Bathtub Bravo

Almost everyone who has seen the tub asks if they can take a bath when the house is done. I suspect those of you who haven’t asked are just shy.  When the house is done, I may start renting the tub out.  We have to pay for the build somehow.  There’s precedence for this…a nickel for a hot bath in the old west.  So, $20 for a bath in the western suburbs? I suspect the village would have something to say about that and I'd be violationg about 100 health codes.  So, I'll keep the tub to myself.

The other question everyone asks is "where did you find that tub?"  If you search  Amazon for "slipper tub" you might think we spent $5,995 on the Barclay 66" Slipper tub.  And you'd be wrong.  $5,995 for a tub was not in the budget.  


Maybe you wouldn't do a search for a bathtub on Amazon.  Before this build I certainly would not have done it. But now it would be my first stop...we ended up buy over 80% of all the plumbing fixture from Amazon...just not the tub.


If you were to do a search on Houzz (a site I've been addicted to throughout this entire build) for "freestanding slipper tub" you might think we spent over $4,000 for the Victoria and Albert Amalfi tub. And you'd be wrong.  $4,000 for a tub was not in the budget.  


If you do have $4,000 in the budget for the Victoria and Albert tub can you build a new bath and let me take a bath at your house?  I love my new tub but the finish on the Victoria & Albert is a little bit nicer.  Maybe you'll have the drop-dead gorgeous tiles use in this bathroom.  Click on the picture to see other images on Houzz from this house.  The shower is amazing.

Another wonderful
Victoria & Albert tub!

 My dream tub is an Ofuro style soaker.   I asked Dr. Google about these tubs (multiple times.) Every search I did led to Signature Hardware's selection.  Sadly, none of these tubs would fit in our new bathroom.  But plenty of the  other tubs would fit...but the pricing (compared to the other tubs I looked at) seemed way too good to be true.  Last spring break we decided to let the girls get their horse fix and took a drive to Lexington.  We took a little detour and visited Signature Hardware's show room.  The first time I climbed into the 66" Susanna Freestanding Resin Slipper Tub I knew this was the tub.


The price I paid for the tub was less than what's currently listed on the web site.  I'm not going to pretend like it's not a lot of money for a bath tub.  My original budjet was a max of $1,200.  So I blew that but the whole experience gave me the confidence to source all the plumbing fixtures myself and still came under budget (barely.)

My awesome tub!

Holiday Stress and Disappointment

Week 27:Well it was another week of progress. It seems to be slowing down, but we know that the end is near. The holidays are playing havoc with the scheduling and Mike is not sure if we will be ready to move in before Christmas. We were hoping that we would be able to spend the first days in the house before Christmas. The world will not end if this does not happen. I trust Mike will not rush things just to get it done. The floors will take roughly 4-5 days to sand and stain. While this is happening, no other interior work can be done so that puts a damper on the schedule. The doors will also be coming the third week of December. Between the floors and painting, the schedule is tight. This week we saw the near end result of the siding. We had mostly dry weather, so the guys concentrated on getting the siding and trim up. We only have a small area that is yet to be done since we are awaiting more supplies and they should be delivered the first week of December. Joe then started the interior trim work. He has finished the master suite and will be working his way downstairs. The special order tile for the girls bathroom arrived and Ralph was back to finish up the girls bathroom shower. He is almost done with the master shower as well. We received the new lights for the foyer and John will be installing those this next week so Ralph can then tile the foyer. The bathroom vanity for the girls bathroom was also installed this week. Joe also started the ceiling over the balcony, but ran out of supplies there as well, so we should see some more boards soon. Mike is out of town this week and he worked hard to get everyone scheduled this week. We have the landscapers starting Monday on the final grading, but we are still waiting for the fence company to come remove their fence. We will have John working on the electrical, Joe continuing on the trim and Ralph tiling. There may be more but I will have to wait and see. The painters are starting the week after Thanksgiving and we will have the final measurements for the shower doors as well. We are getting a good push to the finish line.

Trim work around the windows. It will mimic the style on the exterior trim around the windows.







Another angle of the window trim.








Baseboard trim.








Tiling in the girls shower.








The girls new vanity.








Here is one of the sinks for the girls bathroom. Just dry fitting to see where to center it.







Here is Ralph installing the subway tiles in the girls shower.








Here is a close up of the decorative tile in the girls bathroom.








Siding on the west side gable. The round vent was also installed.








Here is Joe working on the back of the house. The only issue we had was that the spray foam insulation squeezed through several spots and he had to cut the house wrap and then remove the dried insulation to make the wall flush.





Here is one of the cuts he had to make to remove the insulation. He then taped it back up and installed the siding.







Almost done in the back of the house.








