Garage Progress and Outside Completion!

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Finished with the arbor!

  This weekend, Tom continued working on the outside of the garage conversion by painting the shingles and starting to build an arbor for it. Now it matches the house!  Yes, we're in Home Depot and Lowes every weekend! - Rob cleaned the inside of the house, washed all three dogs, cleaned carpets, laundry, etc.

Tom painted and started building an arbor for it.

It was a very busy weekend.

New front side of the enclosed former garage is built!

door removed

Enclosing the garage in progress

Garage Into Room Part 3: Installing Insulation

Tuesday night was NOT relaxing. After work we drove to Lowes and bought insulation for the garage. Earlier that day we had a contractor over who tore all the drywall down and piled it high in the center of the room. We replaced old, dried out insulation, installed insulation on the outside garage wall where there was none before and got it all done by 9am - just in time for bedtime!  Needless to say, our three dogs were not amused. They wanted their daddy time just as much as we wanted our doggy time. Anyway, cutting the insulation was nasty and dust from the removed drywall was all over the place- and of course we breathed it in. Nasty!
 - On Wednesday, the contractor came back and cleared the drywall debris. Next - We need to do the electrical wiring to get the AC/heater working.... THEN comes the drywall.

No Insulation found on the outside wall after drywall torn down.

How we spent Tuesday night-insulating the garage/room

Tom fitting insulation

Garage Made into a Room!

This week we've had another home renovation happening this week- Our garage is being made into a room! Over the course of this week the garage door was torn down, and a front wall built in its place with windows and doors installed. Tom designed it (being the architect he is), found the appropriate windows and door, ordered them and had them waiting. It's amazing how much room is actually uncovered once garage door rails are removed. -This is where we have gym/workout stuff, so we'll be enjoying it in that respect. This weekend, we're installing an air conditioning/heating unit in it.

Day 1 - Garage Door Removed

Day 1- Front of the Garage- door removed

Day 2 - New Wall already built, windows, doors up!

Day 3- Windows Secured, door lock installed, other stuff

Day 4- Completed in front with shingles attached!

Renovated Bathroom Finally Finished!

The new glass shelves are finally in!

In November 2009 the renovations on our first floor bathroom began. It was finally completed just before December 2010 (yeah, I'm late writing about it).
- It took ONE YEAR to complete a small bathroom (yes, the contractor ran off with more than 6K so we had to hire another one to finish it).
- Anyway, in late November, we finally got the glass shelves in for the long window that faces the kitchen (and no, you can't see people in the bathroom).
- The shower is a "power shower" and it's like a car wash for the body. Wow. It's got a shower head and four water jets.
- It's such a relief to be able to have 2 full bathrooms again after going a year with one!

The finished shower!

Bathroom Renovation: Moving into Month 5

Every homeowner knows that when you do something around the house it always takes longer than expected. If you've been following this blog, you know we hired a contractor to remodel our small first floor bathroom on Nov. 28, 2009. Well, most of it was finished in March 2010, but one of the two parts of the specially-made cabinet we ordered for the space between the wall and the shower initially arrived damaged, so Rob sent it back. The replacement arrived 2 weeks ago, but it was made TOO WIDE to fit in the space!! So, Tom bought a planer and trimmed the sides. Of course, he had to remove the tile in the opening, and the electrical socket (temporarily) too, so once he did, and thinned the sides of the top part of the cabinet, he managed to get it where it belonged (over the bottom part of the cabinet). This is a photo from today, April 2, 2010 of the cabinet sitting where it belongs (finally). What we didn't know when we ordered it is that they didn't provide the glass, so now we have to order that! This bathroom has been a challenge!

Bathroom Renovation Update

This seems like a never-ending story and it's called "Tom and Rob's First Floor Bathroom Renovation Fiasco." If you followed the story, you know about the contractor who took most of the cash and disappeared, and the other guy we hired to finish.
- Well, the cabinet we ordered specially made was delivered damaged, so Rob sent it back. The replacement arrived Thursday, March 18, and it was perfect. Except... the opening has 2 side tiles on the wall, and we can't get the cabinet to fit. Rob is letting Tom figure this one out.
- The shower door also FINALLY arrived and was installed! This is a photo of it. Now, we'll finally be able to use the downstairs shower. March 28th will mark four months trying to get this tiny bathroom back together. Glad we have 2. :)

FINALLY! Our Bathroom Renovation is Done -4 Months!

