This Lo Life

This was an intense two days, thanks to the assistance and prodding from my cousin, Steve. Steve's a DIY'er, having completed many projects in their own home. It so happened that he was going to be in So Cal for a family trip and he graciously offered to help me out at the condo. I jumped at the offer. With his help, we smoothed out the bumpy concrete between the dining and family room, fixed a leaky angle stop (that's a whole other story), installed the vanity and countertop, faucet, light fixture, mirror, medicine cabinet, towel bar; organized my tools and supplies; and encouraged me to keep going. Thanks Steve! After he rolled out of town, I finished the bathroom by installing the toilet and a doorstop. All I have to do now is buy and install a recessed toilet paper holder and it will be complete.

Overall, the results of the pour are good. There were some small cracks in various places on the floor, many of them were where the poured concrete came to together. I think this is to be expected. In the end, it's all meant to level the floor and not something structural. The two down sides were the area beneath the AC unit, by the patio door and the transition between the dining and family room. It didn't get as much concrete as there should have been so it continues to have small slope. I think I'll let this one go because it's a little used area and should not make that much of a difference. The transition between the dining and family room was bumpy and uneven. I don't think I did a very good job of smoothing the later poured concrete onto the semi-set concrete that we had to leave because all of our mixers gave up. I didn't want to mess with that area too much because I felt handling too much would have caused more problems. I think I'll be able to...

The night before the pour, I looked over the 1/2" hammer drill I bought from Harbor Freight (HF) and discovered I was missing the chuck key (to loosen and tighten the part that holds the bits). I decided I had to go to back first thing in the morning to exchange the drill. The next morning, L and I went to HF where I decided a 1/2" drill felt like too much. I exchanged it for a smaller 3/8" drill because I didn't know what I was going to do with a 1/2" drill in the future. I had no further plans to use such a large drill. Whereas the 3/8" is smaller and a little lighter. I thought this would make it more versatile. So I got the 3/8" drill. L and I got to the condo and primed the floor for the concrete and soon after, C and J showed up to help up. I sat everyone down and explained the goal, the process and responsibilities of the project. We set up the mixing area and everyone looked good and ready to go. Until we got to the drill. One thing you n...

With the help of Scott and Nate, we prepared the floor for concrete for next Saturday. We went around the place rolling on the Redgard Waterproofing and Crank Prevention Membrane . This membrane stabilizes lightweight and gypsum concrete surfaces, which is in our condo. This stuff is really easy to apply. You just roll or paint it onto the floor and let it dry. Since this is gypsum concrete, we had to first apply a primer, a diluted version of the Redgard. That application dried in about an hour. Next, we applied a full strength coat to the floor and then we were done for the day. I think it took the three of us an afternoon to complete. I feel confident about this step because I've already done it in the bathroom. Now, it's just a larger area. Photos courtesy of Nate.

It's just about show time. I'm going to pour about 500 sq ft of leveling concrete in the kitchen, dining & family rooms, and hallway. In total, it's going to take 600 lbs of concrete to do the job. I bought a corded 1/2" electric drill to mix the concrete with because I know a battery powered drill will not last through at least 12 minutes of mixing such a thick substance like concrete. (Previously, I mixed two 50 lbs bag of concrete for the bathroom and about one minute into the first mix, I could start to smell something burning in the drill. Thankfully, it lasted through both mixes.) I called the Custom Building hotline and got some more help from them. The contact I prefer to talking with the most offered to hook me up with a medium sized barrel to simultaneously mix two bags in. I was stoked! This would cut my mix time by half and if I planned it well enough, I'd have another single five gallon bucket mixing one bag of concrete at a time-making it even f...

I spent the week patching the kitchen. From the last post, you might have noticed the splotchy areas with different colors of paint. I had to repair those areas prior to painting the kitchen. So I went around with primer and joint compound to fix and smooth those areas out.

The floor of the kitchen, dining room, family room and hallway are all gone. With the help of Jennifer and Aaron, we were able to pull up the floor in about two hours. Thank goodness it was laminate and a floating (not glued or fastened) floor so we could pull everything up by hand. It was amazing how much room such flooring can take. It seemed like the pile got higher and higher as we pulled it up. The remaining grey surface is the rubber pad that sits between the concrete floor and the laminate. It acts as a cushion and provides some sound dampening between the units.

Nate and I completed the demolition of the kitchen. Most of the cabinets were in pretty good shape so I decided to save them to practice hanging up in preparation of the new kitchen install. We were able to take down the cabinets and transport them into my garage all in one evening.

Remodeling has quite the emotional component to it. It's filled with many ups and downs and I just experienced a really big downer. I hit a real low point after the vanity install frustration. I spent a whole afternoon struggling with it but to no avail. I found myself staring at the still detached vanity wondering to myself if I could really go any further. "Can't I just hire the rest of this remodel out?" I asked myself. "No, I just can't afford it, which means I'm stuck having to do this project." I felt overwhelmed and stressed out. Yet, despite these feelings remained a flicker of hope and self-confidence. There was an another still small voice in me that said, "I still want to do this thing." I shared with my wife the valley I was crawling through at this point in the remodel and the ray of hope that remained within me. I gathered myself again and sat down to make an outline on how I'd approach the rest of the remodel. I wrote...

I struggled for a whole afternoon trying to install the kids' bathroom vanity. I was feeling quite hopeful that I'd be able to install the bathroom vanity in one afternoon. Turns out that wouldn't be the case. First, I discovered I was going to have to redesign and reconnect the drain pipe into the main waste pipe. Second, I was going to have to cut away some portions of the vanity for the pipes to fit inside it. That took a little bit of planning but I eventually got that done. Finally, the best case scenario for installing a vanity is to level it and secure it to the wall by screwing it into some studs. Well, I could only find one stud to drill into. I found the stud pretty quickly and marked it's location. I even tested it by drilling into it. But then, I couldn't find anymore. Typically, they're spaced 16" apart but my stud finder was telling me otherwise. I knocked and I knocked on the wall listening for the thud of a stud. Nothing. I kept swee...

I got some massive help from three friends of mine from church. I sent out a request for assistance and three of them said 'yes' for the same day and time! This had never happened to me and I wasn't quite sure how to dole out enough tasks for everyone. I started the morning out by going to Home Depot and Lowe's for supplies and materials. One item were two pieces of 12' base molding. In preparation, I researched methods of transporting long items in small cars and found this blog post on the very subject. It definitely helped me figure out how to get them into my car. It worked out quite well. The only surprise was my hatchback wanted to close on the baseboard, which left some scuff marks. I pulled over on the way to the condo and wrapped a towel around the baseboards to prevent any further marring. The guys, Paul M, David K, and Scott K, showed up and got to work. At one point, some of them had already finished their simple tasks and needed some more work. ...