Weekend (and Friday)

We moved. Into the house I'm continually writing about. It's really very weird.

Friday - After work, I went over to the house to finish up papering the floors to get ready for the movers stomping all over them. When I went into the house, I checked to see what Electrician Ron had done that morning at "7am". The answer? The bare minimum. He put one electrical outlet in the wall in the kitchen, so we can plug the fridge in, as well as hanging the bathroom lights. He put the over the mirror light in off center (awesome) and left a bunch of broken glass on the floor of the bathroom. He broke a light bulb and left some of the pieces on the floor. He's really the best.

Floor papered, I headed to our apartment and got cracking packing up the electronic stuff. I packed the ps3 and the Wii (both very important) and started on the computer when the movers arrived. I let them in and they got to work flying around the apartment throwing all of our stuff into boxes. When I finished with the computer I got them some drinks and stopped working. It was fantastic (aside from when the crazy movers would regale me with stories about their kids or other moves or random trivia or something). Amanda showed up a little later and joined me in not working.

Once the packing was done, they followed me over to the house to unpack the trucks. A few minutes after they started, I got a call from someone selling tools on craigslist. I drove to downtown Providence and met him. I bought a Ryobi tool set, still in the shrink wrap for $70 bucks. It's in the link below, but from last year. Same tools, minus one battery and plus a flashlight and radio (I would take the extra battery over the flashlight/radio combo, but for $70, I can't complain too much).

Here

The movers finished up and left us. We had officially moved into a disaster of a house, and it was kind of exciting.

We unpacked a few things (but not much), had some dinner and went to bed.

Saturday - We woke up to the same big mess and almost immediately went out for breakfast (no stove yet). After some sloppy food at Newport Creamery, we got back to the house and found a message from my parents on my slowly dying cell phone. Apparently, they were going to head down to RI for the day to get us a wedding gift. A washer and dryer. Sweet. I called them back and they would be in RI in a few hours, so Amanda and I went to our former residence to get it clean and do some laundry.

Laundry and cleaning finished, and with my parents there, we headed to some lunch, then to your friendly neighborhood Sears. While at Sears, a salesman (of which there are thousands. It's pretty overstaffed), came up and asked if we needed any help. We didn't need it yet, as we were just browsing around.

A few minutes later, a different salesman came up to us and asked if we needed any help, during the exchange, the salesman who approached us earlier quickly said, "hey *what's his face*, can I see you for a second?"

I heard this and said, "that other salesman just pulled *what's his face* away, making sure that he got our business, and not *what's his face*. That's weird." My father took note.

When we picked out the appliances and were ready to have my parents pay for them, my dad went over to get *what's his face*. Before he could reach him, he had to pass by the original salesman, who immediately perked up. My dad said, "nope, we want *what's his face*." Original salesmen was devastated, and I was thoroughly embarrassed. After calling my dad a dick, we proceeded to give *what's his face* the pertinent info and set up delivery for next Saturday. Sweet. On our way out, it looked as though original salesman was going to punch my dad (or at least my mom, who is much smaller than Paul), but sadly, no confrontation occurred.

We got back to the house, unpacked a little bit, got some help moving some things around (not to mention 5lbs of steak tips from my parents. Thanks again), set up the TV, Wii and ps3 and my parents were on their way back to NH. Amanda and I got some snacks and watched Delirious (without the extra language):



Sunday - Long day. We got up, had some breakfast and got to work. Amanda started cleaning out the kitchen, which had accumulated pretty much everything you can imagine in it. I started on the bathroom. I put up the remaining strips of drywall, put some more joint compound up on the walls and put another bead of caulk around the tub.

Lunch.

Trip to Home Depot, back to work. Started stripping the super old layers of paint off the window and door trim. I got some awesome sort of super chemical at Home Depot that makes the paint bubble up and you can scrape it off (thanks for the tip dad). Since the old homeowner (dis-Handyman) used latex paint (several times) over the stained and urethaned wood, under all of the paint it was basically seeping stain everywhere. A big mess.

Amanda finished up the kitchen and papered the floor on the second floor so we can add joint compound and paint to the walls. After all of this, we ate some steak tips (delicious) and I got to work reversing the hinges on the fridge. I got the doors off, got the hinges installed on the opposite side and took a closer look at the doors. This wasn't going to work. F. While the manual says that the doors are reversible, it became clear, only after an hour of fighting with screws and bolts, that I would need to drill into the door and find a way to plug a screw hole on the opposite side of the door. I'm not about to ruin the brand new fridge. Defeated, I put the hinges back on the other side, reinstalled the doors and cried. A lot.

