BS: A house! A house!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 10:32 PM

Maybe the stove top was installed after the wall switches were done - there may have been a portable plugin cooktop plugged in before the current one was installed.

Robin

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,Rapaire, in training and cookieless
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 10:51 AM

No, it's pretty evident that the cooking area was designed that way. Dumb.

We don't get points on our credit cards, but by paying with them we do get some protections that we otherwise couldn't have.

More later.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 08:15 AM

A bit of an update. We've been having some work done before we move in and, well...

..the plumbing. While working on it, the plumber found that the garbage disposal had a nipple, usually used for water, that was capped by a Pepsi cap and black electricians tape. A (plastic) drain pipe in the basement was properly glued together and came apart in his hands. The same with the drain from the kitchen sink.

..the electrical. What a can of worms! A 220 v. line that ended -- unwrapped, just bare wires, and live. Eletrical cables run down a pillar to an outlet and a nail driven THROUGH on of them. 110 v. line on the deck that just...ended, like the 220 v. line, unwrapped and bare. Circuits that were split -- one outlet of a two outlet plugin might be dead and the other half live. A circuit breaker box that wasn't fastened to the wall, just sitting in a wall cavity. "Stranded" wire used to wire fixtures both inside and outside the building. Lots of other stuff...it's a wonder the place didn't burn down or people get electrocuted, but then, maybe...

..the freezers. There are at least two chest-type freezers buried outside the house, under the deck. One is empty, the other has bricks and stuff piled on top. There may be at least one more. And they're behind a stone wall and can only be removed with great difficulty. I sort of hope that there are bodies in the second freezer so that the police will remove them.

..the ducts. Some are fiberglass and have come untaped from the registers. The heat was pouring out into a suspended ceiling, none coming into the living room. Apparently nobody got cold.

..the termites. Thanks for asking. We've taken the necessary steps to kill off the little buggers.

..the fireplaces. One insert is junk, will be removed and not replaced for a while, if ever. Naturally, this is the one in the dining room. The other is just fine.

Still to come are the tile & grout repairs, the carpenter, and the replacement of that @#$!!! red&black shag rug.

WHY would you bury freezers? To hide bodies? To raise fishing worms? To store explosives? To farm mushrooms? WHY would you do such a lousy job on the electrical work? WHY? Why? why?...

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: artbrooks
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 08:35 AM

And you did stipulate a code inspection, with the sellers to pay for necessary repairs, right?

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 09:02 AM

Actually, Art, we had the house inspected and the sellers did, indeed, either pay for or share the cost of several things. The things I mention are cans of worms that have been found as we had other things done.

Code? Code? This is Idaho, fer crissakes! We don't need no steenkin' code! (Actually, building code enforcement is pretty damned new in this neck of the woods and it wouldn't exist at all if the state didn't insist. The stuff we're having done is correcting years and years of "Joe Homeowner" work -- in Idaho, a property owner can do pretty much anything they want to their property without the work having to meet Code, and in the past you can simply remove the words "pretty much". It still doesn't need to be inspected after the work is done.)

The sellers tried to tell us that the property was being sold "as is" and take it or leave it. Odd how, when we let it be known that we were going to walk away, they came around to our way of thinking and shared costs or had something repaired themselves.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: annamill
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 09:06 AM

The Caveate should have emptored! or is it, The Emptor should have caveated. I'm so sorry, but..you know..when it's all done you will still have that beautiful house... home! I hope all goes well.

Love, Annamill

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Amos
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 09:26 AM

I have been through a similar series of shocking discoveries after the fact of purchase. There is no rational answer to "Why", Rap -- it is a reflection of the deep aberration of the individual nutball, which varies very widely from person to person. Maybe he just felt tired that day, so he figgered it was gfood enough. Maybe he had a drem that told him to bury the freezers, a thin dramatization of a past life in ancient Thebes when he was part of a mass-burial work party. Who knows?? If you look for rational answers you'll go mad. :>)

A

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 10:00 AM

We caveated as best we could and as well as we could. Cans of worms can be found anywhere. And the actual construction of the home is first-class. It's what has been done to the poor things by people who thought they knew what they were doing.

Well, when it's done it will be up to Code and years of bad work will be undone. The house will be (professionally) fitted with Cat5e for both teelphones and ethernet, and coax for cable TV (no, I'm NOT putting cable in the bedrooms or anywhere on the first floor except an "office". TV mostly is intrusive and lousy entertainment.).

