Here fishy, fishy, fishy

All the romance of trout fishing exists in the mind of the angler and is in no way shared by the fish.  ~Harold F. Blaisdell, The Philosophical Fisherman, 1969

I believe more true words have never been spoken. As fishing season begins this weekend, I thought it fitting that this quote would come to mind in a conversation I had at work today. Being new to this area has been difficult for me to find places to fish; so much so, that I haven’t dropped a line since we arrived here in the beginning of Aug last year. It was reassuring to hear that one of the guys who works in an office beside mine, is also an avid fly fisherman who ties his own flies.

Several of us have a weekly breakfast meeting every Friday and as we discussed our hot topics for today (pulp vs non-pulp OJ, bacon flavored vodka and why it’s almost orgasmic to put a Q-Tip in your ear), the above quote was mentioned by “the kid”. I was shocked. Not because it was out of place in reference to the conversation at the time, but because it’s one of my favourite fishing quotes and it was brought up by a guy who’s only 24 years old! How could he know so much about fly fishing at such a young age? I had to find out.

After our meeting, I pulled him aside and started another conversation about what he knew and how long he’d been a fly fisherman. It turns out, his Grandfather was from Scotland and obviously had been fishing for decades with a fly rod. He passed down a lot of his knowledge to “the Kid” over the years until his passing in 2005 and let me tell you, based on the conversation I was having at the time, “Papa” had done an outstanding job.

He’s been fly fishing since he was 6 years old and started tying his own flies when he was 9! Needless to say he’s been fishing with a fly MUCH longer than I have and he even taught me a few things in our brief conversation as we walked back to the office. Another one of the guys in the Kids office is also a fisherman but he’s more accustomed to tossing metal and plastic than feathers and fur. He made the suggestion the three of us head out next weekend so they can show me where and how to fish out here. How could I refuse? This is a golden opportunity to not only get on the water the week after opening day, but to head out with two friends who I’m sure, will turn into fishing partners for more than next weekend. I was IN!!

Speaking with the Kid, he rambled off his favourite flies for this time of year and even followed it up with an email so I could have all the details, to get started (fly tying is very particular). Going through my mental list of supplies, I realized I had everything I needed to tie up the entire list of flies he sent me so tonight, I start my annual tying frenzy. This is the panic-stricken, scotch-drinking time of year where I tie up hundreds of flies in world record time; to the point where I dream about it, talk about it incessantly and figure out ways to include a bread bag as the wing case for a gold-ribbed hare’s ear (I did it last year and it works great in dusk conditions for Cutties, so don’t laugh). No other time of year gets my fly fishing juices flowing like opening week and, with a couple of new fishing partners, I’m more excited than I’ve been in a few years.

This doesn’t even begin to show my excitement for taking my first brookie. Ever. In BC, I’m used to fishing for rainbows, cutthroat, coho, pinks and even the odd chinook but the brook trout has been on my bucket list for a very…very long time. Their colors, their habitat, how they slash at a fly; it’s always intrigued me and I’ll finally get the chance to take one of my own. I guess “take” isn’t the proper word, because I’ll be practicing C&R as I always do, unless all the romance of this event exists in my mind and is in no way, shared by the fish.

I can’t wait.

Glued, screwed and tight

It’s been about a week since I updated the status of my bathroom renovation and I’m happy to report there’s been more progress.

Before installing the new piece of sub-floor, I had to remove the leftover segment of downspout from the old flange that went into the elbow joint. Now, If you’ve never worked with ABS plastic, let me give you a small chemistry class before we continue. When you glue together two pieces of ABS plastic, the glue actually causes the plastic to melt and it creates a chemical bond that’s pretty much impossible to break. That is, unless you have a screwdriver and a hammer.

More tools!

It came to mind the other day that, during this bathroom disaster reno, the thickness of the bathroom floor is going to change…dramatically!

It’s raining…again

As the title says, it’s raining again. It’s not real rain of course; it’s the proverbial rain from the saying “when it rains, it pours.”

Just after I thought I had this bathroom floor thing figured out, I was told today that I should really scrap the idea of using the Ditra and use cement board for a proper underlay preparation. At least the cement board will only cost me $120 (The Ditra was $150)

There’s a hole in my bucket

And now it begins. In anticipation of fixing my bathroom floor, I purchased some 1/2″ plywood yesterday after work. When I got home, I just didn’t have the warm fuzzy feeling that I got the right stuff but I blew it off because I had to help Thing1 study for his English exam.