I read some of a book and went to bed. Long weekend, and long blog post, finished.

Big Day.

Today is, relatively speaking, a big day. We're officially moving into the construction zone that is my house. It should prove to be a stressful day.

This is long.

Yesterday, after work, I headed over to the house to finish up the bathroom floor, and tape some paper down on the brand new looking hardwood everywhere. The paper should at least temper the inevitable scratches that the super extra hyper movers will leave.

When I got to the house, the plumber was there. He basically finished up what he needed to do (hooray.), which was install a new water heater, finish up the first floor bathroom plumbing and tweak all of the radiators. Not to mention fix the exploding boiler pipes. He did all of those things, which is fantastic. The bathroom works, the heat works without incident and the new water heater is set up. Everything, at least plumbing wise, is all set for us to move in. Sadly, there are some things that aren't quite ready for us.

Firstly, the Gas company, who was supposed to turn the gas on today, isn't going to do it until Monday. F. This is bad news because the hot water heater is gas operated. This could prove to be terrible. There's a 50/50 chance that we won't be taking any hot showers in the house this weekend. It's 50/50 because the boiler, which heats the first floor, acts as a water heater as well. If the pipes from the boiler run to the first floor shower, which is possible, we will be OK. If they do not, then we will not be OK and I'll have to shower at the very nice Bally Total Fitness in Pawtucket.

Another nice thing about the gas company not showing up this afternoon is that the time they gave me for Monday is 8am to 6pm. Convenient.

Secondly, Electrician Ron was supposed to set up the bathroom and kitchen with electrical outlets yesterday. He assured me, on Wednesday, that he would have the work done by the end of the day yesterday.

Around 10am or so yesterday, my cell phone rang and I saw that it was Electrician Ron. I couldn't answer it at the time, as I was working, but I said to myself, "f. He's calling to tell me that he won't be showing up today." My thought was stifled when he didn't leave me a voicemail message. I thought, "well, any normal human being with any sense of social norms would have left a message saying that he wasn't going to be at the house today. That must mean he called to let me know that everything in the bathroom and kitchen is done. That's a relief."

When I got to the house, I checked the kitchen and bathroom for any signs of electrical work. Nothing. Awesome. Not only did he not show up and do anything, but he didn't even have the nards to tell me he didn't show up and do anything.

I picked up my cell phone and gave him a call. I was greeted by the following:

"7am tomorrow."

Not the usual phone greeting, but at least it was informative...

After I let him know how much he sucks, and he repeatedly let me know that he'll be there at "7am", I hung up and continued to work. The bathroom floor is pretty much done (I just need to pull off a piece of door trim to place the last tile), the living room and dining room are papered for the movers and the heat and plumbing are in good working order.

I went home, had some dinner and went to sleep.

This morning, I headed over to the house and got there at around 7am. No Electrician Ron.

I started to paper off one of the bedrooms and fifteen or so minutes later, I heard ER stomping around. I didn't say a word to him and hopefully, he will actually do a portion of the work he's been paid to do. Lesson learned: Not only should I not pay someone before the work is complete (I am dumb) but I shouldn't hire Electrician Ron for anything ever. Neither should you. Ron Costa is terrible.

Next update will be on Monday, as we won't have internet or cable at the house. I will probably miss the Celtics playoff game(s). Humph.

Adieu.

I Used To Buy Vinyl.

When I lived in Philadelphia, I used to buy vinyl. My favorite store for it was The Marvelous, on 40th and Walnut. They had bins and bins of 2 for 99 cent records. I loved it.

Now that I live in Rhode Island, my go to store for vinyl products is Home Depot. It is much worse. I don't enjoy floor tiles as much as I enjoy records. Being an adult is kind of crappy.

Stories aside, I went to the house yesterday after work and got to work on the first floor bathroom, again. With a relatively clean floor, I started laying out the tiles and sticking them to the existing floor. What a pain. 18 million vinyl tile cuts and a few hours later, it was too dark to continue. "Too dark," you say? Yes, too dark. Since the electrician didn't do what I asked him to do, there's no light anywhere near the bathroom. Awesome. Thanks Dumb Ron.

I finished up with about 75% of the floor, so that's good, but I really wanted to finish the entire thing. Since I didn't finish, I'll have to do it again today after work.

One flooring realization: I need to buy knee pads. *insert favorite homoerotic joke here* My knees are killing me today.

On tap for today? Home Depot at lunch. Buy a bunch of crap to finish off the bathroom. Stop by the house. Drop it off. Back to work. Finish my work day (lame). Back to the house. Finish the floor. Plug in the fridge. Paper the floors to get them ready for the movers. Sleep (awesome).

