I still hate drywall

Since we had the supplies out already, we also fixed the holes in the hallway and patched some water damage on the kitchen ceiling. A few days of puttying and sanding later and the ceiling is mostly ready for painting.

While we had the ladder handy I also updated the light fixtures in the kitchen and hall. I had a bit of trouble with the first one but, after rechecking the instructions, fixed the step I had skipped and they went up so much easier. We still haven't settled on the perfect fixtures, but these replace the old globes from the 70s.

I also put the new transition between the hall and bedroom to finish off that part as well. I started to replace more of the edging at the bottom of the siding. With a bit of work, I was able to pull out the nails without too much damage but when I put the new nails in most of the siding broke. Luckily I still had the construction cement to put them back but we will need to repaint them again to help hide the breaks.

So, a few more chores finished, and getting ever closer to the next steps of repainting the kitchen and hall.

I hate working with drywall - bathroom

We had been putting off redoing the ceiling in the bathroom until the leak in the roof had been resolved. That was finally fixed last summer and we had been waiting to see if we still had leaks in the spring. We still had occasional small leaks, and now finally had time to resolve it.

We opened up the plastic sheathing again and quickly saw that when the roofers fixed the shingles, the venting hose was no longer connected to the outside vent. This would cause moist, warm air to collect in the dead air space, freezing in the cold, and melting in the spring. The pooled and caused the new leaks.

I picked up some vent tubes and connected them to the hose. I wrapped the joints in the metal ducting tape and even fixed a small tear in the hose. We then replaced the insulation and taped up the sheathing again with tuck-tape.

I had picked up some moisture-resistant drywall, tape, and supplies, and we pieces together the ceiling and wall. I added putty and tape as needed, and spent the next few days puttying and sanding. I could have spent a few more days repeating this but the wife was keen to get it finished.

We also replaced the sink and taps. My dad happened to pop over so we put the new taps on the sink before we installed it. The boy and I pried off the old sink and put the new one on. The connections went on fine – a bit of a leak from another part of the water connections that had to be tightened – but the boy now knows how to turn off the water main.

I also took this time to replace the light fixture. We will have to replace the medicine cabinet at a later date. The wife had bought a few towel racks to replace the ones we have but they won’t fit on the wall space we have.

Two days of painting and a few touch-ups and we declared the bathroom done. The wife finished loading in all the extra stuff but we had a day or two with it looking all clean and bright.

Carpet out, flooring in

Two weekends ago we moved most of the furniture out of our room, removed the baseboards and pulled up the carpeting. We then put in laminate flooring over the next two days. On the Saturday we did most of the work and finished up the fiddly parts by the door on the Sunday. We even pulled off the closet doors and put two panels into the closet.

There were a few spots where we kept breaking the joints and needed to step away from it for a while, but otherwise, it went together without too much drama. I’m quite impressed with how simple it is to install the new flooring. Be sure to allow a few extra boxes for joint breakage – but these can sometime be used at the end of rows.

It took a couple of days to finish loading in and sorting the books. The clothes need to be fully sorted. Besides the rest of the closet, which can wait, the transition between the flooring and the vinyl in the hallway needs to be added.

One step at a time

It amazes me that they will rent the odd, dangerous tools to those who have no idea how to use them – like chainsaws and jackhammers. Both of these have the chance to do a lot of damage to person and property in a short amount of time.

That being said, we rented a jackhammer last Saturday to break up the stone steps in the back yard. Truly, the internet was right, it was quite simple to use. It made surprisingly short work of the stairs in the 6 hours that we used it. It could have probably done more but it was quite hot and humid that day (felt like 37 degrees Celsius) and the jackhammer got quite heavy at the end. If the kids had been better about moving away the broken pieces we could have seen what was left a bit better.

The kids both tried it, but spent the afternoon tearing down the old shed. Even our neighbor came over to have a try - he used to use one years ago. We didn't get the concrete down to tiny rocks but did I break up as much as I could. There will still be a bit more needed to be done to clear it all away. We joke that the boy can spend the rest of the summer breaking big rocks into little rocks.

The wife has decided to use the medium pieces to edge her garden, and is currently thinking of putting the rest of the rocks under the front deck. Both ideas sound good as it means that we don't have to make a trip to cart away the pieces.

Been Busy - part 5

October has been a very busy month - mostly with chores and renovations though.

We finished painting the outside of the house, including the trim.  The kids were very helpful with painting.  I also managed to paint the exposed platform of the new shed - which  should help it last a bit longer through the weather.

