Week ending 11/30/12

We did no work on the house this week.  I needed a break!  It finally feels like a "finished" house now.  It no longer looks like a construction zone and there are no obvious missing things like a shower!

I left for the east coast on Thursday, be back next week!

Week ending 11/23/12

On Saturday, the tub guy came to fix the two cracks in the morning.  We had to leave the tub and shower untouched for 24 hours, but it's done now!  Yay!  Pictures will be posted soon - C is taking them this week.

On Sunday, C worked on a project he's wanted to tackle for a while.  We have a big hedge separating our yard from the 2-story apartment building next door.  We put a chain link fence behind it to keep the dogs in, and then put slats in the fence to block visibility.  Unfortunately, the dogs still have a pretty good view and tend to spaz on the fence as the neighbors come and go.  C went and bought some corrugated plastic panels to further block the view.  They terrible, but they work.  The only reason I agreed to it is that the panels won't show when the hedge is grown in which is most of the time.  It's bare for a few weeks after we get it trimmed every year.

Here's a shot of the hedge and you can see the dark gray panel sticking out below the bottom of the hedge on the right.

On Wednesday, the contractor stopped by to pick up the final check on the bathtub job.  In general, we are happy with the outcome but the tub repair is not "like new" as promised.  It's hopefully a minor thing, but it still irritates me that we have a less-than-new tub.  The shower is really nice though and works great.  This was a really hard job, and it hung over my head for the last 6 years or so.  I'm so glad it's done.

We also talked to the contractor about building a pergola or shelter over our patio.  Since the gazebo is trashed, we needed to move this up in priority.

Week ending 11/16/12

On Saturday, we spent some time trying to figure out what to do with our trashed gazebo.  We had some wind this week and between the wind and the general decay of the gazebo, about a quarter of the roof tore off.  It's been in our plan for a while to build something bigger, nicer and more permanent but we had not wanted to tackle it just yet.  This kind of forced our hand, so we went to Osh and Lowe's to look at what was available in terms of a temporary replacement.  If we were to buy something like what we have now, we could kick this project down the road about 3 years.  Unfortunately, we didn't find anything in a price we'd consider for a temporary reprieve.

Here's a shot of the trashed gazebo:

On Tuesday, the contractor stopped by to check on the missing cement under the tub.  He feels like there is enough cement, but agreed to send someone to add more.  Fortunately, it's in a spot we can access through the plumbing access panel.

On Wednesday, the plumber came by around noon to do the cement without any warning.  He thought we knew he was coming but the contractor never told us.  Fortunately, it worked out fine.  We were home and could accommodate the work.

One thing that drives me crazy is when contractors won't give a straight answer to a question.  We asked both the plumber and the general contractor how long the cement needed to dry before we could have the tub repaired.  Both gave answers of between 2 and 4 days.  Even though I asked multiple times, and asked for a specific amount of time neither would give an answer.  Ugh.  We ended up scheduling the tub repair for Saturday morning which is beyond the drying time estimated by both the plumber and the contractor.

Week ending 11/9/12

Nope, still not done.

On Saturday, we had our annual tree trim which went well.  We love the 2-story hedge that separates us from our terrible neighbors.  It's gotten so nice and thick since we moved in and started maintaining it regularly.

On Thursday, the contractor came by to look at a huge crack in the tub.  It looks like someone dropped something on it or that the tub was placed on a sharp object.  He scheduled a tub repair guy to come out the next day and said it would be "good as new."

The tub guy came out on Friday, and said the problem was that the cement under the tub had gaps in it and that's why the tub cracked.  He said the contractor had to add more cement or there was no point in fixing the cracks because they'd just crack again.  Fortunately, the part that need cement is accessible from the opening used to access the plumbing.

Week ending 11/2

Gawd the progress is crawling!  On Friday, we got the glass panel up.  It looks great, and unfortunately I didn't take any pictures that day.  I'll post the finished pics when it's all done.