Category: Opinions

Continuing with the renovations pictures.

We also added 5 new can lights to the living room along with 3 accent lights

In process:

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And when the job was done:

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And we added a couple of can lights to the kitchen to fill in some dim spots from our initial foray into can lighting there. I had them sectioned off so we can control those over the computer desk, the island and the sink separately.

In process:

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Done:

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and if you recall the square hole that’s been in the ceiling over the sink for the past year, that’s gone now!

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And here are Wayne and his assistant from Precision Electric Co. who did the lighting as well as the wiring for the master bathroom and for the tankless water heater area.

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Here is the new bathtub roughed in:

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and the commode area:

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Note the extra support that’s being incorporated for safety rails on the back wall.

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And a few days later

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and progressing, these pictures were taken at the end of each day. You have no idea of the amount of thought and planning that went in to placing the soap dishes such that the pattern lined up properly with them:

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Here are some gratuitous pictures of the medicine cabinets as they are roughed in:

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And a shot of the “before” version of our master bedroom window:

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Finally, here are some shots of the laundry room progress. If you’ll recall we removed the hot water tank from there so we could then remove the little separating wall that hid it.

It cost me $1,530 to route the plumbing from the nearby aquarium up through the attic and into the laundry room to replace the plastic pipes that used to lead from the old water tank.

Here is with the sheetrock gone and the plumbing roughed in.

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Now the sheetrock has been put in place ready for painting.

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Mostly done, just need to replace the floor and do a final paint job. It’s not obvious in this picture but the utility sink we added is positioned between the washer and the dryer. Mostly so you wouldn’t be able to see it from the dining area / kitchen.

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Tommy won’t be doing any work tomorrow so I’ll be posting the work from the past two days tomorrow or Saturday and then I’ll just post the progress as we go forward.

Our replacement windows are supposed to arrive on Monday. I expect that will be fairly exciting, we’re really looking forward to the much wider master bedroom window. It’s one of the very few South facing windows in our home

I should point out that we’re *very* happy with the work so far. It’s certainly not cheap, but both Tommy and Larry are thoughtful, careful craftsmen who know their trade(s). They clean up after themselves each day which Michelle especially appreciates, and they work with a professionalism that is pretty hard to find nowadays.

Another great thing is that *they* actually do the work. It’s not like they price the work and then send a bunch of low-payed, low skilled folks in to do the job. They are the ones you see each day and they know what they’re doing.

If you’re wondering that’s Turner General Contracting that’s doing this work. Again they are not cheap, but then I do believe we are getting what we pay for. This renovation has been far less painful than many of the horror stories that I’ve heard of from others. Much of that no doubt has to do with the approach and philosophy of your contractor. It really helps when you trust and are confident in the folks doing the work.

It’s amazing how quickly you get used to something new and forget how things used to be. So I decided to take pictures of our before situation and the progress as we moved to completion.

We elected to work with Tommy Turner of Turner General Contracting. Tommy and Larry work together and we’ve been very pleased with their work so far.

This project began as a “Let’s update the master bathroom.” deal and quickly grew from there. As with all such projects, as you touch one thing, it becomes obvious that there are three other items that should be dealt with if this one is to be done properly. We did put on our “reasonableness” caps and had to make some tough decisions regarding what to leave out. Besides the fact that we simply cannot afford to do everything at once, there is only so much change you really want to implement at once anyway. So the floors will remain carpeted, most of the windows will remain intact and the ceiling insulation may remain sub-par for a while yet.

To begin with, we wanted a bigger bathtub and new shower doors. Since that would mean ripping up the tile work we decided to go ahead and gut the water closet entirely. Also, the toilet had never really been a stellar performer (if you know what I mean) so we wanted something that would do the job a little bit better.

Additionally, the fan in the water closet is old and sluggish so that will be replaced along with adding a dimmable light in the shower area and a heat lamp

The hot water tank had been relocated by the previous owner to the far end of the house (laundry room) which sounds OK until you realize that we are situated on a slab which meant that nearly all the plumbing is under cement. That means that the hot water intake is being fed from the old location through a pipe running up into the attic and all the way across the house to the heater. Then the hot water is fed back up through the attic to link back up with the original hot water starting point. The long and short is that it takes a very long time for the water to warm up no matter what faucet in the house you are using. We are replacing this scheme with a new tankless gas powered water heater that will be situated in the originally plumbed hot water heater location. This should result in faster water warmup times, an unlimited supply of hot water and hot water energy savings (conservatively) of probably about 15 – 20% per year.

Because the hot water heater will no longer need to occupy its niche in the laundry room, we’ll be removing the little wall that separated it from the washer/dryer units. Then we’ll relocate the dryer to that space to put it closer to the outside vent and put in a real laundry tub (rather than just using the sink in the nearby half bathroom). Since the floor under the washer and dryer is a little chewed up and will have a gap in it from the removed wall, that will be replaced as well. We may just go with linoleum for that. A semi-disposable working floor.

The master bathroom sinks and faucets had been replaced about 6 or 7 years ago but we didn’t use really great pieces for either and Mich wanted to bring in some new ones as part of an overall rejuvenation of the vanity area. Then we decided that the vanity was a little low so we are having it raised to about 36 inches so we can stand more comfortably as we use the sinks. The counter will also be replaced with Corian or similar and the drop ceiling will be raised.

The window on the side of the vanity area was never a favorite, we’ve been thinking of replacing the house’s windows for a while now but that project just never rises high enough for us to actually engage it. So little time, so little money… But we decided to replace this window and the window at the head of our bed in the master bedroom with this project. The sliding vanity window will be replaced with a frosted casement window. The old bedroom window is about 3 feet wide by 2 feet high about 6 feet off the ground. It will be replaced by one that’s still 2 feet high but 12 feet wide (actually three 4 foot awning windows placed side by side). They will both be Andersen windows with “TruScene” screens for the bedroom window.

The guest bathroom will get some of the perks of the master bath area. It will receive a new fan and can lights to replace to fluorescents, including one in the shower/bath area. It also will be the recipient of the better of the master bathroom’s sinks and faucets. Again, the drop ceiling will be removed to make the room more spacious.

In the kitchen, quite a while ago actually, we installed several can lights to replace the fluorescent fixture and had subsequently decided to install a couple more to light some dim areas left by our initial install. So, while getting that addressed, we will get rid of our tired old inadequate fixture in the living room and also replace it with some can lights too. Plus we’ll add some accent lighting for the mantel and the East wall.

The cooktop in the kitchen is quite old now and will be replaced along with our disappointing kitchen counter. The counter had already been replaced with an inexpensive Formica one during our last renovation and is very prone to staining.

Finally, we had a hanging fixture installed over the dining/kitchen table to provide a bit more ambiance and focused lighting there.