But I got to a point where I said f* it. I’ll have to trust that the work I do will not leak and just move forward. The amount of time that has lapsed is unconscionable.

and so, and so, and so

So the tubs in place, and the studs are furred. More or less. Next, the 15# felt goes up. This covers everything, and makes it everything all right! Well no, but…

Then, backerboard!

Now, let’s add drywall!

Although there is a long way to go, adding the backerboard and drywall makes it seem so much further along.

I had to expand the holes a bit to get the pipes through.  That turned out to be a mistake, as the pipe on the right fit right where the original hole was.  And the waste pipe could have been smaller.  I hated doing this part, because I had to turn off the water in order to remove the valves in order to keep the holes small. Ideally, just a bit bigger then the pipes. Then there’s always more water coming out AFTER you removed the plastic bucket. So I’ll patch those holes and call it done.

Now, anyone know how to mud?

Here’s where the RotoZip came in handy:

That tool just cut right through those nails in seconds. Handy!

That wood is warped and twisted every which way. I used many thicknesses of furring to flush it out.  And then re-did it when I couldn’t drag a straight edge all the way up across multiple 2x4s without gaps!  Still can’t (quite) but it will have to do.

Now I may have to redo it because the lip has a slight angle.  I set the furring flush with the top of the lip, not the bottom. -sigh-

What a waste of money. The tub was loose, the surrounds had a lot of give and none of it would ever have been waterproof.  And he use plain drywall screws to attach the surround. That would have lasted a year or so. After months of doubt, I tore it all out and returned it.  Well, I tried to anyway.  On two separate occasions I stopped at the front desk and asked if I could return it, even though it had been installed, and holes cut in it. They said sure, no problem, just bring it in.  So when I finally did they said no, it has holes in it, we can’t resell it.  Ass hats.  I didn’t use their store for months afterward. Well, they did refund the tub price.

But let me back up a bit.  I never did post about installing the CBU and tile.  Here’s the floor after it was slathered in mastic and covered with backer.

Here’s the tile layout.

Cleaning up after grouting.

Here’s Madison, thinking she will have a new bathroom soon. Guess I fooled her, huh. -sigh-

So basically, the bathroom has been used as a storage closet for the last two years.

After much harping, complaining and snide comments, I went back to work. First, I had multiple Skype conversations with my friend who used to work construction. And who is, incidentally, a member of Mensa. He showed remarkable restraint and gave me a few pointers.

First, I had to get a tub. Before it was finally placed (set in cement as it were) I must have set it in its alcove and removed it 15 times.  Good thing too, as it can’t be slid in; it has to be set directly on top of the pile and smooshed until it’s resting on the ledger board.  Doing this isn’t as easy as you might think. I couldn’t drop it straight in as the spout and handle protrude out from the wall. So you have to tilt one end, then schooch it over and drop it in. It’s a tight fit; I ended up sanding some of the 2x4s for that little extra space. Anyway, practice made perfect and it seemed to work fine.

I didn’t want to use cement for the bed. The instructions said to use paster of paris or casting plaster.  Well, that’s $60 I won’t ever see again.  You see the white rings on the felt above?  That’s about as far as I got.  The stuff turned to stone while I was still mixing it. I tried to dump it out by upending it, but it was too late.

So I ended up using cement. Much easier to mix and plenty of working time.

So I placed the tub, then nailed it in.  Had to use shims everywhere. Between the settling of the house and the careless construction, there’s nary a straight or even board to be found.

Today I started furring above the tub. This allows the backerboard to come down over the lip of the tub without bowing.

I had the insulation stapled directly to front facing part of the 2x4s. Today I decided it would be better to staple it to the sides instead. This would make it easier to work with the furring strips. There’s a lot of guess work with this process.

When I was done, I noticed all the dark spots on the wood where water had penetrated. Mostly it was where the drywall had been nailed.

It would probably have been fine, but I erred on the side of caution. I took a large drill bit and cleaned out that nasty stuff.  Then I filled with wood filler.

After I sand that down, I’ll continue with the furring and hopefully the backboard!

