Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Cry Havoc!

Apparently we were sitting around yesterday with nothing to do.

Husband: "Let's load up the kids and go to Home Depot and pick out our new tub!"
Me: "Yea!"
Jacob proclaiming to everyone within hearing distance and some in the next county: "We're getting a new bathtub!"

"Why do you need a new bathtub?" you might be asking yourself.

I have provided the pictures below in an attempt to answer that question. This house was built in 1939. I believe the tub is the original tub.

Trailer park tub surrounds were added at some point--but they neglected to apply an adequate seal. Given the naval battles that Jacob wages at bath time, mold and mildew have taken up permanent residence.

Also, apparently some feel that wood and water can be quite good friends. The sub-floor has to be replaced due to this misguided belief.


This is actually what prompted the restoration to begin with. Our upstair's bathroom is leaking onto the downstair's ceiling. Naively thinking the downstairs would be the easiest of the two--that's where we decided to begin. We would like at least one working bathroom. Silly, I know.


So, this brings us to today. Demolition in full swing. Panels off.



Not everything co-operates. The faucet had to be drilled out. Should have offered clues as to what was lying in wait for us!



The 1930's cast iron tub stubbornly refuses to budge. This is what my bathroom currently looks like. Brand new tub and walls sitting out in the back yard. Shiny new faucets waiting to be installed. And the tub won't move. Not only that, there's no floor underneath of it. A cast iron tub with nothing underneath except a partial floor for the corners to rest on. Now I know what the Three Stooges did on their days off!


So, my friends--when you think of me, think of me languishing away in the hell of home improvement. Fortunately we have accepted our defeat for the day and cleaned things up just in time for me to run and pick Jacob up from his play date.

Edited to add...when Husband and I blog about the same thing--you know it's big! Of course, he failed to mention that I'm on antibiotics for a bladder infection. Amazing that we've managed to survive this long!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW...your bathroom really look awful...yeah I know that doesn't help any. Do you guys at least have another bathroom to use? You said you'd like ONE working bathroom. I can only hope that the parts that aren't working in this one, work somewhere else in the house or you guys are going to be some stinky people, lol.

Good Luck with it. If Tommy and I lived closer he'd definitely be all over helping your hubby out. He loves projects and I like helping him (yeah, that's what I call it, helping :o)

Dori said...

Thanks, Gina! Yes, the upstairs bathroom does work--the shower just leaks. We'd be over at the neighbor's if we didn't have a shower! :) Jacob isn't all that big with changes. It'll be interesting to see how he copes with an upstair's bath tonight--and tomorrow night and the night after that...

David said...

Good Luck, I really dislike (really, really dislike) plumbing work. My thoughts are with you and your DH.

Anonymous said...

Ugg! So, was the guy that you bought this house from the same one that rented you the house here? Sounds like it! HA! Sending home improvement peace ju-ju your way! :)

Dori said...

David! Was it the Home Depot reference that brought you over?! :) I wandered by there last week and they had crowd control ropes out--Mr. Stewart was on his way over.

When we decide to re-wire everything, we'll call you!

Amy--I can only assume that the guy who did the renovation here was indeed related to the people that built the house we lived in previously!