What I'm anxious for is the installation of 20 linear wall feet of bookcases, 7 feet high. I want our records and books out of storage, I want my old friends back!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: artbrooks
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 02:51 PM

Only 140 linear feet a bookshelves? Piker!!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 06:31 PM

20 feet of wall space = about 6.5 units of 3 feet long shelving = 19.5 shelves x 7 shelves per unit = 136.5 YARDS of shelving, or about 410 feet of shelves, or (using Ye Olde Librarian's Rulee Of Thumbe, room for about 9,000 volumes. In the NEW shelves. There's shelving for about another 1,000 volumes on the shelving already there in the Family Room in the basement, plus room for about another 500 volumes in the Dining Room, plus bookshelving we already have in storage for about 1,000 more volumes = shelving for about 12,000 books (more or less, depending on hardbacks/paperbacks, etc.).

Thats only for books. Doesn't count the shelving for for LPs, CDs, cassettes and other media.

Plus Internet drops for a cable modem in two rooms.

Anyone want to come help shelve books???

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 09:59 PM

Actually Rapaire, if it's cold enough outside the unpowered freezers would sort of work in winter... you're right you know - I can't think of any sensible reason, other than as land fill...

Robin

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 10:35 PM

Rapaire,

I have friends who used a fridge to make a smoker, with the shelves and all. Maybe you can set some of these up and convert them for smoking fish?

The bookshelves sound wonderful. I got tired of looking at the clutter in my office last weekend and went and got the heaviest-duty (but very attractive, with black epoxy paint) standards and brackets, and some very good pine boards (no knots--this isn't the cheap white wood!) and put up 24 linear feet of shelves over my desk. Cost about $100 total. I can see quite a few books that I should go ahead and sell because I'll never read them or use them, but for now they're up and out of the way. (I will one day read all of the Foucault that I put up there.) I still have many more shelves to build myself, and as you note, this doesn't even include the LPs and the CDs and cassettes.

I also have trunks and trunks of antique glass from my great aunt's house. I would love to display some of that. Like yours, my house was a custom home, well-built, lots of interesting extras (gorgeous woodwork). I had to upgrade from 150 amp to 225, and that's expensive. We had to wire a couple of new rooms and a new garage. I also ran CAT-5, and coax, and have a "home run" or "star" pattern set up for the phones and cable. I haven't put in the cable yet, but will do two rooms, no bedrooms. I don't watch much now, but given cable, the little I watch will be more select. The house needed all new flooring so I chose to put in tile and am doing it myself. That's about 2000 square feet of tile. I have about 300 sf left to do.

Houses can make a great sucking sound when they're anywhere near your wallet, but given a good one, you can really create a work of art and a great space to live in. I've been very busy with work and a writing project so I feel like my weekends haven't been my own--I need to cut tiles, plant my daffodil bulbs, paint, do so many things. As long as I have that vision of how it will look and make incremental progress, this is a fine form of recreation.

One of these days I'll host an open house and have my builder and electrician and the neighbors in. A hoot would be a great way to break in a new house also. When will you be scheduling yours, Rap?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Amos
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 10:49 PM

SRS:

Oh, when?? I wanna come!!!


Rap: I would love to help you shelve books but you know what would happen. I'd start reading the third book I took out of the box and I'd be useless for the rest of the day! LOL!


A

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 10:50 PM

SRS, the freezers are buried up to their lids behind an 18 inch thick stone wall. There is about 3 feet of clearance at the top until you reach the deck above them. They are also about 8 feet from the basement wall of the house. I plan to fill them with dirt and let them decompose. Using them as smokers (which isn't a bad idea, really) wouldn't work, given their location. I hope that there's a body in the one we haven't opened yet, so that the police can take them out.

I think we'll have enough bookcases. At least, I hope we do. There are literally a couple tons of books in storage. I've been SO frustrated at times, not having access to them and knowing that the data I wanted was there!

When do I plan to have a housewarming? Given the way the upgrades are going, sometime in 2007. Seriously, we'll probably be in before the middle of January, and have a housewarming oh, maybe in later February or the first week in March. Wanna come?

