Patio season is here!

Despite staying up til 3AM watching Interstellar after work last night... I was determined to get the patio furniture assembled for patio season today... The alarm clock woke me at 8AM and VROOM... patio furniture ready, more stuff planted in the garden, house vacuumed, toilet wax ring replaced... what else... Oh yea... then work...  My wife has not hit the nesting stage yet with the kid on the way in 7 weeks, but I think I am in the nesting stage.  Just kidding.  I am always like this in Spring.  Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Before and after bathroom remodel pics... and I have a MOPED AGAIN!!!

So I knew I wanted to do before and after pics... but I do have to warn you... The after pictures are taken with Google Camera and it tries piecing 9 photos together, so if some of the sharp lines don't line up... Blame Google.  But at least it shows you more of the entire area... just not lining up perfectly when it was piecing the photos together.   Above is the before pictures of the vanity.

So the pic above is with the new vanity.  The grout is actually dark gray, but the excess sealer is white until you wash the floor... We also need to get mirrors, but that and the shower door is all that is left.

So now, the pictures above is the shower.

This is the new shower area.  Again, grout is lighter than what it will  be once the floor is washed.  I went a little heavy on the sealer to make sure the grout is sealed well.

Here is a closer image of the shower.  The shower door should arrive sometime next week and then I can officially say I am finished once that is installed and Dawn pics out mirrors for the vanity.  I figured it out... I spent about 100 hours on the project.  Which is pretty good, in my opinion. For anyone just checking this out, feel free to look at all of the progress pics in previous Buckosphere entries.

I also have a moped for now... This is my brother's moped, but I am in the middle of selling it for him.

I drove up to Cleveland last night and picked up the in-laws patio furniture since they got new stuff.  That along with other stuff from Dawn's younger years.  Drove back this morning and unloaded the truck myself.  Good workout!

The week doesn't look too bad. It was a wet Saturday, but the rain will be leaving by midnight Saturday night for most of Central Ohio and then clearing skies through the day Sunday.  More clouds Monday with the slight chance of an isolated rain shower.  Same for Thursday with a slight chance for rain, otherwise partly cloudy and temperatures on the slow climb back to the 70's by next weekend. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Bathroom almost done! Here comes the rain.

So the shower is grouted and cleaned up by now.

I had my producer buddy come over and help me lift the vanity and vanity top into place on Thursday.  I could have tried doing it myself, but having the extra muscles meant a LOT of time and headache saved.

So I owed it to Alex to a day of golf the following day.  We played out at the airport golf course so I tried eating a few planes.

And I forgot to wear sunscreen.

Friday night was topped off with a drive-in movie... Not a bad finish to the week.

So today I cleaned up the bathroom in preps to seal the tile, grout, and granite. I will do that tomorrow... and then finally iron my dress shirts that I have neglected during the remodel, but cannot wait any longer.  The tough decision now is picking out a dang shower door. 

 

I also tried doing a criss-cross pattern in the back yard while mowing today... not too shabby.  

Dry and mild tonight.  Feel free to leave the windows open and air out the house.  Rain arrives from the south on Sunday.  Southern Ohio will see it mid-morning and Central Ohio midday and then early afternoon for Northern Ohio.  Rain will continue on and off through the afternoon and evening.   Monday the rain will be more scattered, and a few rumbles of thunder are also possible.  Tuesday we dry out a little, but more rain expected Wednesday.  Then we dry out and cool off with highs near 60.  Have a good one!

Best,

Andrew Buck Michael

Tiling is DONE, and so is the rain... for now.

It felt really good to put the final tile in place in the shower.  And bought the perfect amount of mortar.  I bought three 25 pound bags and after I put the final tile in, I only had about half a cup left... WHEW!  That was a little too close to comfort when I was coming down the final row.  I plan on grouting it tomorrow and then sealing it this week... then on to the vanity, and all the other fun stuff!

It was a great week to get the tiling finished... we had 2.6" of rain within a 96 hours stretch.  

So the grass was green and a little wet, but luckily not too wet.  I mowed today and also tilled the garden.

And rode my motorcycle in to work today... and had lunch on the picnic table by Broadcast Lake.  That was about the most relaxing thing I have done in weeks.

Tomorrow will be similar, but warmer.  Rain rolls in late Monday... then a brief break... then more rain again... The spring time weather is upon us!  Right now nothing is pointing toward a big severe event this week, but I will keep an eye on it, especially as the late-week stuff approaches.  Until then... Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Bathroom remodel nearing an end... Severe storms possible for Ohio

I had Tuesday and Wednesday off of work and Tuesday was kinda a weird day.  I had a hair cut appointment so I couldn't get too down and dirty.  I patched up a wall that is now cement board, and started tiling the shower

I was able to get the majority of the shower tiled during the two days.  Doing the small accent tiles is challenging to make sure you aren't squeezing too much thinset mortar through and then making sure they are not sagging down and not getting any gap at all.  But I have the top row and the bottom row still to do.  I plan on cutting all those tiles today and then til them on Friday afternoon/evening.  Then grout it on Sunday.

