In addition to attending a zillion weddings this summer (congratulations, everyone!), Alok and I have spent way too much time at Lowes and Home Depot. Last Thursday, we ended up ordering our whirlpool tub for the master bath, a cast iron tub for the apartment bathroom, and several rough ins/drains that aren't so exciting.
Last night, Alok went into a bit of a panic about the fact that everything we ordered at Lowes had not yet arrived (it shouldn't for a few weeks), Pex supplies we ordered for the plumbers are also being shipped, and the plumbing is at somewhat of a standstill. So, we set off to Home Depot to see what they had to offer.
First, let me tell you that what we looked at at Home Depot was much cheaper overall. I'm sure this isn't always the case, but after looking at thousands of faucets (seriously) we're getting a pretty good idea on the cost. We also received a lot of help from the store manager and they also matched our Lowes coupon. We spent 2 hours in the store and ended up with 2 Kohler toilets, 2 50 gallon water heaters, and a ton of wood for... well, I think floors and for building 2 closets, but that's Alok's area. (Side note: You should have heard us trying to estimate how much water we would possibly use in an hour, including future kids, etc. Alok said that if 2 50 gallon water heaters aren't enough we'll need some rules! ha!).
Alok also found some pieces of wood that would easily help us to shim the walls, rather than having to carve out wood for every stud. He was so happy by this find that I think that I saw the twinkle of tears in his eyes (I'm surprised he didn't jump and hug the manager at Home Depot who showed him this!). We also found a jetted laundry sink at Home Depot, which Alok swore didn't exist despite me showing him it repeatedly in the This Old House Magazine (but that's besides the point).
OK, now for the happenings at the house.
First, I think our hydrangea needs some water.... well, we need water first.
And check out that jungle in the background ;-)
Here is the rest of the outside of the house. We have not made any headway on the multi-colored siding. Sorry neighbors! (BTW, people are calling our house the smurf house. I think Alok took offense. I reminded him that our house does look like a smurf and that I actually referred to our house as the smurf house before on this blog.)
I just like this tree. This picture serves no real purpose.
Our backyard is still a huge mess. I guess the house elf apparently has not gotten the memo on clean-up duty:
Now, onto the inside, our plumbers have been making a lot of progress. Here it is:
This is our attic bathroom to be
You can see the toilet hole on the right on the floor, along with the sink behind it. The clawfoot tub will go right here in front of the window. I may have already said that, but I'm too lazy to go and look at the old blogs to find out!
Pipes going through the dining room
The apartment bathroom
The bathroom under the stairs
Pipe in the master bed/bath
Master bath- whirpool area
Master bath- shower to be
This is the clawfoot tub. Our plumber informed us that this plug is not to code. Since the water line is in the tub and there is no overflow, you could potentially have your dirty water go back into the water lines. He said this happened at a funeral home before and blood came out of the sink. Truth or urban plumbing myth? Either way, we're getting a new faucet.
Plumbing in the hallway bath
Shower plumbing in the hallway bathroom
Plumbing in the laundry room. Did anyone order a bucket of tar?
I also ventured into the basement where the plumbers were working. First, our basement is creepy. Second, we need to fix the stairs or install some sort of slide system so we don't kill ourselves on them. (or perhaps the little cart that goes down the side of the stairs). Third, it smells. Anyone want to come over?
Anyway, here it is:
Alok keeps telling me we don't have room for more wood in the basement. Maybe he has a point...
Duct work or something from Tremors?
Our old water heater. During our inspection, our inspector asked where the other water heater was as there is no way this could heat all the bathrooms. This is the only thing that our inspector appeared to notice. Anyone want an old water heater from the early 80's. If so, it's now here:
I'm sure you all will be lining up
Random basement shot
The old space of the boiler from the Burbs.
Look at this in the basement:
You are probably wondering what you are looking at. Notice those big boxes cut out of the middle of the floor joists? They cut through over 4 of them in a row. Now, do you wonder why our floor above this in the apartment is sinking?! Not only did they do this, which is VERY stupid and VERY dangerous (sorry, but it is), but our inspector missed this. Sigh. This made Alok say that he wanted to beat his head into a wall yesterday. No worries, his head is still in tact. Plus, he has an extremely hard head (literally hard, he's not that stubborn), so I'd be more concerned with the wall.
In better news, Home Depot rocked it out by getting us everything the next day.
Welcome Home Depot and your very oversized truck.
Our wood, which was delivered about 3 minutes before a storm.
My poor attempt at covering it was trash bags. Instead, I got to help Alok carry it all inside. Yuck.
1 water heater and 2 toilets. The other one was already on its way in!
Our plumber also worked on moving a gas line for the stove. Currently, there was a gas stove in the butlers pantry, as seen here:
Notice how it doesn't fit here.
He removed that line and moved it to where the electric line was for our current kitchen stove. This required him to remove the stove. Not only did this make the kitchen smell somehow, but it grossed me out!
Look at the side of thing. YUCK!
Behind the stove. Gotta love that pretty backsplash!
In other news, Alok pulled out the two pocket doors that were previously destroyed. We need to rebuild the track and strip these as well:
One door
Another door
2 doors... Floor...
OK, that's enough Dr. Seuss like poetry ;-)
Lastly, Bruening has not yet returned to complete the duct work. So, no progress since the blog on June 23rd. More on this later when I hear back from them:
That's all for now!
Jessica
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