Mario came in today at about 10 and got a ton of work done on the bathroom. When last we left, we were still discussing what to do with the attic stairs, the opening to the closet, the lighting situation, and whether or not to keep the door between the two rooms intact. My neighbor Eric the electrician stopped over to discuss the changes in floorplan we’ve made and how they would affect the wiring he and I installed five years ago. Along the way we discussed some updates to the overall plan and made a strategy for the next couple of weeks.

old windows and wall structure before Mario chopped it out

The biggest change we’ve made is to reorient the closet from a small 3′ wide single to a cavernous 7′ wide double. This affects the doorway we put in between the two sections and how we’ll heat the whole room as well as the lighting and switches. The new closet comes at the price of two windows, but they’re on the back corner of the house and nobody will miss them, especially when we’re enjoying our nice hot shower. We also heeded some advice and will put in an electric wall heater on a programmable thermostat, which will heat a 200 sq. ft. room as needed and then maintain a reasonable temperature for the rest of the day. We’re installing radiant floor heat but what we were told is that this won’t heat the room, just make the tile feel nice.

looking at the closet, new back windows installed with stairs removed and floor stringers in place

Mario chopped the stairs off today and started leveling the floor in the back half which makes the whole space feel cavernous. He finished framing around the back windows, studded out all the walls, and hung drywall along the back of the closet. Can I just say, holy shit we have a BIG-PEOPLE CLOSET. After 30 years, countless apartments and two houses, a closet to put our shit in that isn’t the size of a cereal box. With lights inside! We were so excited we went out to Lowe’s and looked at light fixtures and cabinets to start thinking ahead to what we want.

The new windows are lovely. We notice an immediate difference in the amount of sound transmitted between the bedroom and the bathroom–it’s much quieter with the new windows. I’m going to have Will the window guy come back out in the spring and give me numbers for the rest of the old windows on the first floor so that we can start saving our pennies.

Date posted: November 4, 2017 | Filed under bathroom, house | Leave a Comment »

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