Baby Steps

Before we move in there are some things that have to be renovated first. Primary among these is the laundry room. . . . . . not moving in without a washer and dryer. . . . . not gonna put a new washer and dryer on that nastynastynasty ripped-up 30-years-old linoleum. So that was ripped out and the floor was cleaned up. Well, cleaned up enough. It was kinda damp and yucky underneath the linoleum along the exterior wall, where there was a crack in the concrete, so I figured that is where the moisture is coming up out of the ground and keeping the yucky linoleum damp. Sounded simple - just patch the crack and lay the tile.

I know you wish you could have this linoleum I ripped out.
I am so sorry that this picture does not do the colors justice.

It is truly putrid.

But anyone who has worked on an old house (and this one is not even very old) knows that no job is ever as simple as it appears it will be. When i came back the day after cleaning up the floor with the adhesive-removing solvent stuff, I see this ominous wet spot around the floor drain. Great. So I take the drain cover off and . . . . . . .aack, whuthuf*#k???? This is supposed to be a drain, as in emergency washer-overflow drain so the damned basement doesn't flood, right? Thank God for the home warranty. So a repair guy came, uncapped it and cleaned out the drain. And between the two of us, we soon came to realize that there is a reason it is capped. When a "lot" of water goes down the washer or utility sink drain, you can see that the water in this floor drain rises. Oh, shit. Repair Dude says it is a lousy design flaw - the drain should have been out in the middle of the room instead of so close to the other drains. That would have given it a little more pipe length, and the sudden influx of water drainage would have more space to accomodate the waste water. I can see that this may end up being a problem when we get our washer running. Will deal with that later. For now, I just need to get this resolved and get the floor tiled.

When i go back that night to start tiling there is a pool of water coming out from under the wall!!!! What in the Hell!!!! Finally I realize that Repair Dude did not turn off the cold water faucet when he flushed the drain, and it has been dripping and now the drywall under the washer water faucets is now saturated with water. What Next?




I let it all dry.

Painted the room.

Laid the tile.

Grouted it.

It looks fabulous.

Things are better.


I decide I should tile a backsplash around the utility tub.

So, I pull off the ugly woodwork around the little recessed area where the washer water faucets are, and here is What Next: The drywall has absolutely rotted away. This dripping thing has obviously been occuring now and then for a long time, and the wall has rotted away. So I will now allow that Repair Dude didn't cause the damage, just hung the sign out and made me see it. And, really, this is just one more reason why this area should be tiled. That way it will be sealed and this shouldn't happen again.

When I chip a bit of the wet drywall away, I can see that it is - Bonus! - all mildewy and moldy behind there, too! When my husband decides to check it out, he starts excavating and the next thing i know, the hole is freakin' huge.

This was not in my plan. And I am not a carpenter. And, I have not yet told you one of the soul-selling promises I made when he agreed to buy the house, which was that I would not ask him to do Anything when it comes to renovations. More on that later. Curent problem is that i need this fixed. Now. Washer and dryer will be delivered in 6 days, and tiling takes a minimum of 3 days. I wanted to have it done so they could be installed and not need to be moved to do this kind of stuff.

The next day we went to a Labor Day cook-out at some friends' new house (which is completely finished and looks fabulous, not to mention the wall color is positively inspirational) and am crying in my beer about needing to get the wall back together. My new best friend says he will come over and fix it (I did offer to tile a bathroom for him at his new condo), and 2 days later he and my other new best friend who is a DRYWALL CONTRACTOR! show up and fix it!! Halleluia! Check this out:




It grew a bit, but that was so these two studly dudes could nail it to the next stud. So tonight i put another coat of the joint compound on it, and tomorrow I should be able to paint/tile it. Yeah, I might not get the grout on it before the washer and dryer are delivered, but i can deal with it. Baby steps.