I Needed a Zen Moment

Honestly, the plumbing and electrical rough-in took its toll out on me.  I was beat down, sore, tired, defeated, ready to quit, just in a bad place mentally with these projects.  While I learned a great deal, I entered into these projects knowing very little about the processes, so I had no comfort zone to lean on and that is a hard place for me to be.

I needed to find my happy place again, so for the last two days I worked at the house by myself tackling patching the floors in the master bathroom water closet.  Even though patching wood floors was something I just learned to do on this project, I feel I’ve gotten pretty good at it.  I was so in my zone that I didn’t take a before picture, but I had to replace the board around the vent because they mis-drilled and left me with three half drilled ruts in the floor.  About a 6″x12″ section of boards were missing from the old plumbing that ran to the tub.  I had to fix two toilet holes; one from the original toilet and the second from where I had the new toilet hole moved further from the wall.  While the first placement met code, my foot would have been resting on the vent when I sat on the toilet, so I had to move it over about a foot.  I had to also patch weakened boards caused by the original sink location.  Hard to believe that what will now be a water closet once housed a 4′ tub, toilet, and sink.

Right now the patch looks obvious, but once I use epoxy to fill the large voids, sand, and marine polyurethane they are going to be gorgeous.  They feel SOLID, but for extra strength in front and behind the toilet flange I cistered some scrap 2x10s to the floor joist.  I will be able to sit confidently.

I had patched the radiator holes in the bedroom area months ago, but there was one board, near the landing that had a major crack in it making that spot really soft.  I seemed to step on it every time I entered the room, so while I was on a roll I decided to cut it out and replace it too.

I can’t wait to start patching the pine floors in the kitchen, office, and bedroom on the first floor.  Those planks are not as wide as the attic floors, but still pine.  Now that the attic is finished all the remaining boards salvage from the “wet area” of the bathroom can be dedicated to the 1st floor.  I just have to rip them down to the right width and create a new groove for the tongue and groove application.  I’ll be using a router for the first time to accomplish this project.