Construction Zone….

It wasn’t really a plan to have our house be a construction zone this summer but that’s how it ended up.

We knew when we moved in that there was moisture behind our shower in the master bath. Clint and my dad temporaized it but we knew it was a temporary thing and once we got settled we would address it.

So like most things in our life settling and figuring out life as a family of 7 took longer then we planned and so finally we started calling this past winter for someone to fix it. Everyone we got ahold of either wouldn’t return a call, were too far booked out, or you name it. Finally we found someone and then things moved quickly.

Initially we planned on just doing the shower….but guess what? Of course the tile that was in the shower and rest of the bath isn’t made any more….and theres nothing else real similar. So we either still just did the shower and have it look different than the rest of the bathroom or we do bath and shower since they are connected. It made more sense to do both.

Initially when they started tearing up everything we actually thought we were going to have to do the entire bathroom floor because we discovered that there was water damage on the main bathroom floor as well. We lucked out and the water damage only extended and then stopped in an area comprising of 10 tiles….guess how many extra tiles we had that matched what was in there originally…exactly 10.

So something that probably didn’t even deserve mentioning except that later on it played a huge role, is that when they were taking out our tub one of them happened to accidentally drill down into the floor which happens to be the ceiling of the basement. No biggie right? Just call the drywaller when everything is done and it’ll be good.

So while all of this has been going on Clint and I have been using the downstairs basement bathroom which has been working fine. I happened to go down there one night though for something totally unrelated and realized the floor was wet. I thought one of the kids had spilled their water bottled during the day and the floor was wet from that….as I followed the puddle around I discovered it wasn’t a little puddle and more so the size of, oh say a 40 gallon hot water heater that burst apart….

We had two 40 gallon tanks but you couldn’t shut off just one…it wall all or nothing. The first night we told the kids that they were going to have to take sprinkler baths….ie turn on the sprinkler, cover them in soap and let them run through it. They thought it was the best thing ever. Clint watched about 800 you tube videos and figured out how to re-pipe everything so we could at least live off one of the 40 gallon tanks which we figured things out. We debated back and forth between a tankless option or putting two new tanks back in. We ultimately decided on the two tank option which we got put in yesterday.

Meanwhile back on the bathroom update…I was really beginning to dig the purple dry wall that we had going. Despite that I was glad to see the new tile start to go up. The other day they came to put the tub back in and somehow during the process of connecting everything they got a small amount of paddy into one of the connections so it didn’t seal all the way. They filled up the tub to help it settle in the new base that it had. Only unbeknownst to them as the tub was filling….so was the space under the tub that was not visible. When they shut off the water they could still hear water running….remember the little hole they accidentally put in our basement ceiling? Well that was the only thing that kept all that water from breaking through the ceiling downstairs. They found the water pouring out the hole and quickly punched a few more holes in to help with the draining.

So now we have some drywall to patch…at least its not the whole ceiling.

The tile got finished today, its all in and grouted. A couple seals need to get put on, but it is beginning to look like a bathroom again. I ripped up and pulled up the protective flooring that they have had down from the front door to the bathroom today and my house is beginning to look like a house again.

We still won’t have function of our bathroom for a few more weeks….because its summer and there are vacations the plumber can’t come for 2 weeks in order to put all the facets and such on, and it’s going to take 3-4 more weeks to get the glass for the shower doors made and hung. But it’s coming.

It is all an adventure. Next summer I’m hoping to use the left over new tile to re-do the sinks in our bathroom to match the tub and shower…that should be simple enough right?