Tuesday, November 3, 2020

T Stands for Caulking the Shower

 

We remodeled the bathroom in 2009. The shower caulk was in bad need of a makeover. We have well water which is high in iron and manganese. The manganese leaves black marks which look like horrible mold and mildew. I'm sure the caulk had been redone between then and now, but it needed to be done again. 



Himself gave me some tools to use to remove the caulk, a putty knife and a utility knife which was just a razor blade in a carbineer handle. He ran to the hardware store to buy a couple of tubes of caulk. While I sipped a cup of tea,


I watched a This Old House video on how to remove old caulk and caulking a tub. Easy. A half hour job. Tops.

Are you laughing yet? In the video, the caulk came away in nice, long spaghetti strands. When I removed the caulk it came away in bits and crumbs. I also had way more that 3 edges to caulk. What idiot decided that built in shelves and a safety seat were necessary? Oh, that would be moi.

There was a lot of 🤬 as I complained how the video made things look deceptively easy. I'm pretty sure This Old House staged the job so the caulk could be removed in nice, long strands. 

Himself said what happens is Tom of This Old House lets the homeowner do a little bit of the job. Then he turns to his Hey, Dude! and has him finish.

(We learned Hey, Dude! from when the bathroom was remodeled. The plumber had an apprentice and when he needed a tool or to crawl into a tight space, he would yell, "Hey, Dude! Do this.." I wanted a Hey, Dude, too.

The job took me all afternoon with frequent breaks to stretch my back, but I got 'er done. I was glad I had taken a dose of ibuprofen before I began.


Maybe not the best job, but at least it's a lot cleaner.


Afterwards, I declared I wasn't cooking dinner. Himself and the Young One put an order in at Tony's, the local pizza and sub shop. I ordered a meatball sub with green peppers and provolone cheese. Himself  and the Young One each ordered a Stromboli. His was probably the meat lovers. Hers was grilled chicken, cheese, no sauce and black olives. Himself also picked up a bottle of Coke and a large bag of chips (crisps). They didn't have a large bag so they gave us 3 small bags.

Since there was enough food left over for the following day, and I knew my back would be sore, I also declared a Fend For Yourself Day.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth’s blog to find out what the rest of the T gang is up to. If you want to play, include a beverage or beverage container in your post. Don’t forget to link your blog from Bleubeard and Elizabeth’s page.

46 comments:

  1. Oh dear, this looks like a lot of hard work, poor you. They always make things look so easy-peasy in videos! You deserved the nice food after that! Happy T Day, Valerie

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  2. Sounds familiar! I started puttings dates for cleaning the shower in my calendar. And keep ignoring it.
    The sandwich looks yummy. I just thad "it´s edible, and never again - after the glass of black salsify will be empty".
    That´s the plan, maybe the bin screams louder...
    Happy T-day!

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  3. Good for you CJ. It looks amazing. I caulked the kitchen once and it was certainly more of chore and not as easy as the experts make it look. We have hard water too-iron only, and that leaves everything orange even with a water system to get rid of it.Our iron is so high our water can come out orange if the system goes down. You deserve that meatball sub and chip. It looks delicious. Hope you have a more relaxing and happy T day. Hugs-Erika

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    1. The filtration system handles the iron, but not much can be done with the manganese.

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  4. Great job CJ! I know small jobs can explode into big ones.. But you stuck with it and got it done and it looks great! Thats the main thing... And no cookin'! I had to laugh.. we call it the same thing.. ' Fend for yourself day'... lol Today i'm making chilli in the crock pot... Great post! Hugs! deb

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    1. When I told Himself I'd have it done in a half an hour, he just laughed at me. It's cold and we had a skiff of snow this morning so chili in the crockpot sounds great

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  5. I have a "Hey, dude!" He's called Husband, LOL. Your shower turned out awesome! (We also have fend for yourself dinners, I call it YOYO----Your On Your Own!)

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  6. Congrats on a job well done! I want a "Hey Dude"! The sub looks delicious, and beats cooking after a hard day. Happy T Tuesday

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  7. you did a great job. didn't know that about well water. My son in Washington is on well water. If I visit and see what you are talking about I'll have to share the info.

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    Replies
    1. All sorts of minerals in water can cause lots of issues.

