Progress. Of course, it took seven hours, and my arms and shoulders are so sore I can barely feel them. But we got the main portion of the bathroom ceiling installed yesterday!

Nothing we do ever seems to be easy. We had to cut each piece of sheetrock at a slight angle since the bathroom isn’t quit “true”. Argh! And add to that all the funky light holes everywhere. I’d climb up the ladder to measure, climb back down to cut, then we’d climb up the ladder after cutting a piece of sheetrock to fit to test the fit, climb back down and make adjustments if needed, then we’d climb up the ladder to mark the light opening, climb back down to cut it out, then climb back up and hold it in place while screwing it in. Hence being so sore today.

A little trick if you’re needing to figure out where a light fixture or an electric box needs to go through your sheetrock: mark the edge with lipstick and press the sheetrock to it. It will leave a mark exactly where it needs to be cut.

The more you know!

Sending the Husbear up to the store here in town to buy a tube of lipstick was a different challenge. 😉

Ever since we installed the wood burning stove back in the house, we have been having issues.

With smoke. And because of that, it smelled like a campfire in the house. Yuck.

From what we could tell, not enough draft was being created to pull smoke up the chimney, so it would come back down into the house through the chimney. Which made for a rather smokey living environment at times.

And because of that (and the fact the Husbear has been burning green wood and not seasoned), the chimney was getting quite a buildup of creosote. You know, that bad bi-product stuff that can be highly flammable…

Well that’s no good either! Argh!

After doing some research, we found out about a product that would help create an artificial draft. So we ordered a Tjernlund Auto-Draft Inducer to install in the chimney.

Basically, it’s just a fan that pushes air up the chimney to help create a draft.

Installing it wasn’t the easiest of feats. I had to cut a hole in the chimney wall (which is when we discovered the little issue with the creosote build up), and then do a song-and-dance to get it to fit just right.

Eventually I got it installed, and we did a test burn.

The unit itself didn’t seem that well sealed: it leaked smoke from the welded seams! So I sealed those with fire barrier sealant. After that, I’d say it works!

There’s no smokey smell in the house, no back draft, and hopefully, less creosote build-up in the chimney system.

The only sucky thing is it takes electricity to make the inducer go, so if the power goes out, we’ll get smokey again. But we do have a generator, so I guess that’s always an option.

All this just to decrease the usage of the central heating system in the house.

First up, I want to apologize to all my readers and to all the bloggers I follow. I’m really behind on reading, and I feel bad for it. I just seem to have so little time these days. Hopefully I’ll get caught up soon. I miss y’all!

But on to my life. Since it’s my blog and all…

The never-ending bathroom remodel project: it still continues. Hence the “never-ending” part.

This weekend’s project was to level the concrete floor. Once that’s done, we can start the Sheetrock! Then paint. Then lay the tile. Then instal the fixtures. Then use the bathroom! No more outhouse! I kid. We don’t have an outhouse. We’re not that high-society. 😉

I had to put a primer on the existing floor last night when I got home from the tattoo studio. Something about it having to cure for 5 hours, but no longer than 24 hours. And I think it might have made me a wee bit high. Luckily it was 70 degrees here last night so I opened all the windows in the house to air it out. And then I had to put on a second coat.

I’m surprised I remembered any of that. 😉

Then came this morning. Time to level the floor!

First, add 5 quarts of water to the 50 pound bags of stuff. Then mix for 2 minutes on high.

Guess what happened next? Dead. It Burned up. The magic smoke came out of it. Fuck! This stuff sets in about 15 minutes. *grrr*

After another trip to Lowe’s, a more industrial drill was procured. At much cost. Oh well, a new power tool for me!

The Husbear poured in the batter while I licked the beater. Wait, that’s a different song. He poured the batter while I mixed. Teamwork!

Mix, mix, mix. It’s like a thick pudding. That you really wouldn’t want to eat.

And yes, I’m barefoot. It made it easier to walk through the pour zone. That way I wouldn’t ruin any of my Chucks. Fashion, people!

And 9 bags later, the “leveled” bathroom floor. I think it was 9 bags. And that “leveled” is in quotes because guess what…

It’s not level. Yet.

We’re going to have to do another coat after this, as there are a few spots that just didn’t make level.

It’s always something.