Sounds like someone has a lot of crap they need to put away. I can't imagine not having two sinks.


Mirrors - The square mirrors with lights in them are creepy. They make your eyes look like they have square pupils.

Yes on the bidet, on the fence on the heated floor, passing on the steam shower.

Raising the countertop sounds like an awesome idea, unfortunately already purchased a vanity that is standard size. Actually going to look at it though and see if any option to elevate it a bit. I'm contracting it, but going to assist to help lower labor cost. We are already well into the delay as it originally was starting "in fall", then "November", now "early December." We are still waiting on some materials though, so I'm not worried about the timing yet. We've been lucky in that most of the items we've wanted have been in stock. I did try and add a matching toilet paper holder last night though and got the dreaded GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN CHALLENGES pop up.

Will get some pics in here at some point to show the before and after. I haven't showered in there in the 6 years we've lived here. Current set up has tiny corner shower, toilet, one sink, and most of the room is a huge pink jet tub that we haven't used except to wash our dogs in.

Going to add a sink, remove the tub, build a half wall where current shower door is and expand the shower into the tub area. So yes, pretty much full demo first. The general design is set, I'm mainly thinking about minor details to get right now so I'm not annoyed by them for the next 20 years.

I originally was all in on these, now ambivalent, but the recommendations may sway me back. There is a heat duct in there that goes right onto where all of the tile is, and we both work from home and aren't showering/getting ready at a standard time in the morning where I could have it scheduled for. We do live near Pittsburgh though and it was in the 20s this morning so it's tempting still.

I was amazed how much these were. We are just going with a new shower head and hand held which is enough for us. Really looking forward to the improvement in space (and new tile surroundings) in there.

I think I'm on the same page of not really needing the 2nd sink, but the plumbing is already mostly there from the jet tub and I think it will look better for resale (hopefully long) down the road.

Yea, this is the current debate, but I'm not having this square pupils issue. Our countertops are a white quartz and the floors also light colored, so my main concern is how the light itself will look in there. Most likely going to go with some version of them though, I think the light is warm enough it will look good, and we like how they looked. Also bright enough for the room that we can upgrade the recessed boxes already in there and not add any fixtures for over the mirrors themselves.

What's the floor material? Ours is marble and super cold so the heated floors have been so awesome. Our cat thanks us as well and frequently sits in there in the morning. Our bathroom is pretty small (like 6*15?) and the shower/vanity take up a lot of that so it really wasn't much flooring or cost and 100% worth it for us. And similarly, I work from home and she mostly works night shifts so we don't even use it in the early mornings, but it's still been awesome (Ontario here)

Doozie,

If you're not too far into it, might consider building a bench into the shower area. Couple two doors over had this done.

Not sure if it's a physical thing (they're older) or nice storage or both, but they love it.

We pulled a small fiberglass shower, enlarged and tiled the shower area and added a hand-held and a couple of body jets. As I'm sure you know, this is the time to make sure you don't leave out fixtures in the shower you may wish later that you had.

I agree with your inclination to go with two sinks if you have the space. There's really no reason not to. I can not imagine sharing a bathroom sink again if I didn't absolutely have to.

+1 on the bench. We added one and placed the hand-held with its own controls within easy reach of the bench. Very happy with the way the shower turned out.

It will be tile, I think a type of dolomite so similar cold issue probably. We also won't have much sq ft to cover with the heating, so I'm going to look into it some more. Seems like most expensive part is the control unit, the mat itself looks cheap/straight forward so going to ask the contractor if he has any thoughts/experience with it.

We considered building one in, but the layout didn't make much sense to me to add it in a permanent spot. I think we are just going to buy a teak one that we can move. Will also have added side benefit of adding a non stone item in there for a different look.

My house was built in 1961 so slowly but surely I have been changing over my electrical outlets from 2 prong to 3 prong. The main panel was upgraded to 200A service at some point and bathrooms, kitchen, laundry room, basement and garage were already done before I purchased.

Anywho - it's a treat dealing with old work as code here used to be metal boxes and ground wires pulled out wrapped back around the wire and grounded to the box. Have been unwinding and pigtailing the grounds to the outlet or switch dedicated grounds as I install the new outlets.

Purchased an Ideal 61-534 circuit tester/breaker finder and it saves a ton of time. Everybody probably already has a circuit tester but the added functionality of the breaker finder is great if you work alone. You plug in the tester, sync it to breaker finder, take breaker finder to circuit panel and it identifies with a beep what circuit the tester is plugged into. EZ Peasy and highly recommend if you do your own work.

