More choices than necessary or not enough?

[Sweater Cows!]

Who knew how many choices for things like kitchen faucets and toilets. and vinyl. and...

I decided it was finally time to do some home repairs. Not remodeling, only fixing things that were broken or on the way to being broken.  Now I have a headache just from picking out fixtures.

For years I have been blaming people for peeing on the floor (poor aim) in the main bath. I guess I owe an apology because the commode had a hairline crack which didn't leak often but every once in a while would  leave a small amount of water around the base. Of course I thought it was somebody, not something. So I found a piece of remnant vinyl at Grieners(after a year of searching for vinyl that I like and having not luck and being ready to put in tile) and have it installed by a contractor friend who is doing my projects. That night I go into the bathroom it looks like a small line of clear caulk around the base of the commode. I new it was water. I then new that their was a crack in the porcelain  that had lifted the old vinyl. How I knew I knew that I have no idea, but I did.

So now I need a new commode. What a headache to just pick one out. There are many options but not the exact one I want, of course.

A few nights ago I decided to scrape the calcium from around the kitchen faucet. Bad idea. That began leaking. Slowly but constantly. After a few aggravated moments with DH at home depot and lowes I finally find the faucet I want. I get it home and we open it only to find out that it was plastic around the base. Now that might be okay for some people but not us. We are rough on things. Our water is full of calcium and that plastic would never have made it very long without being ugly and icky or I would have broke it somehow, probably trying to clean it. So back to the store I go and find a kitchen faucet with a metal base. Of course I did have to settle for a plastic sprayer. oh well.

Going back to before the final decision on fixing the bathroom floor I had been to every floor place in town(twice) over the last year trying to find the vinyl I wanted. The stuff that I put in my entry about 5 years ago. I finally found out it is discontinued and I could order it on line for $25/sq. yd plus shipping. To rich for my tastes.

So i brought home marble. I found some i loved. Then was told, not to use marble in a bathroom due to slipping issues. Okay back to square one. That leaves find vinyl or use tile. okay how about tile? Well, contractor friend says it will raise up floor to much from adjacent room and I can do it if i want but would probably not be happy with it. It would put nearly an inch step up into the bathroom. Okay that's out. And it would be cold. No vent for heat in the bath so no tile. no freezing winter floor.

Onward to a re-search for vinyl. Finally found a 6'8" x7'11" piece at Grieners. I needed a 6' by 7'6". whew, it fit. It wasn't my dream vinyl but it looked okay whe I brought the sample home. Yes. Finally, this will work.

Then the damn toilet needs replacing. So now I am on a hunt for the perfect toilet. Well, tomorrow i will have one, whether 'Perfect' or not. Who knew there were different seat heights and shapes and water usages. Thank god I just want white. LOL Of course the combo I want doesn't seem to exist. Well maybe I need to decide what options I want first. Round ? Elongated? 15" or 17 in seat height.  Fancy water saver dual flush or 1.28 gpf or 1.60gpf.  *headache*

How is it people put together these beautiful homes and find all the neato stuff in them with out first wanting to shoot themselves finding that 'perfect' everything.

Now how am I going to get the wall board out from around the tub where I Liquid Nails attached it some years ago so that I can fix where it is getting mucky around the bottom edge where the tub water has been repeatedly splashed on it( I did it myself, let just say I am way, way better off not trying to "do it myself"). And then how I am I going to find a replacement that won't get all mucky again. Should I try to tap in towards the bottom with an overlay and caulk the hell out of it? Maybe, I will leave that up to the repairer this time.

On the bright side I did have an easy time picking out a new screen/storm door for the front door. And a cheap wood one for the house to garage entry(they even had once with metal grate so the dogs won't shred it). yay!! The last one I put up ( a cheap wood one on the front entry, now being replaced with a quality item)I screwed some lattice work over and I didn't put it up high enough so this one may need some additional paw barrier added.

So although I know I will be happy when all this stuff is done (the list has about 25 things on it) I am   really tired of the home improvement stores right now.

Well at least this isn't about politics. LOL I have bigger worries. Home Improvement!!

[Dave]

Sounds like a mighty big pain in the butt... thank god I have no intention of doing any home improvements or home purchases anytime soon... lol

[Edie Lindsey]

Enjoyable reading, Sheila. Any plumbing project I tackle winds up with water spraying everywhere, and me wailing like Lucy Ricardo. Plumbing is best reserved for dads, hubbies, brothers, sons, and boyfriends. It's there penalty for always leaving the seat up.

[Guidothesemipsuedocaptitalistpig]

lol that sounds like the same issues I have with my house here Sheila.... I took the easy way out though I am moving in the Spring!!!!

[Mary A.]

Guido, were you able to sell your house? Amazing if you did!

