12 days to go - whoa!

Today was a blisteringly busy day. In addition to the general contractor, I had a plumbing crew and an asbestos removal crew in the house today. The walls are mostly done with being mudded (patching the drywall). The plumber got in the valves and pipes for the shower and bathtub controls. Because there wasn't enough room between the two studs, the valves and piping for the shower and tub had to be installed just outside the space between the studs. To compensate, we are going to build a raised panel which holds the showerhead, volume and temperature controls. Even though we "had" to do this, it will actually look really cool and be a "design element." I'll have to remember to mention that I did this "on purpose!"

The asbestos crew showed up and worked for about 3 hours removing the asbestos tiles from the master bedroom. They are linoleum tiles, which quite commonly contain asbestos (as does the sticky glue used on them.) The crew removed the tiles and a layer of plywood under them so the glue is completely gone and we are down to the bare floorboards, which is great. It feels really good to have the asbestos taken care of. The plastic containment has to stay up all weekend, and then on Monday we'll get the lab results of an air quality sample. If it is clear (it usually is), we can go back in.

The plumber left at about 2:30, and by 3 or so I noticed two of the three lower pipes in the shower piping were dripping fast! Ugh. I called him back and he came at about 5 to fix it and told me to check it again tomorrow and call him if there was another drip.

So far, we are on target for our move in date. A lot needs to happen, but it is looking possible. One room will be primed and possibly painted with the first coat on Monday!

Here is a shot looking down the hallway at the asbestos "airlock." This is a multichambered plastic booth that the crew uses to change their suits and package the waste.


This is a shot of the bedroom window sealed with plastic by the asbestos crew. The hose sucks air out continuously to grab any particles that might be looosened.


Here is the shower piping. The top is for the shower head. We located it as high as possible for C (he's tall) but made sure I could still reach it. Below it are three handles - one adjusts the temperature, one controls shower off/on/volume and one controls bathtub off/on/volume.






These are little drips of metal from sodering the pipes. They look like drops of water or wax.