It’s been a while since the last post. Jacquela and Steven have tackled small jobs all over the house.
Today, Alpha Glass installed the wall mirror in the upstairs hall bath — one of the last “big” interior jobs.
Polishing off the upstairs hall bath
Tag Archives: bath
Taking apart the shelf in the shower
The grout under the gray quartz shelves in the master shower cracked, giving water a route to the structure behind the tile. We discovered this in July. Jacquela and Steven have used the shower in the hall bath since, to ensure no more water penetrates behind the tile and into the lumber.
Today, Joe from Austin Stone carefully chiseled the grout away from the quartz shelf, freeing the shelf, exposing the blue waterproofing that was applied to keep the lumber dry. In turn, that revealed how the shelf was cemented — with the same epoxy grout used to seal the joints between wall and floor tiles. This epoxy grout is inflexible — which means … it apparently cracked apart as it cured and as the shower pan and walls settled.
For the next step — Odell from Ranserve and Joe applied silicon to the blue waterproofing. Silicon is flexible where grout is not. This will allow the shelf to “float” as the house continues to settle. Finally, they set the shelf into the silicon — to spend the weekend curing into position.
Oh, crap. Again
The main drain line under the slab, from the mudroom, under the kitchen, under the office, to the whole-house cleanout at the front of the house, plugged. Again. And flooded the mudroom bath. Again. With crap coming up in the mudroom through the shower drain and from under the toilet. At 830 pm.
Ron Dahlke from Ranserve asked Steven to call for help.
Jose from AAA Auger arrived about 930. As Steven donned rubber gloves to mop up the mess, Jose snaked the drain line from the cleanout in the garage at the back of the mudroom bath. No joy. Jose snaked the line from the main cleanout at the front of the house. No joy. We determined that bath 3 and Jadin’s bath still functioned. We arranged for Jose to return in the morning with a more-powerful snake and his camera.
About 930 am the next morning, Jose inserted the camera into the drain line. We discovered a “belly” in the drain line where it intersects with the line that drains the sink. Everything collects in the belly.
Steven asked Jose to call for the hydraulic power wash needed to flush the line clean.
Here’s the special nozzle fitted to the end of a standard hose. There’s a main jet at the front end of the nozzle; that jet dislodges the crap. A series of smaller jets at the back end of the flange on the nozzle push the crap down the line, flushing the line clean.
It worked. Yay.
Ron Dahlke arrived to consult. Jose alerted Ron to the belly in the drain line. Steven asked Ron to research a technique that “re-lines” the inside of the existing pipe — as an alternative to trenching under the foundation by hand, digging out the old pipe, replacing the old pipe with PVC, backfilling the trench — a labor-intensive process that takes weeks and costs multiple tens of thousands of dollars. The alternative approach sandblasts corrosion out of the old cast-iron pipe, sprays an epoxy onto the interior walls of the pipes, inserts a balloon into the pipe to hold the epoxy to the walls of the pipe, deflates and removes the balloon — and reportedly leaves behind a cast-iron pipe that is lined with a PVC-like material to which nothing adheres, which means the crap flows to the sewer line at the street — as it is supposed to operate.
Stay tuned.
We don’t want to have to do this again in six months.
New discovery for punch list
The grout under the shelves in the master shower is separating between the underside of the quartz shelves and the vertical wall tiles. The gap is one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch wide.
Jacquela makes the discovery while cleaning the shower — which means this fault is new, because the shower was cleaned two weeks ago and this problem did not exist.
Are the shelves lifting? Are the walls and floor of the shower settling?
Steven takes pix and reports the new problem to Ranserve.
Two steps forward
Julian and Samuel today completed work on the new floor in the master shower. Tomorrow, we scrub-a-dub for the first time without walking down the hall to bath 3 — if the plumbing is not blocked.
Kyle and Andrew from Cowart arrived mid-morning to tweak the garage doors. The checked the sensors — looking for what triggers an intermittent error message on the door to the new garage bay. Nothing. So they opted to install a new wall control — in part because one of the paddle switches was broken.