It’s been nearly FIVE MONTHS since I signed the papers for the siding on my house.  Apparently there was a big mix up with the colors, between the siding company and James Hardie. I probably still wouldn’t know about it if I hadn’t called.  This siding company has an outstanding reputation on Angie’s List.  We will see how they fare on the list after they finish the install. They did extend a 5% discount from the quoted price. That is nice, but COMMUNICATION would have been nicer.

It turns out the rep that came to my house has the same floor plan.  He was able to provide me with pictures, so I can get a feel as to how our house might look.  I didn’t say this to him, but wow, I do not like the combination of siding he used.

But, to each his own.

When I ran a test of the system, I found that one of the sprinklers had turned 90 degrees and was pelting the side of my house with a blast of water every morning.  I was sure this was the problem as there were no other pipes that close to the edge of the house.  After I adjusted it, problem fixed, right?

Not so much.  The first day after, I was sure it was just residual water, who knows how long that head might have been twisted?  By the fifth day, I knew I had a larger problem.  No way there should still be water there.

So, I started to dig. The first thing I did was make a little trench to drain the standing water area.  (This shot is after it had drained, but you get the idea.)

As I said, there were no pipes in that area; therefore the water must be coming from the sprinkler system solenoid valves. They have been know to leak before, thankfully they were easy to fix.  Because the valve box is a bit resessed, I had to haul out my digging tools before I could check the valves.

After I freed the box, I saw that the enclosure was full of water.  Obviously, something was leaking here, but could be fixed in short order.

Again, I was overly optimistic. I used our wet/dry vac (seen in first picture above, on right) to suck out the standing water. I was disappointed to find that there was no water dripping from any of the valves, yet the area underneath the valves filled up again quickly.

So I had to dig deeper.

Now it may not look like much, but it took a long while to dig that out.  After the first layer was removed, the rest had to be removed mostly by hand.  Shoveling with those pipes in there would have been a disaster! And the thing was, it smelled awful.  Like a sewer.  Like it had been leaking for YEARS.

Turns out, the leak was just above the red valve in the picture above.  A short, connecting pipe.  When I emptied out enough earth, I could hear/see the water hissing and bubbling. This was a bummer, I didn’t have a clue how to fix this.  I’ve never dealt with pipes and soldering, and didn’t want to start now.

So it was time to call these guys:

Now this was a Saturday afternoon, but they were at my house in a few hours.  He tried re-soldering, for the easy (and less expensive!) fix. No joy.  He didn’t have what he needed to finish the job that day, so it sat and leaked until Monday.  The rate of escaping water wasn’t to prodigious, so this was OK with me.  Especially since Monday was a holiday, and he was coming anyway.  And because I wouldn’t be without water in the meantime.  Keep in mind, this is the main water line into the house – this means no water anywhere while repairs were underway.  My hands were covered with that thick, sticky, stinking mud and I couldn’t wash it off!

But it also meant I had to leave this on my lawn and entryway.

So below is the solution he came up with.  He asked if I minded use PEX piping.  I’m not married to copper, so I told him that was fine, especially if it would speed up the process.

Here’s the lawn after I filled in the hole.  Note that I did NOT use water to clean the yard!

The day after I filled in that hole, it rained. Hard.  We got about nine inches of rain (thank you Hermine!)  While that certainly helped to clean up the area a bit, it did not help with my saturation problem.  It’s been a week since this happened, and I still haven’t turned on my sprinkler system.  Here in Texas, that’s forever!

I notched the ends to fit in the slots. Not all that easy as you can’t stand ‘em up in the sliding saw.

Slot 3

Tab A

All four.

Here it sits, balanced on it’s legs. And it still wobbles.

I added a second set of brackets below the first, meant to wedge the branch against the side and first set of brackets.  It’s not perfect but it might work for now.

Here’s a shot of the wobbility assedness of it.  It does stand on it’s own, so it’s a start. 

A much more dramatic shot:

Laying on the top:

And screwed to the 2×4.

I closer look reveals the edges are not even. Perhaps I’ll deal with that tomorrow.

Here’s how it looks from the other side.

Here’s the backerboard I’m going to put on top of the plywood.  I might add leftover tile, or I might just leave it with this stuff as the surface.  Dunno yet, it’s an outdoor plant table and I don’t think plants can appreciate the work put into it.