[Edie Lindsey]

Are you still keeping in the area, Guido? If not, don't forget your friends here at the Torch. Max is a country-width away, but still has plenty to say here.

[Guidothesemipsuedocaptitalistpig]

Actually I was on an option to buy, so I am lucky I can just walk away. I am moving to P.A. as I have better options for work in the Scranton area. I will most certainly keep in touch as I was born here and still love hamlin lake I grew up here.

[Sweater Cows!]

Update: have been so busy lately. heres an update on my head achy home repairs. (all this was last week BTW).

The bathroom vinyl came out beautiful. He put some stuff around the tub to cover where it was getting icky and caulked it in, very nice, and durable. Got one of those hand held waterpiks added into the main bathroom tub. You guys have probably never seen a tub like this, it's about 2.5 by 2.5 feet square. Me and the kid are the only ones who can even fit in it. The mutts fit okay too.

Got the vinyl glued back down in the utility room shower. Now if only the fam will be careful to not let it get soaked and to keep it dried up after showering so it doesn't lift again. (good luck)lol. Time to break out the shock collar!

Got the new commode after about two trips to each HD and lowes totaling roughly 4 hours of looking at toilets.(yes I can be indecisive when it's something I have to sit on for the next 30 or so years) Went to set it in and OH NO it's a ten inch rough in!!!

A guy at Lowes was pointing me out to his wife and snickering when he seen me sitting on one of those display toilets they have in the little bathroom setup type displays. But REALLY how can a person decide if they want a round or elongated seat. That is what they put them there for right? To give it a dry run.;) I couldn't surely open up and assemble each one I interested in right there in the toilet isle. Although I would have liked to. See for all you tall people, you might not realize this, but when us shorties sit on something with our legs dangling the pressure behind the knees makes your legs numb and it hurts.
Now I have to order a special order toilet. For those of you who don't know what a 10" rough in is it is the measurement from the trim board on the wall behind the toilet to the bolt location on the thingy(flange) that the toilet bolts to. The standard is 12 inches now days. But way back when they would make them 10 or 14 inches also. The one I picked out was a sort of space saver type and it would have worked if the walls weren't tongue and groove knotty pine because at that point I would've grabbed a 3lb sledge hammer and took to the wall to make it fit(well okay maybe not, but I was getting to thinking that way) the stupid thing was about 1/2 inch to long once the tank was set on!!

So I've been with out commode in "my" or "the girls" bathroom for a week or so now. Luckily the other one has a toilet. But it is COLD out there. I put a heat lamp in the light socket, it helps a bit. I've been procrastinating ordering the new commode. Looked up some on line last week, finally went to HD tonight to see what their catalog offered and got sidetracked looking at all the seeds for the garden but finally made it back to the catalog person. Checking Lowes tomorrow, then more on line research, then maybe, maybe by the weeks end I will get something ordered. Then wait another week for it to arrive.

Sometimes it would be nice to be one of those people who could just pick the first one they see and call it good. Nope, not me. Well I guess shopping around paid off in the spouse search ;)

I found a faucet for the kitchen sink which he installed. It doesn't leak anymore. YAY! But I lost quite a bit of pressure. The whole water saver thing. Which is good for the earth I guess but not so much for blasting residue off dishes.

I found a screen for the inner door to garage, it even came with a mesh grille to keep the dogs from tearing it up. OMG, the guy at HD pulled one out for a 32" and I said nope need a 36, Well he says it looks like we don't have any left. Well I spotted on up on the top shelf and he had to drag over a ladder to get it down. I wasn't leaving without that door.

So I had the back and front screen doors on the cart thingy and I thought he would take it up front for me but oh no he handed it off to me. Surprising I didn't knock half the displays down with that huge thing. Then I had to ask for help loading it it all. Not that I couldn't have done it, but the one door was quite heavy and I am very short so it throws that center of gravity thing off a bit. And my shoulder is already messed up from trying to race my kid in a freestyle swim race at the hotel pool a few weeks back. That bugger needs to heal soon, it's been like 6 weeks. Oh BOY! I am getting OLD. Noooooooooooo.....this stuff never happened to me. I always thought when I was younger that everyone over 30 was full of ships when they said this or that hurt. I've been educated, sadly. Age does that to a person I guess.

Well I think that is it thus far.

Stay tuned, we'll be moving outdoors in the upcoming weeks to work on the other screen door, rain gutters and siding repair.

[Mary A.]

I wonder if Thomas Crapper was even remotely aware of all the possibilities when he invented the commode ...

[XLFD]

Exactly, why put toilets on display if you don't expect people to assume the position on them? At least you didn't leave any presents therein; I think I saw this on the Jackass movie.

[Sweater Cows!]

Yes that was jackass.