Found 3 outlets with reversed polarity - easy fix, found 1 outlet with open ground

Anyone know what qualities to look for in a snow blower?

I was thinking about buying an attachment to my John Deere tractor, but it seems like a lot of work to install and uninstall it every season. Plus it is a bit pricy. I'm considering getting a regular snow blower, but not sure what the best features to look for. I'm looking to buy the cheapest I can find without it being difficult to use or breaks apart easily. I see in the description stuff about stages, but I'm not really sure what that even means.

Stages refer to the number of steps (moving parts) the snow goes through from entering the machine until it exits.

Single stage are the smallest and most inexpensive. But are only good for smaller jobs, like a short driveway or sidewalk/walkway.

2 stage blowers are bigger and more expensive, but come with more features. Most have self-propelled wheels (or tracks). Some have heated handles. And the ability to rotate the chute without stopping the machine.

3 stage blowers are monsters, and can remove A LOT of snow in a short period of time. The third stage is basically a high speed fan.

The right choice is dependent on the size of the job, how fast/efficient you want the job to be, and how much money you're willing to spend. Personally, I would choose a standalone 2 stage blower over a tractor attachment.

Anyone have experience with a two-way door lock on a gate. Essentially I just want something that can be unlocked from both sides. Perhaps a keypad deadbolt. I see very few people with this sort of lock on their gates.

It's something I had already considered and had asked handymen about (but they had no clue how to do it). Just yesterday I had a man with a crack pipe in his mouth walk through my backyard while he was being pursued by police patrol cars and a helicopter. I accidentally touched some of his blood so now I'm thinking I should go ahead and figure out how to get this project done.

so you want the crackhead to be trapped in your backyard because he can't unlock the gate from the inside?

Actually, if it was like a typical exterior door of a house then he would be able to let himself out. That's what I want. I want something that will be locked on the outside but that you can unlock from either side. Normal gate locks require you have the lock either on the inside or on the outside of the gate. If it's on the outside of the gate then you can't get out from the inside, and vice versa.

BTW, I don't want to call him a crackhead. He had just had a crack pipe in his mouth but it didn't appear he was using it at the moment and he was wearing a leather jacket and normal clothes just walking casually through as the police were searching for him. I don't think he meant to leave blood on my gate.

With my last house I looked into fancy gate locks...there's less choices than one would think, and none of them are cheap.

After talking with a trusted contractor, it came down to 2 options. Build and frame a gate that more closely resembles a door and use a traditional outdoor deadbolt + doorknob set. Or purchase a purpose-built unit for gates...at twice the price of traditional door hardware. And it still requires heavy duty framing if you want security, particularly on a wood fence.

Do a search for: Lockey SUMO (SUrface MOunt) gate lockset. Lockey is the brand name.

Good Luck.

Good thread and the subject always takes me to Stu Ungar stories in which he had absolutely no clue about how to be responsible for a house. Some of the details were hilarious but I can't remember them now. It made me feel better because I was clueless myself, but not like him. I can't remember where I read about it, possibly that bio of him by I think Nolan Dalla, but just a guess.

But I highly recommend ownership if financially stable, as you go along you sell a house every 5 or 10 years, great bankroll launcher for the modest rounder. A shot in the arm of 100 or 200K here and there is a plan. I realize many young players are making tons now and it isn't as big a factor. But for the inexperienced owner just hire someone as consultant on upkeep, responsibilities, finances. Condo is easy. I'm removed from it and don't know if the banks have relaxed after all the crap. But it's a good project to have the home rollover thing happening instead of rent leak. This was a major factor back in the day. Maybe less nowadays, in that winnings are much higher and rent is not such a significant leak and the closing check not such a bonanza relatively.

A man breaks into your yard while having a crack pipe in his mouth, bleeding, and being pursued by the police, I think it’s safe to call him a crackhead.

Thank you very much. Those SUMO locks look quite expensive. They are waterproof though. I don't think it would be too difficult for someone to retrofit my existing gates with some heavy duty framing to accommodate a lock like this.

I think he might have been cut while breaking into cars at a nearby business. I didn't realize it was a crack pipe in his mouth until I heard that it shattered on a neighbor's back patio when the police arrested him.

In my neighborhood he would probably be referred to as the deceased.

One of the main rules at my house is to never exit the house with a weapon during a police pursuit.

May be why you're so twisted about not being able to find a satisfactory gate lock. Too many self-imposed rules. Step out closer to the edge!

Good luck in finding a good lock.

The house needed some new speakers... so...

Holy audiophile. How much?

I'd rather know what than how much.

Mr. Nuance

At first I thought you solved your problem by adding 2 more TVs to the room