Autumn is upon us, and the rainy season has arrived here in Western Oregon. The time change that was supposed to be abolished years ago still happened cutting our daylight hours even shorter, and the temperatures are beginning to drop along with all the leaves on the trees. All of this a good thing this year, because maybe, just maybe... people will stay home and we can get this global pandemic under control.
We live in hope.
Brandy is keeping me busy with home renovations, and as I get one job checked off the honey-do list another is waiting. However, I think I can finally see the end of the list... at least the bottom of page one. Now that the guest bath is done, we've moved onto the master en-suite.
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| Narrow, shallow contractor grade tub surround has to go. |
This one is kicking my ass though, the last time I removed and reinstalled a tub I was 12 years younger. Also the last one was in a 1970s house when contractor's took pride in their work, this house was slapped together in 2007 and I've had to fix, repair, and replace so many shortcuts because of shoddy workmanship. Although I'm not a professional contractor, I take my time and try my best to do it right, not just for my own peace of mind but for the next poor sap (me) who might have to remodel this house again in 20 years.
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| Deep soaking tub installed |
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| Just in time for warming winter soaks |
These projects are supposed to keep me home during the pandemic and practicing the stay home, stay safe mantra. But several trips to the hardware store for bits and bobs is proving otherwise. Just as I think I have everything I need to complete the current project, the kid at the store cheerfully says "see you tomorrow".
Now that the tub is installed and I'm done crawling under the house to plumb fittings, I "get to" move on to framing in the shower niche, plumb the mixing valve and get it set in place, then install backer board, mortar and tile.
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| Found a longtime leak in the plastic supply fitting while hooking up the drain |
I'm used to working with copper pipe and haven't worked much with PEX pipe before, so I'm upgrading several cheap contractor plastic crimp fittings to very expensive brass SharkBite fittings. I love SharkBite as they don't require soldering, just a simple push to fit and they swivel so if you need to adjust as you work you can.
We have a four day weekend coming up, so I hope to finish up the tub and shower project by then and get started on the flooring. My goal is to get to the bottom (page one) of my honey-do list for New Years.
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I've been asked to write short motorcycle maintenance tips and tool recommendations for our work Facebook page and Instagram posts, so I thought I'd compose and share them here. They're designed for new riders and beginner DIY'ers so I'm hoping for some feedback as social media comments are rarely constructive.
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| Kidding, just kidding. |
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| Me and Lucy working on E-Rider footage back in the day. (Photo Credit: Team Oregon) |
Be healthy, stay safe.
Thank you Veterans. Lest we Forget.
