My Favorite Stripper is Now Soy

In our continuing quest to spruce up Humphrey House in advance of the Green Home Tour, we're finally getting around to attaching the trim in the first-floor bathroom. While we had removed a lot of adhesive off the original porcelain tiles last spring, there was a slight haze in spaces (noticeably, in the grout). So we took one last stab at it with a new product, and I can happily say, I'll never use another stripper again.

Last month at the Illinois Renewable Energy Fair, we ran into a vendor selling Soy-based industrial cleaning products. One in particular that caught my eye was a Soy-based stripper called Soy-Gel, manufactured in Bloomington, IL. Knowing we had a front door we may want to strip the paint off of, we purchased a liter for $20. Not only is it environmentally safe, but it has very low VOC's when compared to other stripping products, meaning it won't burn a hole in your nose when working with it.

After we purchased it, we decided to paint and not strip the front door. So when i was staring at the bathroom floor one day, I realized that may be a perfect place to try out the soy stripper. I brushed a layer of the gel stuff on the entire floor and let it sit for a few hours (Label said: The longer it remains on surface, the better). After a few hours, I couldn't hold it anymore (and neither could the in-laws who were staying with us), and I went to wipe up the jelly stripper.

As soon as I started rubbing a paper towel across the floor, the gel turned yellow, indicating the gel had lifted up residual adhesive glue. And let me tell you, there was a lot of it. Apparently much more than I had thought. It must have been hiding in the grout! In any case, the floor cleaned up very nicely and the old tiles don't look nearly as aged as they did before. Best of all, there was no lingering smell. Once I washed the floor, any traces were eliminated.

I think this is one of my new favorite products, and I still have half a liter left to use! Hmm.. what to strip, what to strip...

(finished floor)

Bathroom in a Weekend - Part 2: Walls

Although the first floor bathroom had been remodeled before we moved in (indeed, it was redone between the first time Jen saw the house and the first time I saw it), during the three-year mayhem of construction at Humphrey House, it had sorely deteriorated.

Once we uncovered the cool original bungalow floors and decided to go with them, we knew it was time to tackle the walls. I had previously repainted the ceiling and while I had the setup ready for the kitchen ceiling, but the walls had seen many patched holes that I later spot primed, and needed a fresh coat throughout. Well, they got four.

On Saturday, I began with a thorough coat of moisture resistant primer (this is a bathroom with no ventilation fan after all). After letting it set overnight, it was time to tackle the finishing coat. Scott, being the sport he is, offered to help paint before he had some other things to do.

Since the first floor bathroom is such a small room, we planned to reuse some of the myriad gallons of previously used paint that still had some left inside (about 15 cans or so). Jen thought a nice cool white would work well on the walls, so we went with Swiss Mocha leftover from the upstairs painting. So Scott and I cracked open an extra gallon and went to town. It went pretty fast as I cut in and Scott followed me with the roller. Without a toilet or vanity in the room, there was actually a fair amount of space for us both to work in, and things went along smoothly.

Until Jen exclaimed, "Wait, that's too yellow!" Turns out we did not have Swiss Mocha (the mix label on top was too faded), but some kind of creamy yellow. Suddenly the cool bath became draped in muted yellow, that when seen against the pastel blue bathtub, left you feeling that all we need was a dash of pastel pink and we'd have a perfect room for a baby shower. Needless to say, the yellow was out. I didn't have the heart to do this while Scott was still over, so I waited until after he left to redo the paint in a whiter shade.

About two thirds of the way into the new paint color, I heard a voice from behind, "That's still not it." I incredulously turned around to see Jen frowning at the walls I had just painted.
"It's practically white! What are you talking about?"
"No, it's still too warm. I want this room to be cool."And she started to go into some design philosophy as I wondered what i would be like to not be married to a graphic designer.
"Okay, well what color do you like best?" I asked.
"The white that was in here this morning was nice," Jen replied.
"You mean the primer?"
"Yeah, whatever. That was cool. Get it, cool? Let's use that."

