Hello again, and sorry it's been so long. The summer months aren't my favorite for working on the house because of the heat, and this year has been especially hot and humid...record-breaking, in fact. Add in that I was called in for another contract project in early June, and I'm sure you'll understand. However, I still get my bits and pieces in on weekends, and the last couple months is no exception.
First I'll show you the fixture I picked up for the bathroom - per the plans you saw in the last entry:
This was yet another Craigslist purchase, being one of many in the $100-$200 dollar range. This one was in better shape than the others I saw, and one of the lower priced options, too, at $120. This picture was taken right before I picked it up in West St. Paul. I should probably note that getting my truck down there and back probably cost me $50+ in gas, but even with that it was the best option. Another thing to note is that these things are HEAVY! Two of us carried it down an old, narrow staircase, but I was responsible for the unload once I got up to my place. I'll do some refinishing on it in my garage before I enlist a few of my buddies to help me get it upstairs to the bathroom.
Next I'll show you the not-quite-final on the outside finish work on the bathroom. I still have to caulk the end caps and windows, then find a transition piece where the siding meets the shingles. It will also need another eave fascia piece where you see the rafter nubs sticking out, then soffit, but that's down the road a bit.
I know it doesn't seem like much to accomplish in a month or so, but I did some internal stuff, too. I played around a bit with my "poor man's" geothermal air conditioning, which seems to work but will take quite a bit more experimenting. I also did a lot or rearranging in my garages to make room for the "mud-jack" people. Mud-jacking, for those of you who don't know, is a process to level a garage floor (or any concrete slab) that has sunk, tilted, cracked and sunk, etc. My concrete guy wasn't as attentive to packing the sand below my garage slab as he should have been, so along the rear and sides it sunk and cracked. This is especially touchy because I have in-floor heating coils, which I hope are flexible enough to withstand it. I haven't had a chance to get the mud-jackers in here yet, but I'll keep you posted on how that goes in a future blog. ~Out~
