Bathrooms and Windows

In our 8th week of this project, things continue to slowly trek along. We had a couple big changes that are starting to make this construction zone feel more like a house.

What We Did:
After a discussion with our contractors, we discovered everything was ready for inspections, except the shower pan, which we planned to build. We both did lots of research and watched a bunch of youtube videos, learning how to build the shower base ourselves. Saturday morning, we got up early and ran to Home Depot to buy all the materials we would need, to avoid holding up the inspections. When we got home, we discovered that they had finished it while we were out. Needless to say, we weren't thrilled to have just wasted our morning buying materials that were no longer needed. On the other hand, they finished something in a couple hours that would have taken us all weekend.

Since we weren't building the shower base anymore, we focused on the closets. R's closet is going to become the new washer/dryer room, so his stuff needed to get out. Since he wakes up earlier than me, it made the most sense to move my stuff out of the green room and into the master bedroom closet, and move his stuff into the green room. After a whole day of shuffling clothes around, his closet is now empty and ready for some work.

What They Did:
The contractors finished up the plumbing to prep for the inspections, and started installing windows.

In the Basement:
In the bathroom, they built the new shower base (to our total surprise) and installed the shower valve in the wall. They added a fan which vents outside, and electrical hookups for a vanity light and overhead light. At this point, we think that they are done with this bathroom and that we'll finish the rest. [But who knows.]

The only other project down here was to finish the demolition of the wall under the stairs so that we can have better access to storage. We will put in some shelves eventually. They also insulated all the exterior walls.

insulated front wall

 

new shower pan and walls

 

bathroom wall with insulation and plumbing

 

new washer/dryer closet in the basement

 

back wall with insulation

On the First Floor:

They finished up the plumbing rough-ins for the new half bath, which no longer can be called a pantry. The plumbing is now all ready to go, which will be a quick project for us once this is all finished. They added a window, which makes a huge difference. This space came a long way this week and is really starting to look like a room.

half bath with toilet drain

half bath window and sink plumbing

Upstairs:
One window went in upstairs too, and the other should go in shortly. They still need to add siding outside and insulation inside, but otherwise this is pretty much all the work they plan to do to the old sleeping porch. I'm already getting really excited about options for the new office, which is also starting to feel like a room.

new window in the future master bath

 

current view of the back of the house