Flush with options

Of all the decisions we had to make for the addition, the one I took most seriously was: Choosing the toilet. Yes, the toilet. I spend a lot of time on mine, as I have a bladder the size of a walnut. (That's probably more information about me than you want to know, but it's important for establishing the background.)

I also realized that this was not going to be an easy choice. You are probably aware that in 1992 the U.S. government passed the National Energy Policy Act mandating that all new toilets use no more than 1.6 gallons per flush, as a step toward water conservation.

The snag is that the early 1.6 gpf toilets were horrendous. People were having to flush 2 or 3 times just to get the, er, stuff down, and that kind of defeats the whole purpose of trying to conserve water. It got so bad that a black market of the older 5-7 gpf toilets sprang up across the nation. I had a dim memory of reading some article about the situation, with the author concluding that some of the new toilets were definitely better than the others.

Since we like to be environmentally conscientious when possible, I didn't want to use a black-market toilet, but I also definitely did not want a toilet that wouldn't flush. So I turned to the internet and delved into the wild and woolly world of toilet research.

(Incidentally, do you know what some companies use for testing toilets? Tofu turds. I'm not joking. They take tofu of varying consistencies and mash it into little sausage shaped turd substitutes.)

A couple of sources kept referring to one particular website as the mecca of toilet lore, a site run by a plumber named Terry Love, www.terrylove.com. If you want to spend an entertaining evening, I highly recommend this site. He offers a detailed report on what he considers the best low-flow toilets out there, complete with links to a toilet forum that he also runs from his website.

Yes, I said toilet forum. Given that I spend way too many hours on the Piano World forum, I should be more sympathetic to the notion of a toilet forum, but I have to tell you that this forum cracks me up. It is full of people talking about their toilet purchases, toilet experiences (shudder), and photos of their toilets that they have felt compelled to share with the 6 billion people on the planet.

But it's the comments that are the most hilarious. My favorite was this gem by JH, who reported on his purchase of a Toto Ultramax toilet: "These toilets are deadly with solid waste, no 'victory lap' around the bowl. You simply say 'brown buddy, you're going down,' and that's that."

That recommendation clinched it for me, so I initially decided I had to have an Ultramax toilet for myself. So I went to the Toto toilet website and searched for the nearest distributor. There weren't any in Lexington, but there was a dealer in Nicholasville, not too far away. I called up and asked if they had any Ultramaxes in their showroom, and the woman said, "Yes, in fact, we have one installed in our women's room."

WOOT. I couldn't resist the chance to try one out in action, so the next day I sped off to the showroom, where Gina showed me the toilet and was very gracious when I asked if she could excuse me so I could try it out.

I will say this: The flush and refill action on these toilets are awesome. The whole thing took literally no more than 8 seconds from start to finish. I was in toilet love. I absolutely hate getting up in middle of the night, doing my thing, then laying in bed for what seems like hours waiting for the %@$%!& toilet to shut off so I don't have to worry about getting back up and jiggling the %$@#(! handle.

The only thing I didn't like about the Ultramax was the appearance (it was a one-piece unit, very contemporary, which looked nice on the company website but in person seemed a little too edgy to me) and the price (very expensive, around $750). So I asked Gina what other options I should consider. She said that the Toto Drake model was their best seller, and it had the same flushing mechanism as the Ultramax but was a two-piece unit in a more traditional style. She then walked me over to the men's room where they had it installed. I asked her to excuse me once again (I told y'all I had a small bladder...), where I tried it out and verified that it was every bit as satisfying to flush as the Ultramax. Better yet, it was a lot cheaper: With a slow-close seat, it came to something like $425. ("What's a slow-close seat" you ask? It's a seat with a special hinge so that all you have to do is drop it down and it lowers itself carefully and quietly to the resting position. No more unpleasant WHAM! when you accidentally drop a lid or seat down.)

We chose the ADA-compliant "comfort" height model of the Drake, one where the bowl is 16.5" off the ground, which is slightly higher than a traditional toilet. This is one aspect of our desire for following a unversal design strategy in building the addition that I will use and appreciate right away, as decades of running and overtraining have made my middle-aged knees sore much of the time. The comfort height toilets are a lot easier for me to sit down on and get off of, and have I mentioned that I have a small bladder and go to the bathroom a lot? ;-)

The photo above shows what the Drake looks like in white. It also comes in a color (Sedona Beige) that is identical to the biscuit tub and sinks we had ordered, so we are all set to sit.