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  8. That's quite a job! Recently, we've had the recaulking done by professionals. It seems really worth it!

    be well... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  9. You definitely worked up an appetite with all the great work you accomplished in your bathroom - fabulous 😀. Your meal looks delish! Wishing you a very Happy T Day! Hugs, Jo x

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    Replies
    1. The caulking is clean looking and that was my goal.

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  10. I totally agree. This Old House makes everything look easy peasy. And did you ever notice that when they do something, everything comes out perfect the first time?
    Glad that you were able to get the caulking scraped off even though it cost you a backache. At least you go off cooking two meals. That makes it all worth it. ;)
    Happy Tea Day,
    Kate

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    Replies
    1. It's so infuriating how their jobs look great without having to run to the hardware store several times.

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  11. I think it's a subparagraph of Murphy's Law that a job that seems quick and easy always take at least half a day. "A Fend for Yourself Day" - I like that.

    Happy T-Day! Stay safe and stay well. Hugs, Eileen

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    Replies
    1. I'll have to tell Himself about the codicil to Murphy's Law!😺

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  12. Oh my, your redo looks so much better but your poor aching body. We are talking about replacing our very difficult hard to keep clean shower/tub but will find someone to do it for us;) The food sounds great and a nice treat not to have to cook for two day. Happy T day!

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    Replies
    1. Yes, we didn't install the shower ourselves but had a contractor handle the remodel.

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  13. Oh dear, poor you! That sounds like an awful job! But I do want to congratulate you on the result. It looks very nice and clean now. Well done.
    I am lucky in that i have a 'Hey dude'. He is my husband....
    Fend for yourself and have a takeaway. Quite right too! And a treat for you.
    Happy T-Day,
    Stay safe,
    Lisca

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    Replies
    1. Himself is no longer able manage the contortions so for a while, I'm the Hey, Dude! 😺

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  14. That's a hard job for sure-I agree after all that hard work-no cooking Happy T

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    Replies
    1. Two days of no cooking! It was that hard crawling under that shower bench.

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  15. I'd give anything to have well water; the stuff from the city tap is from cod knows where. I used to bring empty plastic jugs to weezer's house as she had well water....BEST STUFF :) ☺☺

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    1. Our well water tastes great even without the water softener system. Just sometimes it doesn't look too appealing to humans. Ink never minded.

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  16. You did a fantastic job! The seat is great for shaving your legs. At least, I think so! Caulking is never easy. Hopefully, it will last a long time.

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    1. Yup, if it doesn't last, I'll be hiring someone to do it. I'm afraid though I could get down, I'd not be able to get up. 😺

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  17. You did a very good job and thoroughly deserved the meal treat!

    All the best Jan

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  18. Well done, CJ. You did a great job. I also have removed old caulk and it is NOTHING like the video shows. It cracks, falls apart and comes off in tiny bits, just like yours did. You deserve to have the day off tomorrow, too. BTW, the removal was just a part of the job. For me, the hardest part was getting the caulk gun to work properly and put out an even stream all the time. Looks like that was the EASY part for you, dear.

    Thanks for sharing your tea and shower caulking experience with us for T this Tuesday.

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    Replies
    1. Surprisingly, I didn't have trouble with the caulking gun. Most likely, beginner's luck

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  19. I Am So Glad You Dove In - Well Done - Didn't That Meal Taste Just A Little Better After All That Craftsmanship - Good On Ya

    Cheers

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    Replies
    1. Craftsmanship. I'm beaming. Padre, you done made my day.

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  20. The end result looks great. And you're right about that project, and many other of the DIY projects: they make it look easy, and that it will only take X amount of hours, when it actually takes the novice X * 3 hours, or so. Your meal looked good afterwards. And I love that "Fend For Yourself Day" concept: I need to use that in the future. :-)

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    1. I think I like Robin's YOYO acronym better: Your on your own 😺

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  21. We've had jobs such as this - they always turn into a 'this will take twice as long as the experts say' kind of job! Well done though, a take away meal sounds like a very good idea and a 'fend for yourself day' sounds even better. I'm sure my boys became better cooks because I would often declare Saturdays as Mum's day off, there was always plenty to chose from, just not me cooking! Belated Happy T day, Chrisx

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