Update on the Auction Shower : Somewhat of a disaster. It was a Bargain! We were there for 6 Hours, and it took another 2 hours to get my Crew fed and delivered to their homes. Several days went into planning and preparation. After all that, DH & sons could NOT get the thing up the stairs to the bathroom it was to go into. Un-be-lievable! He had measured the doors and stairs and landings and hallway. I had measured the tub and it's surround. Soooo .... When I got it home, the first thing he had to do was to remove the bathroom door; just like he was planning to anyway to get the old tub out. The old tub came out peacefully and is currently sitting in the coffee table space in the Living Room. (Yep, it gets better.) So he removes the bathroom door, and it's frame. Re-measures. Removes part of the wall. Removes more of the wall. Finally he thinks it'll work.
So, the big day comes when both Sons are home for the day to help. (I was thankfully at work.)
I get a call from DS#2. Do I know where their gloves are? (The regular coat closet is part of this renovation, all gloves are in the Green Bin, not the Blue one.) While the front side of an "Acrylic" tub is all smooth and pretty, the back side is the opposite: Fiberglass is hard on the hands and other body parts.
I get a call: "Geometry is NOT my Friend!" We discuss alternative ways to turn the tub on it's way up the stairs. Did I mention that this is a One Piece Tub and Shower that is 5' x 34" x Over 6 feet tall? Did I mention that the stairs have a short run, a 90 degree right turn, a long run, another 90 degree right turn into the hallway, and then Another 90 degree right turn into the bathroom (which has an XXL wide opening right now). And, when you get there, the tub really needs to be turned 180 degrees from where it needs to be to get up the other turns? That means that the faucet end of the tub will actually be roughly 10' directly above the bottom Newel Post.
I get a call from DS#1. He's biding his time on the upper landing where he's trapped while DH goes to get a tool. "Dad want's to know how much you want to keep this bannister / guardrail thing." Ummm, I do want it to go Back if it has to come out.
I get a call from DD#2. She's been sent to find the SAWSALL. She's the Pink Girl and 13. She has no idea what a sawsall is. Until I remind her that DH was using it to take out the bathroom door last night, both making so much noise that she couldn't hear her TV show AND getting all kinds of "dusty gunk" ALL OVER the bathroom counter and Mirror AND IN HER TOOTHBRUSH ! "Um, SweetTea: What does your Daddy want with the Sawsall?", I ask.
Call from DH: Can he cut the top of the Shower Surround off the Tub and take it up in two pieces? It seems he might have mis-measured the Height of the "little slopey part of the ceiling" over the bottom run of stairs. And he thought I was surely mistaken about a 6 Foot Tall Shower surround. Why would it be that tall? "Surely you meant 60 inches." I suggest that it's time for a cold drink, a little TV, maybe a nap. We should go out to dinner....
I come home early. I admire the new "rustication" on the woodwork and paneling of the stairway. I complement him on not removing the banister or newel posts. DS#1 has "gone to work", he got called in, emergency, you know. DS#2 and DD#2 are sheepishly washing dishes and doing all their other chores that have been let slide due to The Renovation. DH is sacked out in the recliner.
I remeasure everything. DS#2 and I build a "mock up" of the tub using Pink Insulation Board and a refrigerator box and Duct Tape. We keep cutting it down until we get something that CAN fit up the stairs. DS#2 helps us dry run it several times. Then we wake up Dad to go to dinner, and Big Box Building Supply in The City, because he's allready driven the Local Hardware guy to request that he not Always try to Shop Local......
to be continued.....
Monday, April 30, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Goin to the Auction to get plumbing fixtures! Yeee Haaa!
Only a few of you will understand this: I'm pretty excited about going to the Auction to get Plumbing Fixtures tonight!
Yeah. I know, most people don't think of an Auction as the best place to get new plumbing fixtures. But, this Beige Recyclable has learned from experience that the Auction is one of the cheapest places to get building materials. There's an Auction house a little ways up the highway that frequently handles materials for several high-end builders in "the city". Back in the good old days of a few years back when the building boom was still going strong, they had truck loads of materials every two weeks. In these days of austerity, there's likely to only be a few items there once a month. But it's still a good, cheap source.
Now, you're probably asking "Where do these materials come from? And why do these builders want to sell them so cheap?" Well, I can only speculate as I don't know for sure. But, I have been around more than my fair share of construction sites. Home building is especially prone to "that's not what the owner was expecting". The builder orders a product, say some flooring, and when it arrives it turns out to not be what the owner wanted. There might not be anything wrong with the product. It's just not what they expected. There is a difference in the material in person from the photo in the catalog or online. Or maybe the sample varies from the full sized product.
