The incredible growing house repair project.

Anyone who does home improvement projects will understand. There is no simple stand alone home repair project. They all take on a life of their own involing more tools, more trips to the hardware store, and much, much more time that expected. With this in mind here is my story…

So, the yesterday the wife complained about a smell under her bathroom sink… The process begins…

Today (aka the next day) is my day off (I have to work Saturday… its Tartan Day, the gathering of the Scottish clans at Ardenwood… Personally I am dealing with this by acquiring some “Angry Scottsman gum” (its from Archee McPhee… there is a previous posting about Archee McPhee…I like Archie McPhee) additionally, I have suggested to park staff that they hide the sheep (it’s a joke son… I know many of Scottish descent, and may myself be of Scottish descent, and have never personally known a Scotsman to become involved with a sheep, but who knows for certain and why take a chance…) But, I degress.

So, with a day off, I start by taking everything under the sink out… making a pile on the bed… I don’t find any leaks. I don’t smell anything, so call the Daughter… she doesn’t smell anything either.

Pushing further I decide the caulking around her sink had cracked and has mildew. I pull our my utility knife and cut out as much as possible until the blade breaks… no spares…
So, off to the big box hardware store… buy caulk (at least I can find the caulk gun….) a new utility knife (the old one was getting really bad) and 100 blades for the new knife (I am of course a pessimist when it comes to home repair…) along with miscellaneous garden supplies, the original goal for today’s work session. So, new utility knife in had, I cut away the old caulk… and a significant amount of tile grout which has failed as well…

So now I am removing tile grout… while I am at it there are a couple of soft spots in the kitchen as well… I take the time to check the tile supplies in the shed (yes, I have a bin marked “tile supplies, spare tiles, tools, etc.. don’t you…) I have tile grout sponges, I have grout cleaner, I have grout sealer, but my box of gray sanded tile caulk resembles a brick. Back to the hardware store… I purchase a box of gray grout… And a couple of other things…

Home, dig out more grout, clean everything… mix up the grout and start applying… do the three small spots in the kitchen as well… Grouting tile is a long process… mix and install the grout, go away, let dry, come back, wipe off excess (there is an art to this, diagonal to the joint with a soft wet sponge) go away, let dry some more, come back, wipe off excess, repeat. Several hours later I am getting close… now its let the grout dry more. Along the way I consume most of a roll of paper towels keeping all clean… I only created one bag of trash… Maybe I will have another beer (Lagunitas Pale Ale.. really good)

It will probably be tomorrow before I can caulk… in the mean time the bed is covered with the stuff from the bathroom.

Then, after the caulk dries I can seal the whole thing…

I think I will go outside and weed the garden.

Randy