The warm fuzzy still wasn’t there today so, on the drive home, I figured today would be the day I would deflower my new circular saw. I was gentle.

I needed to make a sample cut and measure the wood to ensure I had the right thickness for the replacement piece. The sample cut was taken (the new saw is KICK ASS) and measured; 5/8″. Oops.

Now I have to return the 1/2″ material and get 5/8″ plywood in its place (job #3 this weekend). Since I already had the saw with me, I figured I’d cut out the rotten material and prepare the floor for the new piece. Zing, zing, zing. Done. One hole in the floor.

I need to carve out the corners with a wood chisel but I’m almost ready to install the bracing for the new piece and, more importantly, get the new piece in place so I can lay down the added substrate I’m buying this weekend (job #2). You see, OSB is not an approved sub-floor material so, before I can start tiling, I need to lay down another 1/2″ of plywood flooring. This prevents any flexing in the floor which prevents any cracking of the tiles which, in turn, adds another $100 to my costs.

NOTE: There’s a product called Ditra which stops me from having to lay down another layer of plywood! It’s about $150 but it’ll save a bunch of time and effort so it’s money we’ll spent IMO.

Another thing I purchased today was a wet saw for cutting the tiles when I decide what color/pattern I’m going to install. The saw was on sale for $89.99 but it’s original price is $229.99. A great deal. All totaled to this point, I’m still under $450500. I’ve got $75 more in supplies to purchase, plus the tiles for another $300′ish. My next writing will have an exact breakdown of my budget (I’m adding in some things which weren’t originally factored into the project).

In the meantime, job #1 this weekend is the roadie avec familia. Some quality time with the kids and maybe even some time for dad in the hot tub with a piña colada (don’t judge me; I like the umbrellas).

Meanwhile, there’s now a hole in my floor and I’m one step closer to having a bathroom again

and the band played on

Here I am, almost at the end of week three and my bathroom is….right where it was at the end of week one. Work and more work, just hasn’t left me enough time to really get down and dirty and tackle this project. I’m glad I bought a house with two bathrooms.

 

I have, however, started picking up pieces and parts that I’m going to need once I DO get a “roundtoit”. On Sunday I picked up the new circular saw, toilet flange (which I’ll talk more about later), angle grinder (because you never know when you’ll need one of those), a chalk line and a square; total cost = $172.48. To ease the pain, I had a $30 Canadian Tire gift card and a $20 bill I got for Christmas which brought the cost down to $132.48. Yesterday I picked up the deck screws, a 2×4 and pair of nice work gloves which are similar to the Mechanix brand; total cost $30.76. At this point, the only parts I’m missing are:

 

• One sheet of 1/2” OSB (which I’ll cut the replacement piece of flooring from)
• Thin-set
• Porcelain tiles
• Grout
• Mixing paddle
• Bucket
• ¼” mortar trowel
• Grout trowel

Other than the porcelain tiles, the total cost of materials left to purchase, shouldn’t be any more than $75 plus tax. At this point I’ve spent a grand total of $238.01 (which includes the cost of a cold chisel to help take up the old floor). I’m still under the $1200 quote but moving along at a snails pace. I’m sure this weekend will be much….oh wait. We’re taking the roadie this weekend that we had to cancel last weekend; another week without a master bathroom.

So on to the new toilet flange. I’ve never been so excited about plumbing in my entire life. Most toilet flanges are a fixed unit; meaning the drain pipe and the flange assembly are a solid piece of moulded ABS or PVC piping. This presents a problem when you glue it into place, whereby if you don’t have the toilet bolt-holes lined up in the proper position, your toilet (and in essence, you) don’t sit facing straight ahead. Some genius has figured out that if the flange portion is built on a rotating plate, it doesn’t matter how you glue the drain pipe into the elbow, because you can just rotate the flange into the proper position and then screw it into place. If this wasn’t on Dragon’s Den, it should have been!! For an extra $5, guess which version I purchased!!

