New Blog Website

For some strange reason the current blog will not allow any more photo uploads. Please go to www.renosgonewilder.blogspot.com for our continued renovation blog.

Thanks!

A&D

Main Floor Painted

August 31, 2006
Dupont plumbing delivers all the remaining plumbing supplies for the bathrooms, and kitchen. We discover that the kitchen faucet is too tall to fit in the space between the counter and the kitchen cabinets. We will try to return the faucet, but are not overly optimistic since it was a special order. If we are unable to do so, our only other option is to purchase new shorter kitchen cabinets for over the sink area. This is something we would like to avoid doing.


August 30, 2006
Michael finishes up the remaining sanding and has now finally completed all the plaster work. Maya and Chantal report for painting duty, and we get the second coat of paint on the walls. It's great to have the help once again!


August 29, 2006
James comes by to adjust the dishwasher water pipe and install the shut-off valves in both bathrooms. We are short a few angled valves so he will return in a week or so to put those in and do the final installation of the dishwasher.

Mauricio comes by for a hardwood installation estimate. We will need to order 3/8" plywood which he will lay on the subfloor before installing the hardwood. We also need to order two more boxes of hardwood, as our previous measurements were slightly off.

They may be able to start the hardwood installation next week, or for sure the following week.


August 28, 2006
Michael does the final plaster repair on the main floor ceiling and will be back to sand tomorrow. Deb gets the first coat of paint on the ceiling and walls. Andrew grouts the two bathroom floor tiles.

Main Floor Primed

August 27, 2006
Andrew heads to home Depot for more primer and ceiling paint, while Deb starts to vacuum up all the plaster dust. Michael arrives to sand the fire place and other spot checks. We see he hasn't finished up on the ceiling near the structure beam in the living room to clear the crown molding, so he will have to be come again tomorrow (as he says).

We continue to prep the main floor for priming. We scrape and wipe off any remaining blobs and drips of plaster on the floor and walls. And then remove any tools and such that are not required for painting.

We start to cut in the edges just in time for the Paquet sisters (Chantal and Johanne), to come by for priming duty. It's an incredibly efficient process with four people, even more so when Cindi (Deb's sis) arrives to help out.

We finish up in no time and enjoy a late lunch from our neighbourhood Caribbean Roti restaurant along with a visit from Andrew's Mom (Marsha).

Andrew seals the bathroom tiles with tile sealer. They will be ready to grout tomorrow.

Bathroom Floor Tiles

August 26, 2006
We spend the day laying the cut pieces. It's a great team effort with Andrew cutting tiles on the wet saw and Deb setting them into place. Since the limestone tiles are softer they are much easier to cut through.

It's tricky to cut the pieces around the toilet flange and other pipes, but Andrew has mastered this task to a tee!

Michael finishes up the plastering and will be back later in the day to do the final sanding. Unfortunately, with the humidity the fire place still isn't fully dry, so he will have to return tomorrow morning for some final sanding.

August 25, 2006
Deb takes a few hours off work and starts laying the bathroom limestone tiles. They are difficult to work with since the material is so soft. The process is slow to prevent breakage and to avoid thinset from curing to the top of the tiles. Once laid on a flat surface, sealed and grouted they will be solid.

Most of the full pieces are down. Debs hands and fingertips are sore and raw from all the tile and coarse thinset handling. Lesson learned - wear gloves!

Michael comes by in the evening to tell us he lost his cellphone on Tuesday and didn't have our number. He'll come by tomorrow morning ot finish up.

Bathrooms Painted

August 24, 2006:
The bathrooms are both painted with a coat of primer and two coats of paint. We place some tiles down on the small bathroom floor for layout and are ready to tile on the weekend.

We grout the front entrance tiles and will try to minimize traffic on them for a day or two (if possible).

Deb goes to speak with Manuel (our next door neighbour) who initially referred the plaster guy. She informs him that it's been a month since he started the job, and he is now holding us back with our reno progress. He continually makes promises he can't keep - saying he will call and/or come by but never does. He only has a few hours of work left on the main floor and he'll be done. Manual tries to call him and gets his voicemail and assures us that he will call tomorrow to finish up. Some may call it tattle-tailing, we like to all it being resourceful and taking desperate measures!

Down Draft

August 23, 2006
The used appliance store delivers the dryer for the basement apartment and removes the old kitchen fridge. We end up taking off the sunroom door in order to get it out.

David and Kyle install the down-draft vent for the kitchen stove which turns out to be a major job. They drill outside through the brick in the basement, only to find alot of moisture. We will likey need to coat the outside wall with a sealant and put in a vapour barrier to prevent moisture from accumulating in the basement. We will also fill in the cracks with foam crack-sealer.

