Construction

     Black Friday is traditionally touted as the busiest shopping day of the year. I don't usually participate, but this year I guess I did my part - I dropped several hundred dollars on items I hadn't planned to purchase. It's not quite as bad as it might be, though, because my haul included seven rolls of fiberglass insulation, a hundred rafter vents and a toilet. The great bathroom construction project has begun.
     In the two years I've owned this house, I've gone back and forth on whether to add a second bathroom. Yes, it would be convenient. Yes, most people expect at least two in a house, and my realtor assured me that I'd recoup the money when selling. But the contractors I interviewed wanted to install something more expensive and fancier than the rest of my home, or they didn't think they could build it to code in the existing space, or I was worried that they wouldn't follow any codes. I eventually decided I'd rather let those tens of thousands of dollars continue doing their job for me in investments and I'd keep walking downstairs to the shared bathroom.
     But then my father offered to help, and I figured I could be patient during the year it would take to build it. The costs will be extremely minimal compared to a contractor, and I really do have fun working with my father.
     My parents came to visit for Thanksgiving, and in between eating pie and mashed potatoes, we started work. We've already considered about ten different layouts, which is nine more than I originally thought possible in such a tiny space. We debate soffits and drains, and today friends came over and we removed two dozen contractor bags of blown-in mineral wool insulation. I hadn't even heard of mineral wool (aka rock wool) until today, but now I know it as an itchy, heavy, but fairly effective and messy insulator. I have also learned that my friends L & S must be really good friends, or be really crazy, to spend hours in face masks and gloves removing it all from my attic.
     Stay tuned for many future installments of bathroom excitement in the coming year...