Progress report -- Week 11

Laundry room plumbing:


Main showerhead plumbing, accompanied by Isaac:


Insulation in garage:


I've been out of town, and then when I returned the whole family came down with one of those very nasty norovirus stomach bugs (trust me, you don't want the details), so I haven't been able to post lately. I'm probably also leaving some things out.

Progress accomplished this week:

--Plumbing has been routed through walls and pipes in their final locations in the addition
--Plumbing finished in the garage/study, and building inspector approved
--Electrical wiring finished in the garage/study, and building inspector approved
--Insulation added to garage
--Furnace and ductwork installed in the garage. Wagner convinced Jonathan that it would be best to leave the furnace up in the attic area, but he rearranged the ducts so that the warm air would be coming out at the floor level of the study. That was a more feasible compromise than exchanging the furnace.
--More framing/carpentry work done in addition. Archways for shower built.
--New wider skylight ordered, will be installed after Thanksgiving.
--Lighting fixtures for addition selected and ordered, will be installed this week.
--Blocking for grab bars, towel racks, etc. laid out in master bath. Wagner thinks we should go ahead and install the grab bars for the bath, tub, and toilet, again with an eye to having everything accessible for the future. I'm not quite as convinced, as those grab bars are awfully big and clunky looking. I asked Wagner, "how long does a typical tile job last in a shower?" and suggested that we could always add the grab bars the next time we retile. He replied that it could last as long as 15-20 years, and then he asked, "How old is Jonathan?" (56). Point taken. We may compromise and just put one bar at each location and block for the others to be installed later as needed.

Obstacles encountered this week:

--I realized that I forgot to tell Wagner we wanted a humidifier installed with the new furnace in the addition area. Oops. So now he has to route a water line to the furnace room.
--Horrible weather here... rain, bitter cold, snow flurries. This has slowed brickwork.

Progress report --- Week 10

View of where Jonathan's closet in the new bedroom will be, complete with newly installed window (the one on the left). The holes where the other two windows were (facing us) will be walled over.



View of the new bedroom, with beautiful picture window installed. You can see a little of the vaulted ceilings here.


Progress accomplished this week:

--Picture window installed in bedroom
--Skylight in kitchen installed, dry-wall repaired
--Framing done for interior of master bedroom/bathroom suite
--Stairs built in garage
--Shower unit moved to garage study
--Kitchen cabinet installed in garage study. We're re-using the old one from our kitchen renovation, although we will need to buy a new sink to satisfy the building inspector. Wagner says he can trim some of our leftover Corian countertop to fit it.
--Brickwork done on most of garage
--Foundation at front of house dug out. Turns out that we do have a footer for part of the front stretch, so we're only going to have to pay $2000 for two support piers. Phew.
--Cabinets for master bathroom selected and ordered. We're ordering AristoKraft cabinets, Landen door style, Maple wood in a saddle stain. The photo on the bottom shows the cabinet style but in a different color; the one on the top is the stain color we're going with.





Obstacles encountered this week:

--Jonathan and I changed our minds about the skylight and the furnace location. See previous post.
--Cold rain for a couple of days. This slowed/halted brickwork.
--Bathtub deemed too small and swapped out. See earlier post.

More photos, this time of the garage study:

Why Wagner has every right to gnash his teeth

Yesterday Wagner came over and spent two hours walking through the addition with Jonathan and me, pointing out what had been done so far and what was planned for the future. He may very well end up regretting having done so, as Jonathan and I managed to complicate his life greatly.

First there was me and the skylight. I was hoping the skylight would replace all the natural light we had lost when the kitchen window was blocked over. And the skylight in our bathroom had done a terrific job of lightening up that space. But when the skylight was put in the kitchen, the total effect was rather underwhelming. Even though it was probably the same size as the bathroom skylight in total area, it was skinny and rectangular in shape, and it was sitting on top of a much deeper, narrower trench, as there was more roof/ceiling area it had to go through.



The end result is that it just didn't let in as much light as I was hoping for. So... even though this skylight was already installed, with the drywall work all completed, and everything was ready for the kitchen to be repainted, when Wagner bravely volunteered "I can make it wider if you want," Jonathan and I thought it over and decided to go ahead and redo it and put in a wider skylight. As much as I hate to inconvenience Wagner and make his men come out and redo the whole thing, we figured it would be better to go ahead and make it the way we want it now, while everything is in an uproar anyhow, and before the kitchen got painted.

The only snag is that there are some roof joists in the way. (That's why Wagner put in the narrow one in the first place.) He can put in a header and cut out one of the joists, if we don't mind an off-center skylight. But if we want it centered, there are two joists that would be affected, and he didn't want to cut out both, for structural reasons. So if we go the centered route, we'll have to leave the joists in, where they'll be exposed (though we can paint them) and it might look a little weird.

Then we toured the new garage. The carpenter got stairs built to the upstairs study, so it was the first time we had seen that area. It's going to be HUGE, and very nice. We're going to have built-in bookcases along one edge, with the kitchen area on the other side. Wagner then pointed out the pull-down staircase where there would be access to the garage attic area, where he intended to put the furnace. You may remember from an earlier post that he had decided to move the furnace up to the attic to make room for a workbench area and our cars on the main floor of the garage. I could've sworn I had briefed Jonathan on that change, and maybe I did but all the ramifications hadn't been obvious at the time.

Anyway, when Jon looked up to see the space where the furnace was going to be, he realized that the hot air would be coming down from the ceiling, which bothered him. Hot air rises, so it seemed more efficient to Jon to have the ductwork and heat coming in at the floor. Jonathan also has this thing about sitting or lying down near heater vents in cold weather and enjoying the blast of hot air right next to him. It's just one of his lovable little quirks. ;-) So Jon told Wagner that he didn't want the furnace in the attic space. Wagner got his "uh-oh this complicates things a whole lot" look on his face and said, again bravely, that if we were going to make that change we needed to decide right then and there because the furnace was already ordered and the duct work was going to start next week.

We spent half an hour or so going over various options, and we ended up deciding to put the furnace back on the ground floor of the garage, where we had originally planned to put it, in the space under the stairs. That was where Wagner currently intended to put the hot water heater, which meant that we had to move THAT back upstairs. We're going to add a little closet space next to the bathroom where we can stick the hot water heater.

Jonathan realizes it will cost extra, because we're probably going to have to exchange the furnace for a new one (Wagner had ordered one designed for attic spaces), with a resulting restocking fee, and there will be extra drywall and carpentry work for the water heater closet. Not to mention essentially having to redo the skylight. And then there's the little matter of my tile and vanity cabinet choices going well over budget.

Oh well. If anybody would like to buy a narrow skylight, cheap, let me know. I happen to know where there will be a lightly used one available soon. ;-)

Rub-a-dub-dub

So we had a little crisis with the whirlpool tub. It was delivered this week, but when it arrived, Wagner took one look at it and thought it was too small. I had picked it out of a catalog with the help of Tarla at Ferguson's, but they didn't have a sample on their showroom floor, so all I had to go on in picking it out was a small photo on the cut sheet. And y'all know what my spatial and visualization skills are like (i.e., very poor).

The original tub was 56" long, which seemed at the time like it ought to be long enough. But when the carpenter drew out a stencil and laid it out where it would go, it looked like a tea cup. Not to mention that somehow we had picked up an extra 6 inches in the general bathtub area, so we had more space than we had originally planned.

So even though it would mean a restocking fee, we thought it would look better, not to mention being more comfortable, if we traded it in for a bigger tub. So we went down to Ferguson's and looked at our options. One choice would be a larger oval tub, one that would be 63" long, or possibly we could go with a triangular shaped tub to fit in the corner area. The bigger oval had a nice sloping back rest and more leg room for stretching out, and I sort of liked the simple look of it, so that's what I went with.

We scampered back to the house with the new cut sheet and drew out another stencil, because I *really* wanted to avoid the situation of having to send back a second tub. Once we were sure the new tub would fit and look good, we confirmed the swap. The good news is that they'll get the new tub delivered tomorrow, pick up the first tub, and it will only cost another $200 total.

This is *not* a garage apartment

The building inspector came out yesterday on one of his regular visits, and he told Wagner that he wanted to make one thing clear: He would not approve an apartment on top of the garage. (Remember the zoning laws in our neighborhood that allows only one appliance in a garage apartment, er, study.) Wagner assured him that the space on the top floor of the garage was definitely not an apartment. The inspector then asked him "well, then, what's this plumbing doing right here where it looks like you're going to install a sink?" Wagner said "It's going to be a break room, and they want a sink for making coffee."

The building inspector then fixed Wagner with a long and steely stare and finally said, "I don't know what's going to happen to this space after I certify it for occupancy. But I'm not going to approve it with a full-size sink."

So, it looks like our plans to re-use our old kitchen counter and sink won't work. We can use the base cabinets, but we'll have to find a new countertop with one of those little bar sinks. And that's fine by me, as I seriously doubt we'll have anybody actually living out there, unless maybe it's Isaac when he's in college. And I'm sure that if we're just using it as guest room space, a small bar sink will be more than adequate.

I was in fact worried that we were going to all this expense to build an enormous garage with a room that nobody would use at all. But it sounds like that won't be the case. Instead, we're all squabbling over who gets to use it. Hubby Jonathan wants it as a second home office/library for his coin books. Athena wants to use it for slumber parties, or as a gigantic free-range area for all the pets she plans to get to put in it. (Fat chance, that scheme!) It would make an excellent place for Isaac to practice his violin. Or drums. And I kinda have my eye on the space for myself, as a quiet place where I could choose to work/write at home if I wanted.

But whatever we use it for, it won't be an apartment. ;-)

Progress report --- Week 9

Progress made this week:

--Bricks put on about 75% of the garage
--Walls on addition portion finished, with openings cut out for windows
--Roof on addition portion put on
--New double window hung in kitchen
--One of the old kitchen windows removed and opening drywalled over
--Cut-out of addition roof made to accommodate upstairs dormer
--I spent a morning at a cabinet store making choices about the bathroom vanity cabinets and countertop.
--A structural engineer came out and investigated the big crack we found earlier running down the front of the house. He and Wagner were both flummoxed to discover that the foundation of the front of the house lacked a footer. What this means is that they will have to dig out a trench and install anywhere between 2 and 5 support piers (depending on just how long of a stretch there is without a footer) to prevent further sagging of the house. This will cost an additional $1000 a pier. Yikes. Apparently this was all caused by the bad droughts we've been having the past couple of years, where the soil has dried up and caused the sagging, which caused the cracks.


Obstacles encountered this week:

--Rain one day, slowing down work.
--While I liked the vanity cabinets I decided on, I'm not thrilled with the tank topper that goes with that style. (A tank topper is a cabinet that hangs on the wall above the toilet.) I really like the one we have now, which came with the house, and I'd love to be able to find one that matches whatever cabinets we choose to put in. I think I may have to go out and look at some other cabinet stores.

In sum, I think this week has seen the most visible and remarkable progress. Yeah, I know the early stages where all the underground pipe and duct work is going on is incredibly important and impressive in its own way, but it's hard to get overly excited about a hole in the ground with some pipes sticking out. There's just something really gratifying and amazing when you have walls going up and roofs put on. Jon and I have a much better idea now what it's going to look like, and I think it's going to be beautiful.

The end of "minimally disruptive"

Back when we were still debating whether or not to go forward with the renovation, Wagner looked us in the eye and swore that, most of the time, the renovation would be "minimally disruptive" to our lifestyle--much less intrusive, in fact, than the kitchen renovation over the summer. I had a bit of a hard time believing him on that, given the scale of the work to be done. But for the most part, he's been correct. The work to date has all taken place outside, so apart from losing our garage and having to park our cars in the front, it really hasn't affected our day to day activities.

But that all changed this week, as we are moving into the phase of the project that Wagner warned us would be disruptive, which is the part where we remove two of the kitchen windows, install a skylight, and replace the third kitchen window with a double-wide window.

In preparation for this work, the crew came in and put down butcher paper all over the hardwood floors and a carpet section near the door, to minimize the tracking of dirt and drywall dust and the like. Then they taped up big plastic sheeting to close off the eat-in section of the kitchen where most of the work will be done. (I had to move out the little table and chair set and the ficus we kept there.) One of the plastic sheets had a zipper built in so you could open it to walk through but otherwise leave it fairly airtight, a trick Wagner picked up from his work in hospitals where you have to be very careful about minimizing dust etc. for the patients.

The end result is that we are (so far) getting very little construction dust or dirt in the rest of the house, but the kitchen looks like something out of a Biosafety Level IV lab. ;-)

With any luck this phase won't last long. He's already hung the double window in place, and it looks terrific. (The photo shown above is from before the window was replaced; I'll be posting an "after" photo later.) The prep work has been done for removing the second kitchen window, and the light fixture where the skylight is going to go has been taken out. They're predicting rain in a day or two, so he's planning on waiting until next Monday to install the skylight, so that we're not in the position of having a big hole in the roof all weekend while it's raining.

A closet conundrum

Yesterday evening Wagner was showing my hubby, Jonathan, and I around the work site. We were looking at the part of the addition where one of the walk-in closets was going to be situated, and he asked "Oh, by the way, do you want a window in your closet? We could re-use one of the kitchen windows we're having to take out."

My immediate reaction was to look at Wagner in disbelief and think "are you kidding?" Why on earth would anyone want a window in their closet?!? After all, much of the time when you're going into a closet, you either have pajamas or a robe on or no clothes at all. The last thing I want when I am fumbling around for my clothes at 6:00 a.m. is to have to remember to close the drapes.

So all of that was going through my head as I shook my head confidently and said "No way." Unfortunately, at the exact same moment, Jonathan was saying thoughtfully, "Yeah, I'd like a window." Then it was my turn to look at him in disbelief. I went through all the logical arguments as to why a window in one's closet was unnecessary, nay, undesirable. I also pointed out how a window would simply take up valuable space one could use for hanging clothes.

"So what?" he replied. "We can just use that wall for putting our shoes on a rack underneath the window." Then he got a calculating gleam in his eye and said, "And anyway, isn't that going to be MY closet? Why do you care?"

He had me there. Our plans call for two walk-in closets: one off the bedroom itself, and the other at the rear of the bathroom. The one off the bedroom is the one that Wagner proposed adding a window to, and it's the larger of the two closets. But it's also the one we had earmarked for Jon. This is because I get up earlier than he does, to shower before waking the kids up and fixing them breakfast. So I thought it made more sense for me to take the closet off the bathroom. That way when I wake up, I can tiptoe into the bathroom, close the door, turn on the lights, shower, and get dressed without bothering Jonathan, who can remain content and undisturbed in blissful slumber until I bring him his first cup of coffee, which he drinks sitting up in bed in the darkness. I'm such a good wife. ;-)

So then I informed him that, because of my sacrifice in taking the smaller closet off the bathroom for the sole purpose of allowing him to remain content and undisturbed in blissful slumber, I had sort of been planning all along to put some of my clothes I don't use often (fancy party dresses and the like) in his closet, given that he is a male and therefore *ahem* obviously has less need for closet space. Putting a window in the closet would thus cut into the amount of space that I had intended to nab.

Jon then said, "Oh, you were, were you?"

At this point Wagner looked vaguely alarmed and said "Uh-oh. I shouldn't have asked about the window."

But, using the superior negotiating skills we have developed with great success throughout the 14 years of our marriage, we were able to arrive at a workable compromise, to wit: Jon got his way. I realized that the two new closets would be more than enough room for our clothes, even with a window, and because Jon has been exceedingly agreeable to every decision I've made so far (and there have been a ton of them), it only made sense to be agreeable on the rare occasions he voices an opinion. So, if it's a window in his closet he wants, a window he will get.

Besides, we'll still have that absolutely huge master closet in our current bedroom where I can leave stuff if I need more space. ;-)

Progress report --- Week 8

Progress completed this week:

--Cement floor of garage poured
--Eaves on garage roof installed
--Brickwork begun on garage
--Framing of addition section completed
--Trusses put up on addition. I'm much happier with the angle of the new truss. It blocks a bit of the upstairs dormer but not too much.
--Dragged the kids with me and spent two hours at Lowe's collecting yet more paint chips; holding tile sample against various countertop options; and browsing floor options for the garage studio.

Obstacles encountered this week:



--Wagner's not happy with the bricklaying work. Our brick pattern consists of bricks mostly of one color, with a few bricks of lighter and darker color interspersed throughout. The mason guy he has is not blending them adequately enough, in Wagner's opinion. He may end up getting somebody else to do it.
--I was too busy at work (getting my edited book manuscript finished and sent to the publisher by the deadline, which I made, barely). That meant I didn't have much time this past week to research and decide on toilets, paint chips, vanities, carpet, etc. That will be my mission for this upcoming week.