Freakin cool. I got to totally tear out my bathroom. There is currently no sheetrock on the walls and the weird overhang thing has been reframed to allow a nice shower. It's about a 5'5 x 7'2 space. It was just disgusting and when I get done in a couple of weeks it's going to RULE. I'm so stoked. I'm so freakin thankful to a guy from work. He (the mechanical engineer), the Engineering Manager and myself all work in the same office. He has LOTS of tools and today helped me solve a framing problem that I had NO CLUE how to handle. What would have taken me weeks of head scratching was knocked out in two hours of framing nail gun goodness and his inginuity, making shit up as he went. The frame is solid as hell and ready for sheetrock. I'm so thankful to that beautiful bastard. It was really fun workign with him to make it go. I'm pretty sure he's gonna help me do the sheetrock and tile as well. Friends kick ass. I dropped like 1200 bucks at lowe's this weekend on tile, sheetrock, a light fixture, paint, a few tools and the new shower. Oh, and the shower valve, handle and outlet (like 128 bucks just for that). Thus, my mind - which is usually pre-occupied by philosophical intrigue is for now consumed by my second job and the bathroom project, which will hopefully lead into several other improvement projects I really, really need to undertake. My heating bill for the winter time here is historically 400 bucks at the peak of winter, 2 or three months of that. With prices up 70%, I expect bills of up to 700 dollar this winter. It's freaking me out just to think of it. Ah, the joys of a 40 year old house that desperately needs insulation, weather proofing and a completely new heating and air conditioning system. (the bathroom project got priority because it was causing serious water damage in the basement and really grossing us out in a very moldy, dirty, disgusting way) *sigh* That is all.
Be sure and use "greenwall" instead of regular sheetrock for the walls in the shower, even if you're going to tile over it. It's waterproof. The people who built our house didn't. (The owners built it themselves and it turns out they didn't know as much about the job as they thought they did.) One day the wall, tiles and all, just collapsed in a heap.
I love working with engineers! They're so damn clever and practical. Good with tools, too. Not to compare cocks or anything, but I've been living in a 60 year old house that was built in several stages (over a period of decades), with timber that's only good for like 30 years, tops. A good deal of the roof is scabbed together, as is the kitchen floor. It survived the '64 earthquake, but who knows if it could stand another. One winter the furnace blew in January. Temperature below zero. Another winter the toilet broke (or maybe the pipes froze over, I can't remember). We had to shit on newspaper in the garage while peeing into a tin can. Our garage is also unheated Spent almost every summer for years working on the house with my dad. My whole family spent the last two years siding the house, and I've got to say, it looks real nice. I'm only glad I didn't have to pay the bills.
OMG, you should have seen the gross wall I took out. It was gross. It was about to fall down. I'm using one of those fake tile inner shower walls from Kohler. I'm rather nervous about cutting the hole for the shower handle. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Oh, and indeed I'm using "water resistant" drywall for the whole bathroom. I really dig the do it yourself aspect of it and how my friend was so helpful. It was fun today. Anyway, if I think it worthy when I finish I'll post a pic of our handywork. I'm going with a brushed nickel thing along with beiges and light browns. Meh. Like I said it's kind of been consuming my mind with all the silly little details. I'm still at the point of having to clean up the last bit of rubble from taking the drywall off the ceiling earlier. Lots of junk to do and annoyingly, probably 5 or 7 hundred dollars to go with toilet, vanity, vent fan and a new light... oh, and more drywall. *sigh* hehe.
