Day 14 – A Bathroom at Rocket Speed

Food-wise, friends, I've been doing well. There are many questions left to answer, though I am ashamed to admit today that I don't know how to ask those questions. I will figure it out, in due time. I do my best thinking in the bathtub…

…ah yes. The bathtub. It's still on order.

The bathroom 1.0 had an exhaust fan that drew humidity up out of the room and deposited it in the insulation, between the ceiling and the roof decking. That no good. The fan is gone, as is seven or eight square feet of ceiling. Since Thursday, that hole has been patched, all wallboard holes have been patched, a first coat of oil-based primer has been applied to all dark areas of the bathroom, joints in the wallboard have been filled with joint compound, and more than half of the tiling has been completed.

The company I found to be the best fit for tile is American Olean (http://americanolean.com). All of their material (or at least, all that I saw) is made in the U.S. and their variety is almost endless. For those of us on the cheap, they have subway tile at a quarter a tile, which is pretty damn good. I needed square tile and that was only a little more for the "bright white" variety. It scores and splits easily.

Insofar as flooring goes, there is a "sheet vinyl" flooring made by Armstrong (http://www.armstrong.com) that stays flat without glue. That will be my solution for the bathroom. But why would staying flat without glue be a plus???

Because I was close to burning my goddamn house down instead of ripping out my fingernails and catching shards of splintered wood with my eyes when I tried to remove the old glued-down flooring… that's why! Simple is key to everything. If you need glue to keep something flat, then the good lord does not mean for that thing to be flat in the first place, so let it go on its merry way.

I will – boldly – estimate something for you now, Dear Reader. As today is Sunday, I will be done with the bathroom by the end of next Sunday, save the vanity and the medicine cabinet, which I have yet to source.

It has been very hot here these last few days. That leads to many outcomes. For one, showering outside in the heat is just fine indeed. For another, the chickens have slowed their egg production. I'm getting only two eggs a day at best and have none to spare at this time. The uncertainty of egg production has made this challenge that much harder.

Honestly, I'm impressed people made it this far as a species without giving out to something…

All the best.