Lower Apt. All Done — Upper Apt. Rented

The end result in the kitchen.

The last week of work on the Lower apartment was pretty demanding. But we did it, all but a few particulars, and B. and S. took possession on New Year's Eve. More on that in a moment …

Today, J. and J. delivered a deposit on the Upper apartment, and will move in with Dexter and Pasha come February 1. After all the trouble getting folks to look at the Lower, it was amazing to have more than one applicant for the Upper. Yeah! I did have to turn down a great couple, L & B, which is always upsetting. Luckily, they signed up on this site, and will be in line for one of the apartments if they come empty. There's a good bit of work to do to repair the apartment, and it looks as though we'll be able to pull it off without too much trouble. I'll blog that in days to come.

… now back to the report on the Lower in progress. We got the backsplash in and grouted at the top of the week, and moved the gas oven into place, pretty much finishing the kitchen but for some staining, finishing and touching up the cabinets and walls. The bathroom, though, proved a disappointment.

First, as we worked in the basement on getting the wires up and through the walls, we couldn't help but notice the cascade of water (well, a small steady stream) of water coming from the bathroom floor above. It turned out that the toilet I wanted to nurse along through this period of work on the Lower was telling us that it was tired now and wanted to go. So, off I went to add a nice Kohler Wellworth to my list of unexpected expenses. Not an expensive toilet, but nice looking, good on water (1.6 GPF) and an efficient flusher (10 out of 10). David highly recommended this model for price and performance, so I'm passing that on to you.

David tosses the old toilet out
the bathroom window.

You may think that was the end of the surprises in the bathroom, but you're wrong. I still had to remove and replace the damaged tile. I sawed out the grout holding in the first damaged tile so I could loosen it. As I began to work it out with a cold chisel and hammer, I couldn't help but notice that the tiles all around it seemed to be in motion. Huh. I slid my finger under one and pretty much pulled it up from the floor. Then another. Then another. The bond between the thinset and the old fir floor had pretty much completely failed. Now instead of pulling up selected damaged tiles and cementing and grouting new ones in place, and re-grouting the rest, I would have to pull all the tiles up then do the rest. Decision: go back and redo or change the game. David and I decided that it would take far less time just to take up the tile floor and replace it.

Another shopping trip ensued that I had not planned on making. This one, though, worked out better than expected. After doing some research on bathroom floors, I decided that a floating cork floor could work. I wanted a floor fast, so I went to Lumber Liquidators. There, I found slightly damaged lots of cork flooring on sale, and picked up 43 ft2 of Van Gogh pattern for $0.49 per ft2 (rather than $3.79). Even the threshold board cost less: $5 for a six footer rather than $5 per linear foot. Total? $28 for everything.

The beautiful new range and oven in its new home.

Now, since half the tiles (the cork comes in sections that snap together) were damaged on the top, it took David longer to piece a whole floor together, and this added to the cost. In the end though, I estimate the expense was one quarter what it would have been. I didn't get a picture of the result, but it worked out very nicely. And, again, we were able to do it quickly, far more quickly than a tile floor. And it will no doubt be very warm on the feet of renters padding to the bathtub and back in the morning.

On New Year's Eve, the last of the tasks we could do to that time were complete, and I spent the rest of the day clearing tools out and cleaning. I allowed B & S to move in a day early, so as I worked, they and their pals were hauling in furniture. Toward the end of the day, my sister, Nancy, and my niece, Jena, came by to give me a hand with the cleaning, which really, really was welcome. At just about 6pm, I turned the apartment over to B & S and tossed my key to the Lower into my key drawer.

Next week, we'll finish clearing tools off the deck and tackle a few of the odds and ends that we could not finish on NYE. The main sticking point is the entry system, which we have still not been able to get working. Plus, the electric door strike (opener) has still not arrived from the manufacturer.