Is it becoming a bathroom?

Yom Kippur and drywalling....

Today is Yom Kippur, the holiest of holy days (holidays) in the Jewish calendar. Dena is off in temple and I am here, babysitting the drywallers. Odd how this Day of Attonement and reconciliation means the Jews are supposed to suffer by fasting for 24 hours, you would think they have suffered enough.

Things are looking good! As you can see by the pix the bathroom looks like a room now. A real room! The tub is all covered up but the window sure makes the room look bigger. Dare I get excited? Yesterday was golf with some friends at work, 18 holes. Wow, am I sore today, in oh so many ways. Between the golf and my classes at Dena's sister's gym Muscle Under, I can scarcely move. Today I am relaxing, no classes anymore!! YAY!! I've received my final grade for my final class at University of Phoenix and am just reveling in all this extra time. What will I ever do with it all? I'm sure I'll think of something. Today however, is important as the Los Angeles Dodgers have an opportunity to clinch the division. Can they do it? Will they choke? Well I'm watching a hum dinger of a baseball game on TV (which I normally don't do because its, well boring) but this is some game. Dena and I have tickets to the 9/28 game and the October 1st game. I'm sure they will be exciting as every game counts. Perhaps we will be fortunate enough to attend the game that clinches it! Time will tell but it will be an exciting September.

My kingdom for a washer.....

The remodel continues with its ups and downs. Yesterday and early this morning brought fears about the new bathroom plumbing again. Either Danze shipped the wrong compression ring (aka washer) for the hot and cold faucet or Mike the drunk plumber lost them. Let's just blame Mike, because hey, every job needs a scapegoat and I nominate him! So, several calls to Danze and we finally figured out what the problem was. Fortunately,they will priority mail them and they should be here Monday, and its free. Thank goodness, that took 2 days, several trips around town looking for them locally, etc. Amazing how a 4 cent part can bring my world to a halt.

On the bright side, the window is back in, the tub is in, centered and been water tested 3 times, and the drywallers are here! Woohoo! Yes folks, you heard it, we will no longer be looking @ studs by Saturday, we'll be looking at real walls.

The window is back in!

Am I a cynic?

Could I be a cynic? A pessimist? Could I be? Yes, well if you lived at our house and had to deal with contractors all day long, you'd be one too! Yesterday, much to my surprise, Patrick the plumber showed up to do our earthquake gas valve. For info on this new LA City earthquake requirement go here and scroll down near the bottom. I was surprised because I thought both the General Contractor and "Patrick the plumber" forgot. I guess not. So, they installed it and it is positioned in such a way that you cannot see the top which is where you see whether the "ball" is red or green. Our valve is the one on the left in the linked picture and if you want to learn how they work, its actually pretty darn cool, go here. So, I'm probably going to have to put a little mirror and duct tape it to the side so I can see the frigging ball status!

Anyways, back to my irritations, so yesterday Patrick, who is huge, looks like he's carrying full term 9 lbs. each triplets, is telling me how they spent 5 hours under the house trying to find the leaks in the tub. This is such bullshit because Gene and I spent an hour doing the same thing and found one more leak that Patrick never marked. Not that Patrick would be under the house, he can't fit! Its just the fact that he's lying. I cannot stand untruthful people. It just bugs the hell out of me. So today, Gene's boys are here re-installing the tub. And Jason shows me the tub drain set up and how the plumber (and it wasn't the drunk guy cause he was gone by this point) broke 2 of the plastic washers, but still used them, lost a plastic cover and didn't even put another washer on, just used a whole role of teflon tape. I mean, do I look stupid? I just want things done properly. Is that too much to ask? Actually, to tell you the truth its really only the plumbing that has been such a problem in this job. Gene's boys have been doing a good job.

Today, Patrick the plumber is back. I laid into him about the drain. He said they'd fix it. And he's driving Jason nuts by nattering away to him while he's trying to center my tub. I mean, come on!! Also, Patrick's boys are under the house installing water shut off valves to the tub area. Is this code? Why wasn't it done in the first place? They say they are graciously doing it now in case there are further plumbing issues in the new bathroom. I guess its just my cynisim but in my experience, no one does anything graciously! Well, I guess I'll run out and buy a little cheapy mirror.......

