Had a lovely brunch yesterday with @coralbrook and some mutual friends.
For grins & giggles, this is what you can get for 1/2 a million on Oahu—if you’re lucky. It is already sold.
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Think what @coralbrook could have done with that house!
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“Value is in the land.” “Contractor special.” Yup. I’m surprised such homes exist in Honolulu! Can’t find anything like that for that little in Seattle. Dilapidated shacks sell here for $800k if the location is good.
The piece of land is puny, neighborhood is iffy and I am not sure about other issues. As you can see, because of low price, it sold quickly anyway. Property 2,250 square feet of land. Not much space to build anywhere.
That’s not a big lot to add any beds or baths. What a shack!! Not sure it is salvageable at all.
Here are @HImom and I trying to mask ourselves from too much identification at our beautiful lunch at Hau Tree Patio on the Diamond Head side of Waikiki. Turns out we have mutual friends so my friends joined us. Thank you for a lovely lunch
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I hear lumber prices are coming down, but a 2x4 at Home Depot is still about $8
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Forgot to load photo
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It was so nice to connect with you, @coralbrook — after so many years! Nice restaurant, but I sure miss the old Hawaiian music they used to play. It was more my kind of vibe than this new one that makes me want to leave.
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How fun!! 
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Almost back to work in 2 days. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I try to plan, inevitably there is a big project underway while I’m gone and I have to work while on vacation. This time I was busy trying to order stuff to stay ahead of the guys who are busy on the master bathroom.
They had to dig out the concrete floor in two areas to set the drain for the freestanding tub and we moved the toilet around in the little toilet room. Of course, when they went to cut the concrete it hasp been poured at least 10” thick around those 2 drains. Took a long time to get those drains moved.
Lots of issues with electrical. The tub has both whirlpool jets and air bubbles coming up from bottom. It has two different motors for each function. Instructions say it needs two separate gfi protected circuits. We only have one circuit available from previous whirlpool tub. The panel is in the garage and there are no more slots to add a circuit.
To add a new circuit we would have to upgrade the panel, reconnect everything and magically run a new line outside the garage and across to bathroom and then drill through Adobe to get it into the bathroom. The existing wires are in an underground conduit coming up in the floor of bathroom. We cannot thread the wire into that conduit because it is too full of wires
After analyzing everything I just think it’s too much work to get another circuit for air bubbles. This type of freestanding tub has plugs that you hide in the back that plug into a wall outlet. So we will keep one plug and they can plug in the whirlpool motor. If they ever want just bubbles, change the plug
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This is the tub that was finally selected. Also got the Woodbridge fancy one piece toilet
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Doors
In the master bedroom there is an opening to closet dressing area from bedroom and then a doorway into bathroom. The master bedroom/bath was an addition to the original Adobe house built in the 80s. The entry into the bathroom was cut through the original 17” thick Adobe wall. For some reason the entry was cut really low and they left about 18” of the concrete/Adobe as a header. The current door was a Victorian kind of stained glass glass door you could see right through, not to mention the door jamb and door was cut short
The concrete/Adobe header was not supported with posts or studs on the side of the door and was actually sagging. So we had to tear out the whole mess, cut the 17” thick old wall and put proper thick beam and posts over the doorway to get a standard height door installed. She also wants to replace the exterior door
We are installing a fun barn door across entry to closet area
And she wants this style door (even though it doesn’t go with the house at all)
We are also going through the whole house and replacing cheap antique brass door handles. She wanted gold, I talked her into modern matte black which should look nice
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kwikset-Halifax-Iron-Black-Universal-Passage-Door-Handle/1001352420
And replacing exterior door entry lock sets with keypad matte black in similar style
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Glad the husband lost the battle on the tub. The plain white is much better!
I agree with you about the doors not being in keeping with the style of the house but what can you do!
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Wow—it’s coming together so nicely! Great job! The final tub looks like it will blend eith many more decor options
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I doubt they will be using the jets much (or the bubbles for that matter). Have them buy this product.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008VGMWCO
It is amazing how much yuck grows in those lines! Algae and bacteria form a layer called biofilm, which is like an indestructible organism.
Glad they went for a conventional tub. Much better for maintaining it clean and for resale value (but not the jets!).
PROGRESS UPDATE
Well, I was hoping to come back to all tasks done and ready for cabinets to get installed on July 15th. No, of course not, way too many hidden issues everywhere we open up. Cabinet installation has been postponed to July 27.
BATHROOM
We have finished all the expensive structural changes needed to raise the ceiling a bit in the entryway. We discovered a dangerous issue behind the drywall. Dduring the 1980 addition, contractor just cut out the concrete/adobe wall and left 12" deep of that wall above for about 10 ft. Yikes, the concrete was actually ‘sagging’ in the wall trying to support the main roof beam. So, we had to cut out the concrete/adobe portion of the wall and install posts and a big $200 beam across the top to support the roof and raise the ceiling. We needed to raise the ceiling because the doorway was only about 76" high and they had just chopped down the door. Not to mention the door into bathroom had clear glass. What the hey?? Who wants a see through door to their bathroom?? Not me!
Tearing out the walls and rearranging the toilet room has left odd areas in the pine ceiling where the pine is ‘new clear’ compared to where the pine has aged and darkened. I just cannot fix this, it’s going to look bad for a couple of years until it all blends. Only solution would be to paint the ceilings but owner wants to keep the natural ceilings. And, where we tore out the entryway wall to raise it, I had a chance to push back the lowered soffit about 12" towards doorway. But couldn’t do it because I discovered that the supposedly ‘natural’ large beam running across bathroom was stained with a pickle type stain. There is just no way to match that so I had to pull the soffit back to it’s original location to cover the natural portion of the beam.
