The project at the rear of 520 is now complete. The renter moved in today. Actually, she has been moving stuff in for the past two weeks.
Some last minute tweaks and fixes:
- The vanity drain leaked. The bottom of the vanity (bathroom sink) drain was pock-marked and grooved. This prevented the rubber seal in the drain pipe from sealing to the ceramic (or porcelain, or whatever it is made of). I tried plumber’s putty, but it still leaked. I called Willms Plumbing; their advice was to just use silicone. So that’s done.
- Some of the floor tiles didn’t want to stay down. I lifted them up, scraped the glue off, added new glue, and put down a new tiles. Expensive way to go! As it turns out, the advice I got from the flooring shop to wait 24 hours was apparently bogus. Another flooring shop said wait only 15 minutes before laying the tile. So that’s why everything was wonky!
- I bought a label maker and added little labels to the light switches so that my tenant doesn’t get confused. There’s a bank of 5 switches plus a 20-Amp outlet – very long array of stuff – and it would be easy to inadvertently turn off they alley security lights.
(I thought I had a pic somewhere. I’ll find it.) - During the -37° weather, the walls next to the waterlines was really cold – not great insulation in the walls yet. So I wrapped all the pipes with foam insulation.
- The floor drain needed a little caulking around it just to smooth it out and make it more finished.
- The kitchen corner cabinet turntable (“lazy susan”) arrived from Rona. It took F and I about 45 minutes to put it in. It’s kind of a waste of space without one. Yes, there are a lot better (and more expensive) contraptions one can get for a corner base cabinet, but this one was $120.
- This is the second medicine cabinet installed. The first one broke as it fell flat on its face while things were still under finishing construction. Glass everywhere. I bought a new mirror for it, but it was not gluing correctly and would potentially be a liability. Imagine the mirror falling off and crashing to the floor! Luckily it wasn’t expensive – $69 at Home Depot.
- I cleaned the floors, cabinets, countertops, vanity, laundry machines, and shower. All dust (as much as I could find) is gone. “I defy you to find any dirt!” (Inside joke.)
- The adjustable closet shelving is all put up, thanks to F‘s help.
- Another task was to put the feet back on the kitchen cabinets. They had to be removed to fix the floor glue issue.
- Another task was to move eight paving stones to create a pad for the new tenant’s shed. It’s tiny – she said 4’x6′ – but I now know it’s longer than 6′. Dang, those 2′ x 2′ pads are heavy!
And now my back and neck are tired and sore. Good night!