Our new vanity - waiting in the wings in the "pink" bathroom. Made from solid quarter sawn oak, stained an intriguing custom cherry color to match the Ann sachs tile, it shouts, "Hey, look at me!"

Update on remodel hell

We were over @ Dena's sister's house yesterday for Roshashanah lunch and it was decided that we would hold Chanaka over here, at our house. Chanaka is Dec. 8. When I asked Dena about it later as I was concerned that we wouldn't be done with the bathroom, she said, "either we'll be done with the bathroom or you'll be in jail and the contractor dead on the bottom of that tub." Well, I couldn't really argue with her there.

My patience sometimes amazes even me, and other times is non-existent. Yesterday I went over to Mission Tile West to pick up our (yes, again....) custom color sample. The woman that ordered it for us, Nancy, apparently wasn't listening to a word I said and didn't order what we wanted. Unbelievable. Although, it is an amazing tile place, if you go there, don't let Nancy be your liaison - pick someone else! So, I was patient, I didn't yell at her, throw a tantrum or pin her head against the wall and box her ears like I wanted, so, I'm proud of myself. In the end, would it matter? We still get to wait another 2 to 3 weeks for the sample..... AARRRGGGHH! This blog will go on forever!

The infamous, unbelievable, god I hope it never leaks, tub was delivered, again today. It was delivered at noon and guess what - my contractor is not here. I guess it will be Monday now until its installed, the plumbing rehooked up, etc, etc, etc. Have you noticed I'm resigned to this fact? I even knew it was going to happen.

As an aside, away from remodeling - tomorrow is my LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!! Yeehaa!! I cannot even believe it. Yes, I will be a graduate with a BS in Information Technology Suma cum laude from the University of Phoenix. Ok, so I'm tooting my horn a little bit, but I figure I deserve it.

Bye bye tub........

And the tub and window come out...

3 Steps forward and 10 steps backwards!

As you can see by the above picture the window is gone and the tub is in the process of being removed. Its a long story. After arriving home from North Carolina, I placed a call to Americh They have a field support team and have a factory in North Hollywood - how fortunate for us. They came out on 9/6/04 to fix the leak in the tub. This wasn't really a crack like first suspected and reported by my contractor's plumber, it was more a thin spot on the "airbath" air chamber that circles around the tub in concentric rings. This thin spot was leaching water, much like a thin spot on a fiberglass boat would leach water. So, the fellow fixed it and we let it cure for a couple hours. Then my contractor and I water tested it. Low and behold there were two more leaks, same type, different spots on the airbath rings. Obviously, they didn't all the material to properly seep into different parts of the mold. Perhaps there were even air pockets, who the hell knows. I was so angry and frustrated I cannot even begin to tell you.

Today, the Americh guy was supposed to come back and repair the other two leaks, but my contractor and I both bumped it up to upper management at Americh. They agreed to take the back, inspect it and run a new tub for us. You can bet we'll water test that son of a bitch when it arrives. We are apparently being bumped to the front of the assembly line so that the new tub will be back here in 5 days. You know what that means in "building talk" right? 2 weeks.

I had to make a big stink but my contractor has agreed to remove the tub and reset it at no charge. He wanted to charge me! The nerve! There was a big red note on the bottom of the tub when it arrived -- it said "Contractor, water test the tub BEFORE installing it". DUH!

The new bay window - installed

More remodel information

After flying home last night I was pleasantly surprised, then angry again when listening to the message the general contractor left. It appears that the hairline crack in the tub isn't really a hairline crack at all, its really just the fact that the plumber didn't secure the drain properly. Did you know the plumber found the hairline crack? Now, I ask you, if you are a plumber and are testing the tub, and it leaked, wouldn't your first check be the bloody drain you just put in? I have some real doubts about this plumber and his abilities. Well, since he fired Mike the drunk assistant I'm not sure who he is using, cause he sure isn't crawling under my house. The plumber looks like he's carrying full size triplets in his gut. Its HUGE! Well, enough for now, we're off to the beautiful state of Texas for a wedding. I'm sure I will be horribly bored.