They say write about what you know. Well, all I know right now is Varathane, gyprock dust, wood filler, primer, paint, cleaning and scouring. Same old stuff and getting older by the minute. I’ll be glad to see the end of it all and get back to the shop and hooking. All I do is work at the apartment all day and get home around 10:30 pm, grab something for dinner and crawl into bed. My dogs are wondering what is going on as I am never home. Poor guys, I’ll have to make it up to them with some ball time now that most of the snow is gone.
Tomorrow is the last day of the grind. I forfeited my house cleaning day for help with the apartment and Larry rearranged his schedule and booked me for the entire day, bless him. He’s arriving at 8:30 am to begin the clean and we will have to shift all the stuff from room to room because the construction is still going on. The carpenter had a deadline but fell short so now we are down to the wire. That is the problem with today’s trade’s people, they work more than one job and flit back and forth between them trying to keep everyone happy. I guess I was the last on the totem pole because my job is nowhere finished, the guy is moving in on Thursday so that puts the pressure on me to pull an all-nighter Wednesday to make sure it’s move in ready. I’d complain but if the carpenter gets angry and doesn’t come back I’m screwed so I’ll keep my mouth shut and work my arse off to make up for the short comings.
For those who never painted. First the sharp edges of the wood need a light sanding to make it softer to touch. Wood has knots that need to be shellacked at least four times and then Bin over that so they don’t bleed through the paint. Then the nail holes need to be filled with wood filler and that has to dry and then sanded. Then you can prime, that has to dry and then you start slapping on at least two coats of finish.
We are still painting but there is enough for Larry to clean for eight hours. There is a terrible mess of the front entrance and hall of the building so everything needs a cleaning. In the apartment, the guy that lived there didn’t lift a finger in seven years. Imagine the webs and dust and the ground in dirt, the bathroom, I can’t even go there, it’s a memory that I could have lived without...bachelors! Sure we are painting in there but it still had to be cleaned before we slapped on the primer.
I spent a couple of hours on my hands and knees liberating the floor of seven years grime. He must not have taken his shoes off and tracked in dirt from the outside and maybe there was a bit of black shoe leather rubbing off? The bedroom carpet had been brand new when he moved in. It was walked down and sticky, and the brown had turned to black so that was ripped up and replaced. The only way to get that kind of dirt out of a carpet would be with a blowtorch. The beautiful wood floors were sanded and recoated before he moved in and he created a pathway down the center of the hall a cadaver grey. At first I worried it wouldn’t come off and I’d be stuck renting a floor sander, a fate worse than running out of wool, but behold it came up with elbow grease, a wet rag and comet. The abrasive stripped the dirt and now all I have to do after everything is done is Varathane the floor on my way out the door.
I tried my best to fix the floor in the office where his office chair damaged it. It looks like crap and I’m deeply embarrassed so I have a spare wool rug I’ll contribute. I had no time to rent a floor sander and the palm sander made more mess of it than not. All the ground in dirt made the raw, exposed wood a sickly grey colour so when I applied the Varathane it went even darker. I’m livid those beautiful floors are now ruined and I look like I’m a slum landlord! Too late now to do anything about it, except hide it with a rug, I been sputtering over it but at this point I have to let it go.
I won’t be at the end of this nightmare for a few more days. The bathroom door isn’t coming in until Friday, that needs to be hung and painted. The washer and dryer were delivered this afternoon but there is a lot of work to get them hooked up and we have to make sure that area is finished with paint.
I am resigned that I’ll be working there while the guy is moving in. If not for this washer and dryer bathroom reno the apartment would have been move in ready a while ago. Now that Mahone Bay doesn’t have a public laundromat our apartments needed washers and dryers to attract tenants. The second and third floor didn’t have connections so that had to be rectified. The second floor didn’t have any space for them so we stole a small segment of the bedroom adjoining the bathroom and went through the wall to expand the room to accommodate the units. The bathroom was always too small anyway so we took out the shower/tub and put in a shower stall that alone made the room larger. Now it is spacious feeling and there is an entrance from the bedroom, a convenience factor that will be much appreciated and the second entrance for company. We took about 32 inches out of the bedroom but there is still plenty of room for a large bed and furniture. I ordered a frost single paned door to allow light in during the day, another feature that will please. So all in all I think the tenant will like the changes.
Although I am dirt tired there is a small light at the end of the tunnel. My hands look like ape paws. They are swollen and red and covered in paint and shellac. They are as dry and rough as sandpaper and no matter how much hand cream I apply it’s instantly absorbed. I look like a hard working woman, not a bad thing but I’ll appreciate getting back to my princess life. Last night I hauled my sorry butt up the stairs and poured a hot bath in the claw tub. I soaked in Epsom Salts to take the sting out of my weary bones. I slept better, soothed by the steam and heat my brain relaxed and I stop stressing enough to drift away.
