The Deck

Matthias and I spent a majority of last weekend working on the deck. We still don't have the steps done but the top part looks gorgeous (or at least I think so). It's a major improvement over what it used to look like at any rate. There were some casualties along the way however. A little bit of blood, a very nice splinter, majorly sore thighs, hamstrings, and backs, and Matthias' pair of jeans which didn't make it through the project.

Tools of the trade:

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and

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We removed the planks a few at a time. Any bigger than that and Matthias freaked out. I think he was worried I'd fall through or that my legs would be too short to get across. Safety First!

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Matthias cutting wood:

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Very funny....

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All that is left to do (plus a whole bunch more screws and getting rid of the old wood and some painting and....)

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The Final Product:

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Done, but dirty

Yeah, Day 3 and contractor is done! It's still dirty and I have to clean up but the bathrooms and flooring are done.

Here are the final shots of the basement bath with the tile installed and then the door re-installed:

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The next project was fixing the ugly floor seam I had going on in the kitchen by replacing a section of vinyl with laminate:

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And finally the flooring in the upstairs bathrooms. Both bathrooms were the same.

Original flooring:

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Destruction:

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Cement board:

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Tile:

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Final product:

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Other bathroom final:

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Day 2

The contractors were back working on the bathrooms yesterday. They got all of the tiles in after a long day. It looks good so far! They're going to try to finish up today, so I should have some exciting and new bathrooms to look at when I get home from work tonight. I'll try to post pictures soon.

After a long day of watching contractors work yesterday I went to see Cirque du Soleil. Matthias bought us the tickets. Unfortunately he managed to schedule a work trip to Florida this week and couldn't go with me. I invited my friend Alicia along and we had a great time. We were in the 3rd row and had an amazing up-front view of everything going on. It was awesome.

Let the Contractors Begin!

Today marks Day 1 of flooring and bath repair. The contractors started around 9 this morning and left around 4. Today they worked on the basement bathroom for the most part - demolition and installation of everything but the tiles. Tomorrow is tile work and upstairs bathroom floor day! They're shooting to be done on Wednesday.

This work is kind of happening in between Matthias and I working on the deck. We got all of the wood pieces painting and Matthias installed about 11 pieces. When he gets back from Florida this weekend we'll try to get a lot more done!

Here's the before pictures and progress so far...

We had to rent a truck to transport the wood for the deck (two trips) and because someone didn't have his insurance card with him I had to drive!

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Deck at the start:

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Painting the boards:

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Start of the installation:

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Before photo of the shower with the crack in the base:

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The reason for the crack was that there was a giant hole under it (in this photo my contractor had filled it with old tiles):

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Concrete board and base installed:

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Trip to Connecticut

Matthias and I spent the weekend in Connecticut visiting Ruth, RJ, and Kai. Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures (even though I had my camera with me)! We spent our time playing wii, making Lebkuchen cookies, going to the aquarium, and then to a neighbor's Oktoberfest party. It was lots of fun!