Tim "The Toolman" Taylor would scoff

But I think Al Borland would cut me a little slack.

So Lisa and Sophie went away for a week and I decided to use the week to make one improvement around the house. It was a no brainer - I talked to our landlord, and she happily agreed to buy the materials to upgrade our bathtub's surround. Though the photos will probably make it clear what I'm referring to, our bathtub is also our shower, so it has plastic liner on the walls that were, um... Well, if a photo's worth 1,000 words, here's a two page essay on what we had:


I started immediately when I got home from work on Friday night so that I could shower by Sunday morning (the glue and the caulk need to cure for 24 hours). I quickly realized I would need some help installing the panels so I did what anyone in my situation would do - I called my home teacher and asked if he could drop everything and come help for an hour. He was smart enough to still take his wife out to dinner, but he and his wife stopped by afterwards and stayed - for a little longer than three hours - until it became aparent I would not finish in one night.


We had three complications. First, I wasn't sure how to remove the water spout - was there a hidden screw, did I just need to pull harder? We called three dads and finally got an answer - use the monkey wrench and twist! While I did that, Brad measured where to cut holes for the water spout, etc. Second problem - we realized the tub was severly sloped. We broke out the level to guestimate how much to adjust our measurements by so the surround could be straight across the top.


That leaves the third problem - we didn't have the right tools to cut holes! We improvised using a utility knife, large drill bits - including spade bits, and a saw on my swiss army knife. We finally put the adhesive on the back and mounted all the sides and I sent Brad and Kim home. After they left, I sat down to read the installation instructions (I know, a little late in the game) and they suggested letting the adhesive cure for 24 hours before doing anything (i.e. caulking). So much for that Sundy morning shower! I was glad to go to bed though!

Bright and early Saturday morning, I ran out to buy some gap filling foam - cool stuff! You'll note the big hole on the corner of the tub in the photo above. There was a matching hole on the other outside corner, and an old light socket that also needed to be filled in. While filling the holes, I realized the adhesive needed to be reapplied to some areas, so I came up with the contraption below, using the shower rod, to hold the siding in place while the ahesive cured so I could go on a ten mile hike at Manassas National Battlefield Park - will have to blog about that later.


When I got home from the hike, I started caulking - and ran into my second delay - the gap between the tub and the bottom of the siding was about 1.5 inches at the edge. There was no way I was going to get a vertical gap that big filled in one night - add another day to the project and another day I'd have to trudged to the church late at night to shower. I took Sunday off to visit my brother in law Jim who suprised me, and my second-cousin-in-law Oliver, Kristin and Clara - that's a story in and of itself that Oliver has already told! Monday night got back to work with a vengeance. I filled holes and cracks that had appeared in the caulk, sanded a plastered and sanded again the old like switch hole, washed all the fixtures which had been soaking in a water and vinegar mix to remove water stains (wire brush and elbow grease removed all the paint) and finally finished about 2 am, when I trecked to the church again for my shower. Wednesday night I just cleaned up the mess I had made in the bathroom, as well as the rest of the house. Not wanting to shower before Lisa saw it, I made my fourth trip to the church for a late shower.

When Lisa came home, this is what was waiting for her (add the shower curtain in your mind's eye). I think it's a significant improvement. So did my landlord, who offered to reduce our rent as a thank you!


Last but not least, here is a more dramatic side by side comparison:


I this this is a record for the amount of links in one of my posts!