Good Morning!

Lee, you are right. Some businesses are gone now due to the pandemic. There will be a shift in the kinds of business we see as we come out of this.

I have embarked on the tile project from Hades. In the main bathroom, I got up the old vinyl tile, and the luan plywood that was underneath. That exposed the subfloor. The toilet had been leaking for some time, but we didn't know it. I have a ton of mold and rotten subfloor, especially around the toilet flange. I will have to cut out about a four by four section of subfloor, and replace that. I've started on it, and that will probably take much of the morning. It will also require new sister joists, and blocking so that I have a good solid floor around the toilet. Sigh.... I felt like yesterday was just a giant challenge. I had a heck of a time getting out the old toilet. I never could get the tank off the bowl, and I had to break one side of the bottom of the bowl to get it out. I lost almost two hours fighting that! I am just letting it happen, and I am working around it. I am one of "those" people, and have a toilet sitting in my front yard. It rained all day yesterday, so we'll move it maybe today. Connie also caught the microwave on fire yesterday with a bag of tortilla chips with metal in the bag closure. I have to wonder if we had brought the contractor in, would he have stopped and repaired the subfloor at a much higher than bid price, or would he just have covered over the weakened and mold covered floor? This project will take a lot longer than originally planned, but it will also be done right. The toilet is over the garage, and the ceiling is unfinished. That will make it easier to get to the underside to add the sister joints, and blocking. Biggest thing that I learned? Don't caulk around the bottom of your toilet. You won't ever know it is leaking, until it is too late. I had no idea.

Onward and forward! Have a great day!

Good morning gentlemen.

Steve, that sound like one of those projects that are a real pain, when doing them, but give great satisfaction when you get through the challenges.

The hike yesterday was tough. Hikes are like sex: they're all good. But yesterday's was "good" in that it was challenging, not fun. My destination was a small lake I have visited twice before. It is a long, steep, rough climb to get there, without much of a scenic payoff. Add to that, it got really hot on the way down, when much of the trail - shady in the morning - was exposed to direct sun. I had to slow way down and take lots of breaks to avoid overheating, and still got to a point where I had to do more. I stopped for a half hour, lay down on a grassy patch and poured cold mountain stream water over my head. That helped. Anyway, I covered 17 miles with 3,745 feet of climbing.

Good Afternoon,
Every time I start a project it seems there is more to it than anticipated; but agree job will be done much better you doing than if you hired someone. Have seen some put tile down over vinyl, worst is saw contractor did not pull up toilet but cut tile around toilet. Could leave toilet in front yard and plant bowl and tank, did once just to tick off next door neighbor; house setup on hill where could not be seen from street but neighbor fussed about it for a couple of months.
Bill, could one of those robot cleaners do mopping for you.
Continues HOT & HUMID
Enjoy weekend

Mike, for several years I had been using chemical treatments to refill my water. But they take time, to work. This was my first outing, this year where I needed to refill. I used a Sawyer Squeeze filter. Very light weight and works faster than pump types I have used, in the past. On this hike, I went through five quarts of water. I started with two, refilled both, then refilled one of those, to make sure I had enough to get back to the trailhead.