I started off my week be having 18 back to back showings at The 1885 House and the first nine were no-shows. NINE PEOPLE NO SHOWED. Many of them had even confirmed their appointment the morning of. I swear, this process is going to kill me. Thank god, I brought a bunch of work and was able to get a lot done anyway.
Obviously, I have been spending a lot of time at The 1885 House lately and have noticed some issues in the bathroom. There is almost always water on the floor when I arrive. And it’s directly under the vent. We already knew that the wrong type of subfloor had been used in the bathroom (particle board, not regular plywood) and that the subfloor had some deformities from water. It had been found in our home inspection, but we had been advised that the subfloor was fine and to replace it when we renovate the bathroom in a year or two. The more I am here and the more I use the bathroom, the more I dislike the issues. The water issue absolutely HAS to be fixed. After lots of research, I figured that the vent was likely not insulated and was condensing in the ceiling. And if I’m doing that, I might as well fix the subfloor. The toilet feels precarious whenever I’m using it, since it tilts due to the deformities in the subfloor.
Tuesday was the day I began my renovations. This should be a quick fix! A couple days! In and out! First of all, the ceiling practically fell down when I touched it and was completely saturated with water. What?! This is more than condensation. The wettest area was by the exterior wall above the shower surround…directly below the upstairs tenants bath/shower and three feet from the bathroom vent. I felt the joists, they were wet. I was baffled. There is lots of water here…where is it coming from? It was perfect timing, because my upstairs tenant hopped in the shower as I was on my ladder downstairs with my head between the rafters next to the bottom of his tub. That sounds super creepy, but I assure you, was completely professional.
I was watching the water supply and drain pipes intently, and suddenly, from inside the exterior wall (which was ripped out) came rain. Lots and lots of soapy rain. It was from the inside of the alcove tub and was running down the joists. It was coming from a failure in the shower surround.
When I found the leak, I panicked. I canceled all my showings for the day and started calling contractors. I got three consultations set up for the following morning and spent the evening wallowing in my overwhelmed-ness. On Wednesday morning, I met with the contractors and got prices to replace the upstairs shower surround. It came to about $1,500 across the board, but only one guy could get in right away. We scheduled the work for Friday, so I could give my tenants proper notice. I felt like a weight was lifted.
I spent the rest of the day tearing down more drywall. I had found mold on the back side of part of the ceiling (the saturated part). I tore and pried until there was no more mold left in that bathroom. I ended up removing the entire ceiling and the top foot of the walls, except the wall around the shower surround. I removed about three feet there. Removing the drywall showed me that I may have been a bit ambitious thinking I could do this all by myself. I couldn’t lift an 8’x10’ piece of drywall over my head and screw it in by myself! Thankfully, the guy who painted the soffit at The Maple House also does drywall. I gave him a call and he agreed to come on Sunday to drywall the bathroom. That would give the bathroom about 48 hours to dry out between the upstairs shower surround replacement and drywalling the downstairs.
On Friday, the contractors were there bright and early and did a great job. They put in a fiberglass surround that went to the ceiling. It looked like a million bucks. While they worked upstairs, I replaced the subfloor downstairs. I thought I would have to replace the subfloor in the entire bathroom, but it was only the section under the toilet that had been done with particle board and was swelling. Everything else was one inch plywood and in great condition.
Another positive this week is that I finally figured out how to not be mad when people don’t show up to their showings. When I have projects! When I’m going to be here anyway working on something, I don’t feel like I’m wasting my time being here when people no-show, since I would be here anyway. If anything, I breathe a sigh of relief that I have an extra 15 minutes to work before my next showing gets there. And as long as I have my paint chips and floor samples to show, nobody seems to mind that the bathroom is torn apart.
Next week is the race to the finish line for Wade and I. We’re headed to Oklahoma and Texas for eight days to spend the holidays with our families and we leave on the 21st, which is next Thursday. Wade’s been working early mornings, late nights, and weekends to wrap up all his work projects and it’s nice that it gives me time to put in some late nights at The 1885 House as well.
