Instant Storage

It's been awhile The Fuzz admits, but he did finally show up again.

And so, here we go!

So what is going on here anyway?

Well The Fuzz's Sweetie wanted a place to keep her art supplies, cloth stash etc. that was a bit handier than the Old Place in town…

About a 25 mi. round trip!

The Fuzz helped get the place ready for it, but was a bit concerned about getting the thing in there.

He figured they'd bring it on a roll-back truck and have to back it in somehow.

It did come on a roll-back trailer, but it was not necessary to back it in!

The guy dropped it off right out on the road.

Then he picked up one end with his "Mule"…

And placed some wheels under it…

Picked up the other end and just pulled it all in like a Little Red Wagon.

(Or maybe a Big Red Wagon)

After that it was just a ride down the driveway…

And into position.

At this point there was a bit of discusion regarding exactly how high to mount it on the blocks.

Once that was settled the thing was jacked up, wheels removed…

And everything arranged just right.

Here you can get a better look at his remarkable little "Mule".

So now all that remains is for her to get the inside put together how she wants.

Just Keeping Up With Things

Life is going on here in the woods for The Fuzz and His Sweetie-

And a lot of other places these days!

But here at home things are pretty much normal.

Like a lot of folks, The Fuzz likes to start his morning off with a bit of coffee.

He used to use an Old School Percolator Coffee Pot on the stove.

That worked pretty well for years.

But then he got exposed to those fancy "French Press" things.

He resisted for a while, but then finally caved in.

So now he starts out heating some water in the water kettle.

Then adds some grounds to the press, and pours in the water...

Gives it a quick stir...

Puts in the plunger...

And waits.

This gives him a chance to take care of some of those other waking-up-sort-of-things.

And then after 5 minutes or so...

There's a nice hot cup waiting for him.

And there are the other daily things going on.

There's always firewood to deal with.

Which brings us to this subject.

One of The Fuzz's firewood stashes, is under this porch.

It's handy, and keeps it kinda dry.

Well the problem was that whenever it rained-

which was when he wanted dry wood,

The rain would run off of the roof and onto the back

(and down the neck!)

of the person getting it.

The Fuzz had found a couple of old gutters in his scrap pile

(a handy thing to have)

over at the Old Place.

So he had brought them out to the woods and installed one over the cat & dog food compartment by the shed.

The that "P-Factor" kicked in, and he didn't get to this porch roof.

But now, as can be seen, even that has been took care of!

Just so everyone can see-

Just keeping up with things out here in the woods.

Finally- Finishing Up

Well, yeah.

It is another case of that "P-Factor".

The Fuzz and the P-Factor go way back-

all the way to grade school and homework and stuff like that.

But this is not the time to go into that.

Remember the Shower project?

Well everything was done and in fine working order.

At least on the surface.

And while The Fuzz and His Sweetie have been enjoying those nice long hot showers-

There did remain one little detail still unfinished.

And with the cold weather moving in, it could no longer be put off.

It will be remembered that there was a considerable amount of plumbing done under the trailer.

And that is the sort of thing that can freeze if left uninsulated.

And due to that P-Factor, that was the situation.

So The Fuzz grabbed his trusty roll of Gorilla Tape, and crawled back under there.

It was a simple matter to pull the insulation back into place and tape the membrane back together.

Except for the feed lines!

With no place to put the cut-offs in the bathroom, The Fuzz had put them under the trailer.

It would have been easy enough to simply cover them up, but they needed to be accessible of course-

That's what they're for!

First he boxed the area in.

This is a shot looking up at the arrangement.

Then a bit of insulation was stuffed in-

It would be easy enough to remove if necessary.

And finally a door-

And latch.

This should be sufficient to handle these North Carolina Southern Winters.

And The Fuzz can scratch one more off of that

P-Factor List!

A Bit of Plumbing

It was previously mentioned that The Fuzz & His Sweetie were involved in a bit of Granddaughter Duty not long ago.