They also install the dryer vent in the laundry room. We then bring the fridge into the kitchen. Now that the fridge is in place, we realize that the layout will need to be slightly altered. We will switch the pantry with the fridge to increase space. This will involve shifting the top mounted cabinets over slightly so we will need to remove the entire rail.

The bathrooms receive their first coat of paint.

Bathrooms Primed

August 22, 2006
We arrange Junk It to come by on Saturday and remove the garbage that's accumulating in our living room. We will need to make space to allow us to move around when we paint this area over the weekend.

We also arrange for a used appliance store to deliver a dryer for the basement apartment, and remove the old kitchen fridge. They will come by tomorrow morning.

We then prime the bathrooms, cut and lay down the remaining tiles by the front entrace.

Pushing Our Patience

Aug 21, 2006
After two and a half weeks, Michael (the plaster guy) calls to say he's coming for the day to finish the job. We are pleasantly suprised, but are skeptical when he says that he will be able to finish everything today.

He arrives at 10 am and goes to work. Deb mentions to him that she would like to prime the bathrooms tonight, so could he ensure those are complete before the end of the day. He says no problem but starts working on the main floor.

At around 3 pm, he informs us that he's heading to Home Depot to pick up a few things and he'll be back to sand and finish up. Five o'clock rolls around and Deb is ready to prime. But surprise, surprise, the bathrooms are not. She tries to call Michael but keeps getting his voicemail. At 6:30 pm he finally calls to say he'll be buy in 45 mins.

In the meantime, Deb starts to vacuum up all the plaster dust, and screws in a piece of wood to cover up one of the return air ducts. There are two others in close proximity, so a third is not required.

At 8pm he has still not arrived. Deb calls and leaves a somewhat rude (but warrented) voicemail indicating that he has been holding us back for weeks now, and that the one thing he could have done today (sanding the bathrooms) has yet to be done. In no uncertain terms she requested that he come by tonight to finish sanding. Let's just say he's pushing our patience to the max.

Michael arrives at around 8:30 pm and after 10 minutes the sanding is complete. Deb starts to tile the front entrance. It works out perfectly as the width of the entrance is four feet (just enough for two 24" tiles).

Michael says he'll be back tomorrow night to finish up. Let's just say we won't hold our breath!

Kitchen Continued

Aug 19 & 20, 2006
With the plaster guy nowhere in site, we are forced to continue with the kitchen. We put together more drawers and realize that one of the drawer backs is wrong. We try to disassemble this item and end up breaking one of the pieces (another item to add to our Ikea returns, thank goodness for their great return policy!).

We clear out most of the new kitchen boxes in the basement and then wonder why we have four large gambles. We should have two covers for the pantry cabinet, and only two large gambles to encase the fridge.

We head to Ikea to inform them that our order is wrong and they happily arrange a pickup the following day for all four gambles since they are eight feet long and will not fit in our car.

We then order replacements for the two cabinet doors, two panels to cover the pantry cabinet and another to divide the fridge from the counter. We also order another side cover for the cabinet above the fridge.

Currently all the kitchen cabinets are put together. The upper units are hung on the wall and the lower units are in their place, but we will wait to anchor them in until the plumbing and electrical work is complete. All the door and drawer fronts that we have are installed. We will have to wait around 10 days for the rest of the order to arrive. We cover the cabinets with plastic to protect them from plaster dust.

Doors and Drawers

Aug 18, 2006
We start to put together the drawers and install the door fronts on all the cabinets. The colour combination is starting to take shape and it's looking good!

Unfortunately there are two doors that are damaged, along with couple sets of hinges. We will have to make a trip to Ikea over the weekend to take these back and order replacements.

Cabinet Central

August 13, 2006
We assemble the rest of the kitchen cabinets. The upper cabinets will be installed via a rail system whereby you hang a long rail on the wall, and then attach each cabinet to the rail. Provided the rail is level, installation of the cabinets is fairly simple.

We had to cut out a back portion of one cabinet to allow for the stove's gas supply pipe to fit in. We will also need the plumber back to adjust the water pipe supplying the recently delivered dishwasher. Our fridge arrived, but will have to be lifted over the half wall dividing the kitchen/dining room in order for us to get it in. This will require a few extra helping hands.

Cabinet Crazy

August 10, 2006
A few more washes of the kitchen floor to remove the excess grout and it is sparkling clean!

We start putting together a few kitchen cabinets. No doubt this project will take time. Thank goodness for our recently-purchased small electric screwdriver to save our hands.

