Door problems

The doors were delivered last week and were being installed today. The installer discovered that some of the doors were cut too short, or hinged wrong, and one was missing (not delivered).

Louis installed the waterproof membrane on the area behind the tiles.

The last of the demolition

This is the ensuite bathroom. It looks a lot different with drywall! The grey stuff is cement board, a water-resistant backing for the tiles. We will put a waterproof membrane over top of that and then the tiles.

This is the main bath. I need to get more sound insulation for the partition wall.

This is the basement after the last evening of demolition. There were two small closets that were accessed from the stairs that I didn't like because I thought it was dangerous to be accessing closets through a small opening from the stairs. We are going to reframe the closets so they can be accessed from this level.

The area under the heating ductwork is going to be framed as a pantry and storage area for kitchen things. You can see David standing on the landing on the right (well, you can see part of him). He was kind enough to come over and help me with the demolition. Hopefully that is the last of it. Now I can call the guy with the dumpster trailer to come and pick everything up.

Plumbing rough-in completed

The plumber didn't finish on Friday so he came and completed the rough-in so we can tile the bathrooms and put drywall on the laundry room. The plumber asked me to install the shower base so he could hook up the drain but the base seems to be warped, so waited to see Louis' expert opinion on it...

I was working alone today (and didn't have the proper stuff to sand the 1st coat of mud in the kitchen) so I did electrical work instead - replacing old two-prong receptacles and installing plugs and switches in the kitchen.

(Sorry, no photos today).

Jan 21st update

No photos today, sorry!

Today the plumber came to finish the rough-in work of the ensuite shower, main bath and laundry area, so we can put up the tile (bathrooms) and drywall (laundry). However he didn't have all the pieces he needed so he had to keep running out to get stuff and then he ran out of time to get it finished. He is coming back on Saturday at 9am to finish.

The kitchen cabinet guy came by to look at what we could do for the ensuite cabinet, and told me that the microwave plug was too low. We were just about to start mudding the kitchen so it'sa good thing he came buy. We removed the board, moved the plug and replaced the board. Then we mudded the kitchen. We had to move the big pile of trim to be able to do that.

We have Drywall!

While I was waiting for the building inspector, I installed sound insulation in the walls around the bathroom. The inspector came and okayed everything, so we can install the drywall.

Our doors and trim were delivered today.

Here is Louis fastening the drywall to the ceiling in the ensuite bathroom.

The kitchen now has drywall too - Yippee!!

made in Canada

This is a Kohler shower base (the plumbing trade calls this a receptor). This base is Made in Canada.

So why does it:

• take 4 weeks to get this product if I order it in Canada vs 1 week in the US?
• cost $800 in Canada but $550 in the States??

Plumbing inspection passed

This is the bathtub with the shower valve rough-in installation complete.

The plumbing inspector didn't like the venting because the plumber had tied his 1 1/2" ABS pipe into an existing 1 1/4" copper. The copper vent turned in 1 1/2" in the attic space because another fixture had joined it, so the plumber just extended his vent to join that so it was 1 1/2" all the way. The inspector liked that and so he passed it.

Looking through the partition wall from the main bath into the ensuite. The wall with the shower fixture is now framed out, as is the base for the counter.

The electrical code requires a light at the top and bottom of stairs that are more than 4 steps. The inspector said that he wouldn't require me to install a light at the bottom of the stairs because (a) there are only 4 steps and (b) it is an old house that is just being retrofitted.

When I was trying to puzzle out why I couldn't get the lights to work with the existing wiring, I called a good friend, Richard, who is an electrician. Richard told me that the problem was that I didn't have a neutral at the light at the bottom of the stairs and that was the problem and said I would need to run a wire to carry the neutral down to the switch.. That's exactly what I did in the end. Thanks for your help figuring this out Richard!

In summary, the problem with trying to hook up another light was that I only had the hot (power) at the switch, I didn't have the neutral. This made it impossible to add the light at the base of the stairs. I thought it was better to have the light at the bottom of the stairs and Louis said it wouldn't be too difficult, so we fished a new wire from the light box at the ceiling above the back door down to the switch. So now we have proper (to current code) 3-way switches at the top/bottom of the stairs with lights. It is much nicer too, so Louis was absolutely right.

Jan 13 - bath fans, floor tile

Today we installed two bath fans - one in the main bath and one in the ensuite. Before there was only one fan in the main bath. Technically you don't need a fan if you have a window, but honestly, who wants to open the window when it is -20C.

Since there was only one fan before, we had to install a new fan vent. This is the fan exhaust going to the new vent cap. The new vent cap and the two fans took about 5 hrs.

The tile floor for the main bath is laid out.

Jan 11 - door handle, ensuite floor prep, basement insulation

The old front door lock was very finicky and quite difficult to open. I ordered the replacement and fortunately it came in on the same day the the plumber broke the old lock.

The outside.

The inside handle.

Prepared the floor of the ensuite bathroom.
Insulated the basement wall (laundry room area).

Change of strategy

I was trying to write more details about the things that we were doing at the house, but things were too busy so I got behind and was trying to catch up but that was impossible.

So I am going to skip ahead from the last update (landscaping) and catch up to date. The regular posts will not have a lot of writing but will have a few photos.