This involved some time spent away from their Home in the Woods, in town.

While there, They offered to replace a kitchen faucet that, while functional, was not, shall we say- in pristine condition.

Once it was ascertained that this would be agreeable to all concerned, (it's a guy thing) The Fuzz and their hostess slipped over to that Infamous Home Improvement Store;

(There seems to be one in every town!)

...And a replacement was procured.

The next step was to get under the kitchen sink-

which is never much fun.

But once everything was out of the way, things went surprisingly well.

The tools were gotten out-

And really, when it comes down to it, it's largely a matter of having the right tools.

You might notice that The Fuzz's shirt is just a wee bit damp in this picture.  But really that is nothing compared to what can happen if one is foolish enough to tear into these things.

And here is a look at the new faucet.

Of course it took a couple of days to realize that the reason the dishwasher wasn't working right was because The Fuzz had inadvertently turned off the valve to it!

But then-

All's well, that ends well.

Right?

The "P" Factor

Ah yes- that "P" Factor!

So just what is this?

It's the reason The Fuzz has not been heard from for 20 days.

Otherwise know as Procrastination.

The Fuzz is an expert at this, having been an active* procrastinator for years now.  In fact he has become rather adept at this useful skill.

Of course there is a down side to this.

Procrastinations seem to pile up after a while until the pile is a bit hard to even see past.

Well, The Fuzz and His Sweetie have been kinda busy, in a way;

But that is no excuse.

Anyhow...

Previously The Fuzz mentioned something about things getting back to normal.  Well what is "normal" anyway?

In this case it turned out to be looking out after a grandchild whilst her usual caregiver was out of town.

(actually out of the country)

It's not that they have no experience in this matter, but it has been a few years since they were dealing with a Sweet Little 2 Year Old!

But all in all, they were glad to have the opportunity for some of that "quality time" again.

But getting back to the woods and "normal" it was time for The Fuzz to get back onto the project he had started.

He had picked up the motor for the table saw from the Electrical Motor Doctor and actually gotten the thing put back together.

Other more pressing matters (such as working up a bit of firewood!) had been taken care of, and The Fuzz felt the itch to get out into the shop again.

He had fun playing with his toys-

and even made a slight improvement to the design.

And here's a look at the new arrangement.

It seems to have turned out rather well.

Now the rest is up to His Sweetie.

*as if this word can be applied to the phenomenom!

Bathroom Update

The Fuzz is pleased to report

That the tile and baseboards are in.

And the Brand New Shower is hooked up and ready.

It has been one of those projects that grew a little as it went along.

At first the idea was simply to replace the bathtub.

But it was decided that a walk-in shower would be a better arrangement.

And since that would be a different size, a new wall would need to be framed in.

And then there was a matter of raising the floor just a bit as well to accommodate the drain.

Then-

since a few tiles would need to be added to fill in a gap-

It might be a good time to replace those stick-on vinyl ones with some real tiles. 

And that was a project in itself.

But all that is behind The Fuzz now.

All that remains is a new shower curtain and then-

a nice hot shower!

Back to Work

Longtime followers of Kinda Fuzzy may remember the Bathroom Project.

Well...

That one is still in progress.

At the last report The Fuzz was about to tackle the floor.

And while the Project is still in progress-

The tile is down!

Here's a look by the new shower.

As can be seen there is still a lot of work ahead.

He needs to work up some baseboards.

And...

Get the commode back in!

Fortunately there is another bathroom in the trailer,

so The Fuzz and His Sweetie haven't had to "hold it" all this time.

But with this tile down and grouted they should have the "can" back on line very soon-

Like Tomorrow!

Back to the Bathroom

When we last left this project, The Fuzz had managed to get the shower base and sides installed.

And even the shower control.

Next in line was the new wall & trim.

And despite a few complications, this was done as well.

His Sweetie had a plan for painting the newly exposed parts of the wall.

But first they would need to be coated with some of that Kiltz stuff.

