Dateline Dayton – Some time ago – let me correct that – a long time ago I started to remodel our second bathroom. After having done the smaller bathroom, with help from my son and son-in-law, I knew I could handle the task.

In the first project, I took out the door, replaced it with a pocket door since the bathroom is small. Opening the door took up too much room. The only time-consuming part of that remodel was replacing the tub with a shower. We had to find a shower kit that would fit without covering the register that was next to the tub. The drain in the center of the shower was the next hurdle since it was at the end for the tub.

To get the drain in the proper place, I had to rent a cement saw because we are on a slab. Do you realize how much dust a cement saw makes inside a small room? The only remaining puzzle was installing the gasket around the shower drain. Problem: The base of the shower wasn’t exactly level, which meant adjustments.

The only thing I would have done differently would have been putting in a corner vanity because the old one is too close to the door.

No Problem – Or Is It?

With all of the experience gained from this remodel and the fact we had a bath outfit company do the tub and surround, how difficult could this one be? Plenty.

Just after starting, I experienced pain in my chest, the kind I have told you about before. That delayed the project. I told Pauline the bathroom would be completed for Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then St Patrick’s Day, then the Fourth of July.

With our 50th wedding anniversary fast approaching and our children planning an open house, the bathroom had to get done. I finished the drywall. Our two sons, who live in the area, completed the walls. We also got the tile floor laid the same Saturday.

After getting ready to prime the walls, I we needed to make the old drywall smooth. Our son Jon came over and skimmed the walls and sanded them again for me. The primer went on fine.

Let Us Not Waste

Not to waste space, I had a section of wall, where the shower in the smaller bathroom was installed that was twelve inches deep. I decided to make a shelf of that depth in the bathroom I’m redoing. But I quickly learned I don’t have finish carpentry skills when it comes to building a shelving unit. What should have taken a few hours, needed two days and a bucket of sweat.

The ceiling and walls received the primer coat. The next day the ceiling got the finish coat. Saturday, Jon helped me paint the walls, and on Sunday I gave them a second coat. I have lost what cutting-in ability I had, so now I must touch up the ceiling where the wall paint spilled onto the ceiling.

After Jon and I completed painting the walls, he was going to hook up the light for the fan, which my son-in-law Paul had installed. It didn’t work. The fan was fine, but there was no light. After much debugging, he determined that one prong in the fixture was not in place. This required disassembling the fixture.

Our son Bill came Sunday and we resealed the driveway so it would look nice for the open house. Bill had to make a trip to the hardware store for an additional can of sealer. While Bill was away, I installed the molding behind the toilet. I had already primed, painted and cut it to size.

Paul came later and installed the toilet, with Bill making four trips to the hardware store for supplies. The vanity only took two trips. It all looks really nice.

By now I thought everything was under control, except for touch-up painting and installing the trim. Wrong. As I removed the painter tape from a built-in set of drawers, the paint was coming off the wall with the tape. After attending to several details, it was ready for paint again

Yesterday was my additional day off, and I was able to get many of my errors corrected. Still a few things to do, but what is the rush? Our party isn’t until a week from Sunday, on Sept. 2.

Mr. Hennessey may be contacted at pmhenn@sbcglobal.net