We have come to the end of our latest remodel and I couldn't be happier.

It was a long job but we were lucky to get the help of Klaus a few times.

Boo really enjoyed going beneath the house whenever possible, especially when the big light was used which she turned into her personal tanning booth.


Klaus was around to help Alex install the new pocket door after yours truly painted it.


Check out the new shiny copper pipes - who knew we would end up having 'bling' under the floor boards?


Here's Boo again - I think she might be overdoing it a bit. Maybe we should change her name to Boo Hamilton?


This photo shows the top part of the solatube which Klaus helped install. The solatube gives the bathroom a lot of light without having to turn on the electric lights.


Our brand new floor boards - wonder if Alex accidentally boarded in Boo.


All I had to do each night was pour these guys a beer and serve a plate of food. Not a bad exchange for a new bathroom.


Here the sub floor is going down.


I guess Boo wasn't boarded in after all. Here she is distracting Alex from whatever he should be doing.


The shower unit is really beginning to take shape now. The shower pan has been set in concrete and the moisture barrier tacked up followed by the cement board.


The dry wall is now up and ready for mudding.


Once again, Boo wants to be in the thick of it. Here she is helping prime the walls.


Since these photos were taken we've installed a new toilet, towel warmer, and mirror. Alex tiled the shower walls and floor, grouted, and sealed it all. I will post the final photos soon.

A comment that Bookman left the other day in response to the 'Killer Bees Attack La Mesa" was referring to our run in with a bee hive in the wall of the spare bedroom. It started out with us noticing a huge number of bees in the air around the house but we couldn't figure out where they were coming from. Then we started seeing dead bees on the floor by the front window of the living room. One morning Charlie said he kept hearing buzzing at night and it sounded as if it was coming from the walls - we thought he had been dreaming. But we eventually listened to him and one night put our ears to the walls. As soon as we did that we not only heard the buzzing but felt the vibration as well. We knew right away that we had a bee hive in the walls of the front bedroom.

The bee people came out the next day and started the removal process. Here is the honey comb before it was removed from the wall



Did you know that when bees are in the hive they create their own air-conditioning by flapping their wings constantly? This keeps the honey solid and as soon as they stop flapping their wings the honey begins to soften and will start dripping? We didn't know that until we had to clean up the honey as it dripped down the wall so new bees wouldn't be attracted to the honey and move in. We actually took down the whole wall and had to disinfect the inside of the stucco.

Fortunately our bees were the regular type and not Africanized killers

Alex spent the day working on the new studs and the plumbing for the shower unit. He did a fabulous job feeding the hot and cold pipes through the new studs and neatly soldering all the joints.

Klaus spent a week with us and he went home nearly a week ago - we really miss him. He and Alex got so much done working together although none of it was really on the original 'job list'. It started out with the discovery of large amounts of dry rot in the studs and floor boards. Even Boo was cautious while checking it all out. You could put your finger through parts of the wood.



We (and in this case I mean Alex and Klaus) started pulling up some of the floor boards and Boo immediately wanted to go underneath the house.



The next problem to arise was the total blockage of our sewer pipes. Alex needed to do some basic plumbing to remove some old pipes and discovered the drain from the kitchen to the main sewer was almost completely blocked. It's amazing how many pipes were beneath the house that needed removing and they are truly disgusting to see.



Here you can see how completely blocked some of the drainage was. I'm amazed that the kitchen sink drained at all.



While digging around under the house Alex came across this mummified rat which he touched with his bare hands - eww! When we first moved into the house we would hear creatures running around through the walls and in the attic and wondered what they were - now we know.



Alex and Klaus made a great team working together to replace all the pipes so I could come home from a hard day at work to wash the dishes. I was so thankful that the water drained quickly and I could get the job done much more quickly than before.



I was especially proud when Alex agreed to share his toys with Klaus, albeit with strict supervision.



After their careful measuring it was great to see things coming together - here is a new vent pipe for the toilet being put into place.



Next it was time to remove the rest of the floor boards so a completely new floor base can be installed. Having no floor at all will also make it easier for Alex to do some more electric work and finish up the plumbing.



Here you can see how neat and tidy the pipes look - I feel as if I should dust them and keep them looking clean for as long as possible.



And here's the man, the guy that can do it all, the one who's going to continue the work until Klaus can come back to help us out again.

We are exhausted after a busy day pulling down the ceiling. Alex actually pulled it all down but I did help in the clean up.

Here we have Alex hard at work and, through no fault of his own, exhibiting a huge fashion faux pas with his dark socks and sneakers because I hadn't done any laundry this past week. He's hugely embarrassed! Well, I think I'm more embarrassed than he is.



He did such a great job and after we (and I do mean 'we') cleaned up this is what we are left with - a completely empty room.



We are well on the way to our new bathroom.

Came home to a great sight on Friday - the bathtub and toilet were in the back parking space.



The bathroom was looking pretty empty.



Unfortunately, what is a remodel without some rotted studs? And no, I'm not talking about Alex!

