Oh, Hey, Look, More Mold...

I had told my painter last night that I would have new bathroom paint for him this morning, so I headed to Lowe's with a bathroom curtain and asked to match one of the circles.  The paint came out a bit dark, but I figured I would try it!  I'm being bold and going away from the gray that I love so much!

Once at the house, I had a crazy idea.  One of the contractors had mentioned that he wasn't sure about whether the floor below the long row of kitchen cabinets needed to be replaced.  He thought that the cabinet might come off easily, but he wasn't sure.

Well, I wasn't going to wait to find out!  So I went to removing the kitchen cabinet myself to inspect the floor underneath.  It's obvious that water doesn't just stay away from the cabinets, and I was pretty positive that the floor underneath the cabinets needed replaced, but why not make sure?

The cabinet showed signs of black mold behind it.

Black mold peeking through.

Frankly, removing the cabinet was very easy!  Outside of one screw that the head ripped off (always one), the cabinet came off without a hitch.  It had three screws securing it to the wall and three securing it to the cabinet top.

As soon as I removed the cabinet, I was so glad I did.  For that's when I saw all the mold.  Obviously the water leak from the upstairs was coming down and providing adequate moisture for mold growth, but this was all hidden!  This kitchen held so much black mold!!!

Wow, what a find.

Look at all of that black mold!

Mold from the water leak upstairs.  Yuck.

It's such a pain-in-the-butt to be finding it all, but I'm relieved that I am finding it.  It's all gotta go.

My painters were back in the house again today with the goal of finishing up this weekend.  We are getting close!  I was happy to learn that my painters also hated the blue in the bathroom, so they were happy to see it go, too!  But that color I picked out?  Yuck!  It's a dark brown!  It was supposed to be a darker tan.  The painter liked it (ew!), but I didn't care for it.  Oh, well, I will lighten it up with the shower curtain, I guess.  Two bad colors in a row!  I should have gone with gray.



The new dark brown bathroom!  I'll cover it up with a shower curtain!  Ew!

In exciting news, though, the rest of the house is looking great!  I LOVE the new color of the Master Bathroom.

The new Master Bedroom bath.  I should have used this color in the other bath, too!

While at the house, Dad asked if I could kindly help him with an unexpected project.  He was cleaning the aerator on his faucet when he noticed all of the threads are just stripped.  So he needed a new faucet installed.  Of course, Pa!  He has been nothing but tremendous help at the new house (and everyone before that), so it was a no-brainer.  Frankly, had he not helped me at all, it was STILL a no-brainer!  That's what family is for.  So Mom headed to Menard's to pick out the faucet while I made my way over to Mom and Dad's house.  I grabbed a much-needed Thanksgiving lunch while I worked on getting the plumbing ready for the new faucet.

One of the shut-off valves wasn't so much shutting off anything, so I decided to go ahead and replace the original 1970's ones with the new 1/4-turn style.  That required a little bit of finesse (and frustration) with a roto-tool, but I made it all work.  The project went...ok.  It would have been a cinch with the original shut-off valves left on, but a job worth doin' is worth doin' right.  Mom arrived with the new parts (all correct!), and I installed the new faucet.  A resounding success and nice addition to the home.  And no leaks!

I also helped Dad find the pesky leak in his crawlspace that has been going on for over a year now.  I traced it down to a faulty installation of a water heater...by a QUALIFIED "professional."  I can only imagine Dad's frustration as the poor installation led to salt water leaking directly on top and rusting out his ductwork and whole-house humidifier.  It's just disgusting.  Had the installer just drained the pipes two feet more to the crawlspace OR drained them in the sump pit, this could have all been avoided.  As it is, the faulty installation led to probably over a thousand dollars' worth of damage.

Why is that so frustrating for me?  Well, one, it's because it's my Mom and Dad!  Two, it's because it shows shortcuts by "professionals."  Third, it's because I'm getting ready to hire a professional to do extensive work on my house!  It's VERY possible that he could be awful!  Or cut corners!  Or not do something right.  It's soooooooooooo frustrating.  Paying someone to a job right...that they don't do right.

It's frustrating all around!  I so hope my contractor is good.  And honest.  And professional!!!  Not just a word on his business card.

Mom, Dad, and I headed back over to my house late this afternoon after a quick stop at Menard's for shelving parts and light fixtures.  Now that the paint is done in the bedrooms, I can start hanging shelves back up.  I used Mom for "Mom Expertise" on the shelving.  I didn't necessarily like how they had the original shelves, but with holes already in the walls, I decided to go with it...at least in the first bedroom.  She said they were fine, although I had to buy numerous extra support brackets as the previous owner had so few.  I'm more than sure that's the reason they shelves are falling out of the walls around the house!  Simple fixes.



The shelves going back in...

I also installed a new light fixture in the walk-in closet off the Master Bedroom.  The painter is going to be patching and painting this room soon, and I want him to be able to see clearly!  The old fixture had one of the two sockets that did not work.  Dad thinks it's yet another case of putting in too high of a watt bulb in the socket (like the garage probably).  So I just decided to change it out!  It looks so much better anyway.  That room is huge!  I love it!

The massive walk-in closet with new light fixture (and no shelving).

While I worked on the fixture, Dad was scraping off layers of paint from light fixtures and receptacles.  It's a cheap fix...basically just sit there (or lay there) and scrape off the paint.  Tedious for sure, but it saves wiring.  Although after scraping off half of a receptacle, Dad noticed that the top portion was broke.  Agh!  Frustrations!

 

I didn't get a "Before" picture, but those switches used to be pink and green!

What the receptacles look like before...

The receptacle after.

So it was another productive day!  The painting is done except for the walk-in closet.  That is HUGE!  And these minor projects are adding to the homeliness of the upstairs bedrooms.  They are so close to being done (outside of the Master Bedroom).

We finally left around 9:00 P.M., each of us ready to be done, I think!

Little by little!  The projects get checked off one at a time.  We are getting there!