I was moving forward with the order for the solid surface material with which I was going to fabricate my kitchen countertop, when I was again met with frustration. The same internet dealer also fabricates Corian bathroom vanity countertops, so I was going to also order those from the same place. (Corian used to sell integral vanity tops in various sizes, but I just discovered they dropped that line sometime in the last year.)
I placed my order for the kitchen countertop — tools and adhesives, plus a full sheet of material and a partial sheet (a remnant), and thought I was set. Next day I got an email saying Formica had reformulated their solid surface material — the whole new sheet would likely not match the remnant (which I needed to extend the top 6" and for the backsplash). What were my instructions?
I cancelled, and after a couple of days decided to buy two whole sheets of the Formica solid surface and use the extra for a couple of other future projects. Each 12-foot by 30" sheet would weight significantly more than 100 pounds.
Delivery to a residence added $110 to the already considerable amount for shipping, so I was looking at close to $400 for shipping alone for the kitchen part of the order! The vanity tops would add more than $400 to that! If I picked it up at the freight terminal I could save the $110 for each part of the delivery.
Rent a U-Haul and pick it up at the freight terminal? But where was the terminal? I asked the sales rep that question and others, but she did not know most of the answers and said she would get back to me "tomorrow."
Never happened.
Now planning to find a local fabricator, but waiting for awhile for my frustrations to abate.
In the meantime, I had my new supply of PEX parts, and did some more work in the attic. But now we've hit a stretch of warm/hot weather, so the attic has become too hot.
I did manage to solve one challenge — the unobtainable marble thresholds. I found a stone/marble contractor that had a remnant room and went to see them. The woman in the front office did not know what a (marble) bathroom threshold was, but I found an almost perfect piece of marble in their back room — 8.5" wide by 33" long (and 3/4" thick). $45. Sold!
I cut it to 31" long, and managed to cut it lengthwise in half using my tile saw. The sliding table had just enough travel, but cutting the bevels on the top edges was something else. I had to remove the sliding table and build a temporary (long) stationary table.
The finish on the bevel was good enough that I did not really need to buy the set of diamond polishing discs ($50) to make the bevel shiny. Not really an issue, because you can't tell without getting down on your hands and knees for a close inspection.
Another task wanting attention was the trim around the bathroom door. My quirky master bathroom has become the repository for my bucket list of architectural fancies — things I've seen on This Old House over the years and wanted to replicate. This retirement house is the last chance I'll have to do that before I die, but for the most part there was no good place for those extravagances. The bathroom, however, is small — perfect for the token flourishes.
The door trim fell victim. Fancy molding and corner medallions!
But the pocket door frame was too thin for finishing nails, so the molding went on with trim adhesive and wood glue. (Oh, goodie — no nail holes to fill!)
With the base medallion glued on, I was able to cut to size and mortar on the last pieces of cove base tile (and then grout them the next day).
This is what it looks like at the bottom, also showing the marble threshold.
And at the top, where you can also see the crown molding (another flight of fancy, to be found nowhere else in the house).
Unfortunately, I was unable to install the door trim on the left side, because it protrudes from the wall. The vanity top has to fit flush between two walls, so anything that sticks out will prevent it from being set into place. (I may even have to temporarily remove one of the electrical receptacles.)
Yes, so waiting to get that vanity top :-(
With the new batch of PEX fittings, I was able to start work on the water softener installation. The main resin bead tank is tall and narrow and will be full of water (that is, heavy). In Southern California, that means attaching it to the wall so it doesn't topple over if we're hit by errant tremors. So build a bracket (later, metal bands around the tank will be attached).
I connected enough of the 1" PEX supply/discharge lines to see how far the tank needed to be from the wall. Black bits sticking out of the back include meter and bypass valve.
Various brackets go on the wall to support the plumbing; more of that to come.
In the photo above is the tall cylindrical tank holding the treated resin beads that the calcium and magnesium ions in the hard water attach themselves to. Every couple of weeks the control valve backflushes the resin beads with salt brine, which washes the calcium and magnesium ions off the resin beads, flushing it out a discharge pipe into the drain (if sodium chloride is used as the salt), or outside if you use potassium chloride (doesn't hurt the plants, but costs more).
The shorter, square tank holds the salt brine. You have to load salt into that container periodically — a consumable. It will be connected to the other tank with a flexible tube.
At this point, it looks like the water softener will get my near-term attention. The next post therefore may be all about that, or not.
Sigh.
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