Our first floor bathroom renovation is finally finished. It was started November 28, and today is February 25. Almost FOUR MONTHS to do a small bathroom.
IN THE BEGINNING - BATHROOM TORN UP THEN NOTHING - Long story short- we hired a contractor (the same one that did a great job on our upstairs 3-window dormer) in November and the first week he brought people in and tore out the bathtub, drywall, sink and toilet, and ripped up the tile floor. After the first week, he was scarce. He never brought samples over for tile, shower door, cabinets, shower handles, or anything. We picked out a door and he was supposed to order it. Three weeks later he said the guy he ordered it from retired and the order was lost, so Tom ordered it personally and we picked it up ourselves. We also went to a cabinet maker and ordered that ourselves. Of course, the cabinet was delivered 2 weeks ago, and the top half arrived DAMAGED. So I was home to receive it, and returned it... Good thing I was home and opened it up! Now we have another 4 weeks to wait for a replacement. Sigh.
FIRING THE ORIGINAL CONTRACTOR - By mid-January, our contractor never returned our calls after taking 80% of the money for the job. He finally left a message telling us that his elderly mother fell ill and had to move in with his family- so he has to convert his garage to an apartment for her. We know where our money went. He won't return calls, and we emailed him a request for some of the money back. No response. So, we left him a voicemail and fired him.
HIRED A NEW, GREAT CONTRACTOR - We hired the new subcontractor, Pete Dow of Bowie, Maryland- and he's FANTASTIC! He finished the job today, and did an incredible job. If you want a GREAT contractor, let us know, and we'll give you Pete's contact info. He's wonderful. Pictured here is the completed bathroom (all designed by Tom). Our dogs, Dolly and Franklin were so excited they had to pose in it!

Huge Progress on the Renovated Bathroom

Our small first floor bathroom is still being renovated, but since we fired the contractor and hired the subcontractors directly, there's been a HUGE amount of progress. Today, they finished laying the floor tile, and grouted the floor and the wall tiles! In addition, the glass partition we ordered to provide light into the bathroom from the kitchen arrived and was installed. Here are photos of the grouted floor, and the glass partition looking at it from the bathroom side and from the kitchen side (orange wall). We're getting very excited. Of course, the shower isn't done, and there's no sink or toilet in it, but it's alot closer to being done!

Bathroom Renovation Progress!

Since we hired the subcontractor and his brother, we've seen tremendous progress in our bathroom (now on Week #10). Today, they laid tile on a couple of the walls, installed the switch plates, installed the brand new bathroom door, and the tile on the shower floor! We're very excited to see it finally starting to come together.

Contractor Woes

Have you ever hired a contractor only to experience that they:
1) Don't meet the deadline
2) Don't buy the supplies
3) Spend all your cash way ahead of time
4) Don't pay the people they employ
Well - that's our experience with trying to remodel our first floor bathroom (and paint the kitchen).
The contractor who built our really cool 3-window dormer did a great job and was on-time and on budget. Not the case for remodeling our small 1st floor bathroom. He's apparently dealing with an ill elderly mother, who needs 24 hour care and can't get it, so it's fallen on his family. However, he hasn't responded to many calls until last Monday, when Tom got ahold of him and fired him from the job. Why? Because his sub-contractor (the only 1 working) were:
1) Told by the contractor not to come back
2) Not paid for 10 days work.
The subcontractor came to us last weekend and said his attorney instructed him to place a mechanic's lien on our house (you can do that in this state) - where someone does work in your house, and the contractor that hires them doesn't pay them (even though we paid the contractor).
How fair is that to the homeowner? Well, it's not, but when the contractor (who has our cash) won't pay his worker, and won't answer his phone, we have no choice but to double pay.
So, we've fired the contractor, hired the subcontractor, and are paying almost double for the small bathroom...all to replace the tub with a shower and tile the bathroom. All the new fixtures that the contractor was also paid to buy, he didn't - so we had to buy those, too. We've also been buying the building supplies, paint, etc. for the subcontractor.
It was promised for completion by Dec. 18, when our friend Darold moved in (from Florida). He accepted a job in DC, and is moving into his own place next month -meanwhile all three of us share our guest bathroom.
The bottom line: this little bathroom is months behind in completion and it has been an expensive nightmare.

Saturday Tasks / Book Progress!

A TIRED FRIDAY NIGHT -Friday night was one of crashing. Work during the week was very busy for both Tom and I. So, I made us and our friend/roommate eggs,homefries, sausage and bagels for dinner. It's nice to have breakfast for dinner sometimes! Darold and I watched "Ghost Whisperer" on CBS while Tom went to bed!
(PHOTOS: These are today's photos of the drywall up where the sink goes, and drywall around the shower.)
SATURDAY CRAZY DAY /BATHROOM RENOVATION PROGRESS - After an early breakfast at Panera, Tom, Darold and I unloaded a lot of the construction debris at the dump, drove to Annapolis and dropped off stuff at Goodwill, then went to a cabinet maker for a custom cabinet for the remodeled bathroom. Of course, the bathroom contractor arrived at the house just as we went into the cabinet maker, and he didn't have the right key to get in- so I dropped the guys off and I drove 45 min. round trip to let him in! After he finished sanding, etc. the bathroom drywall -the first floor was covered in dust!! So, all three of us spent HOURS vaccuming, dusting, mopping, doing lots of laundry, washing windows, changing the beds and giving the dogs a bath!
GHOST AND SPIRITS BOOK DEVELOPMENTS! - I wrote a press release for local media so I can advertise my "Ghosts and Spirits" book, and I'm going to issue it next week when I get some of the books from the publisher (they haven't arrived yet).
BIG NEWS! Now that I can see how the book is doing, I noticed that out of ALL the books on paranormal the Amazon.com sells, my book moved up from #71 to #30! I can't believe I have the 30th best-selling Paranormal book today on Amazon.com. WOW. Of course, out of ALL the books Amazon.com sells, it's number 69,490! Anyway, I have no idea what that means, but it sounds good!