Work,work,work

[f6john]

Weather forecast for Richmond Ky, all week, storms, wind, and rain. Darn forecasters have just been too accurate this spring. I know certain parts of the globe have their monsoon season but I never associated that with Kentucky. So pleasure riding is out for another week!

So, I will complete all the tile setting in my basement bathroom remodel, breath a sigh of relief, then surprise, surprise I will have several days of grouting. Why so long? Every square inch of the floors and the walls are covered with tile, I drew the line at putting any tile on the ceilings!

My list of things I need to do keeps getting longer, and I’m beginning to feel like Lucy when she took a job at the candy factory on the wrapping line. I’m saw this time coming but I just didn’t seem to be able to change course, that being, make enough money to be able to pay other people to do all the odd jobs that pop up in retirement years! At least my opportunities of becoming a couch potato are limited and having an answer for the wife when she says what are you going to do today, limits the number of projects she suggests for me!

[Robert]

So, I will complete all the tile setting in my basement bathroom remodel, breath a sigh of relief, then surprise, surprise I will have several days of grouting. Why so long? Every square inch of the floors and the walls are covered with tile, I drew the line at putting any tile on the ceilings!

 

OH come on I want a Sistine Chapel kind of effect in the room. 

[f6john]

I tiled a ceiling for a friend some years back, it was a shower room ceiling and not very big but I hope to never do it again, unless cost is no object. Even then not sure my shoulders would agree.

[Jersey mike]

Don’t ya know the acoustics in a completely tiled shower make your shower singing sound so much better

[RP#62]

Youngest son was a contractor for several years. He specializes in historic building restoration and kitchens/interior trim now.  Anyway, one day I told him we were redoing the ceiling out on the back porch and his only comment was "you learn a lot about yourself when you do a ceiling".

-RP

[f6john]

Youngest son was a contractor for several years. He specializes in historic building restoration and kitchens/interior trim now.  Anyway, one day I told him we were redoing the ceiling out on the back porch and his only comment was "you learn a lot about yourself when you do a ceiling".

-RP

So true!

[Jess from VA]

I don't do tile.  A few fell off my bathroom wall (down low), and I repaired it with wood trim molding, caulk and paint.  

Since my basement shower stall got totally redone (by pros), I will never shower in the upstairs tub again anyway.  All my troubles began when the upstairs tub shower handheld ended up outside the tub, leaked water to the floor, through the floor and basement bathroom ceiling.  That was a nightmare.

Now I am looking at new wall to wall carpet in 2/3 of the house (basement is tile).  I want Berber closed loop in solid color and no design.  Another nightmare in the making.  I told them we will move the easy stuff, but the three big heavy pieces of storage wall units (packed full of stuff) will not be moved, and just carpeted around.  I live alone and don't care what the next owners will do when I am dead.  They said, if we don't have to move that big heavy stuff, we can do the rest in one day.

EDIT:  John, since this is a home improvement thread, and you are better at it than me, I could use some advice.  I put in 6 panel Stanley steel entry doors when I bought my house 30 years ago.  The front (but not the back) has got some rust pitting on the outside.  I just priced them, and like everything else the costs for new is WAY up now.  So I got out my power drill with wire wheel and belt sander and went at it for a couple hours, but while the surface is pretty clean and smooth, rust spots/discoloration remain throughout even in bare metal.  I scrubbed it down with a mild corrosive and soap and dried everything off.

I guess I should use a coat or two of good primer, followed by enamel paint?  Does this sound right?  Any suggestions?  

At 71, I'm not worried about it lasting for 25 years, but I'd like this to be the last time I mess with it.  

[f6john]

Well, surprise surprise it didn’t rain until 4:00pm so after surveying the conditions I mowed the yard and weed eated everything I could. Grass has been growing like gang busters, as I just mowed last Thursday and it was pretty shaggy already.

[cookiedough]

maybe I should hire you to replace my bath/shower tub surround?  quotes I have been getting range from 7500 to 10K, OUCH for one full day's work, 2 people.   LABOR must have to be 400 bucks per hour?

[f6john]

maybe I should hire you to replace my bath/shower tub surround?  quotes I have been getting range from 7500 to 10K, OUCH for one full day's work, 2 people.   LABOR must have to be 400 bucks per hour?

The catch is I probably couldn’t do it in two days! They also use proprietary products that you can’t just walk in and pick up at the local building supply. But this is how many businesses thrive today, big prices and in and out in a day or two. I’d be living on a tropical island somewhere if I had the same business plan as these companies do. But you and I both know that there are gobs of people to whom $10 grand is nothing to their budgets. Profit margins are through the roof with these companies when they land a fish and it’s not being paid out in labor.

[Hook#3287]

Jess, just about 30 years ago, my then almost new basement metal door started showing rust on the inside.  It's about 5' from my salt fueled water softener and I figure salt dust was the reason.

I sanded it down and applied two coats of spray can rustolium and problem solved.

Your plan sounds better, so should last for the rest of your trips around the sun.

[f6john]

Jess, I didn’t see your edit until this morning. Most of my experience with your issue has been in the category of too far gone! However your plan sounds good but I would investigate possibly an automotive grade metal etching primer. I don’t know if it is available in a spray can but they are excellent for holding off rust.

[Jess from VA]

Thanks guys.

John, I thought about just getting a new one, but the prices are WAY up (like everything else), so no.

I went on line and studied up on the types of paint and primers to use on my steel door and Forever Storm vinyl door.

I did a very good job sanding and scraping prep.  I went to the store and bought some stuff/paint.

I started with the top of the line oil base primer in white (the color I want).  I used a foam 4" roller (no brush marks), though I had to brush the 6 panel channels, and edges.  I did it with the door in the frame because I don't have saw horses and it's under an overhang roof and out of the weather and sun. I opened the door to do the sides and edges only.  I went slow and steady, and essentially 2 coated the whole door (by the time you get to the bottom the top is dry).  BTW, the inside of the steel door was already perfect.

I liked this primer so well, I went ahead and painted my vinyl Forever Storm with it too (even though the advice was to use water base acrylic). This I did all with the brush.  Two coated it too.  That turned out beautiful as well.

I thought I would go back over the steel door with enamel, but the hell with it. The primer white is a satin finish, and it looks great.  

The faded, rust spotted steel and the hazy crummy storm are perfect white, so I'm done.

------------------

Today, I decided to get rid of my spare king size mattress.  My three bedroom house has never had a spare bedroom (besides the master, the wife and I each took one bedroom as our storage/dressing/office).  So when I needed a better mattress, I got one, got rid of the metal frame, and had box spring on floor, old king, new king mattress on top in the master.  A bit tall to get in and out of, but no big deal.  The idea was on the rare occasion we got a visitor, we could drag the spare king mattress off our bed to another bedroom and let them sleep on it.  

Well it's been years since I had guests stay over, and with the old man prostate, climbing in and out of the tall bed at night to take 3-7 leaks gets old, so it had to go.

Now I have to tell you manhandling one of those extra fat king mattresses alone out of the upstairs bedroom, into the hall, down the stairs (too tall for the stairwell), across the living room, out the front door, around the side to my truck, and up into the back of my van was harder work than I ever care to do.  The damn thing got away from me a dozen times and flopped over.  It had no handholds, so I got a pair of vice grips and chomped them down on the edges, to get a pair of handholds (moving them around along the way).  At least coming down the stairs I had gravity working for me, but no such luck up into the truck.

It was a nice serviceable clean king mattress, but I wasn't going to park it at the end of my driveway with a free to a good home sign on it.  So I drove the 9 miles to the dump, and they charged me $13 to dump it.  Could I get any help getting it out of the truck?  Sorry sir, we are not allowed to help anyone, guys get injured.  So 4 young men all looked busy while I struggled that thing out of the truck.

I'm not putting the frame under my bed, so now instead of too high, it's nice and low.  Reminds me of my college days.  

Sorry for the book.

[f6john]

I probably would have decided early on in that process that maybe getting in and out of that high bed really wasn’t that bad!

[h13man]

Weather forecast for Richmond Ky, all week, storms, wind, and rain. Darn forecasters have just been too accurate this spring. I know certain parts of the globe have their monsoon season but I never associated that with Kentucky. So pleasure riding is out for another week!


My list of things I need to do keeps getting longer, and I’m beginning to feel like Lucy when she took a job at the candy factory on the wrapping line. I’m saw this time coming but I just didn’t seem to be able to change course, that being, make enough money to be able to pay other people to do all the odd jobs that pop up in retirement years! At least my opportunities of becoming a couch potato are limited and having an answer for the wife when she says what are you going to do today, limits the number of projects she suggests for me!

I feel your situation here also. Just damn overwhelming with 3 vehicles needing attention as of right now and all the "projects" the wife wants to do. Having the house painted and color isn't quite to her liking or mine for that matter so off to Menards today to revise the color. Bike waiting to finish the fork rebuild and other maintenance.

[Jess from VA]

I probably would have decided early on in that process that maybe getting in and out of that high bed really wasn’t that bad!

Well, for just that reason, it was a tall bed for about 17 years, before yesterday. 

It really wasn't that tall, but it finally just got stupid (for no good reason).

Of course this morning it was a big surprise.   

[f6john]

I probably would have decided early on in that process that maybe getting in and out of that high bed really wasn’t that bad!

Well, for just that reason, it was a tall bed for about 17 years, before yesterday. 

It really wasn't that tall, but it finally just got stupid (for no good reason).

Of course this morning it was a big surprise.   

In a somewhat similar situation, l almost fell in the bathroom the other day. I have been working on our bathrooms since we bought the house and in the process have replaced two of the four toilets in the house. As might be expected I rarely use two of them and the other two are located in the master bedroom upstairs and in the basement, these two being the ones I have replaced.


So I had an occasion where I came in from outside and one of the rarely used bathroom was closest so I preceded to drop my pants in preparation to plant myself on the toilet. Well, I kept going down and there didn’t seem to be anything under me and I started swinging my arms and reaching for anything to grab on to. About the time I thought I was going to crash, I landed squarely and firmly on the target!


It’s amazing the difference a couple of inches in height can make! My replacement toilets are all chair height, around 17” and the old toilets are about 14 1/2”. I felt quite silly at the time but I have really become accustomed to the new height. It was similar to sitting on my Valkyrie the first time with my new Ultimate lowboy!

[Jess from VA]

Based on (no more than) long experience, when I got my two new Champion 4s, I wanted the old low height ones.

But they only had chair height with them, so I said OK.

Yeah, I like them much better. 

My two bathrooms are small and smaller.  There are places I put my hands (sink edge, tub edge, etc) as I back in on target.  I don't like hitting bright lights at night (esp getting up from bed), so my muscle memory takes over (and I can do it with my eyes closed).  With my old man plumbing, I sit to pee (except outside) (as there's no missing when sitting, and no cleanup on isle 5).