On the very remote chance that someone's worrying themselves sick about where I disappeared to, for the past couple of weeks, I've been working on a "simple" remodel of a bathroom that seems to have spiraled out of control in the typical way that usually happens with most of my remodeling jobs. It started out as a simple job of painting and replacing the flooring, then grew to include some tile work which led to some plumbing work, which all eventually evolved to include a partial gut-job of most of the bathroom, a lot of drywall work, and some fancy-dancy ceiling texturing. Thankfully, I was able to stop the madness before I ended up replacing the plumbing fixtures and all of the lighting.
It's been awhile since I've tackled a job like this, in the past I've remodeled an entire house
almost single-handedly, built a small 500 sq.ft. building
(super-insulated, stained concrete floors, even a bathroom), remodeled a
kitchen, a few bathrooms, and tackled various other smaller projects. But for whatever reason, on this remodeling job it seems like I've somehow lost my remodeling mojo (I still have the skills to do it, I'd just rather be doing something else) and everything seems to be taking forever to finish.
Losing my remodeling mojo might be because I'm just getting older, I'm more of a perfectionist than I used to be, I'm only working a few hours per day on it at a time (still gotta take care of the cows and walk around the pastures every day), or it always took this long to do my projects in the past and I didn't realize it back then. Or, it could be all of the above.
All I know is that I'll be glad when I'm finished with this bathroom project so I can go back to work on more important projects like finally building my portable windbreak, welding the hell out of various stuff that needs the hell welded out of it, cutting down cedars, making bio-char, or fence building.
I'll spare you the boring details of my bathroom remodel, but stay tuned for exciting updates on welding stuff, blocking the wind, and watching grass grow.
Man, I hear you and I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who seemingly has run out of some steam on projects such as this.
ReplyDeleteIt wouldn't be that big of a deal if I wasn't a pathological do-it-yourself at all costs sort of guy. If I know how to do it, I'd rather not have someone else do something that I can do myself.
DeleteI'll probably live to be ninety years old and will meet my maker after I fall off of the roof while I'm mumbling under my breath about how I'd rather be doing something else besides tearing off all these old shingles so I can fix the roof.
I hear you on that one too.
DeleteFor me, bathrooms are the worst. Because they are mostly small in nature, I always feel like a bull in a china shop when remodeling one. I need more space to do my thing.
ReplyDeleteBathrooms have so many little details that have to be dealt with and so many things that have to built in stages that it feels like it will never end. Until you tear into a bathroom, you don't realize that there is so much stuff to deal with like plumbing, tiling, multiple light fixtures, sinks, tubs, toilets, faucets, caulking this and that, cabinets, a place to put this kind of towel, another place to put that kind of towel, the soap has to go over there, etc.
DeleteAnd, I swear that there are more corners and edges that have to be painted in a small bathroom than there are in a bigger room (how is that even possible?).
If I don't jinx it by talking about it (and the toilet blows up or something), I'm "this" close to finally being done. I decided to tile around the tub, I'm not looking forward to doing it, and so I've been putting it off as long as I can. As soon as I kick myself in the butt and actually get to work on that tile, I'm finally going to be finished, and hopefully I'll be able to semi-retire from the whole do-it-yourself bathroom remodeling business.
Details kill you. I spent around five months on my most recent bathroom remodel and I went into it thinking it would only take a month. Tiling is the one part I enjoy in a bathroom remodel because I can be slow and methodical and feel sanitary when done. When I'm hugging the porcelain throne trying to get it bolted down correctly without cracking after having scraped all the buildup on the flange before placing the new wax ring down, I just feel so dirty and it takes a few showers to get that feeling off.
ReplyDeleteI don't look forward to jobs like tile work because it's more permanent work and much harder to fix if something goes wrong or isn't perfect. Bolting a toilet down is something that can be done and redone a thousand times because it's not a permanent type of job.
DeleteThat way of thinking might also reveal more about some of the bad choices I've made in life than how I look at a bathroom remodeling job.