Final touches to the back.








The back is finished.








Here Joe is working on the front of the house. It was a very chilly and windy day.








Here is the completed front of the house.








Another shot of the front siding. Looks like a nearly completed house.







Here you can see some of what is left to do on the siding.








Here is one of our covered exterior outlets. It is right next to the front door and will be perfect for hooking up the snowman for Christmas.






Here is the start of the balcony ceiling. He is about three quarters done.







The electrical has been run to the garage, but still needs to be hooked up to the outlets and lights.







This is the water stack. It was a little too low and Mike was afraid the landscapers wouldn't see it so he had it raised a bit.

Finishing Touches

Week 23:This was a week of visual changes. The tile was delivered and Ralph has started the installation. He first put down a layer of compound and nailed down the backerboard to create a level floor. Then he installed and grouted the tile in the laundry room and installed tile in the mudroom. The mudroom is going to be the temporary location of the appliances once they are delivered this upcoming week. He also has gotten the NuHeat underlayment installed int he bathrooms. This will keep our feet nice and toasty in the winter months. He has put down a coat of the Mapei AquaDefense liquid waterproofing in the master bath. The furnace was fired up to dry out the house and get it up to temperature for the delivery of the hardwood. The wood was delivered and is getting ready for install. It has to sit for a few days to acclimate to the temperature. The exterior siding started on Monday, but...once again we lost two days of install due to RAIN. They picked back up later in the week and have been concentrating on the trim around the windows and the edges. Once that has been completed, then they will start the horizontal and vertical boards. They also have installed the flashing at the bottom of the house to partially cover the pink foam insulation. The header boards are also installed for the future installation of the deck. It will be ready to go. We also have the final asphalt layer on the hole in the street where the water was tapped into the village system. Travis the plumber was back out to install the Navien tankless hot water heater and prep for the installation of the humidifier. Jeff of DigRightIn, our landscaper, finished the drainage project. Anne's bathtub is officially in the house in our bedroom. It is slowly inching it's way to it's final resting place. Next week they continue on the siding, which looks like the weather may cooperate for the most part with rain on Wednesday possibly. It does look like the later half of the week is going to be very cold though. The tile will be continued and hopefully the start of the wood floors. The appliances are set for delivery on Thursday.

Here is the final layer on the street where the water was tapped into the village system.







Here is the after picture of the garden area. Pretty flat at this point.







Here is the middle drainage inlet.








The new Navien tankless hot water heater. It still needs a few a couple adjustments to be completed.







The furnace with the copper tubing for the humidifier. The furnace is a two stage one. The fan will run slower when the house is at a constant temperature. It is very quite when it is running at the lower speed.










This is the cement board siding from James Hardie. It is fire and insect resistant since it is made of cement. We went with a nice gray color with white trim.





Here is the gray siding.









These are the white trim pieces.







Here is the aluminum trim work under the staircase bump out.








Here is Joe starting the install on Monday. It was overcast and they got a couple windows done and then the rain came for two days.






Here is the ledger board for the future deck install.








Here is the trim around the windows on the south side of the house.







Here is the ledger board and the flashing that is covering the pink foam insulation. It is nicely taped at the top to the tyvek wrap.







Close up shot of the trim around the window.








Trim on the front of the house around the windows and corners/bottom.







Here is the foyer topped with the Hardie Backerboard.








The mudroom with the backerboard.








The trowels of the trade.








Here is the Hardie Backerboard that is installed.








This is the cutout for the tub drain.








These are the NuHeat mats that will heat up the floor tiles in the bathrooms.







The mat installation in the guest bathroom.








Here is the mat in the girls bathroom.








This is one of the niches in the bathroom shower. We decided to put these in all the bathrooms to hold shampoos etc.. They are made out of a Styrofoam like substance. Very light, but waterproof.





The delivery of the tile.








Here is the tile in the laundry room hallway and area. No grout as of yet.







Another shot of the tile. It is a white tile with grey marble like veins. This is the tile that will also be in the girl's bathroom.







Here is the tile grouted with a white grout. It is a little hard to see clearly.







Here is the mudroom that Ralph did on Saturday morning.








The mudroom not grouted yet.








This is the build up for the tub drain. The bottom of the tub is up off the floor, so this will be flush with the tub drain.







Here is the Mapei AquaDefense waterproofing. It is liquid-rubber quick-drying waterproofing and crack-isolation membrane.







Anne's soaking tub.








The guest bathroom floor tile.








The guest bathroom shower accent glass tile.








Here is the oak flooring for the master bedroom.








This is the Hickory flooring that is going to be installed throughout the house.







Hickory.








Hickory. Beautiful shades throughout the wood. Can't wait to see it installed.