In closing:

Tuesday

After work, I headed over to the house in hopes of laying the vinyl bathroom floor tiles. Nope. I stink.

When I got there, I threw on my work at the house clothes and started working at the house. I got cracking by cleaning the the hell out of the bathroom floor. After I dragged all of the stuff out, I swept, vacuumed and mopped up. Once I had done that, I scraped the floor with a razor blade, and mopped it up again. The floor was very wet. Tile adhesive doesn't much like wet surfaces. I decided that instead of letting the floor dry while I did work somewhere else in the house, I let the floor dry while I drove home.

On the way home, I gave the electrician a call and told him to do actual work. He told me he's stuck in some "big cooling job" and the first time he could get to the house is Monday. I explained to him that he would in fact be at my house this week, as we need electrical outlets in the bathroom and the kitchen, because we're moving in before Monday. I also mentioned that he had plenty of time to do the work when I was gone for two weeks, but he decided not to set foot in the house the entire time. He said he couldn't get in because of the floors being refinished, so I reminded him that the wood floors aren't in the kitchen, the bathroom or the path to each of them, and thus, his work wasn't actually effected by the floors. I also told him that he's already been paid and he didn't do anything for two weeks, so he's going to at least get the bathroom and kitchen done by Thursday. He agreed.

That said, after work today, it's time to put the vinyl tile down.

Lastly, here's a list of things that I've purchased so far that I've always wanted:

A huge T-Square - got it.
A Shop Vac - got it.
A Reciprocating Saw - got it.

I still have some things left, as far as renovating goes, but so far I'm pleased with the above list. next up? A paint sprayer and a circular saw. Hopefully craigslist will come through for me for those things...

Newest Images.

Here are the newest images, taken this week, of the house progress:

Living room, primed & refinished floors:



Dining Room, primed & refinished floors:

Newly tiled & grouted shower surround:



Master Bedroom, floors refinished & sheetrock up:



Second Floor Bedroom, sheetrock up:

Vacation over.

I'm back. Lame.

We got back to lovely RI on Friday night. after sleeping in an awesome bed (read: almost big enough for me) for the first time in a week, I headed over to the house to check on progress and get a little work done.

Here's what I asked everyone to get done while I was gone: refinish floors, finish plumbing in the first floor bathroom, get the heat running continuously, finish replacing all of the outlets and switches on the first floor, install cable outlets on the first floor, finish first floor ceilings (kitchen, bathroom), get joint compound on all of the joints on the second floor.

Here's what was finished: refinish floors.

Awesome.

Here are the floors. They're not quite as dark as I'd have liked them to be, but whatever, it's done:



Once I finished up being disappointed, but not all that surprised, at the lack of work done, I grouted the first floor bath surround, cleaned up a little, and went home. I'm not quite ready for super hard work yet.

On Sunday, I patched a few holes in the bathroom walls, continued being disappointed about the work done when I was gone, and decided to get the water in the house running.

I turned on the main water valve, and went down the water lines, opening each one up one by one. So far so good. I heard something going on up on the first floor, so I hurried up stairs and listened. Luckily, it was just the radiators pressurizing, so all was well.

I started to go back downstairs when I heard what I thought was a fire hose spraying around. Intrigued, I sprinted to the sound and got to see the boiler exploding water from one of the new pipes. Brand new pipe, brand new work, brand new everything. Apparently, "brand new pipe", to my plumber, means "basement floor sprinkler system". I rushed over and turned off the main water valve, the fire hose slowed and stopped leaking, and I died a little bit.

Generally, such a thing wouldn't be a big deal, but we're moving in starting Friday. We kind of need running water. It's sort of important. Hopefully, my plumber can fix his apparent substandard work and we'll be able to take a shower.

I went home thereafter and my wife (weird) and I went to Gregg's for some sweet Easter dinner.

Yesterday (Monday) was a big deal. I went to the house after work and sprayed a few coats of grout sealer on the shower surround, cleaned up a little bit and headed home. I had to be home for 6:30 to meet with someone who wants me to pay them to pack all of our stuff up and move it to the new house.

At around 6:25, the doorbell rang. I opened the door and immediately shook two crazed hands. Two men literally ran around our apartment to check out what they'd have to do. I showed them around while these two fellows, who are essentially methamphetamine addicts, calculated the cost. After the small tour, the head of the two offered to do it for $650. I quickly agreed, shook hands 16 more times, told some stories about my time in Philadelphia (he used to own a store or two in Philly, both in the super mega ghetto) and they were on our way.

