Home Project Update

I guess I am running out of steam with these house updates. My sister Marissa and her Husband Enoch are visiting us this week from California so I would rather hang with them than blog. However, I am pleased to announce that we finished tiling the kitchen backsplash and wiring for the new electrical outlets. The house is prepped for painting tomorrow and the tile stuff has all been cleared out. There still seems like a lot to do and my energy level is so very low, but Tim is still plugging away and Marissa and Enoch are here to help. Somehow it will all get done and we can move into our new house. Someday....

Home Project: Day 15

Wednesday was the R.S. temple trip, and so rather than sleeping until noon (which I desperately wanted to do) I tore myself out of bed and headed to the shower to get ready. Of course the shower nob broke off in my hand and I was forced to use a pair of pliers to control the hot and cold water. I never quite got the hang of it and ended up with a lukewarm to cold shower. Not what I was looking for after 8 hrs on hands and knees the night before.
The temple trip was fantastic. What a pick me up after a long few weeks. It is so great to be able to put things in perspective.
Once back at the house, Kennedy and I took a much needed nap and waited for Tim to get home. The original plan was to prime the ceiling and prep the rest of the walls to be painted. Both of our bodies vetoed this plan and we have decided to scale back our plans for the next few days. As much as I would like to have the main level all painted and ready by the time our visitors come next week, it just isn't possible. I hope the don't mind it if the house is still mid-construction. I do promise to fix the shower by then. ;)
The rest of that night was spent relaxing and tidying up a little. Tomorrow, Tim an the Murphy boys (yeah for young blood) are going to mow our jungle lawn and give me the night off. I can't wait!

Home Project: Day 14

Tuesday we grouted (is that a word) all the tile. I had picked up a book at the library that said that it would take 3 hrs per 100 sq ft to grout. I scoffed at this. After all, I had done this before and I know it wasn't that hard. Read on
My friend , and across the street neighbor, had volunteered to help me wash walls on Tuesday. She graciously allowed me to substitute warm water and rags for sandy grout and a sponge and the two of us grouted all the kitchen while our toddlers took their afternoon naps. We made quick time and it was great getting to know her better as we worked.
After such a pleasant experience earlier in the afternoon, I was confident that Tim and I could finish the rest of the tile by 10 pm, at the latest.
I swear someone stretched out our floor plan and added a few extra hundred square feet of tile. It never ended. I worked that grout into those crack from 7 pm until 10 basically non-stop and still it kept coming. Tim's job was to clean of the tiles and reduce the film covering after an area was sufficiently hardened. This left me to lay all the grout. My forearms hurt just thinking about the sweeping motion. When I close my eyes I can still see tile lines in my head.
Anyhow, around midnight, after a re energizing Slurpee and some corn nuts, I finished grouting the last tile. Barely able to move, I shuffled up the stairs and flopped down on the bed, barely stirring when Tim climbed in next to me 3 hours later after scrubbing all the tiles and cleaning off the tools.
Happy ending: The grout is done. The tile looks great. Abigail was not born the following day.