Or, the builder ordered the wrong item or the wrong item was shipped. On a window especially, the width and height dimensions can get transposed. A 42" wide by 30" high window is not going to fit in the same space as a 30" wide by 42" high window. Maybe they ordered all 36" doors, and when it comes to installing them, they won't all fit.
Sometimes there is damage in shipping. If an owner is paying a huge sum for a perfect piece of wood work, a ding, dent, or scratch can be a huge thing. On the other hand, if I can get it for 10% of it's worth, maybe I can live with a scuff or two. Or maybe I can put the time and effort into fixing the flaw. Maybe I don't need that last foot anyways.
So, instead of returning to the manufacturer or somehow trying to get their money back, the builder sends it all to the Auction. It may be more cost effective in the long run for them to sell it for a fraction than to try to ship it back. A Skilled Construction Worker's time is valuable and shouldn't be wasted on trying to put tile back into a box and then paying the shipping to send it back. Their loss is our gain.
DH has scoped out a fiberglass shower/tub unit at the auction tonight. From his assessment, it was probably damaged during installation. The hole for the shower head and faucet has to be cut out at the building site to make sure that it's in the correct location. The manufacturer doesn't cut it out at the factory because there are too many different variables. Stud spacing, plumbing access, faucet type, control type and size, number of openings required. The list is long. But this time, somebody must not have "measured twice" because when they "cut once" it was in the wrong place. Will we end up with an off-center shower head? Possibly. Will it matter to my family? Not at all when they know that the alternative is to continue trying to shower with the hose attached to the antique/vintage (and not in the good way) faucet that is on the rusting out claw foot bath tub in the kid's bathroom.
So, Off I go to save some bucks!
Yeah. I know, most people don't think of an Auction as the best place to get new plumbing fixtures. But, this Beige Recyclable has learned from experience that the Auction is one of the cheapest places to get building materials. There's an Auction house a little ways up the highway that frequently handles materials for several high-end builders in "the city". Back in the good old days of a few years back when the building boom was still going strong, they had truck loads of materials every two weeks. In these days of austerity, there's likely to only be a few items there once a month. But it's still a good, cheap source.
Now, you're probably asking "Where do these materials come from? And why do these builders want to sell them so cheap?" Well, I can only speculate as I don't know for sure. But, I have been around more than my fair share of construction sites. Home building is especially prone to "that's not what the owner was expecting". The builder orders a product, say some flooring, and when it arrives it turns out to not be what the owner wanted. There might not be anything wrong with the product. It's just not what they expected. There is a difference in the material in person from the photo in the catalog or online. Or maybe the sample varies from the full sized product.
Or, the builder ordered the wrong item or the wrong item was shipped. On a window especially, the width and height dimensions can get transposed. A 42" wide by 30" high window is not going to fit in the same space as a 30" wide by 42" high window. Maybe they ordered all 36" doors, and when it comes to installing them, they won't all fit.
Sometimes there is damage in shipping. If an owner is paying a huge sum for a perfect piece of wood work, a ding, dent, or scratch can be a huge thing. On the other hand, if I can get it for 10% of it's worth, maybe I can live with a scuff or two. Or maybe I can put the time and effort into fixing the flaw. Maybe I don't need that last foot anyways.
So, instead of returning to the manufacturer or somehow trying to get their money back, the builder sends it all to the Auction. It may be more cost effective in the long run for them to sell it for a fraction than to try to ship it back. A Skilled Construction Worker's time is valuable and shouldn't be wasted on trying to put tile back into a box and then paying the shipping to send it back. Their loss is our gain.
DH has scoped out a fiberglass shower/tub unit at the auction tonight. From his assessment, it was probably damaged during installation. The hole for the shower head and faucet has to be cut out at the building site to make sure that it's in the correct location. The manufacturer doesn't cut it out at the factory because there are too many different variables. Stud spacing, plumbing access, faucet type, control type and size, number of openings required. The list is long. But this time, somebody must not have "measured twice" because when they "cut once" it was in the wrong place. Will we end up with an off-center shower head? Possibly. Will it matter to my family? Not at all when they know that the alternative is to continue trying to shower with the hose attached to the antique/vintage (and not in the good way) faucet that is on the rusting out claw foot bath tub in the kid's bathroom.
So, Off I go to save some bucks!
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