Once they left, Amanda and I realized that our stress levels had increased 13 fold, just by talking to these people. I don't have the capacity to describe these people, but I'll give it a shot. They were a mixture of that fast talking Micro Machines spokesman from back in the day, concentration camp survivors, Rolling Stones members, glue huffers and meth addicts. They were human whirlwinds. I am super excited to see these people pack up our stuff and move it in roughly 13 minutes. It's going to be hilarious, awe inspiring and probably horrifying.

This week, I need that stupid first floor bathroom to be done. I'll put the floors in today after work, drop the toilet on and set up the sink/vanity.

Sweet.

Last Update for Awhile.

I’m writing this from Logan International Airport, waiting to board a flight to Rich Port (Puerto Rico). I’m leaving for two weeks to get a bad sunburn, eat a lot of fish and speak Spanglish. Also, to marry another person (who is, despite Dan’s best predicitons years ago, a girl).

That aside, here’s the latest:

Friday – I was still kind of sick, but I had a lot to do before my trip, so I went to the house and sanded some walls. Once sufficiently smooth and ready for primer, I called it a day to rest up for the weekend. Lame.

During my sanding fun, another inspector came, this time for the plumbing, and he made sure to give me another stupid list of arbitrary things to do. Thank goodness.

Saturday – Up early to meet my brother in law, Eryk (pronounced, Eh-rick), for breakfast at Amanda’s restaurant. After some eggs, sausage home fries and chocolate milk, we headed to the house to get busy. The previously demoed first floor bathroom needed to start to take shape. We took out the old tub and dropped a new one in. After much hemming and hawing, we finally got the stupid tub somewhat level and headed to Home Depot in the ghetto.

Not so fast! The Home Depot, sensing that we were on our way, gave me a call. Not to tell me that they looked forward to our visit, but to tell me to go back to the house and sign for the drywall delivery. We did so and again headed to the store.

When we got back from the Depot (cement board, tile, mortar and assorted other things richer), we started to drag some of the 60 sheets of drywall to the second floor, with many breaks and complaints. After we did about half of them, we decided to get to work in the bathroom, again. We threw up some cement board and tried our best to make them the same depth as the remaining wall above. When sufficiently flush, but not perfectly so, we got to the tiling.

Flash forward a few hours and half a bucket of thin-set later, and we had a beautifully tiled shower stall:

About halfway through the tiling, we said, “Oh, we should probably bring the rest of that drywall in.” Big mistake. That S is heavy. We only brought it into the kitchen this time. Turns out it was a good idea, as 10 minutes or so after we had finished, it started to rain. Rain and drywall don’t mix so well, so I’m glad it was inside.

The last thing on the agenda was dropping the toilet in. Normally a pretty easy job, we expected to be out of there in a few minutes. Our expectations were not met.

The old drain pipe was super corroded and the toilet didn’t sit correctly. The wax ring under the toilet fit nicely, and made a tight seal, but it doesn’t matter much, as we could just lift the toilet off of the drain pipe. That is bad. We called it quits after this major setback and I noted that the plumber will have to fix even more stuff and I will have to pay for it.

Amanda spent the day helping out with some priming in rooms that were ready, Eryk headed back to NH after some dinner and I went to bed exhausted.

Sunday – Up early yet again, rented a U-Haul cargo van (which handled like a BMW) and headed to the house. I was going to pick up a fridge (from Sears) and hopefully pick up a dishwasher and range (from Attorney Hunter). I did some sanding of more walls (there are a lot of them) and headed to Sears covered in primer and thin-set.

I picked up the awesome (inexpensive) fridge, loaded it into the van and went back to the house. I lugged the fridge out of the van and wheeled it into the garage to sit, hopefully un-stolen, until we come back from vacation.

Fridge finished, time to get priming. I painted for pretty much the rest of the stupid day, ceilings included, and tried not to cry. I don’t know if you’ve ever painted a ceiling with a roller, but there are few things in life less pleasurable. Trust me.

Amanda came by in the late afternoon (after shopping all day with her friend) and helped me with some more priming. We called it quits around 7pm and headed home.

Monday – After work, I went to the house to take some pictures and drop off to-do lists for the various people who still have crap to do. Basically, the plumber needs to finish, the electrician needs to finish and my general contractor needs to finish. Also, the floors are going to be refinished while we’re gone.

The house is starting to shape up, which is nice.

For the last post in awhile, which is posted from my hotel room, here's a picture of a view from the balcony of our suite, taken minutes ago: