When I was getting ready to start the remodeling I went to the city hall to request a permit for all the items I would take care of, namely:

• the kitchen
• 2 bathrooms
• electrical service upgrade

I didn’t really pay attention, but the man over there gave me one single permit for everything. That was a mistake.

If I had to do it again, I would insist on getting 4 individual permits instead - even if it comes as an extra cost. Why? Because one year later, we still haven’t closed that single permit (and had to request an extension). After going through the kitchen, electrical and first bathroom, we moved in and started working on many other small items. And left the second bathroom for later.

It is annoying to have this single permit still in the air, making sure it doesn’t expire etc. In addition, one problem in one of the rooms is enough to put the whole permit on hold.

Bottom line: individual permits are better than a single jumbo one.

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All cities have different building regulations and I will not go into too many details here. Make sure you contact your local government and check on building regulations before you start any work.

I hate to put some limits to your creativity, but bathroom remodeling is subjects to some hard constraints.

At the beginning we had all these brilliant ideas for our bathrooms. We sketched multiple plans, moving fixtures around. For instance we really wanted to switch the shower and the bath tub - it seemed that having the tub in the master bathroom and the shower in the guest bathroom would make more sense (how likely are your guests to have a bath when visiting you?). Sure, it sounded good on paper…

Wake up! Bathroom fixtures are no regular furniture. They need water, just like plants - actually this is not such a big deal: re-routing copper pipes is within reach of a handy homeowner. But more importantly: they need to evacuate waste and used water. Through drains. Drains are these heavy, large pipes, going from the roof (each drain is ventilated) to the floor where they exit the house through the concrete slab.

Think about what would be involved in moving one of these drains: jack-hammering the concrete slab (and if you own a working radiant-heat system you should be very circonspect about the idea of hammering your slab!), but also potentially having to open the roof in a different location (and if you have a single-ply roofing system, opening a hole in the roof requires professional intervention to maintain your warranty). Oh, and last but not least: you would need to reroute these heavy pipes - I have no experience in this domain, wouldn’t even know where and how to start, but this sure wouldn’t be as easy as a copper soldering…

Bottom line: unless you have an unlimited budget you should really consider a bathroom remodeling that keeps the fixtures (sink, tub or shower and toilets) in their original location. Unleash your creativity in other areas: tiles, cabinets, windows or skylight etc. There is plenty that can be done to give a radically different look to your bathroom.

As far as we’re concerned, the tub and the shower will not leave the locations they had adopted back in 1964, when the house was built!

As the roof has to be replaced I started investigating about my options. The best source of information for this is, once again, the Eichler Network. They have a great article about roofing.

This foam stuff sounds like a very funky 1970’s option. I think I’ll go with the single-ply Duro-Last (also known as “pool liner”) - checking with some flat-roof owners in the area, but also in Europe, this seems to be the most sensible option. I have identified three companies and will get bids for the job.

An interesting thing that emerged during my quest for the best roofing option was the electrical question. Indeed, Eichler homes have no crawl space and no attic. So the electrical wires run straight on the eaves, under the roofing material. Obviously a nightmare when you want to upgrade - you need to open the roof to access the cables; provided you know where they are! This explains for the mess of wires you can see on some Eichlers: people just take a shortcut and run the cables around the walls or on the roof. Bottom line: if you remove the roof you have to take this opportunity to upgrade the electrical..

I guess I also need to find an electrician now…

Note: you may wonder why this blog is subtitled “Adventure in DIY remodeling” if I’m going to get contractors to do everything. Well, Duro-last requires a professional installation, and the re-wiring will have to happen very quickly while the roof is off. I need help here! My turn will eventually come…

Major items listed in the section one:

• some termite damage, mostly in some roof eaves (note: thankfully very limited!)
• fungus damage, mostly inside, in cabinets, trims etc (note: good news, this wood is leaving the house soon!)
• “roof has outlived is useful life” - it was a tar and gravel roof, subsequently covered with foam
• non-working boiler - but copper radiant system holding the pressure, yeah!

So, 2 major items that will have to be taken care of ASAP: the roof and the boiler. Planning this is not quite as fun as thinking about a new bathroom… but the costs are well on-par! These are going to make quite a dent in the remodeling budget.

I guess I should have started blogging earlier. It looks like some of my visitors could have helped me out with design questions (Larry works at Ideo…)!

Pressure is on. Gotta work on my CSS and make this blog a little prettier!

The second bathroom is adjacent to the master bedroom. It has a peculiar design - the vanity is in the same space as a walk-in closet, separated from the toilet and the shower by a door. It’s in the same poor shape as the other bathroom. Biohazard danger indicator goes up yet-one-more level - the toilet is smeared with sealing wax and the lovely moulded MDF trims have a suspicious spongy look. But hey, we wanted new bathrooms anyway…

Let’s have a look at the first bathroom now. Watch your step. Biohazard.

The photo doesn’t quite reflect the state of that room. The aluminum window frame is punctured by corrosion. Plumbing is leaking and the cabinet is all mouldy. Yikes. There’s no way we can move in with such a bathroom! Re-doing this bathroom is now the number one priority.