Monday, March 19, 2012

The work begins... week 1

The first week was consumed primarily with us getting ready for RHD to start on Thurs, 3/15 as was the subject of the last blog.  But it wasn't all just work.  There was some shopping fun too!!

We had to select cabinets for the media room.  We really like the IKEA cabinets that we used in the kitchen/bar area so off we went to IKEA to look at cabinets for the media room.  There will be a 5 foot by 7 foot alcove where we will have some base cabinets and some upper cabinets.  We will mount some shelving about 6 feet up on the back wall to hold the media equipment and the projector.  In front, we will use some low shelving to hold the center speaker and drawers for DVDs.  All of these will be a dark black-brown.

The original idea was to have a simple formica countertop... but... Monica fell in love with a CaesarStone Ruby Reflections quartz countertop.

This red CaesarStone countertop will add a nice burst of color to the media room.
Then it was off to Ferguson plumbing to select the tub, tub hardware and shower hardware.  Fortunately, we had already selected the tub while working with Ryan, the architect.  We chose the Amma alcove tub from Bain Ultra.
The Amma tub is similar to a jetted tub but uses heated air bubbles to agitate the water.  It also has a heated backrest.  We will have a nice stained wood skirt.
This is the hardware for the tub but with a brushed nickel finish.  All the faucets and handles have a cool twist.  Yes, Monica will get a hand shower for the tub.
Of course, Andy didn't want to be left out so we used the same twisting style in the shower.  Andy also added four body sprays.  Two will be at shoulder level and two will be at lower back level to provide a nice vertical massage for his old, old muscles.
Getting the upgraded fixtures, adding the hand shower and four body sprays in the shower pretty much blew out the allowance resulting in the first AWA (Additional Work Authorization).  If you read the blog during the previous renovation, you will know that AWAs are the bane of Andy's existence.

Andy and Anna went tile shopping for the shower and tub surround as well as the backsplash for the media room cabinets.

Tiles for the master bath.  The tile at the bottom is the floor tile which is what Andy has in the master closet and in the media room.  The tile on the right will be on the tub and shower walls.  The 1x1 tiles in the upper center will be on the floor of the shower.  They are an exact match for some of the tiles in the mosaic tile on the left which will be used as accent tiles on the floor and on the walls.

RHD started demo on Thursday.  They ripped out the tub and shower and took nearly that whole wall down to the studs.

The tub used to be here.  The plywood is covering a 3'x4' hole in the wall that will contain glass blocks which, in addition to skylight, should really brighten up the room and add some visual space.
The shower used to be here.  The old shower was walled in with a frosted glass door and a very low ceiling.  The new shower will be fully glass enclosed except for a small wall between it and the tub.  The ceiling will also be higher matching the profile over the tub and will really open up the space.
We did have a bit of a scare.  When they opened up the shower, they found some termite damage.  Fortunately, there were no live bugs to be found.  This was left over from previous owners who did have some termite problems, had it treated and did some remodeling.  We had a pest control expert take a look and he concluded that there was no live bugs.  However, he did suggest treating the opening where the plumbing comes out of the ground as a preventative while everything is open.

Demo also started in the media room.  All of that wainscoting was removed as well as the door and frame to the closet.  All the shelves in the closet was also removed.

The wainscoting is gone as is the closet doors, frame and shelving.

Friday was only a half day where they started framing in various places in the master bath.

Over the weekend, Andy spent a lot of time working on the wiring layout for the media room drawing locations of various locations of speaker, hdmi and power locations.  He had to order some additional hdmi wiring, wall plates and various connectors to add to his already stockpile of speaker wire, cat6 and rg6 cables.

Andy broke out the projector to figure out where to locate the screen, speaker and hdmi connections and power outlets for the screen wall.  If you look close you can see where he marked the locations in red.


Trying to figure out how to place the equipment shelving and locate all of the needed connections.  Andy said it was kind of fun getting to draw on the walls with permanent markers.
Monica has been lobbying for quite a while to have an under-counter ice maker in the media room.  (Too bad we didn't think about it during the kitchen construction).  The issue is that there is no water in the media room or near it for that matter.  Then there is the matter of a drain.  Well, after some coercion from Monica, Andy chatted to Pat about how we could accomplish adding the ice maker.  The first thought was to tie into the guest bathroom, run a water line up into the attic and over to the media room.  Unfortunately that would necessitate tearing a hole in wall of the front bedroom which has wallpaper that would be difficult to repair.  However, Pat had a great idea.  The refrigerator has a water line in the wall between the kitchen and the coat closet which extends under the stairs.  The water line can be run through the wall in the closet over to the hallway, up to the attic and finally down into the media room.  This would require opening up those walls but they will be easy to repair.  The drain then would run through the second bedroom closet to the outside wall... problem solved.  So, Monica will now have her ice maker!!

Electrical, plumbing and more framing should happen during week 2.

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