We replaced the fascia on the back of the house - which included painting the boards before putting them up.  Changing the lower fascia involved removing the eavestrough and putting it back.  I was concerned that this would very difficult but it went quite easily.

My brother came over and replaced the outside lights with motion sensor versions.  He also replaced some of the loose switches inside.  Being a electrician, he swaps them out without pulling the breakers which always makes me a bit nervous.

I was able to get to the storage locker and spend about two hours sifting the contents.  I pulled out a bunch of the boxes and restacked the plastic tubs together and put a bunch of the cardboard boxes on a skid.  I was also able to move some of the more needed boxes to more handy locations to make them easier to get as needed.  This should allow even more boxes to be stored.

It stayed warm enough for my dad to come over and help replace some of the trim which had rotted with flashing and new boards.  If the weather holds later this week, I hope to get a layer of paint on it before the snow comes.  While he had his table saw here we also cut the wood to put together a bench for the shed. This should let me stack things better and move more stuff out of the old shed before the squirrel settles in for the winter.
Sifted storage locker.

Been busy - part 2 - daughter's room

At the beginning of July we took everything out of my daughter’s room.  We took the bunk beds apart and took them over to my folks.  We removed the carpeting, curtains, and baseboards.  I washed the walls and filled a bunch of the holes with drywall putty.  

My dad came over and helped again as we put in laminate flooring.  We painted the long walls a lighter blue and the short walls a dark blue.  Both short walls have the windows so it helps with the darkness.

We also popped into IKEA and picked up a pull-out daybed for her that we assembled.  We added back the baseboards and new curtains – having to putty and paint to repair the new holes as we repositioned them.  She has almost finished putting all her stuff back.

I am painting a board to hang her coat hooks back on and need to repair the window crank on one of her windows plus any painting touchups need from that.  She has to decide where she wants all her wall hangers and where her new bed netting will be.  Then we will be done for now – except for having to keep fixing her dresser drawers – as she has a tendency to keep pulling off the faces and pushing out the bottoms.

shingles redone!

We finally got the roof done. We had been hoping to get it done last fall but with the constant rain and early snow we were not able to get it done before the winter. So we had some leaking in the spring melting and rains.


The company who did our roof, John Henry, had given us a quote last fall and Shan had picked out the shingles last year. When the snow was finally melting, we got back in touch with them to confirm that we still wanted to proceed.

They came and we had to pick the shingles again. Then we didn’t hear from them for a bit. One day we came home and saw flashing on out front steps – but we had no message on the machine. The boy had said that they had come by in the afternoon and had dropped off shingles on the roof.

The next day they showed up after we had left for work and by the time we had come home they were mostly done. We were very impressed with the speed and quality of the work. Even better, the quote turned out to not just be for the back part of the roof as we had thought but rather for the entire roof.

We had heavy rain since then and no leaks.

take the floor

Since Shan had already ripped out the carpeting in anticipation of getting the new furniture we thought it might be a good time to put in laminate flooring. We removed the baseboards and pulled out all the staples from the underlay. We picked up ten boxes at Rona and my dad came over to help. We moved the furniture forward a bit and did the first three rows but it went pretty slow. After he left we read the instructions and found out we weren’t quite following directions.

The next day my folks came over – I had left them a message about the instructions and we came home we were very surprised to see that they had completed all but the last three strips. Since they had to move the furniture, including the dog kennel to do this much we were very impressed.

We pulled out the dvds from the wall unit and moved it on to the new flooring so that we could finish. This required another trip to Rona for one more box of flooring and the transitions. That was finished up in good order and we moved the wall unit and bookcases back. We still need to get baseboards but since we need to remove the wallpaper and paint, we can wait for those.

Renovations - Bathfitters - update

There were a few issues with the bathtub surround that we had done. Because we were under warranty we had Bathfitters come in to fix them. Some were so small as to not bother them but we had a few bigger ones so we had them fix them all.


Within days of being installed, one of the little plastic nubs to cushion the doors had fallen off – but I picked up a sheet of them and fixed that right away. One of the pull rings had been caught by the door and was very loose – they fixed that. The ceiling piece kept drooping down – they replaced the adhesive tape with a stronger tape. The divider for the doors popped off – they fixed that and now screwed it down. The one door often slides open and they also noticed some pitting around the tub door frame – they use a new frame and will replace that at another time.

Otherwise they were good about the repairs and we are again very happy. Once the roof is finally fixed, and we fix the ceilings, we may move and upgrade the fan and have them repair the hole. That will have to wait for now though.

Renovations - kitchen and bathroom flooring

Last week Ray’s Flooring changed the flooring in the bathroom and kitchen. We spent almost three hours on Sunday moving everything out of the two rooms. Then we got a call from the installers telling us that it would take two days instead of the one we had thought. I was already off that week so it wasn’t as much of an inconvenience as it might have been.


They came out on Monday and moved the fridge and stove into the living room – not quite where we had planned - so it was a little more cozy for that night. Originally they were going to put a skim coat over the old flooring and then the new flooring over top of that but the old flooring was worse off than they had thought – loose in spots, as well as the holes. So they pulled up the old flooring, removed the baseboards, patched the gaps, and put down two coats of thinset on the Monday.

On Tuesday they added a skim coat of thinset, put in the flooring, swapped out the toilet, put back the baseboards, and ran the flooring down the stairs. The vents Shan had picked up matched the edging on the stairs nicely. They put the stove and fridge back and were done.

We loaded back most of the rest of the stuff. We picked up a pantry unit from Canadian Tire to replace the old shelf unit we were using and the boy and I put it together. Once the roof is fixed, we’ll still need to remove the wallpaper, repaint, and replace the lights.

knobs and taps

We popped in to Rona and picked up more knobs to finish changing the cupboard knobs in the kitchen. We also picked up some handles to match and changed the knobs in the bathroom as well.

We were going to change the taps in the bathroom last weekend but I couldn’t find any Teflon tape. So that will have to wait for this weekend. Walmart was out so we ended up at Rona again. It took a bit to find as I’m used to the tape being in a blue reel but Rona has it in a red reel.

more wiring fixed

In correcting the bathroom light, some of the wiring had to be rerun. In order to rerun the wiring some holes were cut in the hall as well as the bathroom ceiling. The bathroom ceiling has been a mess since we had some leaking a few winters ago.

After a trip to Rona for supplies, we replaced the wet insulation and tuck taped up the plastic. As we had suspected, the vent tube from the exhaust fan was no longer attached to the outside vent but was instead venting warm, moist air into the cool space of the roof. Using duct tape, we fixed that as well.

So we had a bit of leaking while the air space cooled due to condensation. We left the drywall off and cut a hole in the plastic sheeting to allow drainage. It drained for a couple of days and then was fine. But with the warmer days we had, a bit of the ice dams on that end of the roof melted and needed to be drained as well.


We’ll get it ready – but not close up the drywall until before Christmas. We might open it back up to check before the spring melt.

Renos - counters and door to deck

Last week Monday was a busy day for renovations. They came in to change the kitchen window out for a door. They also replaced the kitchen counters.




Even though they had checked before, there was an electrical wire running under the window that had to be rerouted. Shan had picked out the door but we thought it have more glass in it. The one installed was solid – which makes that corner a bit darker.

In rerouting the wire, we lost power to a few outlets on the counter as well as the bathroom light. We got to use the battery powered camp lantern for a few days until we could get the electrical fixed.



The counter replacement went smoother. Both the large one by the sink and stove as well as the smaller one between the fridge and freezer were swapped out. We had the old one replaced with a darker one that will match better with the new flooring when that gets done in the new year.
Since they had to take the sink and taps out to replace the counter we had them put in new taps that we had picked out at Rona.  The stainless steel double sink we had was still fine so we just reused it.

Snow delay

With the dump of snow, certain renovations need to be put on hold until the spring. The back roof being the main one. In the meantime, if we thaw a bit for the weekend, I may pick up a can of that spray rubber to try until then.

The wood from the deck, and the broken sofa chair from the living room also need to go to the dump. We also have some piping from the old pool that needs to be cut down for the garbage. While we can still take a load during the winter, it gets a lot messier with all the snow. 

I have cleaned down my corner of the kitchen and we took down the garland and lights in the kitchen in preparation for the door to the deck going in. Since that had to go somewhere, it ended up downstairs which puts a bit more pressure on cleaning up the downstairs again to make that desk a viable surface on which to work.

New tub surround

Bathfitters came out and did manage to change out the tub surround in one day. The removed the old surround and some of the drywall where it had gotten wet through the cracks in the old surround.
I was concerned that it would have had mold in behind to the insulation but it didn’t penetrate that far. They replaced the drywall with greenboard and put in the new surround.



Because it now goes up to the ceiling and the doors are higher, it makes it seem a bit tighter in the shower but it’s not really. The surround also covers the tub itself and has a grid in the bottom to prevent slipping. They didn’t put back the vent cover but that was easy to finish. They replaced the hot and cold taps with one combined tap (which I don’t like) and the shower doesn’t have the power that it used to.


But even with that, they did a great job. They were very tidy and neat and the finished work is very nice. I would certainly recommend them to anyone who needs a change.

Fence me in?

The fence and deck is the next project. We made sure to get the Call Before You Dig people to check over the area and have no pipes to watch out for. We even told the neighbors on both sides about it. We have burned down the wood piled against the fence and have cleared away anything that had been against the fence so that they can work.

Gee wanted to take down the old deck so we started on the weekend and managed to remove all the decking – leaving the stairs and supports. We could have done more but we’re taking out the nails as we go.


We’ve got Bathfitters scheduled to come next week and change the tub surround. We popped into Revy and Shan picked out her new counter and has been looking at faucets. She’s still booking a date with the flooring people. She’s picked the new kitchen door to the deck – they said that they can book that anytime. She also picked out the shingles with the roofers but they haven’t booked a date yet.

AC done - as such

The first project done was the air conditioning. We had looked at Furnasman as they had put in our furnace but their quote was very high – almost $7000. Shan got a quote from Sears that was under $4000 so she went with that.

The boy and I had to clear out the wall of shelves so that they could have easy access to the furnace as well as clean out the laundry room. They came on Wednesday and so far have not impressed us.

Shan’s not happy with where they put the outside unit – as it will severely cut into her deck-space. They didn’t use the hole that was already there but instead drilled a new hole in the wall to the outside unit.

Instead of going above the ceiling like we requested, and were charged more for, they attached the tubing underneath the ceiling. They also had trouble attaching the wiring to the thermostat and took off (and left off) the door moulding and cut two holes in the wallpaper. They also left the wire connected along the outside of the wall.

My brother came over and fished a wire through the wall for them to use so that when they came back the next day they were able to pull it up behind the wall using that. He didn’t repair the holes as ‘he was just the electrician not the installer’.

To recap, inconvenient spot for the outside unit, wrong placement of the wiring/tubing downstairs, and holes left in the walls but a savings of about $3000 - so annoying but barely passable. We’ll be able to better judge based on how it performs next summer.

booking renos

We’ve been busy over the last two weeks. We’ve had a bunch of renovators come in and give quotes. We’ve paid a few deposits and booked some work.


So far we have booked for installing central air, new fence and patio, changing the window in the kitchen to a door, and changing our tub surround. The roofers are coming back tonight so hopefully we can finalize that as well.

We are still waiting to hear back about replacing the counter top and flooring in the kitchen and bathroom. Shan’s been busy cleaning and we’ve done a few loads to the storage unit as well as to Value Village.

D3 and I removed the rest of the electrical conduit and the former piping for the old pool heater as requested by the deck people.

new bank - renovations partially on

Since our mortgage was up for renewal anyways, we spoke to a new bank and they were much more helpful in the matter of finding money for renovations. Shan’s been dealing with them for a bit and I went down on Tuesday to sign a bunch of forms to move our mortgage. Shan’s also been getting estimates for a bunch of different renovations.


We still weren’t able to get enough for the big renovations yet but we will be able to do a bunch of other renovations that also needed to get done. This includes replacing the tub surround, the kitchen counter, the flooring in the bathroom through kitchen, replacing the fence, adding a deck, adding air conditioning, and changing the kitchen window to a door.

In addition, since we won’t be putting a second floor above the kitchen/bathroom yet, we’re going to fix the roof on that side. It seems a bit of a waste to fix the roof now only to rip it off in (hopefully) a few years for the renovations but it really needed to be done. With it fixed we can repair some of the water damage at our own pace.

We already had the electrical panel replaced with a new one. The old one kept kicking off when we had any three of (washer, dryer, dehumidifier, oven, microwave, hair dryer, room air conditioner) on at the same time. Since the replacement, we have had no problems. This means we don’t have to keep resetting the clocks on everything all the time.

Too hot

I don’t handle the heat well. It’s probably left-over from when I was hyperthyroidial and it always felt about 10 degrees warmer to me. If the temperature starts to edge above 26 degrees Celsius then I’m not doing well. Above 32 degrees and I’m really tired and cranky.

With the warm weather that we’ve been having lately, I haven’t been getting much done beyond trying to clear down our PVR enough to upgrade to a larger model. We would have upgraded as soon as they became available but you lose anything recorded on the old PVR when the new model is added.  We want to be switched over before the new season starts.

While not doing the major renovations, we are still looking at having some work done. We’re getting estimates for fixing the roof, the tub surround, and adding an air conditioner. As always, dealing with contractors is a varied experience – with some more reliable than others. It is proving to be an interesting time.