We had to cut the concrete slab and trench to move bathtub drain location and toilet drain location. Of course, prior contractor poured about 10" of concrete around these drain locations and took a whole week to bust everything out and trench to new locations. And, the electrical wires coming into the room are coming up out of the concrete in the middle of the room (hidden by prior huge tile monstrosity around bathtub) and we had to rework that quagmire of wires and route through the walls. It’s been a lot of plumbing and wiring work to just ‘move a couple of things’ !!
We will have to insulate, drywall, mud/sand, prime and paint all the walls. And now we have to trench again because a freestanding tub needs a fancy freestanding faucet and we are going to have to run water lines in the concrete slab to go up into that freestanding faucet. Here is the faucet she selected. I had advised against the gold but she wanted it. Note that copper water lines have to be in floor under this thing
https://www.build.com/signature-hardware-951349-lv/s1783559?uid=4212013
Next up for bathroom is I have to get moving on tile tile tile. Of course we want tile all over the place in here. This is all the tile we are going to need:
Shower walls/design - shower is huge 8ft x 4 ft
Shower floor
Bathroom floor
Bathroom floor design as a ‘mat’ around freestanding bathtub
Vanity backsplash tile, possibly up the entire wall behind vanity
Right now I am trying to get her to focus on selecting out of 20 samples just for the main shower wall ‘bling’ tile. Once that is selected we can build around that choice for the other tile. She is a fabulous client and usually approves what I select but it’s overwhelming when you are trying to select from little photos and some showroom pictures from out of town.
Then we need a fabulous chandelier and sconces. I have to move wiring out of the main beam that was in the center of the room for an ugly ceiling fan. Have to route wiring over the bathtub to have chandelier centered over bathtub as a focal point. Cannot select chandelier until I know which ‘style’ of tile we are going with and coloring of tile design
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PROGRESS UPDATE FLOORING
We have selected the main flooring for the house. I loaded photos to the photo group. Mix of luxury vinyl medium tone plank and herringbone in the house.
She wants a tile entryway. The entryway is a raised platform with dining room to left and living room forward. So, it works well to have different flooring, there is already a natural break. I also suggested using the tiles for the stair risers going up to the tower in the entryway area. At first they were sending tile they found on Wayfair or something. Honestly, pretty hideous. Something like this for slate but then their other choice was some polished 12x12 with a really weird pattern
Of course my choice was a really subtle spanish cement tile. So, I had to find a compromise between geometric and spanish cement tile. I loaded photos of choice laid out but here’s a link to see it on stairs
PROGRESS UPDATE KITCHEN
I was hoping that the kitchen would be demolished before I returned, but the owner’s son is living there (with a girlfriend and some friend has been staying there for over a month). He was supposed to have the kitchen cleared out by July 1st. At first I suggested that we hire someone to go through the kitchen and weed out stuff not needed. Somehow that kid has crap crammed everywhere in the kitchen after less than a year living there! He insisted that he would do it. We had a long talk about how he should move up into the studio with the kitchenette and I sent a link for a induction hot plate to purchase to be able to cook in studio.
Well, of course before I leave he starts telling me that it’s going to be hard to clear out kitchen because he is busy. Then on July 1st he sends me a text that they are leaving for the weekend and will not be able to clear out until Wednesday July 7. I return Wednesday July 7 and nothing is cleared out of kitchen. This is starting to be an emergency because we have to demolish kitchen and move all the plumbing and wiring by July 15th! On Thursday he had managed to move everything to the pool patio and create an outdoor kitchen, but then asks me if he could please keep using cooktop for another week or so. Uhhhh NOOOOO! I cannot demolish a kitchen around a cooktop and keep it hanging there somehow. Most important thing we had to get out of there ASAP was the stove vent because we needed to investigate what was available.
When we started to demolish there was still empty booze bottles, vinegar, oil, etc. I had to call him in and ask if he wanted to keep all the stuff or it was meant to go out in dumpster. He then proceeded to pull out a ton of stuff and just put it on shelves all over the place that we are going to have to move or pack in order to do flooring, etc. And, when we pulled out the dishwasher it was obvious it had been leaking under cabinet and over the floor for at least a couple of months. Luckily that wasn’t a new floor! Of course it was jam packed with dirty dishes that I had to pull out and put in a box and take out to his patio.
When we met in June, the agreement was that the son was going to move to girlfriend’s apartment for the 6 weeks and/or move up into Studio while kitchen renovation was underway. But no! he refuses to leave the house because he cannot take the dog to the girlfriend’s apartment (no dogs allowed). The dog is perfectly fine in the big house on his own, but son refuses to leave. Not to mention his other friend is still living there in the Studio
The biggest issue with the kitchen so far is a massive rodent infestation. I’m going to pretend it is cute little mice. There is mouse poop and shredded paper nests everywhere under every cabinet/appliance in the kitchen. Between the wet leak and mouse crap it is an extreme health hazard. Owner wanted me to meticulously take out each cabinet and ‘donate’. There is no way I am donating any cabinets full of mouse poop and wet mold to anywhere. We might be able to save the upper cabinets if they come out in one piece. Then they call up and want to know if we can ‘save’ the granite countertop because husband wants to make a ‘table’. Most people know you just cannot pull off a countertop in one piece. It doesn’t work that way.
So, we have now scared away tons of mice with the demolition and I have no idea where they have moved to. I don’t want to know. going to have to bleach every inch of that kitchen. The rodent infestation is a direct result that the owner’s son leaves every single door in the house wide open (for his dog) all day and most of the night. It’s a losing battle if you are going to leave the house wide open.
WOW! What an unfortunate combination of structural and logistic/son challenges. Kudos to you for sorting through it all.
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