I started my day as usual, was in my studio by 9:30 finishing up a last Potholder from yesterday and working on the backing of my Dragonfly Meditation Mat.
I knew Dan was coming to check out what was going on with the bathroom floor, but I had no idea that I would spend my day in the bathroom instead of my studio.
Seems there was more rotted plywood under the tile floor than I thought last weekend when I began replace some tiles and seeing the damage that was underneath them.
The toilet was leaking somewhere and Dan was coming to figure it out and make the repairs.
First the toilet came out, then more tiles and finally Dan cut out a good chunk of the rotted plywood.
Dan measured the plywood more than once hoping it was 1/4″. But it was 3/8″ which meant an hour ride round trip to Curtis Lumber in Schuylerville, since they don’t stock that size at the local hardware store.
I couldn’t fit a whole sheet of plywood in my car, but I knew they would cut it to a size that would fit. So I went to pick it up while Dan pulled up the old flooring and got the rest of the supplies he’d need at the hardware store in town.
I learned a couple of things about installing the tiles while I helped Dan.
If the tiles are warm they are easier to cut. (I put them outside on the slate porch in the sun to heat them up) And how to get the exact size of the pieces that needed to be trimmed without measuring.
When Dan left the toilet was installed again and working. We ran out of tiles but I found a place online to order more and I could easily install them.
But shortly after Dan left, when I flushed the toilet, I noticed the water didn’t stop running. Thinking it was the flapper, (that rubber piece that stops the water from draining when the tank is filling up) I went back and forth to the hardware store in town twice trying to get the right size before realizing they didn’t have it and ordering it on Amazon.
It was only when I got back the last time that I saw the water line leading to the toilet was now leaking too.
The farm house was built in 1840 and the bathroom put in more than a hundred years later. It’s now about 70 years old, so who can blame it for having its problems. We’ve already replace the tiles around the tub, the sink, toilet and floor. But all houses, especially old houses have their troubles.
Dan is coming back tomorrow to fix the leak.
All of this took most of the day and I did not get back to my studio. But we’re much closer to having our bathroom in working order than we were this morning.
And I do plan on getting to my studio this weekend and finishing my Dragonfly Meditation Mat.
