My Vacation

Because the project was running long, it bumped up against my vacation. I didn't want things to go on while I'm wasn't here, so I told the contractor that I would be shutting the project down while I was gone. In fact, I shut it down a few days before to give me time to clean and organize everything for my house sitter.

When my vacation was over I came back to find that (surprise) my house still isn't done. I also found that I had been bumped from the schedule. This being the busy season, the subcontractors have all moved on to other jobs. I expected this, however it seems that my job is no longer on the schedule at all and must be reorganized entirely, even though I made clear what date I would be returning. That and the holiday have given me a three week break after my vacation. I suppose that I should have actually specified that I expected work to start again as soon as I returned and asked what would be first before I left, rather than just assuming ...

In other circumstances that would be VERY annoying, but I have a huge pile of tasks that I have taken on, some of which should happen before the work is scheduled, so this delay gives me a chance to do some of it. Unfortunately, since I wasn't very organized, what I have is a whole pile of barely started, then abandoned, tasks.

To review:

First on my list was breaking up the concrete in back. This task moved to the bottom of the list as soon as the 20 lb. sledge hammer went back to it's real owner and I probably won't get back to it until after everything else gets done (not unexpected).

Next came the pocket doors, primarily the bathroom door. I did some work on that door particularly, (see doors) but after talking to Robert from Slater I realized that, since I am hanging the doors myself I can, in fact, do them last if I need to. I also got to the point of needing to stain and varnish that door, but I didn't actually have the varnish, or enough stain.

So I set the doors aside and move on to acquiring the low toxicity paints, varnishes and other materials I wanted to use (see Environmentally Friendly). The process turned out to be more complicated and time consuming than I expected. Some of it happened quickly, some I had to give up on. I should have started the research much sooner than I did.

Next I decided to work on the bathroom floor.

I finally found a cabinet that I can retrofit for the bathroom at The Rebuilding Center. (see cabinet)

After playing with the bathroom fixtures, I moved on to painting, because if I can get the bulk of it done before the floor goes down everything will be much easier and tidier, leaving only touch-up for later.

The low biocide paint I chose (see Environmentally Friendly) doesn't adhere to the plaster as well as I'd like when wet. I didn't notice this problem with the sample I was given to try. However, it should be fine once it dries, and will only get better as it cures, and since the recommended primer is not low biocide, I have decided to just go ahead and use it as it's own primer, just be more careful applying it.

An interesting problem that I discovered while painting is that one of my office outlets is buried behind the drywall and a plywood stress panel. I will let the contractor figure out how to find it.

So, over the course of the next week I pretty much painted whenever I got the chance. The office is a very pale green, light enough that some people aren't aware that it isn't the light through the tree reflecting on white. The hallway a light yellow that I may rag at a later time, when I see what it looks like more finished. The half-bath, will be white. I want all the focus on the floor and counter. I'd do pictures, but the colors don't really show up that well.

After three weeks, I am finally back on the schedule, and work should start up next week.

Week 16 - Floors