After that, Kyle and Andrew drove to Sea Eagle to inspect and adjust one of the garage doors that would not operate — the sensors were out of alignment.
Mosaic remediation
Jacquela objected to the mis-alignment of grout lines in the master shower. Jacquela and Steven debated what to do with Ron Dahlke and Mark Rehberg.
Today, Julian begins remediation.
Above, Julian mortars 12×12-inch sheets of 2×2 black mosaic tile, using the 12×18 black tile as the underlayment. This requires acrylic mortar to help prevent the growth of mold between the two layers of tile.
Julian returns tomorrow to grout the tile.
T minus 6 days
Team Ranserve continue working through the punch list as we count down to moving in.
Odell called for the Final Inspection. The inspector arrived. Emerald Hill failed. As expected. This inspector is new to the remodel. He requires more documentation of where the two layers of fire-resistant drywall are and are not installed in the garage, around the mudroom. The previous inspector approved two layers around the mudroom and one layer on the walls that do not connect with the body of the house. Odell is attempting to contact that previous inspector for clarification and resolution.
Above, Julian test fits the 12×12 sheets of 2×2 black tiles that will become the final floor of the master shower. This is how we resolve an issue that has festered since November, when the shower floor was first tiled. The grout lines do not line up. Jacquela objected — the first issue she ever raised on this project. Julian laid out the mosaics. Jacquela arrived to inspect. She approved. Julian is five sheets of tile short. Odell ordered the tile. Now we wait for delivery and install.
Upstairs in the master bath, Odell discovered that the left-hand medicine cabinet is not centered over the sink faucet; he will take it down and recenter it. He also ordered a replacement for one of the sink faucets, which seems to have developed a permanent slow leak via the cartridge.
T minus 8 days
Steven brought the Schlage Connect smart lock online for the first time, programming in new entry codes. Jadin tested hers — and then threatened to lock Dad out of the house …
Climbing a ladder, Steven twisted and locked the Engenius Wireless Access Points into position in the library ceiling downstairs and upstairs hallway. In the electronics closet upstairs, Steven unpacked the Power-over-Ethernet switch, pulled three Ethernet cables out of his bag of network cables, plugged everything up — and the WAPs lit up with power, looking for signal. There are several hours of configuration and testing ahead …
Today, Odell returned to the mudroom with several pipe fittings, working on proper installation of the T-trap for the mudroom sink. He got everything snugged up, with no leaks after wrapping the threads with tape. Then he took it all apart, putting up the parts for final installation after the drywall team patches the wall …
Odell also pulled out his metal detector and went in search of the control wire for the sprinkler system. Kevin dug this out before the garage slab was poured. Someone cut the wire that was coiled near the formwork. Odell did not find the wire today. More spelunking to come …
Blower door test — and more
Today’s agenda at Emerald Hill stacked up meetings and tasks:
- Gutters
- Time Warner Cable for Internet, phone, TV services
- Brett Grinkmeyer, architect, and his tour of Emerald Hill with prospective clients
- Tyson from Granite Security for a tutorial on the security system
- Blower door test
- Cut down the hackberry tree at the northeast corner of the house
- Assemble more Ikea furniture
- Set up a computer in the pantry, out of traffic, to work on ShowStoppers @ Mobile World Congress
Above, Alex from ATS and Jonathan from Austin Air review the duct plans with Ron from Ranserve, in preparation for the blower door test.
Small steps forward
Ron handed the house over to the painters and one of the HVAC installers.
Above, Benito spends his days working methodically around Emerald Hill, room by room, baseboard by baseboard, wall by wall, hunting down nail holes to fill with putty, paint runs to sand and refinish, scuffed up drywall to touch up. Here he is in the kitchen, working in the cubby that will be home to the refrigerator.
With Jacquela’s approval, Steven today ordered shades for the windows in the office, master bedroom and library.