 

Lately, I’ve also had a bit of an…”ugly” smell coming into the bathroom which I originally attributed to the empty toilet drain (albeit with an old towel shoved inside it). I was ohhhhhh so wrong. Tues night I figured out it was actually the drain pipe from the old vanity sink which was venting some gnarly smelling odour. Since I removed the old vanity, I never thought to plug up the sink drain pipe.  Lesson learned, and now my bathroom has no smells whatsoever emanating from underneath the door.

 

Post-posting

 

Today is Thursday and I noticed last night that my original drywall patching wasn’t up to my exacting standards (it looks like shit).  Tonight I’ll be getting jacked up on RedBull and going to town to finalize the prep work for that f*****g room.

 

Wish me luck.

Sunday Morning Sunshine

Yesterday was a complete write-off for me, so I didn’t get anything accomplished. I woke up in the morning feeling hung over, although I hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol (I wish I had. I would have had an excuse). The headache rapidly turned into nausea and if projectile vomiting was an Olympic sport, I was going to be the next gold medalist! The last time I ate at McDonalds was in Scotland in October…I saw Ronald smiling back at me.

I’m feeling much better today. I’m still not 100% yet but, dammit, today I will accomplish….something. Just not sure what, yet. By the time I’m finished writing this, I’m sure something will come to me.

As I wrote the other day, I had GC come over and take a look at my bathroom. I wanted a quote to see what it would cost to have Humpty Dumpty put back together again. His number was less than what I was expecting so, initially, it sounded good to me. Then I did some homework.

In my estimation, everything I wanted him to do should take no more than 9 or 10 hours. That’s how long I think it will take me, so he should be able to do it quicker, no? Anyway, his asking price: $1200 + tax….just for labour. He wanted ME to buy all the supplies he would need (another $350′ish by my estimation)!! When I take my car in for servicing, the guy at Toyota doesn’t ask me to buy all the parts and bring them in with me! He also didn’t give me a written quote or explain how the cost would be broken down.

The biggest labour cost for this job will be the laying of the new porcelain floor; that much I do know. I also know that Home Depot charges $3.40/sq ft for installation and the tile I’ve picked out is $2.97/sq ft. Total cost for parts and labour for the new tile = $468.28 (plus tax).  So, based on that info, I figure GC was going to charge me $249.95 to install the tiles, and about $950 for another 60 minutes worth of work?? That didn’t seem right. I needed to do more homework. Truthfully, I never stop doing homework. I’m like a human silica gel; always sucking in knowledge (most of it useless, but this time, it’s not the case).

I asked around at work what other people thought. Maybe I was just used to the “west coast way” and perhaps $1200 was a reasonable price in this neck of the woods.  Nope. GC’s price was out to lunch. I even had guys at work say they’d come over and do the job for 1/2 that price. I’ve seen some of the work they do in the office so I’m not letting them touch any power tools and, as a joke for @snowkitten, they’re certainly not touching my toilet.

I put an end to the silliness by calling GC and explaining I would be doing the job myself. He didn’t seem all that upset about it so, truthfully, I don’t think he wanted to do the job in the first place. Perhaps tried to scare me off with a high price? I don’t know. What I do know is I will be returning to Home Depot and letting them know exactly what I think of the GC they have on retainer. We’ll see where that goes (“I could sure use a shiny new $50 gift card, Mr. Manager person”).

In the meantime, I’ll be doing all the work myself. Never having done anything like this before I’m a little nervous, but I’m sure things will work out fine. The YouTube gods have been smiling on me lately and, if I can keep breakfast down,  I think I’ll be heading to Home Depot today to get all the necessary gear to effect the repair. Maybe by next Saturday I’ll have a “new” bathroom.

Parts list:

• Circular saw – $100
• 1/2″ sheet of OSB – $8
• Carpenters square – $9
• 2×4 stud (for bracing between the floor joists) – $3
• pkg of 50, 2.5″ deck screws – $10
• ABS glue – $13
• 3″ toilet flange – $10
• Wax toilet ring – $3
• Chalk line – $10
• Porcelain tiles (75 sq ft) – $220
• 5 gal bucket – $6
• Polymer thin-set mortar – $12
• Mixing paddle (for thin-set) – $8
• 1/4″ notched trowel – $13
• Tile spacers – $8
• Rubber mallet – $12
• Tile cutter – $40
• Knee pads!!!!! – $20
• Grout – $7
• Grout float (rubber) – $15

That’s not much.