Home Project: Day 13

Monday we arrived at the house at a very low stress level fully expecting to lay the last few tiles and hit the sack at a decent hour. The tile gods had a different fate in store for us.
The area we had to finish included a closet and part of the hall that connected the tile we laid Saturday to the tile we would lay Monday night. After doing all the cuts and laying the closet we moved to close the gap in the hall. To our horror we were almost a inch over our line and would have to shift all the work we had just done as well as rip out a few tiles from Saturday's work to make the lines meet up. Right around this point Kennedy had seen enough of the doggies next door and reached her goldfish bribe limit. She want to "hold you" (be held) by mommy and nothing else would do. I was able to keep her at bay for a while as we frantically pulled up tiles and pushed and pulled the lines to meet up. Finally, I could stand Kennedy's moaning no more and we put her in her room to play blocks. Not 10 minutes later, she was back downstairs climbing on my back crying. She mastered the art of opening doors rather quickly in this new house. (rats!) Tim ran up and got her pack and play and we caged her in that for a while.
To add to the tile disaster, Tim needed to return the truck to the bishop as we had already borrowed it for much longer than expected. Still loaded with junk he was forced to dump it all back out again, this time along the side of our house. (hopefully this is less of and eye soar than our front porch). Of course it had to be pouring rain just to keep things interesting.
He finished unloading the truck and returned it to the bishop just in time to witness a complete melt down by yours truly. I was trying to sing to Kennedy to keep her from screaming at me from the pack-n-play while grappling with the hopelessly crooked tiles all on way to little sleep. Tim quickly summed up the situation and sent me upstairs to cool down while he put Kennedy to sleep.
After a break and a few prayers, I realized that the tile was not hopeless and that life would go on. So we plugged away until 1 am and finished laying all the tile.
Whew! I am getting tired just remembering that horrible night. The happy ending is that the next day upon returning to the scene of the crime, I couldn't even identify the "hopeless" areas. It all looks great and the best part of all is that it's done!

Home Project: Day 11 and 12

Despite the long hours put in on the house both Friday and Saturday, I really don't have too much to report. Friday the plumber and his buddy patched up our ceiling with a few sheets of drywall. Shannon Dunnigan came over to help me dry lay the tile and snap our guide lines. When Tim got home we started right in on tiling our entry way. Shannon saved the day by taking Kennedy for the night (I'm not sure why we thought we could tile with a two year old running around). Tim manned the saw and mixed the mud while I spread the mortar and placed the tiles. We made quite the team and finished the whole entry way and hall in one night.
Saturday I headed off to teach piano and drop Kennedy off for a day at the Howard's (thanks a million) while Tim and a friend from the ward loaded a borrowed truck bed up with all the old tile and trash that had been sitting on our front porch. Saturday was free dump day and we felt our neighbors probably did not appreciate seeing our trash everyday. When I got back we started right back into tiling and before we knew it, the morning was gone and we still hadn't taken our load of trash to the dump. Tim hurried off to do that while I prepped the next section of floor. 45 min later Tim returned home with the truck and the trash. The dump had already closed!!! So now we have a truck bed full of tile and no place to put it. Tim has decided it is not worth the $55 to take it to the landfill today so he plans to dump it all back out (this time on the side of our house under a tarp) and try again in two weeks when it will be free. No fun.
The good news is that we got all the tiling done but the pantry closet and doorway out to the garage. I may never stand up straight again after almost 12 hrs on hands and knees, but I think the hunched look is really working for me. We hope to finish up the tile tonight and grout tomorrow. Next up, paint and kitchen backsplash. I better go eat my Wheaties!

Home Project: Day 9 and 10

With most trials in my life I have to wait a few months/ years to learn how my trial was really blessing in disguise. However, with our recent flood indecent (see day 8) the blessings have become clear much sooner.
On Tuesday morning, our state farm agent sent a plumber over to take a look at everything and give us an idea what the damages might cost to repair. Blessing number one, the backerboard we had slaved away at was still usable and would not need to be replaced. (My back thanks him).
Blessing number two came when I was finally able to get a hold of the company that did our home inspection. I vaguely remember them saying that their services included a free 90 day home warranty. Sure enough we did have a 90 day policy and by luck (tender mercy) the flood had occurred with just 10 days left on the policy. After talking to the warranty company is looks like they should cover everything with no deducible.
That night we celebrated our good fortune by ripping out the dry wall for the backsplash. Nothing makes for a party like demolition duty! Tim also leveled out the landing to the garage using a clever puzzle of wood scraps. We decided to crash at the house that night. Yeah for the air mattress. (this is sarcastic by the way)

Ripping out the wall!

Our fabulous gutted kitchen. Oooo I can't wait for the before and after pics!

Tim keeping things on the level.