They have had good luck with this in the past.

So The Fuzz got busy and put on a couple coats of it.

It came out okay.

Since now a bit more of the subfloor was exposed, it seemed like a good time to upgrade the floor as well.

So one more trip to that Infamous Home Improvement Store resulted in this!

It looks like Our Fuzz might be busy for a while.

Here we have the cement backer board, some mastic,

and a pile of tile!

Well this aught to keep That Fuzz out of trouble for a while.

More Bathroom Stuff

When we had left off last time, Our Fuzz had managed to get the shower base in place, and the drain line rerouted accordingly.

At this point we will need to backtrack slightly.

There was a bit more carpentry involved, and it was best done without the shower in the way.

This new shower was not quite as big as the old bathtub arrangement...

So it was necessary to put in a bit of wall to make up the difference.

After a couple of attempts, The Fuzz managed to get the top plate fitted to the slope of the ceiling.

All this was done before the shower base was installed;

since there would be no room to work on it then.

And of course, The Cautious Fuzz did not want to damage that expensive component.

This wall frame had not been fastened in place yet since then there would be no room to get the shower base in!

So it was removed and the base installed, as related in the previous post.

Once that was done, the wall was put back in, plumbed, and secured.

This wall was to be the location for the fancy new-

"One Handle Shower Valve".

This was meant to be installed through an access hole in the other side of the wall.

But here there was no such hole.

But Our Fuzz had a plan for that.

But first the supply lines needed to be put in.

New holes had been cut through the floor-

And new cut-offs put in under the trailer.

The lines were run with that pex pipe stuff.

Finally it was time for the sides of the shower!

First the base was secured with the provided clips.

Then came the back.

On the right, that black thing is the valve with it's protective cover.

Next the left side went in.

(All these pieces just lock together with tabs)

But now came the tricky part.

The Fuzz CAREFULLY measured (several times!) the place for the hole for that fancy "One Handle Shower Valve".

He used a hole-saw to make the cut, and that stuff was tough to cut through.

And amazingly...

It all fit!

Of course this job is far from finished...

But this Post is!

So keep checking Kinda Fuzzy;

The Fuzz promises to continue this tale next time.

Back To the Bathroom

Well...

The Fuzz wanted to get those last few pix of the Yankee Adventure up.  So that's finally done.

Now it's back to the work at hand.

Remember The Fuzz mentioning the latest project out here in the woods?

The Bathroom, of course!

Well, it is moving along...

a bit slowly...

but moving.

When we left Our Fuzz, he had removed the old Tub/Shower Combo-

And was left with this situation.

The brand new Replacement Shower was configured a bit differently of course.

#1.  The drain would have to be re-located.

#2.  Where as the bottom of the old bathtub was raised above the floor level, in the new walk-in shower it was at floor level.

So the existing drain line would have to be re-routed.

First The Fuzz figured out where the new line would come down.

The existing drain line would have to be cut.

This was easier said than done as it was impossible the get a hacksaw in the area.  And his pipe cutter was too small to handle the pipe.

So he resorted to this more compact saw.

And the cut was made.

A new elbow was installed.

Now the Floor would have to be addressed.

The shower would have to be raised, a bit above the existing floor;

(more about this later)

So he wanted a hole large enough to work in.

In this case the location was not real critical.

Then a framework for the shower was put together with 2X3's...

and screwed down to the floor joists...

and plywood cut to fit.

Next The Fuzz wrestled the shower base into the trailer-

which was an adventure in itself!

He used this to locate the more critical hole for the drain fittings.

First he traced the circle on to the plywood.

Of course the actual hole had to be a bit larger- but not too much.

So he found the center of the drain and marked the optimum size and location on the plywood.

Then test fitted the drain to the shower base...

and cut out the hole.

Then he wrestled that shower base into position...

And made sure it all would fit together.

We'll continue this project next time here at Kinda Fuzzy.

And, just so you know, it is still in progress...

But-

Progressing.