Grouting

August 9, 2006
After a second coat of paint on the kitchen walls we are ready to grout. We whip up a batch and start spreading.

After letting it set we start removing the excess. It's a big job requiring major elbow grease and many buckets of clean water.

We'll leave the rest to cure further overnight before cleaning again.

Tile Masters

August 7, 2006
Andrew measures and cuts the kitchen tiles to fill in the spaces along the edges, and Deb installs them into place. We will let them set for a few days before grouting.

Deb's parents (Athol & Barbara) come by with lunch. Athol fixes our router/computer problems and Barbara lends a helping hand by watering our very thirsty garden.

We get the first coat of paint down on the kitchen walls. One more coat and we're ready to put in the cabinets.

Hot Hot Heat

August 5, 2006
We battled Mother Nature and she won! Because of the heat the plaster in the bathrooms were still wet on Friday so Michael will have to come back until next week to finish up.

Luckily the kitchen walls were ready to paint, so we started the day priming. We are using a primer that goes over all surfaces (new drywall, oil or latex paint) as we have all of the above.

We start to tile the kitchen floor. We lay our first few lines and work from there. We will lay full tiles and then cut the edges.

August 1, 2006
It's the hottest day we can remember! Michael is back to continue with the plater work. Despite fans to try and circulate the air, the plaster is taking forever to dry because of the heat and humidity.

Andrew finishes the installation of our bedroom ceiling fan with perfect timing due to the hot weather.

Plastering and Hardwood Selection

July 30, 2006
Micheal arrives bright and early with coffees in hand. He starts to tape and plaster the walls and ceilings walking on stilts at times. He works quickly and gets most of the first coat complete. He'll be back for round two on Tuesday.

Andrew begins to install the ceiling fan in the bedroom. Unfortunately the metal box is too far into the ceiling and he will require an extension. Off to Home Depot we go!

We then head to Brampton Hardwood Floors to choose our hardwood for the living/dining room. We decide on Kempas hardwood in 31/4 " wide pieces. The wood is it's natural colour (not stained) with a slight matte finish for protection. Installation will likely happen at the end of August.

Corner Beads

July 29, 2006
We mix up more thinset and put down the final pieces of Denshield in the kitchen. We then tape up all the seams on the floors and on the wall near the tub.

We lay down a few bathroom floor tiles to decide on their direction. We will wait until next weekend when all the plaster work is complete before installing them.

Michael installs all the corner beads and is ready to start the plaster work tomorrow.

Night Shift

July 28, 2006
Once Andrew arrives home from work, we mix up another batch of thinset and finish laying the Denshield in the bathrooms.

He then takes over for the night shift and preps for some ceiling patching, and cuts the kitchen Denshield floor base. Following that, he mixes up another batch of thinset to patch the seams in the upstairs bathroom tile-base. According to the installation directions for the Denshield, you are required to patch the seams with some thinset, then add a layer of mesh and finish off with another layer of thinset.

All in all, it was a great tag-team day with a lot of work done!

Day Shift

July 28, 2006
Deb takes the afternoon off work for the day shift. She clears the main floor of tiles, tools and other materials to allow a clear path for the mudder/taper to get around. The bathroom tiles are moved up into the laundry room, the kitchen tiles are moved into the sunroom, and all the tools/materials are now dispersed in the basement.

The rest of the day is spent trying to prep the large holes for plastering, bringing in more denshield for the kitchen floor base, and cleaning up.

Tile Prep

July 24-27th
After cutting the denseshield tile base to fit in the bathrooms we mix up our first batch of thinset. The paddle and drill method works perfectly now that we actually have a drill that fits the bit. Andrew has mastered the mixing process to avoid splashing. It's very much like mixing up a bucket of grey cake batter. We spread the thinset down with a 1/4" notched trowel and lay the denshield on top. We then screw in the boards into place.

Michael (the plaster mudder/taper) comes by to assess the job. He tells us that it will be a lot of work, as in addition to all the new drywall mudding/taping, there is a lot of patch-work repair.

He suggests we fill a few existing holes with wood and drywall in prep for the plaster patching. He will start this weekend and will hopefully be complete by the long weekend so we can prime and paint.

Drywall Done

July 23, 2006
We finish the drywall on the small dining room wall.

We then insulate the pipes in the kitchen bulkhead to minimize the noise of water flow, and then finish up our last section of drywalling.

We speak with our neighbour Manuel (who is a contractor) regarding getting in his plaster guy. We schedule something for the upcoming week.

Drywall done!