Getting a bit dusty in here, or TBF is remodeling the bathroom: Final product

Re: Getting a bit dusty in here, or TBF is remodeling the bathroom

I live in NYC in a co-op. Even if I had the ability to do what you are doing TBF (And I am suitably impressed), I am not allowed to. It's no matter. I don't have those kinds of skills.

My building sort of functions as a corporation with a board of directors. It's the way a lot of buildings here are. We are all shareholders in the building. There are rules about what you can and can't do to the place you own (you technically own shares in the building and don't own your apartment). The rules can be onerous and ridiculous, especially when it comes to repairs and renovations. A few years ago, I totally demo'ed my whole apartment and rebuilt it from scratch. I wasn't allowed to do any of it myself (even the littlest things). I needed a licensed contractor with all the right kinds of insurance, building department permits, and everyone from the electrician, plumber, etc. had to meet all kinds of insurance and licensing rules. It took me more than a year just to get my plan approved by the board. It was a giant pain.

It makes sense in a way, because if I do a shoddy, half-assed renovation, it can mean leaking water, debris, and problems for the people living below me and to the sides. Plus, what I do to my place affects the values of other places in the building. So I understand concerns about those kinds of things.

It was still a giant bureaucratic pain, though, and it involved some overly officious people who just wanted to be difficult. I had to jump through some ridiculous hoops just to get my plan approved, including getting architectural drawings, when I did no work that affected the building structurally.

Plus the whole thing cost way more than it would have anywhere else. But what was cool was that I was around and very involved while the work was being done and got along well with my contractor and the guys who worked for him. I learned a ton -- about things I had no clue about before the renovation. I now have an idea about how to lay a mud floor in a bathroom, for example. And some idea about what goes into rewiring a place electrically. And how to frame a door, etc.

My favorite demo story -- the day they came in to demo the place, he hired some guys to do it, because they do demo work and had the trucks (where I live is hard to park) to cart the all the old stuff right out of there. The supervisor came in here with a bunch of Central American immigrants who looked like they were about to keel over from being overworked lugging buckets of debris 20 hours a day. I really felt bad for these guys. It was a bit nerve-wracking, because my building was in the process of fixing up the hallways at the same time, and I was nervous that the guys would do damage to the hallways on the way out and I'd be on the hook for the cost.

I wanted to get the demo done quickly and get them out of there in one day, two days max. I saw an opportunity by mid afternoon to get them out of there in one day instead of two, and I started pitching in. So there I was dust all over me with a sledge hammer loading up buckets for the guys to lug downstairs. One of the guys who worked for my contractor thought I was nuts. I was paying them to do the job and then doing more of the work than they were.

My bathroom had an old steel clawfoot tub in it that I always hated. It was too large for the space. I had looked before the renovation and thought I could sell it because I had heard those tubs can be refinished with porcelain and have value. But it turned out that is kind of a myth. There are junkyards all over filled with similar tubs and the cost of refurbishing one is pretty high. I didn't realize, though, that my contractor wanted to save the tub for himself. So he told the demo guys not to destroy it and get it out intact for him (the thing weighed a ton). But in my old apartment, though, it turned out that whoever had hooked up the plumbing had attached the plumbing to the tub/shower without any shutoff valves! (and my stupid co-op board was giving me all kinds of grief over plumbing specs, when what already existed was a nightmare!) So they couldn't unhook the fixture without starting a flood. The guys were about to leave this really heavy steel tub in there and leave because my contractor had told them not to destroy it, and I was like, "No way. That thing is getting out of here." So I took a sledgehammer and went ape shit on the thing and hacked it apart, leaving just a small piece attached to the plumbing. Then I hacked the rest of the tub apart so they could carry it out. It was one of the most fun things I have ever done. There is nothing better than taking a giant sledge hammer to something.