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 02:31 PM

Rapaire, I've been in this house for a year and a half, and though there have been times when I've shoved all of the boxes and tools out of sight, this ain't one of 'em. I'm not sure where I'll put the tree this year. On the other hand, I made sure the kitchen was in very good shape, the dining area (an extension of the kitchen, not a separate room) is easy to use, one bathroom is completely functional, the bedrooms are comfortable (though there are boxes of stuff stacked in all of them) and we have one 12x14 room at the front of the house with comfy chairs and a couch and all of the videos and DVDs and a nice televison and the usual video equpiment. So we can all play games in there or watch movies and feel like it's a "normal" house. As long as you have zones like that, then I don't worry about what the rest of it looks like while it is a work in progress.

I do try to put nightlights in areas of current construction so no one wanders in and hurts themselves in the dark.

I'm with Amos, I'd start reading your books and start a stack off to the side of books I want to look at more closely before putting them on a shelf. You'd end up with books all over the place. But then, my house is like that also. It is my theory that once I have enough shelves for all of the books that everything else will take care of itself. Well, okay, I also need shelving for craft and sewing stuff.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 02:51 PM

any possibility the freezers are to cut down on heat transfer from the basement through the surrounding fill?

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 03:21 PM

Nope, Mario, they're not buried in line, but abreast and perpendicular to the basement wall. The best reason I've heard so far is that someone used them for storing potatoes, but it was admittedly far-fetched. I'm coming to believe that they're simply deconstructionist art.

SRS, we're having work done to insure safety and the functionality of the place before we move it. Once we're in, the wall of bookcases and a new carpet go into the basement and then we're doing our own stuff. But the basement stairs, for instance, is carpeted on the steps and the walls with a dark red and black carpet; prior to the installation of lights on the stairway it looking like a ramp -- and I don't want anyone, including myself, hurt. And I ain't gonna do the electrical work that has been necessary, nope, but when we move in we'll be sure the place won't burn, at least from electrical faults.

Yeah, I'm afeared that when I start unpacking books I'll start reading them, too. Somewhere I have copies of James White's "Sector General" series and all of the Heinlein juveniles and a complete run of the "Calvin and Hobbes" cartoons and books on and of music, and history, and literature, and whole books of poems, and books on science, and books on religion, and books on art, and books on lots of stuff and it's gonna be like finding them new all over again.

Speaking of crafts and sewing, ah, I must confess that I live with a quilter. She is eying one (small) room just for fabric. Of course she also has a Pfaff sewing machine, a Sears machine, a Singer treadle machine, and a Singer Featherweight machine (in the original carrying case) -- and they all work. Her cutting table consists of a 36" wide door laid on sawhorses. And all I have is a tiny room, a miniscule space, not even room to extend my legs, wherein to do my things....

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 03:48 PM

Do you have the latest James White?

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 04:50 PM

MMario, stop distracting the poor guy with books! :-)

Oh Rapaire, do you have any books on books? Other than the ones in the piles...

Quotes from Robin's "Great Book Of Wisdom":

1) You NEVER have enough bookshelves. See Rule 2.

2) You NEVER have enough books. See Rule 1.

3) A phone in a bedroom may be useful in times of sickness, but not often.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,LDB
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 05:04 PM

That doesn't sound too large; after all, mine is slightly over 5000 sq feet.

Oh! Wait! That's the size of my LOT!!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 05:14 PM

I dunno. I dunno what I have. I've got a bunch of Sector General though. I think I've got some of his non-SG stuff, too -- didn't he write one called "Lifeboat?"

I've also got some Spider Robinson, including "Lady Slings The Booze," in which (ahem! he shyly said) I'm named for my assistance. If you know the book, you know where it's set. If you know where it's set, you might wonder what assistance I gave.

The house is about 4,000 sq. ft. The lot is somewhat larger, but not a lot.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 06:24 PM

I shall be having the bookshelves done in another way than what we intended. The quote is for $4,400. We need bookshelves, but not ones made of rare booga-booga wood from Ramalamarutu!

Maybe I'll just get pre-mades and go from there. Or do 'em myself.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: artbrooks
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 08:17 PM

"...probably not clinical advice for Madam and her employees..."{he says, ducking and running for his life}

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 08:27 PM

You can find some nice nude shelves these days. I have also seen some halfway decent finished ones at Lowes, of all places. Simple, but wood, not fibreboard that weighs a ton and warps.

