Shortly before I left for my trip to Surprise AZ at the end of April, 2001, the toilet in the bathroom off the kitchen lost so much power that it became useless. And then, the upstairs toilet began to run constantly. The flapper refused to seal, however, I am able to manually set it to run at a very low rate.
I have decided to dedicate some of my investment money to a major overhaul of the condo. I want to replace the downstairs toilet, add a pedestal style sink, and redo the flooring. Also, I want to completely replace the linoleum tile in the kitchen. And, I want to replace the crumbling shower stall arrangement in the upstairs bathroom. And, I would like to replace the living room carpet with wood, or just get new carpet. Also, the family room carpet needs to be replaced, as well as the steps. And, in order to achieve the 'carpet goals', I want to remove all of the standing book shelfs and have shelving brackets mounted to the walls.
On Saturday, May 7 I ordered a new toilet for the downstairs bathroom. $139.00 and $125.00 installation. I had to arrange an installation date with Jones Plumbing, and they didn't call until Monday, and the installation was then set for Thursday, May 12th. They arrived promptly at 930am, and within five minutes they determined that the toilet was not the correct size, and it would have to be returned for a 'special order'. On the upside, they volunteered to take it back to the store.
I took the bike, and arrived at the store before noon, and went back to the plumbing department and ordered the correct model. The toilets are sized from the distance to the center of the drain hole from the wall. The standard size is "12", and this is what I ordered, however, my bathroom requires a "10". The new toilet also required all mounting parts, and seat to be ordered separately. The grand total was $247.41, and this did not include the installation fee which is the same.
This new toilet is supposed to arrive between Thursday 5/19 and the following Monday.
The following is a list of names and number which Joe gave me a couple of years ago when I thought that I would engage in a remodeling project. For some reason, it never happened.
Loyd Jones 529 4108 306 5940
Allan Brinkoetter 787 4701 433 8426
Dennis Thomas 494 7430
Late in the afternoon of Friday, 5/13, I called Dennis Thomas and made an appointment to have him come out to the house, and give me an estimate about installing the shelving. I found out that he runs a window and door outfit located near Moffet and Carpenter, however, he said that he would be happy to do the work, and he charges sixty dollars an hour. By the following Monday, I decided that I will have the bathrooms done first, and then the kitchen and bathroom floors. Late Monday afternoon I called Dennis, and cancelled the meeting which was to occur on Tuesday, 5/17 about 10am. The flooring in the family room and living room can wait, but I will still need to have the shelving before I can tackle that end of the project.
On Monday afternoon, 5/16 I took the bike over to Menards off of Vets, and did some preliminary shopping. This is the first time that I had been in that store, and I really liked it---even more than Lowes.
The plan is to have the new toilet installed in the downstairs bathroom, add a tub enclosure upstairs, then the floor in the kitchen/downstairs bath. And, I am not sure how I will do the carpet/wood flooring. I want to go to Staffs Carpet out by the Fair Grounds and see what there is to offer. And, how much it costs to have them install the flooring, or what the savings would be if I had a 'handyman' do the work. I talked with Bill who lives a few units down, and he told me of his adventures of installing wooden flooring in his condo, and he said it looks great, and was not that hard to do.
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