Tomorrow is the last day of the grind. I forfeited my house cleaning day for help with the apartment and Larry rearranged his schedule and booked me for the entire day, bless him. He’s arriving at 8:30 am to begin the clean and we will have to shift all the stuff from room to room because the construction is still going on. The carpenter had a deadline but fell short so now we are down to the wire. That is the problem with today’s trade’s people, they work more than one job and flit back and forth between them trying to keep everyone happy. I guess I was the last on the totem pole because my job is nowhere finished, the guy is moving in on Thursday so that puts the pressure on me to pull an all-nighter Wednesday to make sure it’s move in ready. I’d complain but if the carpenter gets angry and doesn’t come back I’m screwed so I’ll keep my mouth shut and work my arse off to make up for the short comings.
For those who never painted. First the sharp edges of the wood need a light sanding to make it softer to touch. Wood has knots that need to be shellacked at least four times and then Bin over that so they don’t bleed through the paint. Then the nail holes need to be filled with wood filler and that has to dry and then sanded. Then you can prime, that has to dry and then you start slapping on at least two coats of finish.
We are still painting but there is enough for Larry to clean for eight hours. There is a terrible mess of the front entrance and hall of the building so everything needs a cleaning. In the apartment, the guy that lived there didn’t lift a finger in seven years. Imagine the webs and dust and the ground in dirt, the bathroom, I can’t even go there, it’s a memory that I could have lived without...bachelors! Sure we are painting in there but it still had to be cleaned before we slapped on the primer.
I spent a couple of hours on my hands and knees liberating the floor of seven years grime. He must not have taken his shoes off and tracked in dirt from the outside and maybe there was a bit of black shoe leather rubbing off? The bedroom carpet had been brand new when he moved in. It was walked down and sticky, and the brown had turned to black so that was ripped up and replaced. The only way to get that kind of dirt out of a carpet would be with a blowtorch. The beautiful wood floors were sanded and recoated before he moved in and he created a pathway down the center of the hall a cadaver grey. At first I worried it wouldn’t come off and I’d be stuck renting a floor sander, a fate worse than running out of wool, but behold it came up with elbow grease, a wet rag and comet. The abrasive stripped the dirt and now all I have to do after everything is done is Varathane the floor on my way out the door.
I tried my best to fix the floor in the office where his office chair damaged it. It looks like crap and I’m deeply embarrassed so I have a spare wool rug I’ll contribute. I had no time to rent a floor sander and the palm sander made more mess of it than not. All the ground in dirt made the raw, exposed wood a sickly grey colour so when I applied the Varathane it went even darker. I’m livid those beautiful floors are now ruined and I look like I’m a slum landlord! Too late now to do anything about it, except hide it with a rug, I been sputtering over it but at this point I have to let it go.
I won’t be at the end of this nightmare for a few more days. The bathroom door isn’t coming in until Friday, that needs to be hung and painted. The washer and dryer were delivered this afternoon but there is a lot of work to get them hooked up and we have to make sure that area is finished with paint.
I am resigned that I’ll be working there while the guy is moving in. If not for this washer and dryer bathroom reno the apartment would have been move in ready a while ago. Now that Mahone Bay doesn’t have a public laundromat our apartments needed washers and dryers to attract tenants. The second and third floor didn’t have connections so that had to be rectified. The second floor didn’t have any space for them so we stole a small segment of the bedroom adjoining the bathroom and went through the wall to expand the room to accommodate the units. The bathroom was always too small anyway so we took out the shower/tub and put in a shower stall that alone made the room larger. Now it is spacious feeling and there is an entrance from the bedroom, a convenience factor that will be much appreciated and the second entrance for company. We took about 32 inches out of the bedroom but there is still plenty of room for a large bed and furniture. I ordered a frost single paned door to allow light in during the day, another feature that will please. So all in all I think the tenant will like the changes.
Although I am dirt tired there is a small light at the end of the tunnel. My hands look like ape paws. They are swollen and red and covered in paint and shellac. They are as dry and rough as sandpaper and no matter how much hand cream I apply it’s instantly absorbed. I look like a hard working woman, not a bad thing but I’ll appreciate getting back to my princess life. Last night I hauled my sorry butt up the stairs and poured a hot bath in the claw tub. I soaked in Epsom Salts to take the sting out of my weary bones. I slept better, soothed by the steam and heat my brain relaxed and I stop stressing enough to drift away.
Living Room
Gorgeous staircase in the hallway.
 This is the ruined floor from the office chair. See how awful it is!!!!! |  The entrance to the bathroom from the bedroom. This is the condition of last night, we have less than 24 hours to make it move in ready! |
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