There is something about starting a project, where you never know how it will end. You go into it with reasonable goals. You think about what materials you need, and how long it will take.
Rarely does the project go to plan. It might be building a website, or in our case, replacing a spongy section of floor in the bathroom.
We knew that section was an issue, when we first checked out the lodge last summer. We walked into that bathroom (sink room) for the first time, and were like wow, that is a lil spongy, going to need to fix that one at some point.
Well that some point was last week, and it started like any other project. Optimistic.
It was part of a bigger project, we wanted to shikkui the sink room walls. Shikkui is a natural lime plaster/sand/and seaweed wall finish, that not only is quite a nice vibe, but is moisture regulating, and cooling. So we started with stripping the wall paper, patching drywall. Then we decided to remove and replace the sinks, with tadelakt sinks, and then, at that point, we decided that while we are doing this, we might as well replace the floor too.
So we peeled the vinyl off, to reveal rotting plywood, a sink drain connection had been improperly attached, and had been leaking water into the floor. Fortunately, it was the third sink on the end, and had probably seen the least amount of use. Only one floor joist was sacrificed, and easily enough replaced. But then it was ripping out the insulation, and then crawling around in the crawl space, and then deciding we wanted to simplfy piping for when we built the new sink, so it was removing drains, and water lines, and then trips to Joyful Ak, to get pex parts, and new plumbing parts, and a whole new set of tools for a whole new set of purposes.
And here we are. Today we started laying the newsubfloor. We decided to go thicker, going from 12mm ply to 15mm solid core ply. More rigidity, more strength. We are considering putting in an earthen floor in this room as well, so we are trying to think ahead for that. Funny enough, one of the joists was about 5 mms higher than the rest, so it was a couple hours sanding it down to make the floor level, and cutting around the weird shape of the room, and the crawl space trap door. And really the list goes on and on, and we have more holes to cut, but atleast the floor fits, and we can pull it up to start waterproofing it, so the next guy(future riley) doesn't have to deal with this again in the future.
One step after another but here we are.
so heres the goal, when I have thoughts, I put them down. A little log of where I was, and where I am going. Like all projects, this one starts optimistically, and undoubtably will be hit when reality at some point, but thats the joy of life right there.
Have a great day and wakaranai.