Monday, January 06, 2014

The Joys of Home Ownership

Have you ever read the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie?A little mouse is offered a cookie, then he needs a glass of milk, then a napkin to wipe his milk moustache.  He looks in the mirror and notices he needs a trim, then he needs to sweep up and gets carried away and cleans the entire house.  And so it goes on and on all because one mouse wanted one cookie.

I think I can write a sequel.  If you Give a Lime a Shower  Door. I requested a new door for the shower in the master bathroom because the original one was plastic and just totally resistant to being cleaned properly.  It also had a broken latch so keeping it closed required some interesting jerry-rigging due to its strange design.  Saturday, Mr. Lime removed the old door in order to install the  new door.  It was a procedure he expected to take no more than the weekend.  Oh what hopeful fools we are.

This is what my bathroom looks like today.  This and worse is what it will look like for some time to come.  When the old door was removed it pulled tiles with it...revealing soaked wallboard.  When Mr. Lime removed the soaked wallboard it revealed a stud with all the structural integrity of a dish sponge.  When he continued to remove whatever was damaged trying to find where it started and ended he got as high as his head and through the floor.  Oh and the wall opposite the shower is also squishy under the tile.  So a simple shower door is leading to the gutting of one bathroom.  Since it shares a wall and pipes with the main bathroom and it's clear there is some sort of major plumbing/moisture issue it means we will be gutting the second bathroom sooner rather than later as well.

Oh yeah, did I mention that in this extreme cold we've been babying  other pipes that the brilliant designers/builders of this house ran through a cantilevered and uninsulated portion of the house.  There is some inspired design, let me tell ya.

All I can say is I am glad Mr. Lime is handy enough to be able to fix this and Calypso works at a local hardware store where she gets a pretty nice employee discount.  This is gonna be an unpleasant wallet cramp but it could be a whole lot worse.  I didn't even have a temper tantrum like this time!

16 comments:

Bijoux said...

I feel your pain......these projects just never pan out as easily as one hopes. My husband spent the whole weekend fixing a toilet that never stops running. What looked like a five minute fix on YouTube was a two day project.

stephen Hayes said...

I wouldn't think to tackle a project like shower repair. Anything having to do with water is trouble if you ask me. But keep a positive image in mind of how wonderful it will look when finished.

Craig said...

Ugh. And even as I read this, I'm thinking about the squishy floor boards in one of our bathrooms, and what that's gonna mean when I go to attack it. . .

joeh said...

If it wasn't for the door all that rot could have been dangerous. At least you didn't fall naked through the floor!

Big job...not one I could handle.

Sailor said...

We finished a total bathroom gut/rebuild last year, and ughh...although I did put a great tub in, and *that* was worth it all!

Tabor said...

If you have to tear up the floor consider putting in a heat mat below the tiles. We have done that and it was the best bathroom decision we ever made. I am glad you found it as water damage is very nasty. Just look forward to the new bathroom and pretend it will be free.

Kat said...

Ugh. Even the simplest home reno project always seems to turn into the biggest headache. What a pain in the butt!
Hopefully your reno headache is soon fixed! Good luck to your hubby!

Logophile said...

Hey! We are down one bathroom at my house too. The Things are showering out in the guest room or in my bathroom these days while Mr. Logo deals with all of that.
Good times, hm? NOT

Commander Zaius said...

Had the very same thing happen here at my house. Eventually had to hire a "home improvement professional" to complete the job. As signified by the quotation marks he wasn't and we went a couple of months before we found someone to fix his work and then complete the job.

(not necessarily your) Uncle Skip said...

You have my sympathy.
GS and I can totally empathize with your situation.
Here's hoping it is remedied soon.

snowelf said...

My house is almost 80 and I am terrified to rip out anything for the very same reasons. I am praying this uncomfortable moment turns out to be a blessing in disguise!! I love that Mr. Lime is handy--that IS a blessing right there.
Happy 2014!!
--snow

Secret Agent Woman said...

My house looked like this a lot when I remodeled it. It's overwhelming at times, isn't it?

Hilary said...

Oh ugh.. I know what that's like. My military son aptly refers to that as Mission Creep.

mis·sion creep
noun
1.
a gradual shift in objectives during the course of a military campaign, often resulting in an unplanned long-term commitment.

Anvilcloud said...

That's pretty dreadful, but it would be worse for someone without handyman skills. All the best.

Jocelyn said...

I'm crying for you guys. OYYYYYYYY.

At least you've got the Mr. willing to handle it. Imagine if you were in charge...

Jocelyn said...

I'm crying for you guys. OYYYYYYYY.

At least you've got the Mr. willing to handle it. Imagine if you were in charge...