I'm sure you know that any shelf over about 30" long isn't going to manage to hold books without sagging. I'm considering the trick of making super thick shelves by gluing two boards together and putting a nice edge on the front.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 10:32 PM

No, Art, my advice was of a much more esoteric sort. There are, as I'm sure you're aware, certain, well, nuances, that any well-run "business" needs to know about. And I, with my vast experience and even vaster sources of information, was able to supply certain bits of information critical to the "business". Nothing crude, mind you. And my help was a complete and as vast as possible, as I certainly wouldn't give half-vast help.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 02:48 AM

Aussie "Kultcha" to the rescue!

Bookshelves - take some concrete blocks (we call them "Besser" blocks here) - place 2 on floor - place board over the tops between them - repeat until shelves are high enough or floor caves in....

Robin

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 12:04 PM

I got some good assemble-'em-yourself bookcases at Costco a couple of months ago. They have 48" shelves with a center wall for extra support, they ARE in fact 7 ft high, and they have 5 movable shelves each. Priced just under $300 a unit, as I recall -- certainly not more, and possibly less. So that's 72 feet of shelf space, counting the bottom fixed shelf and NOT counting the top. They even look nice, in a light oak sort of way. The visible parts are wood; the unseen bits are very heavy MDF.

My books are now coming out of storage after ten years!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 01:22 PM

ClaireBear, those are the kinds of purchases that I have the "lot loader" put in the back of my pickup truck, and when I get home I climb in and tear the package open and carry the bits in one at a time. That compressed fibre stuff weighs a ton.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 01:27 PM

Yup, we did that too. And they were a huge pain to assemble, primarily due to their weight. But when put together they were satisfyingly solid and a delight to stock with books! I just hope I never have to move them...

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 01:28 PM

We're looking at those heavy, fiberboard bookcases now. If we go that route, well, there's a company here in town that will not only deliver them, but set them up as well. And they'll discount them. The sort of service I can live with!

We'd probably put a couple of extra shelves in each unit, too, if they're available.

I think I'm going to use the Oz solution in my workshop. Problem is, Idaho is considered an active seismic area and stuff over about 4 feet high should be fastened to the walls unless it has a base wider than its top. Ever had seven feet of loaded bookcase fall on you? I have.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 02:14 PM

(I meant 24 feet of shelf space, of course; it's just that I bought three of them.)

I haven't, but my husband has...we're just a few miles from the epicenter of the Loma Prieta quake ('89), and when my husband first moved here in the '80s he had this deplorable tendency to contruct room dividers out of those rickety metal shelves. After one landed on him in 1989, he gave that up.

I WILL bolt those shelves, I WILL bolt those shelves. At least, in the meantime, they're sitting on a slab floor, not on the second-floor loft of a 19th century barn as my husband's were!

Hey, Rapaire, didja ever think about ripping up some of that carpeting and trotting it over to the Tavern? It would really brighten up the decor and cozy up the room. Plus it wouldn't matter if the hot tub water got splashed all over it.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 02:38 PM

Rapaire,

Since the Realtor.com listing expired some time ago you'll have to take new photos and post them somewhere for us. Before and after shots, please!

Great idea about that red carpet.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: artbrooks
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 03:11 PM

I have a set of brick 'n board shelves that date back to our very first home, in Junction City, Kansas. There are two great things about them...they can be assembled in a variety of configurations, and they are free...all you need is a construction site...

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 04:07 PM

Here n DC such a house runs 750,000 dollars.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 04:47 PM

lots of ways to build/setup bookcases....I have done it both professionally and personally for 40 years. If your walls can support it, the cheapest good way is metal standards with snap-in supports...(and some of those can look really decent)(bricks & boards, as you say, are unstable in earthquakes)..most expensive is built-to-fit all finely finished...but $4000??? tsk! Wish I was near Idaho, I'd make you a deal! The problem with freestanding units is that they never quite fit well, and waste space...(maybe the cheap way in the back rooms and some 'nicer' ones elsewhere?) Sagging can be fought with small, cut-to-fit boards between shelves, even thinner than a book and stained to be almost invisible. And a little well chosen stain can make the cheapest boards look VERY nice. If you do use fibreboard, you can get stick-on edging that looks quite elegant...

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 07:52 AM

Whew! The electrical is done. Fifty-one hundred US dollars done.

At least it's now up to code and won't burn down (from that!) around our ears. And it includes hard-wired smoke detectors.

Having seen what was before, I offer a suggestion regarding electrical work: if you can't do it right, have it done by a pro. It's cheaper, lots cheaper, in the long run.

I'll see if I can find a place to post some pictures.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: artbrooks
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 08:27 AM

Send them to Pene Azul and ask him to post them in "Events."

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 08:57 AM

Good idea, Art. I've emailed five to Pene, asking for a posting in Events. There's one of the front of the place, one of the back, one showing the problems of the buried freezers, one of the cooking area in the kitchen, and one "before" photo of the stairway to the lower level.

Remember as you look at the photo of the freezer that there is at least one more, buried under the stuff at the left.

I'll see about sending some of the problems, and them of the corrections we've made. (I can't get into the walls, so you'll have to take my word for some of it.)

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 01:00 AM

Okay, there are photos here.   I'll have some "before&after" in a bit. What else would y'all like to see?

(Thanks, Pene Azul!)

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,Rapaire's Secret Santa
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 01:41 AM

I don't see a chimney in the picture. I thought there was a chimney. What will I do?

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 06:12 AM

Yes, SS, there is a chimney. There are, in fact, two fireplaces. And we had the chimney swept clean, tuck pointed, and a brand new chimney cap put on just for you! (Our bit to make your annual Evening Out just a little bit safer and cleaner.)

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,Rapaire's Secret Santa
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 07:15 AM

That's great! You're such a nice guy! Mrs. Santa has cut back my rations of cookies so I'll be able to fit all the chimneys of the world, but I'll be hungry on my big night out, so I hope you'll have cookies for me. See ya soon. (I just remembered that I'll probably visit I-dee-ho-ho-ho before Christmas Eve.)

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 09:15 PM

Nice house, but from your description I had this vision of it set in rolling hills, with trees, and streams and no nearby houses - now I see it's a suburban house... Sigh!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 09:36 PM

Robin, there are some FINE views out the back -- that deck looks across the golf course to various mountains, which are right now white with snow. From it I can see American Falls Reservoir, about 25 miles away, on a reasonably clear day. On a VERY clear day I can see almost to the Sawtooth Mountians.

I suspect that most of our life will be centered around the back of the house -- who wants to watch a street??

We looked at houses set 'midst rolling mountains, and the fire danger was one of several things we took into consideration. Besides, THOSE houses that are worth anything aren't for sale and those that are for sale have problems that make the ones we've been correcting look like nothing at all. (We saw one, for instance, that had rather heavy mildew inside the insulation, because the owners vented the clothes dryer INTO the wall.)

This'un'll do. Tell you what, I'll take some views out back and post them. I'll try to do it on a clear day, too.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 10:43 PM

Oh, yeah, it's not in a suburb, but right there in the urb.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 10:45 PM

Sings: "On a clear day, you can see forever"...

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: artbrooks
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 10:49 PM

Pocateller? An URB???

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 11:00 PM

Hey, Art, better'n 50K people exist here! It's even become a SMSA!

Oh, sure, there are few eccentricities among the urbites, but heck, I'll betcha LOTS of folks in, say, LA keep goats in their bedroom. I'll betcha that some of them even dress them up in panyhose, too.

Shucks, any town with THREE linear accelerators has got some real culture!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Dec 03 - 07:02 PM

Well, poop.

The man came today to regrout and recaulk the shower in the master bath and the tub in the other. The LAST things, then cleanup the first floor and move on in!

Yeah, right.

The tile around the shower is "floating" because of moisture in the wall, and the flooring has water under it, too. A completely redone shower, new floor covering, maybe a new toilet.

The sellers COULDN'T have lived there from 1989 to 2003 and NOT known about some of these problems!

Well, at least the place will be in EXCELLENT FANTASTIC SUPERB LIKE-NEW shape when we finally do get to move in.

House Warming Party tentatively set for the first or second weekend in March, 2004.

(So, how much do I make the check out for? Okay, how many zeroes is that again?)

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Dec 03 - 09:41 PM

You can do the tile yourself. Demolish (carefully) the wall, then get a good contractor to come in and do the greenboard if you're not sure you want to do that (but it isn't difficult). Before the greenboard, have a plumber look at the fixture and suggest the best repair or arrangement of pipes, fittings, and shower base. If you want to change out your shower and faucet fittings do it now! These fittings are not interchangeable and if you have Delta and don't want to keep Delta then find a good one and have the plumber put it on. I wish I'd known that before I had the greenwall put up. I'm stuck with Delta.

I put a lovely green Mexican tile in my hall bathroom around the tub, all the way to the ceiling. One of these days I'll get around to putting the blue tile in the master bathroom tub surround. The trade off--you get better tile but you don't necessarily get speedy service!

SRS