Yes, I am bad about writing in my blog...I was talked into starting it, remember? I stay busy and the past several months have been busier than normal. I did have a good garden this past Spring and Summer, canned and froze a lot of vegetables. But on top of that I fought my property appraisal, which took some time to prepare for and some running around. I also refinanced our house, which also took a lot of time, finding a lender, having to go to the tax office more, having to get a new appraisal, but having to split my property back the way it was before. It Texas, most lenders will not lend you money on your house if you have an agricultural exemption on the property...so I changed it. The house and one acre is homesteaded now, and the rest of the property is agricultural. I have to pay taxes separately on the 18.58 acres now, but we own that part outright now. It also required to have a new survey done, which also meant more time and money. Lenders are different when you try and do a cash out refinance in Texas, many turn you down flat. We wanted some extra cash to make some repairs and get a new HVAC system installed. I did not get enough money!
The past several weeks, OK, maybe getting close to two months...my house has been a construction zone. All we wanted to do was to remodel the Master Bath and take out the huge jetted tub and put a shower in it's place, well and new flooring, a new light, sink and vanity. Get the toilets seated properly and move the old vanity in the Master Bath to the Office Bath. But, because of discoveries it has lead to having to have plumbing redone completely in all three bathrooms! I still have no walls in the Master Bath, but I did get insulation put in the outer wall, because...well it has gotten rather cold. It is suppose to get down in the teens tonight too...and stay below freezing the next couple of days. It will be pretty cold all week. I am afraid that if I didn't get the insulation put into the outer wall, how cold would it be in my bathroom...and attached bedroom? A good friend is helping me out n this project, my Surrogate Son Mark. He knows how to do most of this stuff, thank god. There have been setbacks though, and now Holidays...and I watch his son while he works. I have been wanting to paint and lay flooring, but I am trying to wait, trying to be patient (which is hard for me) until the plumbing part is complete. I don't wan to have to redo anything, I can't afford to first off...I should have asked for more money on the refinance, but I really didn't know how bad things would be in the walls. You would have thought, as much HGTV as I have watched, I would have known to double it! Something happened and my kitchen floor is messed up too, I have to put down flooring in at least one more bathroom, a toilet got broken and with the new one being attached to the floor now...you can tell how terribly unlevel the floor is, in the office bathroom. The floor needs to be leveled out before flooring can be laid...but it is the only fully functioning bathroom at the moment. The Master Bath only has the toilet and the guest Bath is functioning only as a powder room with just the sink and toilet. The Master and Guest bathtub/shower plumbing is hooked together and it was all leaking inside the wall...good thing is, there was a big hole in he slab that the water dripped into.
We have discovered that the slab is probably hydrolic cement, but not very thick in spots. After Mark gets the plumbing soldered up we will have to fill in the holes and still have to set the shower pan and plumb the drain for it. I didn't know you had to cement them in...lol, I am learning about what it takes though. Oh and the foot thick walls have insulation with a plastic over them on the outer wall, and then the walls we have opened do have something like R-13 in addition to that. The metal beams inside the walls seem to transfer the cold though, and there is a great big one that runs up and down through the shower wall, and another smaller one horizontally running against that beam. Gonna have to insulate around them better, maybe with foam board or something. I don't like taking a shower in the winter in there at least not when it is below freezing outside. I put R-30 insulation in the outside shower wall and Mark put the old R-13 in the wall between the rooms, but it has been getting down in the low sixties in there even with that, but, I haven't covered the beams yet either. There is also no cement board up yet and no vapor barrier either. Not yet...I need to build my shower niche before I do that and maybe spray foam that. This has turned into a do it yourself project, I am thankful for Mark and his plumbing expertise. I called several people for bids on the project, two did not show up and Mark graciously offered his help. I will watch his son when he is ready to get the ball rolling on his home remodel, maybe help when I can too. Oh, I forgot to mention he and his family moved out in this area too! They are only about 12 miles away now. Now, if I could only get my son's and their families out here, that would be great!
I must go out and feed my poultry and let them out now. That is just a fraction of what has been happening around here! Lol, and I still have my chicken chores, laundry, shopping and regular home maintenance too...on top of it all!