I got it all right. So, I went around the room yet again for the fourth time with the same color (primer) that I had used the first time that weekend. Fortunately this primer has a bit of a gloss to it so it will actually relatively easy to maintain. but going through the process certainly wasn't easy!

Bathroom in a Weekend - Part 1: Flooring

Our first floor bathroom (original to our bungalow) has been a utility room of sorts for the last three years. It served as the only bathroom for the first year and a half while we did the second floor. Once that new bathroom was complete and we moved on to redoing out kitchen, our original bathroom became the default utility room.

It was still functional. Indeed, we used the sink as our main source of water for our temporary "college kitchen" while the new kitchen was constructed. But by backing up to the kitchen stove and exhaust hood (and originally on the same electrical circuit), it slowly became part of the construction zone. Coupled with the fact that we started using the bathtub as a utility sink for drywall and painting, it soon became a disaster zone. Especially when we found out about the faulty wiring that was frying slowly in the ceiling!

Enough was enough. We (mostly Jen) were embarrassed to have such a fabulously wonderful new kitchen, only to take a few steps and find a slummed bathroom. So it was with grandiose fervor that Jen announced that the bathroom would be redone prior to our kitchen unveiling party to thank all those who have helped us out.

The plans were to tear up the 1 foot-by-1 foot stick-em tiles that the previous owner had installed, and lay down some ceramic tile, and then replace the 19inch cheapo vanity and fragile medicine cabinet the POs had installed in some half-hearted attempt at "modernizing" the bathroom when they went to sell the house to some unlucky schmucks (which naturally became us).

A few weeks ago, to prove her commitment to the project, Jen took up one of the tiles and found another layer of hideous older adhesive tiles underneath. She then panicked, realizing she may have loosed asbestos in the air. A week later with our wallet $80 lighter, we had certified proof from EMSL that the floor/glue was asbestos free. And so began our first real it-could-really-be-done-in-a-weekend-just-like-on-tv-DIY-project.

We called up some of the usual suspects (Kenny, Scott, Julie) to help us out. Kenny and Jen began removing tiles in the bathroom as we waited for Scott and Julie. Underneath the stick-em and the gaudy 70s non-asbestos gold tile was the original tile floor of the bathroom. As typical for bathrooms in the 1910's, the tiles were small 1" white hexagons set in a deep bed of concrete. I was shocked to see that there were very few that were cracked. In fact the whole floor was very well intact, but had a thick layer of dried glue on it. Jen didn't think it was salvageable (read: pretty) so she and Kenny headed off to buy tile.

While they were at the store, Julie showed up at the house, and upon seeing the floor exclaimed, "Oh you guys have to save that!" and grabbed a nearby chisel to start scraping up the old adhesive. As I agreed with Julie, I joined her and before long, we had about a square foot scraped, shiny and glue-free. When Jen came home, Julie convinced her to try refinishing the tile there instead of laying down a new layer on top by offering to do rest of the scraping herself! Jen acquiesced, and Julie and I set back to work.

Then Kenny came in with some lacquer remover, rubbed it on a spot and - voila! - no more adhesive. He started to use it on the rest of the tile and the glue came right up. (This is strong stuff though, let me tell you - lacquer remover is definitely not low-VOC, and in true dad-as-superman-fashion, Kenny insisted on doing the work and having us leave the room so we weren't affected by the fumes. Apparently his lungs and brain cells are made of steel????)

An hour later, the floor had been restored to a lovely white porcelain tile with blue inlay flower patterns that matched the 1952 baby blue bathtub!

So that's the first part of our Bathroom in a Weekend Story - and it was only the first few hours. WHEW! More to come ...

BEFORE

Finally out of the dungeon

While we've enjoyed the fruits of our labor from two years ago, it is nice to depart the dwelling space of our basement and finally be able to ascend to the second floor. Yes, that's right, our 2nd floor remodel and dormer bath is complete.

We managed to finally pass all our inspections (after multiple attempts), including the Final Building inspection today, and we can now inhabit the area as living space! I really don't know if the emotions can properly be put down into words, so here are some photos of the finished space.

The master bedroom...


Looking down the hallway to the 2nd Bedroom (love the salvaged oak doors we found for our laundry area!)...


And the cool serenity of our completed bathroom...


I'm sure Jen will find more photos to post, but I couldn't wait to get something up. Now we have a nice peaceful area to live in while we dream, plan, and work on creating a kitchen for the first floor.

Reclaimed Vanity

As our new dormer bathroom as nearing completion, we started looking for cabinetry. Although our width was a standard 6 feet wide, we only planned for one sink and it would need to be not centered but right-justified. We quickly found prices for just cabinetry escalating to the $500-800 stratosphere, and that was without a countertop or sink!

So we started scouring demolition sales, ebay, and Craigslist, and lo and behold, a nice marble-topped maple cabinet came up that was 54", but had the sink in place right where we needed it. It had been ripped out of somebody's Lincoln Park townhouse and needed some repair in teh back, but Jen fell in love with the fossilized trilobites and the price couldn't be beat: $200.

Jen's dad came up and worked some cabinet wizardry to get it into shape again, and helped prepare it for our unusual plumbing configurations upstairs. A little bit of glue, extra reinforcement, and a few saw cuts later, we had it in place. It definitely gives an upscale feel to our new bath.

All we need now is a faucet and it will be complete!

Tile Style

Before our drywall contractor went missing, he recommended a tile expert (tilist?) for our new bathroom. While we could probably tackle the floor tile ourselves, the custom all-tiled shower and tub surround with niche was intimidating so we decided to look for expert assistance.

As Jen is a graphic designer, it naturally took us about 3 weeks to find the right tile. :-) Seriously though, we wanted a combination that would fit the room, blend with the house, and take advantage of the soft northern exposure. We decided to go with a "cool" color palette, by mixing in some mosaic-ish slate with a smokey grey main tile, and a nice slate border that is contemporary with its colors, yet has a long horizontal feel to match the prairie-style of our house. The floor, yet to be installed, will be a greenish-grey with accent points that pick up the border's colors.

Well after last weekend, Zoran completed the tub and shower areas and the results are outstanding! The floors are up next..

To mix or to match, that is the question ...

So last summer when the home expo jason's mom was working at was closing (in aurora), I swung by for the last few days of the sale and found some sconces I totally loved. They weren't a matching set, but they were from the same series. They were 70% off, and I had to buy them. So I did, and then set them aside for later. Lo and behold, in December there was a sale at homedepot online and I was able to pick up the mates to each sconce for roughly the same price I got them at expo! Here they are ...

As you can see, they are rust-colored with frosted glass and a satin nickel tip. We're putting the single ones in the bathroom, each flanking the tub, and the doubles are going into the bedroom, each flanking the entry area.

But here's the dilemma .... do we have to match our faucets to the fixtures? While a rust or oil-rubbed bronze would match nicely with these fixtures, I'm afraid they are probably going to be out of our budget, considering we have to purchase not only the sink, but a separate tub fixture as well as two different fixtures for the shower (one for the showerhead, and a different one for the shower sliding bar thingy (dontcha love my pro terminology? sorry, I lose nouns a lot). I'm thinking brushed nickel would be a lot more affordable, but is it taboo?

Wall covering has come

Drywall started magically appearing on the walls of our attic. At least, that how it seems when you leave for work and come home with new walls! What a difference hiring the pros makes - talk about the ultimate Easy Button!

Our garage was full of drywall - 70 sheets! - at the beginning of the week and we're down to about 10 now (sidenote: always buy extras for any project. Going back to return unused merchandise is so much more rewarding than running out to get more of something in order to finish the job!). We're installing several different types of drywall:

• Standard 1/2" 4-foot by 8-foot sheets on the walls


• Standard 5/8" 4-foot by 8-foot sheets on the ceilings


• Standard 3/8" 4-foot by 8-foot sheets on top of older damaged 3/8" drywall in our stairwell


• 1/2" 3-foot by 5-foot cementboard (Durock) in the shower and tile area surrounding the bathtub


• Moisture-resistant "greenboard" 1/2" 4-foot by 8-foot sheets in the bathroom

The most interesting is the cement-board and greenboard in the bathroom. When Sara came by and saw the greenboard the other day she said "wow, you've already started painting in here!" Sorry Sara, but not quite. "Greenboard" contains an oil-based additive in the green colored paper covering that provides moisture resistance. Since we're adding a steam shower in our bathroom, we're making sure every surface has this installed.

The cement board, while difficult (and heavy!) to work with, is much better for wet water areas like our custom sized shower. Greenboard is not suitable for backerboard in this instance, and as of 01/2006 is no longer accepted in building code (International Residential Code R702.3.8). So grudgingly, I admit that building codes have their uses. I don't want to lean against the wall while taking a shower and have my hand fall through it like others have done.

So now that most of the wallboard is installed (only cementboard to go), our crew is working on the next step - plastering all the joints and screwholes. And then comes the messy part - sanding. I'm already trying to seal off the rest of the house so we have at least some kind of dust-free zone.

Stud-ly help before the drywall comes

Monday morning, we had our drywalling contractors come to begin finishing our attic. The only problem was, we weren't ready for them yet. There was still the shower to frame, closets to build, and several other punchlist items to take care of. I knew it would be a long hard weekend.

Saturday began early with John showing up at 8:30 to reroute the plumbing vent for the shower drain (which was finished before the wall was built, and was inside the shower area). He also brought some thick 40 mil liner that we lined the bottom of the shower with to create our custom shower pan. This liner will be the last line of defense for the ceiling below in case any water gets underneath the tile that will be the base of the shower. Due to the zoning setback requirements, our bathroom addition got squeezed a bit, and it will likely be most noticeable in the shower, which will be 30" wide. Hopefully making it 42" long will help compensate for the narrow width. It will be tight, but I think we can make it work. While John was here, we also ran a 1/2" copper line from the basement to the bottom of the shower area. This will be for the steam generator we purchased that will give us a much-needed retreat after a hard day's work! I can't wait for to try that out.

Saturday bonus: Our tub came in earlier than expected so we received it with the drywall delivery on Saturday, so while John was here we moved the tub up and mounted it (screwed) into place. We didn't have all the parts to hook up the drain yet, so there's still some work left, but at least we know what we have (and what we need) now!

Sunday was the big day that was our deadline. There was two day's worth of work to do in one day, so I did the only thing possible to help: I hit the Easy Button and Scott and Julie came over to help us wrap things up. They began by wrapping the interior shower ceiling and walls in plastic sheeting that will keep moisture from the steam getting to the wood underneath. We also carved out a niche for shampoo bottles, ran some speaker wire, put interior glass block windows to brighten the rooms, and Julie got to play stud-finder and marked stud locations on the floors for future reference. Of course, we had to clean everything up and move everything out so the drywallers had room to move.

But we did it. We wrapped everything up by 8:00 and we were ready for the drywallers to come on Monday.

And then at 10:30 sunday night, after looking over everything one last time, Jen asked, "So, how do we turn the steam shower on and off?"
"There's a separate control," I replied.
"Oh ok. Where is it?"
"It will be on this wall of the shower, and goes on after the tile is installed. Then you just connect it to the control cable right here... Oh wait a minute. The cable isn't there! Ahhh..." I screamed, realizing I had to run the cable really quickly.

So, we were finally ready just before midnight. But hey, we still met the Monday deadline!

Another Eventful Day.