At the end of the day we had managed to remove most of the dry wall. Didn't run into any problems. The next day Alex removed one wall of tile but because the weather was so bad we couldn't dump it out back so that stopped any further work.

The cabinets were easy to remove but the mirror caused a slight delay in our progress. It took quite a bit of fiddling around but we managed to keep it in one piece - the question now is what do we do with it.



We can now see out to the hallway from the door of the bathroom. "Thank you very much" to Elvis who's keeping an eye on us. The toilet will be removed when all the walls are gone. Alex has already capped the pipes so no water can get through.



All in all it was not a bad start to our next home improvement project.

So the madness begins yet again. Yesterday we started tearing down the cabinets and walls in the master bathroom. Due to a busy month at work it took me a few weeks to actually pack up the old bathroom and half of our bedroom so the work can be done without distractions.

I wanted to show one or two photos to show how bad the bathroom was but one or two just wasn't enough do it justice. First we have our toilet, sitting all white and shiny in that sea of different shades of putrid green - lovely. Next we have the very large bath tub that was too big to actually take a bath in.



When previous owners installed the cabinets they cut the countertop too short and fixed it by inserting a small piece at the end - but it wasn't attached to anything and often moved out of place leaving a huge gap. And just below the countertop the top drawer would never close properly.



Part of this remodel plan is to install a pocket door between the kitchen and the master bedroom. In an earlier posting I talked about removing our old water heater and showed the gap it created (go to tankless water heater for the full story). Well this is the other side of the wall where the pocket door will go.

I have been wanting to post the before and after photos for so long and couldn't wait any longer. We have so little left to do - put up the trim around the window and then paint that and the door trim, and that's it.

After 6 months of renovation we couldn't be more pleased with the outcome. Alex did an amazing job, learning from Diana as he worked. Unfortunately, Diana went off to be a truck driver and left Alex to teach himself to cut and lay tile on the floor and around the tub surround. My contribution to all this was to help in the demolition and to paint all the new walls and ceiling.

So here are the before and after photos. It's gone from hideous lime green, gold yellow, burgundy colors to a cool and calming sage green walls, grey tiling around the tub, and black floors. Absolutely fabulous!







And look at this! No more floor cracks. We took everything down to the floor joists and hope the crack will not return.

I know I said no more photos but I can't help but post this sequence showing Alex installing the last tile around the bathtub. He still has to grout but it was so exciting to see it go up.

This is the last posting of the bathroom remodel until it is complete. We're definitely close to the finish line and I cannot wait until it is all done. Since we've been back from vacation some tiles have gone up around the bath tub.



We bought a tile cutter through San Diego Craigslist and got a great deal. It's huge but it's made to cut large tiles which is what we have for the tub surround


Look at that perfect little hole (and No, Alex has not had a few drinks too many - that's just the way he looks at times) and then you can see how it will fit around the pipe for the shower head. You can also see the contrasting line of granite we put up to break up the greyness of the other tiles


So that's where we are - more pictures when the project is done.

We've been back from vacation for a few weeks now but haven't spent much time working on the bathroom. We did manage to install the toilet before going away and just recently finished putting in the pedestal sink and attaching the mirror to the wall.



Installing the sink was more difficult than we had imagined. It was difficult to get the sink level and also to mount it on the pedestal so it looked centered. Hooking up the plumbing was an absolute nightmare and we almost flooded the bathroom twice. We think it looks fabulous but I would not want to go through any of it again.

The bathroom is ALMOST finished. We've painted the walls, tiled the floor and the grout will go in tomorrow morning. We have decided to leave the tiling of the bathtub surround until we get back from vacation. Alex also hooked up the lights and fan. Here are the latest pics from the remodel.

The round light is also a fan and is located above the toilet. The 3-light fixture will have a mirror below it.


Alex taking great care when laying the tile and look how great it fits around the curve of the tub.

Alex practiced tiling today. He bought some thin-set mortar, a mixing tool, and a new trowel for spreading the mortar. After attaching a piece of cement board to the garage wall he practiced setting his first tiles. I think he did a great job and our bathroom will be perfect when he's finished it.

The work on the bathroom moves forward and Alex is doing a fabulous job. Some of the highlights over the last fews weeks include finishing the plumbing and all the electrical. We finally put up all the drywall, cutting out perfect holes for the outlets, pipes, etc. We (for the most part I really mean Alex when I say 'we') have started the mudding and I (and I do mean me this time) even hope to start painting by the end of the week.

Drywall coming along nicely and an updated sink vent pipe.



Alex preparing to sweat the pipes for the hot and cold water into the sink. The propane torch is one of his new toys, bought after Diana showed him how to use it.



In this picture you can see how careful Alex is when cutting out the holes for the outlets and pipes.



The last pictures show the final plumbing job and the start of the mudding process.



As a last note I should point out that the numbers in the heading are purely for keeping the postings in order. We are obviously way beyond the 13th day of work - so many days I no longer care to count them.