What The Hell I Was Thinking (Part 2 - The Hadean Age)

The Hadean Age is that primordial period described as an "eon of massive solar system catastrophes." Essentially, this was the 767 million year period in the beginning of the Earth's formation where the planet was being bombarded by solar explosions, crusts were starting to form, and gases swirled around in a time considered by geologists to represent Hell on Earth; thus the name.

Of a much shorter duration, my own Hadean Age ran from purchase of this house to installation of a kitchen sink 8 months later. This Age is marked with massive demolitions, injuries, and lots of unhealthy air. As soon as the keys to this little world were handed to me in March 2001, I hired a friend of my then-boyfriend's former landlord contractor to install a new roof, furnace, and air conditioner; being the end of March and freezing, I felt I really couldn't move in with no heat and a hole in the roof. I also talked to a plumber friend of the aforementioned contractor about redoing all the plumbing which would be necessary in order to use any of it. He wanted $5000 to redo the plumbing of a single bathroom. I called Service Magic to get another estimate and (like magic!) found the kind, reasonable plumber I still use today, who did the plumbing for the kitchen and the bathroom for $1500.

Lesson #1 in Remodeling: It pays to get second (and third or fourth) opinions.

Anyway, in order to redo the plumbing, the bathroom had to be gutted. The pictures above are the bathroom in its original state. I will admit that I had removed the tiles from the shower when the photo was taken, but other than that, it was what was conveyed by the term "As Is" - including the empty beer bottle.

Shortly after this photo was taken (about a week) the aforementioned then-boyfriend became the ex-boyfriend. This was a good thing in every way but from the standpoint that what little confidence I had in taking on this project came from the assurances of the then-not-ex that he knew how to do all this stuff and would be there to help. I didn't know how to do any of this stuff and facing the daunting task ahead of me alone felt like the metaphor of the walls caving in on you becoming a physical actuality. Fortunately, most relationships have a positive takeaway, and mine was that I got to keep the contractor and the vacuum, which were all I really wanted at that point anyway.

So the bathroom remodel was my first go at construction and went like this: (1) Lure new work friend who lives 8 blocks away over to help you demo the bathroom by talking up the thrill of actually taking a sledgehammer/axe to a wall in earnest; (2) Throw away all fixtures and window (saving the unbelievably heavy cast iron tub for the contractor); (3) Replace window with glass block and take up first layer of linoleum tile; (4) Take up second and third layers of linoleum, a layer of ceramic floor tile, and - SURPRISE! - the mud floor (try not to fall through kitchen ceiling below); (5) Call plumber for rough-in plumbing; (6) Finally install (with contractor assistance) new subflooring so you no longer have to balance on the floor joists and rewire the scary old electrical work; (7) Install new drywall/cement board; (8) Buy new fixtures (call Mom and ask for that awesome old Kohler sink she got 10 years ago and has dragged through three moves without ever finding a use for it - thank her profusely when it arrives unscathed from UPS); (9) Have plumber connect toilet and tub; (10) Move in!

Mind you, at Point #10, there was no tile in the shower (just 360 degrees of plastic tarp), the bathroom sink was sitting on the floor waiting for a cabinet and counter, the kitchen was in As Is condition (see earlier post), so the only usable water in the house was from the rough-in plumbing in the tub, operated with a pair of pliers. That's when I had my first overnight guest. Thankfully, my father is not a particularly demanding person and didn't once complain about the state of his lodgings, and insisted that there were "good bones" in the house and puffed me back up with his confidence that he just knew I could do this and that it would be great. He offered to help tile, which consisted of going to Sears and getting a chalk line, a level, and various tools before his flight out.

Anyway, yada yada yada, with more work and help from other friends curious to lend a hand for a day on projects like trying to figure out how to cut a hole in the counter for the sink, the bathroom ended up looking like this: