Wondering About the Shelf Gaps

The next step is either to glue the full carcase or shorten the long apron pieces to eliminate the shelf gap. I'm concerned about a gap between the shelf and the legs/side rails. So is Melissa. She thinks they will fill with crumbs and dog hair. The gaps were not intentional, but they probably lend themselves to better wood movement.

So I dry fit the shelf between the sides and attempted to set the length between the sides to be what it would actually be. My main purpose here was to see if the gaps on either side of the shelf are acceptable, or if I should shorten my long aprons to eliminate the shelf gaps.


I'll wait until after next weekend because I'll see my brother, Brek. I'll get his opinion before moving forward.

Pepper Grinder Attempt #2 - Rounding the Block

The first step of any spindle woodturning project is to round the block. I started with a 3" x 3" x 12" block of Brazilian Rosewood.

To make the initial rounding easier, I used the Shopsmith's tablesaw to cut the corners off.

Next, I converted the Shopsmith to the lathe and rounded the block to a cylinder. This is a fun step. Wood shavings fly everywhere and you feel like you're getting somewhere. If the roughing gouge catches, no big deal, you'll have enough wood to correct it later.

I also used the parting tool to separate the grinder head from the body. These would later be cut completly apart to become two pieces.

After the previous, failed grinder attempt, I did learn an important lesson, however. It's important to get a consistant diameter across the entire cylinder. If not, when the block is clamped in place for boring, the holes will be crooked. More on this later. I used calipers to check the diameter.

Lila Mae is Back

Last year Lila Mae, our 13-foot 1969 Boston Whaler, started dieing on us. Last week we got it out of the garage, hooked up the ear muffs to the hose, and started her up. She started, but I noticed the pee hole (or telltale) was not spitting water. Yikes. After the first bit of spoke came out of the motor we turned it off.

So today I changed the lower unit gear lube then took the little water intake filter off and poked around with a screw driver looking for debris. I also shoved a paper clip into the pee hole, as well as spraying water in the pee hole and flush intake.

All the messing around must have dislodged something because when Melissa cranked her up, she started peeing again! Woot! Looks like Lila Mae will be taking us out on the water next week.

Polyurythane = Non-Sticky Shelves

Have you noticed shelves with latex paint tend to stick to objects placed on them? I used my left over Minwax Wipe-On Poly on all the shelves in the bathroom for extra protection against wet stuff and to remove the latex sticky factor.

Stoop Repair

During the bathroom renovation we probably neglected the rest of the house. But the kitchen door stoop could not wait any longer. The paint had peeled away in places and I could see cracks in the wood that were taking water. It was mushy too. So rather than just repainting, I decided to scrape it and remove the rotten wood.


I wish I could have replaced the whole board but it appeared to go under the entire door jamb and would probably affect our new kitchen tile. Forget that. When I removed enough wood to see under it, I found a nest of sweet ants that were a little surprised. After evicting them I coated everything left with rotten wood hardener. Several days later I found some scraps of mahagony (left over from vanity project) that fit perfectly. I screwed and liquid nailed the scraps in place.


Finally, I covered them with Bondo, primed a few coats, painted a few coats, and caulked. Someday, I would love to add a little roof over this door to deflect the rain. But until then, this should hold.

Shower Valve Roughed Too Far Forward!

Now that all the painting and caulking is done, it was finally time to attach the shower trim plate and hot/cold lever. The wall trim plate attached fine but the lever was about an inch out away from the trim plate. After a deep breath and closer examination, I concluded that my plumber had roughed in the valve too far forward. All I could think about was what a huge pain in the ass it was going to be to rip the finished wall off to move the valve.


Clinging to the notion that everything has a workaround, I googled the problem and found someone else with the same exact situation. They even had a Moen valve and handle. In their case the plumber was also responsible for the finished wall, which is even more embarrassing. In my case, I had stuck with my detailed plans for finishing the wall so I am still blaming my plumber. Apparently, the Moen valve installation instructions must confuse plumbers. Either that or plumbers are too cocky to use the instructions. I assume it is the later.

Anyway, the other couple had posted their problem on the Terry Love plumbing forum and managed to solve it by using Moen's valve stop extension piece. The extension is actually provided for valves that are set back too far into the wall, but I guess it can also be used for the opposite. And despite the fact that Moen says to correct the valve in-wall depth instead, several Terry Love moderators seemed to think correcting the problem by using the extension was acceptable. In fact, some argue that the rough-in is still technically accurate because the trim plate fits.


Since bringing my plumber back was about the last thing in the world I wanted to do, I studied the valve and lever parts to determine if said workaround was sound. I came up with a few modifications to help improve it. Since two screws would now be exposed, I added rubber washers between the screws and the trim plate. Then I filled the extension with plumber's putty in case water dripped into it (to prevent it from flowing into the valve from the lever). Finally, despite a rubber gasket where the extension passes through the trim, I had Melissa seal it with black caulk. The caulk looks a little out of place but I prefer to error on the side of function over style.


Well, it looks a little weird but the damn thing seems to work and as far as I can tell, it should be a suitable workaround. In the end, I'm disappointed and I can't help hearing the phrase, "If you want it done right, do it yourself". Next time, I'll rough in the plumbing myself!

Water Proof Window Trim

We had a rough time trying to figure out how to frame our glass block window to have a water tight seal. It wasn't set back far enough to frame it with tiles set back into the wall. Yet, it was set back too far to have a huge grout line. We finally decided to use rot free vinyl exterior PVC molding. I attached it with some kind of outdoor caulk adhesive. After it dried, Melissa applied grout colored caulk between the trim and the tile. Then she applied white caulk between the trim and the glass.

P-Trap Trouble

Here is a problem I predicted would happen. To prevent it, I installed the faucet onto the vanity top, mounted the vanity top on the vanity, told the plumber the plans for the finished floor height, and told her to measure off the vanity to determine where to rough in the vanity drain discharge. I warned her that the vanity had a shelf that would be below the plumbing that would have to be considered.


Even with the above precautions, she roughed in the discharge too low. So low that there was not enough room for a proper P-trap below my sink. Grrrrrrrrr.



After switching from my 1.5" plastic P-Trap to a 1.25" chrome P-trap I gained a 1/4" but it was not enough. So I had to spend all morning with a chisel and hammer, cutting out a chunk of the shelf for the low side of the P-Trap to sit in. It was a depressing task considering I had build the vanity myself.


I did my best to carve out my hole without going all the way through the shelf because I had a drawer below it. After getting as low as I could, the pipes still connected at a slight angle that caused the gasket to leak. After 2 trips to Ace Hardware and 2 trips to Lowes, I still could not find a gasket big enough to fix my leak. I ended up buying a piece of rubber and making my own gasket with scissors and a knife. So far...no leaks. But I'm keeping an eye on it.

The Lights

Installing light fixtures must be one of the most satisfying parts of any renovation. After viewing the bathroom via the harsh florecent work light for months, it is nice to see the bathroom under the actual light it will have.

Attaching the fixtures is a piece of cake but I still have some gripes. I have yet to come across a company that accounts for "old work" electrical junction boxes. This is what us folks changing the location of the light fixtures have to replace the original boxes with. The "old work" boxes have extra stuff that usually happens to be in the way of where screws need to go to attach the new fixture. So once again, I found myself having to custom cut the screws with a hack saw...very anoying, especially since all they had to do was give me a few smaller screw sizes. Cheap bastards.

Okay, another gripe. This particular lighting company provides wire nuts that are way to large to fit through the mounting plate slots on the mounting plate they provide. This means, if you attempt to use the wire nuts they provide, you can't actually attach the light against the wall because the wire nuts will not fit (i.e., they are so big the light will stick out from the wall and the wire nuts would be visible). Are these people morons? It is easy to fix by just using your own, smaller wire nuts or cutting a hole in their metal mouting plate but the oversight is nearly impossible to catch until you've gone through the trouble of wiring the fixture and attempting to push it into place over the junction box.

One final thought on these lights. We had a hard time finding wrought-iron-style lighting fixtures so we went with these. Upon buying them, it appeared possible to mount them flipped up or down. Unfortunatly, the glass lamp shades are actually only designed to aim the light up. This is stupid because they are marketed as bathroom vanity lights. They look pretty in the picture but they actually shine more light on the ceiling than on your face (as you look in the mirror). Dumb. Another case of style over function, as is often found with home fixtures. Maybe someday we'll replace them.

Shelves and Durham's Water Putty

This weekend I finish the last of the shelves; a stack of four more. I sanded all the wood and filled all the nail holes with Durham's Water Putty. Durham's was great. It smelled nice, very doughy and was a joy to work with. This week I'll sand down the parts I puttied over and Melissa should be ready to start priming by Saturday.

Shower Pan Leak Test Failure!

After letting the shower pan (i.e., PVC membrane or liner) hold water overnight, I discovered it failed the leak test. Water was running out from under the curb and appeared to have soaked through the two subfloor layers near the drain.


I wanted to cry. I called Pam and she said sometimes they get pin holes. She told me to drain the pan and agreed to come back in two days. I ripped out the PVC membrane because I knew my subfloor was soaked and I wanted to let it dry.


In the meantime, I posted some pictures and asked for advice on the John Bridge tile forum. I was not thrilled with Pam's mud slope and I was already uncomfortable because she essentially refused to build the shower floor per some instructions Melissa had found. The good folks on the forum pointed out Pam's failing to wrap the liner around the curb and nailing it to the top was a code violation. They noticed some other problems and I decided I wanted to do it myself.

So I called Pam and told her not to come back because I wanted to do it myself. She was cool and offered to give me some materials. I'm really amazed at the different opinions of how to make these shower floors. The two other plumbers I got quotes from before picking Pam, didn't even make a preslope. They just attached the liner directly to the subfloor. 5 minutes of research shows these guys are building showers that will not last long, result in discolored grout, and mildew.

Why are these professionals doing such crumby work? I don't get it. I guess plumbers do plumbing well and these shower floors are best done by someone else....like me!

Subpar Subfloor

During my recent shower size dilemma I was fortunate enough to have one of the John Bridge Forum moderators, CX, catch another major problem with my bathroom renovation. He noticed I had installed the plywood subfloor with the sheets parallel to the joists, thus not making my subfloor strong enough to support a tile floor.

I had used my own twisted logic at the time, and managed to convince Bob, my father-in-law of the same. We thought we were saving on plywood and supporting the plywood edges better to prevent flexing. Turns out this was at the expense of maximizing the ply grain strength and we did not end up with the minimum 5/8ths plywood subfloor strength needed for a tile installation...even though we used 3/4" plywood.

Following the advice of said moderator I used Titebond II to glue additional 1/2" plywood sheets on top of my 3/4" plywood, laying the 1/2" sheets perpendicular to the joists.

Renovating the Renovation

When Pam the Plumber stopped by last week to get her materials list (to change our polybutylene to copper), she noted how narrow our finished shower was going to be. She suggested a different design but said she was ready to rough-in the current shower. After a sleepless night and lots of staring at our unfinished shower and bathroom design, I posted the question on Terry Love's Shower and Bathroom Forum and John Bridge's Tile Advice Forum. Is a 26" wide finished shower too narrow?

When I read the first of many similar responses ("As long as you're not planning on using your arms to wash your body while in the shower, you should be fine."), I knew the decision was a no-brainer.

This will set me back several weeks because I have to remove framing, part of my tongue and groove wall panel, build a new wall, move my electrical, and determine how to install a deadwood stud without removing all of my finished wall.

I had my reasons for trying to build a shower in the old tub's footprint but I should have done more research and design. Oops. In the end, I'm sure it will be worth the pain, misery, and humiliation.

Sump Pump Slump

Last night, lying in bed, Melissa asked if I had left the downstairs fan on or something. She thought she heard some kind of motor running. I ignored it and went back to sleep. This morning I heard her yell something from the basement. I went downstairs and saw the sump pump well overflowing as the pump ran. It smelled like it had been running for a while.

We assumed, after demoing a concrete floor with porcelain tile above the sump pump, we had gotten the sump pump well filled with so much debris it had clogged. Melissa had pointed this out earlier and we attempted to clean it but apparently we didn't clean it well enough.

Anyway, after several minutes of unsuccessful unclogging with my hand, we manually drained the well and attempted to remove the sump pump to examine it. I began unscrewing plumbing to get the thing free. Like a fool, I unscrewed a one-way flow valve that had been put there to prevent sewage from backing up into our basement. At first it looked like clean water, but after 2 or 3 seconds it turned brown and smelled like the worst sewage. I stood there with the stuff pouring all over my arm and leg as we started yelling at each other wondering what I had just unleashed. Somewhere during this chaos I revealed that I had just taken a crap upstairs and that maybe it was now draining out all over me. After several agonizing seconds of screwing the valve back the disgusting water finally stopped flowing. Damn that was gross. After repeated washings I can still smell the stuff on my hands.

Later, I just cut the PVC pipe below the valve and was able to remove the sump pump. Melissa's standard technique seemed to work. We just took the thing apart, put it back together, tested it in a bucket...and it started working again. I guess we had dislodged some piece of debris. We put the whole thing back in its place, connected the cut pipes with a boot, and did a final test with more water to ensure it was still working.


If you ever demo something above your sump pump, make sure you cover the sump pump so debris does not put your sump pump in a slump.

Roof Leak Near Chimney

Every time I clear the gutters I make a point to remove the leaves that build up behind our chimney. We have a steep roof valley that directs water and debris to a spot directly behind a granite chimney in front of our house. After lots of rain I've noticed water pooling up behind the chimney but I figured, surely whoever did the roof put adequate flashing below all the tar and calk around the chimney. At least that's what I thought until Melissa pointed out a ceiling leak...that happened to be right below where I always notice water pooling.

So after Googling roof leaks around chimneys and staring at my problem spot for 30 minutes I decided this one was way out of my league.

The home's previous owner left behind a substantial amount of paper work on the home so I was able to find the number of the guy who put the roof on. I figured I would start with him, hoping he would honor his work, and fix the problem. He remembered the house and explained that the previous owner refused to pay the extra money to add the cricket behind the chimney and opted to find his own solution. Anyway, the roofer was cool, gave me a decent price, a five year guarantee on his work, and had the same shingles in stock (so the cricket would match the rest of my roof).

When he was done I climbed up to examine his work and enjoy my new cricket and flashing.