Renovation - Day 5

I started with the lath removal on the outside wall. It is taking longer than I thought. It involves removing a few of the the lath slats and then clearing out the blown-in insulation (and repeat, repeat, repeat). And as the insulation is big and fluffy it filled up the garbage can quickly so there were several trips to the dumpster. Once Damon got home we removed the small wall framing the shower/tub and removed the tub. To do that we needed to turn off the power and run an extension cord to set up lighting and have a power strip for the saw. I figured the tub would be difficult, but once it was removed from the drain pipe it came right out and as it was fiberglass it was nice and light too. Tomorrow its back to lath and insulation removal.

Renovation - Day 4

So far, so good. Still making progress on the demolition and (knocking on wood) no injuries or unexpected complications thus far. Delighted to find that the electrical wiring looks up to date. Previous lighting adventures have uncovered some really old wiring (think cloth) in other areas of the house.

I started removing the lath layer on a couple of the walls. Thrilled to find - nothing. I had been worrying about finding nests of insects, or dead animals carcasses or other icky things, but other than plenty of plaster dust the inner walls are nice and clean. Of course these are the inside walls. Tomorrow I will start with the outside walls which are more likely to have that sort of thing.



After Damon got home we took out the sink and toilet, so now I can finish removing the paneling and drywall layers. The sink and toilet came out fairly easily. Only one bolt on the toilet put up a fight but Damon broke out the Dremel Tool and took care of that.

Happy Thanksgiving (Day 3)

As it is the holiday I decided to take it easy and only put in a half day of de-construction on the bathroom. Thankfully the ceiling was very cooperative and came down in no time. I also got the trim off the door and window and the took off the baseboards. I also cleared one more small wall of the outer layer of paneling.

The most difficult part of this process is getting all the materials out of the house and out to the dumpster. The process so far to minimize letting all the cold air into the house is to lock Ivan up and carry the stuff to the porch, and once that is done, work from the porch to the dumpster. I will have no use for a stair-master for the next few days.

I am trying to be good about cleaning up as I go and being careful when taking stuff out, but I have caught a few nails laying on the floor so it is 'shoes at all times' till this project is done.

So far everything looks in good condition, not seeing any mold or mildew and other than a few dead bugs around the window no pests have shown themselves (yeah!).

Report for Construction Day 2

Well the first day of demolition was slowed down by the first snowfall of the season. This is really late for us, we usually get snow in Oct. But this one was a good one. We got about a foot of snow. So snow removal became the priority. Not to mention that along with clearing the driveway I also had to go into the dumpster and shovel out all the snow in there (we pay by weight so a foot of heavy wet snow is not ideal).

Once the snow was dealt with I did make a little progress in the bathroom. I am starting on the inside walls and the shower area. I figured that there would be a layer of lath and/or drywall and then the paneling. But no, what I ended up with was lath, drywall (aka sheetrock) one layer of fake wood paneling and the top beige flowered paneling. All of this wouldn't be to bad, except for the fact that the preferred method of construction appears to have been some sort of supper strength construction glue. So instead of taking out nails and screws and taking off sheets of paneling and drywall, I am trying to pry glue apart and getting lots of smaller pieces. As these photos show I did get to the lath level on the wall with the closet, and most of the old shower area.

Bathroom Renovation - Day 1

The dumpster was delivered today, kicking off the official start of the bathroom renovation. We got an extra large container so we could also get rid of the extra scrap lumber from previous projects that was piling up behind the garage. Damon and I will be doing the demolition this weekend.


Here are the 'before' photos of the bathroom. We have done nothing to the bathroom since we bought the house. This will be a complete gut of the room including the ceiling, walls, and floor. We will be completely rearranging the room and will be installing a separate tub and shower.

Bloomin' Steps

The pattern is called Bloomin' Steps. Other than the white background, all the fabrics are from my scrap bag and charm squares. As you can see I am still contemplating borders - likely all from scraps and charm squares too. I got the blocks done at the quilting retreat a couple of weeks ago and got the blocks pieced together this weekend.

I still have an overload of scraps. I am hoping to find a pattern I want to do which will use up more scraps, maybe one that is all scraps so I do not need yardage for background.

What I Did Last Weekend

Last weekend was the fall quilt retreat. I really needed this retreat, I have not spent any time on sewing/quilting since the spring. (I am not counting sewing on hanging sleeves for the quilt show).

The first thing I worked on at the retreat was a star for a retreat friend who is going through cancer treatment. Pat and Bev our retreat coordinators brought the background fabric - hard to tell from the photo but it is white with small gold metallic stars. We were asked to contribute a star. I made this star from a pattern in Peggy Martin's Paper Piece the Quick-Strip Way book. I just bought the book a couple of weeks ago when I was down in Glens Falls.



I inherited some purple/lilac fabric from my friend Cheryl over the summer. I used the Disappearing 9-Patch pattern to create this small quilt. I still needs a border or two. This will be donated as a community service quilt once it is done.









Also for Cheryl, our sewing group is putting together projects she left for her family members. This is the one I am working on. I still have to add a black strip to the center panel but after that is added it will go together quickly. I already have the the top, bottom and sides pieced together. I also need to cut the corner blocks.