So we have already had over two inches of rain since midday Monday.  So flooding is a big concern.

Naturally there is a Flash Flood Watch until 6AM Friday because of all the rain we have had... and all the rain on the way.  Central Ohio is in the Slight Risk for severe weather today.  Western Ohio and Indiana is in the Enhanced Risk for severe weather. 

The main threat for the storms will be strong, damaging winds.  Hail is also possible and even a possible tornado cannot be ruled out.  Be sure to stay weather aware.  The strongest storms look to be during the mid afternoon.  A few lingering showers and storms tonight, then the rain leaves early Friday with a cold front.  Then we stay breezy this weekend, but dry and sunny.  So a really nice weekend!  More storms next week.  Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Bathroom remodel update... wet week ahead

I cleaned up all the floor today and removed the spacers between the tiles...

So it was time to grout.  The tiles are a little hazy, but I can easily clean that up tomorrow.  I will also be working on the shower tomorrow.

I will let you in on a little secret I did that saved me a lot of time and questions... I took all the measurements of the room... VERY precise measurements.  So the longest wall was going to be my starting point.  It was 105.75" long.  So I opened up Microsoft Paint... I made a line perfectly straight for 1057 pixels.  I kept mapping out the room, including the toilet drain and heating vent. So now the room is to scale.  I opened up another Paint document and took the tile image from the Menards website.  I kept copying the image and made that perfectly to scale according to the pixels and now I was able to overlay the floor plan to the tiles.  That way I could move the floor plan around and figure out what would be the least tile cuts possible layout.  And it worked GREAT!  I could have cut the tiles from the floor diagram I made.   The room was square, which helped.

I started doing the same thing for the shower tonight.  I am off the next couple days so I will be tackling the shower  The bottom flares in a little, so I have to cut a couple of the lower joining places to make it fit like a glove.  I will be putting a board up for the second row of the tiles to do first.  I should be able to fly up the wall then spend then following day to do the specialized cuts along the bottom. Some may think it is a waste of time, but when it comes time to getting the job done, I will have no questions about where I should cut when I am in the middle of the project. 

Get ready for a wet week, so keep the umbrella or rain jacket ready.  Showers likely tonight on and off with temperatures staying mild. Showers and thunderstorms for Tuesday as our temperatures continue to warm.  Some strong storms are possible Tuesday night and also Wednesday night.  Rain wraps up midday Friday and we dry out and cool off for the weekend.  Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Bathroom remodel rolls on, so do spring storms

Monday my first task was to finish putting up the backerboards, or Hardiebacker boards, on the shower surround.  

I did that in the morning then cleaned it all thoroughly then taped and mortared all the joints... Not much I could do the rest of the day. 

Tuesday I painted the walls and used the RedGard in the shower to waterproof the surround.

Once the shower got a second coat I used the remaining to put on a coat to the floor and double up in a few spots for that too.  Done for the day.

 

Then I took Wednesday to run errands and spend the afternoon with Dawn on the patio.  The weather was too nice to pass up and it was great to relax for a day.

Thursday I put up the new lighting fixture, touched up a little paint and started to dry laying the back half of the bathroom and cut most of the corner pieces. 

Time to get to business...

And after about two hours on my knees... I got all the hard spots done and down.

I finished up the rest of the floor on Friday morning and then I had to stay off the floor for twenty-four hours... notice the window... Luckily I could step into the shower then on to a tile that was laid the day before.  I am hoping to get the shower tiled next Tuesday and Wednesday, my next two days off... I plan on grouting Monday before coming to fill in for Bill Kelly.  I wore knee pads for the floor, but MAN... my knees were shot for about 10 minutes when I tried getting up.  I have MAD respect for people that do that for a living.

I hope you all have a Happy Easter or Passover.  The weather looks great for tomorrow.  Chilly in the morning, but we warm up quickly with the sunshine.  More clouds Monday with some late-day rain.  More storms Tuesday and some of them may be on the strong side later in the day and Tuesday night.  The rain takes a little bit of a break late Wednesday, but more rain for Thursday and Friday then finally a cold front will cool us off a little by next weekend.  I still have a slight chance for rain on Saturday, but that appears to look early with the latest forecast models.  But basically... keep the umbrella handy all week long.  Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael