One of these headaches scared me to no end. My Dad was downstairs (oh, this is Nik for this post, btw) and I was having a shower in the new stall, quite enjoying being able to bathe in my own home standing up for the first time. I finish and head downstairs where my looks at me and says "Hate to say it, but your shower leaks." Now, a fully tiled custom shower is a bit of an undertaking, if you can imagine, and "leak" is the one word buzzing in the back of one's mind throughout the whole construction process like a mosquito in a one-man tent. My heart sank a little and I shuddered at the thought of pulling out new tile to TRY and find a leak. I had previously left the drywall off the back of the shower to ensure that once the water was on I could check for leaks in the plumbing and showerhead connections (none surfaced). I also was a bit puzzled because I knew I was careful throughout the whole process, and even ordered quite a big amount of special waterproofing membrane, installing it to the tee, to make sure I would never have this problem. I was counting on my shower lasting for about 50 years, and 15 minutes seemed a bit short on that goal. Anyways, before this gets out of hand, I'll just cut to the chase and say that after cutting a hole in the wall, I determined that the leak was from the main showerhead (there are also 4 body sprays, a bit excessive I know). I unscrewed the neck and found no teflon tape on the threads. A simple fix that woulda been nice to do without having to repair more drywall, but them's the breaks. I won't tell you who my helpful helper was who installed that showerhead, I'm far too kind...
The next blunder in the story was one entirely of my own doing. Maybe. I'm not sure if the instructions and diagrams written by what must have been a kindergarten focus group weren't entirely to blame, but I digress. Anyway, after the floor was laid and finished and I proceeded to install the bathtub, I was greeted with this nice little discrepancy:
Yup, put the holes in the wrong spot. Meaning I had to do this:
And then move some pipes and drains down underneath as well. Again, not a huge deal, but definitely annoying. Here's the tile install almost finished (with holes lying unknowingly in the wrong spots):
AND, here's the finished room, with the always curious little monkey sneaking into a few:
Finally, I had a playoff-beard of sorts going on while I was working on the bathroom (1 part motivation, 1 part too lazy to shave without a proper shower/mirror/sink), so during one of my first showers, I was able to part with the muskrat that roamed my face the last few weeks. Chip forgot what I look like clean shaven, I think, as he was waiting when I got out and was pretty surprised at my smooth-as-his-bum appearance:
Next up: Laundry Room/Powder Room/ Back entrance.