Wednesday morning, Paul (the plumber) came over to fix the pipes. It was cool to watch him tear down all the drywall in the ceiling. I've never thought about everything that goes through the walls before. He explained all the pipes and wires. It made for a very educational morning. After exposing the pipes and turning the water back on, we still couldn't find any leaks. After some more detective work, Paul figured out that our upstairs toilet had a been installed or repaired incorrectly so that the water that was supposed to refill the bowl each time we flushed actually returned to the tank. Not only did this cause the water level to rise and overflow, but it also allowed small amounts of bowl water to return to the drinkable water system. GROSS!!!
So blessing number three is that without the flood, we could have been drinking toilet water forever. Blessing number four is that if we had not turned the water off Sunday morning before we left, the whole house might have flooded.
To repair the toilet would cost 10 dollars less than replacing it (and this was a getto fabulous toilet) so blessing number five is that we got a sweet new toilet.
Perhaps the greatest blessing through the whole thing is that while Paul the plumber and his wife (she delivered the new toilet) chatted about life, we got to talking about religion. They knew nothing about Mormons, in fact the wife Susan didn't realize we believed in God. I did my best to explain our beliefs and in the end gave them my spare Book of Mormon I always keep in my car. They seemed very excited to learn about our beliefs and were grateful for the book. I hope they read it. If for no other reason than a chance to share the gospel, I am glad my toilet flooded.
After the new toilet was installed and the water turned back on, I cleaned out the washer and dryer and ran a load of towels. Then Kennedy and I cleaned the bathroom. After a poor nights sleep on the air mattress, I was not up for another night of manual labor.
Ta-da blessing number seven elder's quorum showed up and helped Tim with the electrical work and cutting and installing the backerboard for the back splash. I was able to head home and get our apartment put back together and get Kennedy in bed at a decent hour for a change.
Things are just working out for us and I know it has nothing to do with us. I am so grateful for the gospel that allows me the faith to get through trials and the knowledge that I am being blessed by them. I know we will continue to be watched over and taken care of and that is a great feeling to move forward with.

Our kitchen nook ceiling.

Home Project: Day 8

Today started like any other day. We decided not to do any work at the house today to give ourselves a much needed break. Instead we wanted to run a few errands and organize the house a little. These plans changed when we arrived at the house tonight to find a puddle of water in the middle of our kitchen dining area and water dripping from the ceiling. It didn't take long to figure out that the water was coming from the upstairs bathroom where another puddle sat behind the toilet. AHHHHHHH!!!!
Here are the facts:
1) We were last in the house Sunday night around 8 pm. I dropped in quickly to grab a few things and there was no water issue to be seen.
2) We had turned off the water that morning around 9 am before leaving the house for the day. (We turned off the water each night because of the refrigerator water issue -see day 3)
3) We have done nothing more than flush the upstairs toilet since getting access to the house.
4) The toilet did not appear to have overflown and the previous owners say they never had a problem with the toilet.
5) The upstairs bathroom had no other water except directly behind the sink
So.... what the heck happened??????
We got most of the water cleaned up and the dripping contained. Ironically the only backerboard damaged was the part we stayed up until 5 am finishing. I guess we should have called it a night at 11. The drywall on the ceiling will definitely need to be replaced and maybe some of the flooring upstairs. Hopefully that is the extent of the damage.
After the first moments of panic and frustration I can't help but think that this might be a blessing in disguise. From what we can tell, the leak or whatever was a plumbing failure and was of no fault of our own. If that is the case than the flood was bound to happen eventually and much better it happen now before we have tile and furniture in the home than after. Our FHE lesson before heading over to the house was from Elder James B Martino's conference address titled "All things work together for our good." I know that the Lord is watching over and blessing us. Thinks will work out even if we have to do extra work.
Stay tuned for more exciting adventures in home ownership.

Damaged backerboards and puddle.

Tim removing the light fixture that had filled with water. Note the line of water on the ceiling where the water was dripping down.

The culprit. (Sorry for the sideways pic- I can't get it to rotate)