Blow Out!

Now that we are through the golf of June, it was time to get things fixed for the next adventure for Fillmore. Grad 2018. Yes Anna is graduating from high school, and to my delight she has asked me to act as their limo driver for her and a bunch of buds going to and fro for pictures and the dinner and such.

When we were in Manitoba and the destination window blew in, the mess was mostly contained within the cabinet above the drivers head. Although some pieces blew in, it was mostly help in the cabinet space awaiting for me to take everything apart for clean up.

The nice thing was....I have done this tear apart numerous times, so it was relatively easy and fast in the grand scheme of things.

Thanks to a wonderful suggestion from Chris Kruse, I sourced out some plexi-glass for (at minimum) a temporary fix. The lass was .2mm thinner than the plexi-glass, but there was wiggle room in the rubber seal.

The big site boss gave her seal of approval, it wasn't a vivacious endorsement but given that I really didn't have to twist her arm to come check out the final product speaks volumes.

With Grad looming around the corner, I didn't want to start to tear things apart. So it's status quo until this next milestone is finished. Having said that a guy has to enjoy the creature comforts of his workspace.

I wasn't tearing apart but there was no reason why I can't continue to build. The under counter medicine cabinet is on the agenda.

With the cutest little drawer pulls! These things are 6" deep!!

All the while Jeff is working on replacing the brake calipers on the 240Z

Grey Owl 2018

I know this is a blog about working on Fillmore, but I take poetic licence in sharing some Fillmore escapades. Every year I take a few days (more than a few in my wife's eyes) and I travel to my home province of Manitoba to take part in "The Grey Owl" golf tournament. Since the inception of Fillmore it had been part of my plan, my vision to have Fillmore be a part of that annual journey. This year marked the third year of making the trek across western Canada in the bus!

I worked a half day on my last day, had a lunch with the boys from the building and then picked up my father in law at the airport for the trek back to Manitoba

There is always something that makes me smile when I'm driving and the copilot is able to rustle up snacks on the fly!

It also makes me smile when I hand over the reigns to someone else....

And I grab a snooze....                                                                           ...or make fresh coffee



The tournament was great, we golfed like chumps, but the company was awesome and the food was(as usual) more plentiful and flavourful than the previous year!

But the trip was not , and seemingly never is, without incident. While enroute a big truck threw up a rock and "BOOM!" My destination window took it right in the kisser!!

Which meant on the way up to the lake before the airport we had to make an emergency stop to get roadside repair supplies. Thank goodness I brought the tools!.....always bring tools!

Mac and I did a decent job, was't super pretty but it was functional and got us home! Chris Kruse saved my butt yet again with a long distance mobile repair service call(thats another story for another time) but he gave me an idea of a more permanent fix.....acrylic!. I owe that man a good bottle of scotch!

What would you take?

 An interesting exercise really...
Easy to say that now because it all turned out well. But a few Sundays ago I was outside working on the bus (surprise). While puttering away I noticed smoke in the air, which I dismissed as someone's back yard burn pile. But then I started to get email notifications that there was an out of control Wild fire south of us. Although we were 10+kms away , a slight shift in the wind could have devastating consequences. We were not ordered to evacuate, but after a family Pow wow we decided to pack up our prized possessions and load them into the bus. That way if the evac call came at 2am there would be no panicked decisions about what to grab. We grab the computers, the dogs and the car keys and we are out of there.

We tried to stay calm, but its a funny reality when you know you may have to run for the hills and leave your home behind.

The fire (red) and our house(teal)....to close for comfort.

On the monday, we all were away from the house. I couldn't leave the dogs, I couldn't leave our possessions, I couldn't leave Fillmore! So I put the dogs in the bus with all of our important things....For Anna:Grad Dress&shoes and assorted clothing, for Jeff: a couple small duffel bags with hoodies and T shirts, Michelle: Digital picture collection and old photo albums, and me?.....tools. Odd yes but it's what I thought was important to have if all else is lost. Monday was a warm day but the dogs were fine in the bus with shade and air flow!

Within 48 hours the disaster was averted and the "on call evac order" was lifted, everyone and everything was back home safe and sound.

Which meant it was time to get moving!....The Grey Owl trip to Manitoba was right around the corner! There was tile to cut!

And floor to grout!

It was a real different material and technique, but the outcome was great.

Next on the list was to finish the locking latches for the kitchen. Filling the drawers with dishes and cutlery means they tend to roll open with the bumps in the road. Most of the drawers were without incident but one needed some mods to get it right.

The final touch I wanted was to do some filler in the floor, when it was done it had a little religious feel to it! That's OK, I'll need all the helping hands to watch over me on the road trip ahead...

Get your jolly on!

Mesial, distal, palatal, MB1, bifurcated canal, periapical periodontitis. Now these are terms that make sense to me, it's dental lingo. So when my sister in law gave me a design world compliment, I actually thought she was saying something in Afrikaans . I was sharing some photos of my work in the bathroom of Fillmore and she said " Looking so good! Nice Jolly!" I wasn't quite sure how my jolly got into this but I was pleased that as a designer she thought the tiling was looking good!

After some joking she told me that the aluminium trim at the edge of the tile is called the 'tile jolly'. I learn something every day...
I knew I wanted a clean finish to the tile edge, and keeping with the colour scheme of white chrome and grey the 'jolly' was a no brainer. I mitred the corners and installed the jolly only to discover that I wasn't happy with the way the mounting screws sat proud of the trim. This would cause me grief come tile installation time.

So I took the trim off, and one by one counter sunk the screw holes.











This was much better, although there will be a slight transition of the first time, hopefully it should be barley noticeable.


























Things are shaping up, there has been a lot of cutting. then adhesive and applying, followed by lots of support screws!! Once all the little finicky tiles are in place I'll be ready for grout work. I'm a little nervous about doing the grout work. Bob from Flex Tile makes it look easy, but I have a feeling the anxiety level will be a little higher in  my corner when I'm trying to float silicone based grout and NOT get it all over absolutely everything.

The Handyman Song

 "Tile ,darn ya tile...." My buddy Randy was a musical savant
....you know a bathroom is a great room after all... OK he wasn't a savant but I used to like to call him that every now and again when he would demonstrate his musical prowess.
Tile darn ya tile, and soon enough we'll brighten up your shower stall...
It really was an opportunity to give him a poke, a backhanded compliment if you will.
Bathrooms are so tacky when they're painted, time for you and tile to get acquainted...
We sang together in a quartet for many years, and one of the songs that Randy arranged was "The handyman Medley" A smart number full of stereotypical barbershop originals which we parodied.
Make walls worthwhile!, com on and Tile Darn ya Tile!

I miss you Randy, but thanks for being by my side (and in my head) while I hummed your tune and tiled the bathroom.

 The day has come, the toilet removed the ducting re routed, the cabinets framed up. It was time to lay tile. I have never laid tile before, but when I was doing a test fit it became obvious the extent of cutting I would have to do.

 Measure, measure,mark, measure....

 And then finally cut

Fairly straight forward, most of the cuts are single cut straight lines....

 I spoke too soon....

 With a little patience and using the front and side surfaces of the cutting blade. I was able to make a round hole from a square peg.

It became clear that this was a refreshing job on a day that hit 27C(hot for here), a little messy, but I was happy!

 And progress was made! I had fears of crooked lines and screw ups, but by and large things turned out really well! Not perfect but, if all the lines were perfect what would you have to ponder on while you are sitting in the bathroom?

My cup runeth over

We all live busy lives, and that's ok, as long as we take time to stop and "smell the roses". Now, for some that might actually be a literal stop what you are doing and go over to the flower and take a moment to smell it. For others, it can be making sure that you take stock of all the blessings in your life. Like on my day off after I get the kids off to school and Michelle off to work, and I find myself with a pile of dishes. Rather than stew about the fact that I am pretty sure dirty dishes are like rabbits and when you turn your back they seemingly multiply in a VERY short order. I decide to release the urge to channel my inner greek and start smashing dishes to the floor while yelling "OPA!",and instead I revel in the fact that not every day do I get to watch a young doe nibble at the fresh spring shoots only meters away from me while I get dishpan hands.

A short while later, I thank my lucky stars to live where I do, as my buddy came rumbling over on his tractor when he heard I needed to move my storage shed, re contour the drainage on my driveway and lay down about 14 tons of drainage stone.

I am a lucky man, and my back thanks you Brennan boys!

Now that the big stuff was out of the way, I got to focus on a small job, about 9ft2 of floor space really, and that's being generous. I figure it is time to tile!

But of course, when you are ready to tile, you must make sure all your other ducks are in a row. And they were not. Why I did this I am not sure but, my master plan had a heating duct into the bathroom. Makes sense really, who wants to sit on a cold seat in the fall? What I can't figure out is where I ran the duct into the bathroom. Right behind the toilet. It would only heat up the small space between the toilet and the wall. So it was time to re route the ducting

Thankfully this went a little smoother than I thought, after a few measures and re measures I drilled a new hole through the cabinet and through the bathroom wall. Now the bathroom should receive heat and the drawers should still open and close!

Next obstacle to tackle was storage. As I have preached time and again, with no overhead cupboards and no under floor storage, every nook and cranny must be utilized . In many bathrooms medicine cabinets are used to increase storage space. They are often very shallow and compact....and built into or screwed onto a wall. So this is kinda like that except its not on a wall, and it will have drawers, and like everything else will be designed to be removable.

Why do I have to do this before tiling? because if this is designed to come out it has to be set up 3/16 of an inch at least to slide past the floor tile. Now I am ready to proceed to the tiling  portion!!

In my minds eye

In my mind I have a vision....yes sometimes it can be scary and disturbing in there, but a lot of the time it is relatively ordered and it makes sense. However, I have never been accused at NOT having an imagination. So, some of the details of my vision for Fillmore could be described as, uhmm incomplete. I always knew that the bathroom in Fillmore was going to have a 'certain' look. It's a very small space, so what it lacks in size I will make up for in unique style.
Some of the details of that style are tangible. I knew the look I wanted, it was a matter of finding the tiles that met that vision

On Friday, I made a trip to Sweetgrass Montana.On the way home I stopped in Lethbridge and found what I wanted. Tile for the bathroom. I had been watching different places and found what I wanted at home depot. The only problem was the stores at home had very little stock. Being that I had been on the road for 4.5 hours, I was hungry and needed a stretch. Lucky for me there was a Home depot right near where I was eating and lone and behold they had stock of what I needed.

Now for the reason for the road trip. I'm not a tile guy, but it didn't take me long to think of how a tile can pop loose or grout crumble away when there is some slight shifting in your house. My vision for the bathroom in Fillmore has always been tile, the incompleteness of my vision was HOW was I going to put tile into a moving shaking,vibrating bathroom? After many hours over many years of procrastinator style research  I found what I wanted...Flex-Tile
This is a silicone based(flexible) adhesive AND grouting material. I may live to regret my decision, but if it does what they claim, we have a winner!

In the meantime, not wanting to be the guy with only one iron in the fire, I needed to produce some templates for Suu at Ariewest Upholstery

He is going to make me some wheel well covers in carpet so as to give me a cleaner polished look to the area

Water wars also continue. I found and dealt with the leaks I had now it was time to put it all back together.

Water?.....check

Cupboards?....check

It was nice to see more checks on the page....