend Pepe Le Pew. I was on the front porch with two bags of trash in hand and headlamp on head. There was some russling in the ivy on the side of the house next to the driveway. At first I thought it was a deer because it was slow sounding and if it were a cat it would have taken off. But then I shine the light in the direction and catch a glimspe of black, oh and white too!

So the smart thing to do would be to back away. Nope, not me I needed confirmation that it was a skunk. I walk down the steps thinking I would see it walking away down the driveway. Well, I guess Pepe is a brave little !$@! because as I get to the bottom of the steps and shine the light down the driveway, there he/she is! Two eyes shining from the light and one black and white tail raised in the air! It was just standing there staring me down. I would say we were about 30 ft apart and didn't stay there too long to test its spray range.

From what I read online they turn their butt to you and raise their tail to spray so I guess I was lucky it was looking at me rather than turned around ready to strike. I always thought they sprayed from the tips of the tails like a scorpion would attack with its stinger. Seems more glamorous than just walking away and basically farting on your enemy.

At any rate, this thing has to be taken care of, I'm tired of being scared to walk around my own forest (I mean yard).

Pictures!

Above: Yes, Mrs.Forest does exist and took time out to pose for this picture.

Above: It's actually in thinset!














Above: Looking good at 2 am!














Above: Little bastard next to the hole in the widow sash. Not sure why it's dead, maybe the female kills the male after mating.














Above: Sawdust from the carpenter bees, we thought it was pollen at first.

A Productive Weekend...

...or should I say, weekday. We laid the floor tile yesterday (Memorial Day), or should I say last night, no I mean this morning ('til 2 am!). Actually, my wife laid the tile herself with cutting help from me. The field is done and all that remains to be completed is two wall edges and the toilet area. We worked late into the night and surprisingly the kids didn’t wake up while we were covered with mortar.

The big pain in the arse part was to get the layout lines square to something that would work. It took a few tries but finally worked out and I’m very excited that this portion of the project is nearly done (props to Mrs. Forest!). I really needed this morale booster as we noticed on Sunday that we have carpenter bees tunneling in the bathroom window.

I tell you this stuff never ends, what’s that saying again, “One step forward, 2 gazillion steps back?” Now to figure out the best way to get rid of those little bastards! (yes, I'm a Buddhist)

Stay tuned for pictures...

Yup, it's confirmed...

...I'm INSANE!

Yes, I made a to do list for the weekend and as usual it didn't get done. But in my defense we did have an 8:45 am wedding to attend (yes 8:45 am) and a school fair on Saturday and I went into the office on Sunday.

I did try to get the lawn mowed Saturday early evening though. I had just enough time (about an hour) before dinner and figured I should get it done before town maintenance sent their "friendly" letter to us. So I start with the front strip between the street and sidewalk which should take about 10 minutes. Well, 10 minutes turned into an hour and here's why.

The front strip is angled up from the street to the sidewalk and as usual the mower sometimes has half the wheels on the street and half on the grass (no curb). Halfway through I hit something as I'm going from street to grass and "BANG!" And then "BANG - BANG - BANG - BANG - BANG!" Great, I figured I bent the blade and didn't have the time of the desire to go to Home Depot (what? yeah, I wasn't feeling well) So, I look under the mower and see that the blade is hitting the front metal cover/guard but doesn't seem bent.

To make things worse as I'm looking under the mower a little girl across the street is heckling me. "Ha, ha, something broke off," she yells continuously out the window. "Shut the..." I yelled back. Just kidding, I didn't yell back but believe me it took a lot for me not too. I was fuming at this point and decided to push the mower away from view of the little BRAT, I mean girl. All I know is that if it were my daughter yelling out of the window she would be in trouble. No, scratch that, my daughter has the manners to know better (ok, enough with the parent talk).

At this point I decide to finish off the front with the weed whacker and call it a day. What a pain that was. Good thing I had my ear protection on because when I finished I could hear the little girl yelling something else but just ignored it this time. I know I said enough with the parent talk but - "Is anyone paying attention here?"

Here's to many more hours of yard work to come. It's going to be a long summer...

The weekend (insanity) approaches, again...

Sometimes it feels like I'm stuck in the movie "Groundhog Day", where the same day happens over and over again. But for me it's the weekends. I always make grand plans on Friday to get things accomplished on the weekend and then, on Sunday night, end up wondering where the weekend went. Of course with very few items scratched off my "to do" list.

This weekend will most likely be a total loss on progress as we have a wedding to attend on Saturday and on Sunday I plan on catching up on my actual job. I guess if I accept the idea that nothing will get done it will just be a nice surprise if something does get done.

But I have to be a "man on a mission" and get this freakin' bathroom done already, so here's my list:

Friday - Saturday Night:
- Strip window and door trim

Sunday Night:
- Install window and door trim
- Repair window sill

Our realtor and good friend recently told me what the definition of insanity is: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. There should be a picture of me next to that definition...

Ladies and Gentlemen...

...we have light, and...

waterproofing!

I was up really late last night or should I say early this morning but I made some good prgress. Connecting the wiring to the switch was very easy, it just took awhile to figure out the correct way to wire it. I knew the Electrical Engineers I work with would come in handy for advice!

The waterproofing (Laticrete WaterTight) was also easy to do, it's more about working with the unknown that takes up time. It has the consistency of Jello Chocolate Pudding and it painted on with a brush and roller. You cut in the corners and edges just like painting and then use the roller for the main area. Wait an hour and put on a second coat. The mistake I made was that my first coat was a little thin so I need to go over some areas again.

I had also wanted to use Laticrete HydroBan for its ability to bond to copper but it wasn't available at Lowe's so I went with the WaterTight. Turns out the wall opening for the tub faucet was too large anyway so the HydroBan would not have sealed the gap.

Isn't it great when things just seem to work themselves out...

SKIL Lithium Ion Combo Kit Giveaway...

...at One Project Closer. What else can I say other than "One can never have enough power tools!"

As always, there would be a boat load of projects where this kit would come in handy. And the lighter weight makes it very attractive, especially for all the plaster repairs I'm planning to do.

And the winner is...

GLAZED GREEN! Yes, that's right we have a color for the bathroom walls! But not only do we have a color, we have painted walls!

Did I ever mention that my wife has this thing for paint and particularly, PAINT CHIPS! She decided that one thing she wanted to do on Mother's Day was to go and buy the paint. So we got it and it's on the walls.

Here's a little before and after:










Not taken at exactly the same angles or wth the same lighting.

Now if I could just figure out the wiring for the freakin' vanity light switch I woule be able to scratch the upper walls off my list...