Today was an.. Interesting day. Sometimes, it truly seems that the sagas never end when renovation is going on. Today, in fact, could quite possibly be described as a series of unfortunate events:

a) We found out the window we picked out earlier this week won't work. A window above a bathtub (less than 5' off the ground) must be made of tempered glass (like an auto windshield), so that if you slip and fall when stepping out of the tub, you don't shatter the glass and slice your legs off. Yes, it's part of the building code. Fortunately, our alley-neighbor Mike (who is graciously letting Jay park his truck in one of his spaces) sells Andersen windows. So we put in an order for tempered, obscured glass with a nice Prairie-style grill. Should be here in 3 weeks.

b) After ordering a 4'-wide window, we discovered the contractors had already framed the opening. At 3'-wide. Fortunately, we were able to change our window order.


c) Around 11am, Mike called Jay to tell him the dumpster truck was here to pick up the full dumpster. But Jay's truck (parked in Mike's lot as previously mentioned) was in the way. Jen had to leave work to go move it.

d) Shortly before noon, the contractor's office called Jay to inform him the dumpster had been successfully loaded on the truck. The problem was that now the truck could not leave due to a different car that was in the way. Jay asked which car, but they didn't know, so they gave him the phone number for JL Rolloff.

e) After a few unsuccessful attempts, Jay got a hold of JL Rolloff moments after noon. The dispatcher said, "oh yeah, our driver just left there. It took him awhile but finally he was able to get three other guys (Mike the neighbor + 2 of the carpenters), and they lifted(!) the car in question and pushed it out of the way.

f) Meanwhile, back INSIDE the house, actual work was being accomplished. Specifically, framing the three exterior walls of the dormer. Here's the eye-candy:



g) Apparently, while working on cutting some of the lumber in the backyard, the foreman Arthur, was injured by one of the other workers throwing out pieces of our roof. Jen tried to offer him ibuprofen or something for his apparently broken ankle, but he refused.

h) Arthur did tell Jay as he was leaving that he would return tomorrow morning to frame the roof of the dormer. "On a Saturday?!?" Jay asked. "Why not?" he replied, "But maybe we be a little later, maybe 8 instead of 7 turdy." "Yeah," Jay said. "Sleep in a little - it IS Saturday after all."

Wow. Lately, there has been a lot of discussion about how immigrants "ruin" the availability for jobs for American citizens. From what I've seen this week, legal status isn't what people competing for these jobs should be concerned about. The work ethic of these guys has been amazing. They work from 7:30am to 5:30pm or so every day and only take a 30-minute lunch (sometimes shorter). Hard work and dedication, to me, are the spirit that the American dream was built on. Inpsiring.

So maybe not everything that happened to day was unfortunate. But it certainly was eventful.

Plans (cont.)

"Now that we have covered Kitchen remodeling, what other grand plans do the two of you have on your new house?"

Glad you asked!

We really miss having two bathrooms, and with four bedrooms (even three if we remove one to expand the kitchen), we really need to get another one in there. Plus, we don't really feel like going up and down two flights of stairs for each load of laundry.

So we're planning to put a 13 foot shed dormer on the north end of the house, to feature a new bathroom. Good thing Jay's mom is a bath designer and his stepdad is a plumber! Talk about a match for the ages :) She is presently furiously transcribing the vision into reality on the drafting table so Jay can take blueprints over to Village Hall tomorrow and submit plans for the permits. Thanks so much Vivian!!

Anyway, the photos are to big for the blog, but here are links to our plans (will open in new a new window).

View Existing First Floor

View Existing Second Floor

View Revised Second Floor

New Bathroom Plan:


Kinda rough, but at least it gives you something to go on :)

Did you see those Winder stairs? Man those things are scary going down - especially if you're carrying anything and can't see below you.

We'd like to try and expand those out and make a landing as shown in the Proposed drawing, but they may not meet the 36" width required by code. We'll have to see on that.