Free Toilet

The process of transferring the blog to it's new location has made me realize that I've missed some of our projects. After Greg finishes the tile repair in the bathroom back in March, he decided to replace our toilet as well. The original toilet did not flush well. We had to hold the handle down for the entire flush to make sure it was complete. It was getting a little tiring.

Conveniently, a few years before, I had received a free Kohler toilet from attending a presentation at work. Yes, that's right. The rep took names, and a few weeks later showed up in the front parking lot with a minivan full of toilets. Very strange. Although we were renting at the time, we knew that we'd eventually buy, and thought it was likely that we'd have to add a half bathroom someday.



Well, we were lucky enough to buy a house that already had that half bath, so we were finally able to take advantage of our fancy comfort height, low flow toilet. Of course, since it was a plumbing job, George was called in for the assist.

The old toilet was brought out to the curb, where it was amazingly picked up with the trash. 

In case you were curious, there's a pretty gross looking hole in the floor that usually lives under the toilet. The new toilet was a huge improvement over the original. I highly recommend comfort height. And as always, is so great that Greg is able to take on so many of these projects himself!

Tile Repair

This weekend, Greg finally took on the tile repair project in the bathroom. If you forgot what it has looked like since October, click here and here. 

There was a lot of prep that went into the job. First, all the tiles were sort and the old grout and adhesive was scraped off. Better than nails on a chalkboard! Eeek!

Then I washed all the grout dust off all of the tiles, so they would adhere well to the wall. 

Greg glued them all back on the wall and left them to dry over night. It was a tricky job as they didn’t all want to fit back up in the space where they used to be. There was a fair bit of filing and sanding to get them all to fit. 

Today, it was time to grout. 

Here’s the way it looked when all was said and done...before Greg decided to continue on to replace the toilet. Stay tuned!

Temptrol

Our extremely productive weekend continued on Sunday with a little help from Uncle George. George and Greg managed to install shut-off valves in the laundry room. This means that for future plumbing projects upstairs, we will still have use of the toilet in the laundry room. A key luxury. 

After the shut-off was installed, they moved on to the shower project, installing a brand new temptrol control, and saving us hundreds of dollars by doing it themselves. I am enjoying the new control very much. Next, we have to learn how to retile the wall!

Pink Tile

Who would have thought that Greg and I might learn how to tile so we could put of MORE of this lovely pepto bismol pink tile. But that looks to be exactly what we are planning to do. It’s going to be a long while before we’re ready to take on redoing this entire bathroom (like well after that master bathroom I’m dreaming of). And do to what looked to be a minor plumbing repair, Greg ended up opening up a fairly significant hole in the wall. 

So, what was the plumbing repair? The bathtub faucet had been dripping quite a bit. It wasn’t really bothering us at first, until a pink slime started to appear in the tub. We discovered that this pink slime is a bacteria that often shows up in bathrooms, and other damp areas, especially after a recent renovation...hmmm, like having all the wood floors sanded, maybe? 

Last weekend I decided to tackle the slime with a scrub brush and bleach. We put a bucket under the drip to catch the water, and allow the tub to dry out. The bucket filled up completely after only a few hours, and we realized just how much water was actually being wasted. Greg decided to take action. As soon as one of the covers around the fauccet was loose, it became clear that many of the tiles were loose because the wall behind them was very wet. They were basically being held in place by tension. At least we got them off without breaking any, so we will be able to put them back up. 

Greg managed to add a washer to the hot water valve which stopped the immediate leaking. A new part arrived during the week, which he installed last night. So, now, there is no more leaking. We just have to deal with the big gapping hole in the wall! We’re now debating updating the shower control all together to a modern temptrol instead of separate hot and cold valves. This story is definitely to be continued...

Comments transferred from previous Blog:

VP

It looks like the time to upgrade to a modern temptrol. Think of all the remodel stuff we are learning! OXOXXOXOXOXO

Saturday, October 16, 2010 - 04:29 PM

CHRISTINE

That is definitely not something I would have ever expected you to say! Maybe pink tile will be in next year though, who knows?! ;-)

Monday, October 18, 2010 - 09:55 AM