So, my house, let me tell you...

[etakyma]

So my father has been promising to have someone come in and retile my bathroom for over a year. I've not taken an honest-to-god stand up shower in my own bathroom for about four years now, because the tile was literally falling off the walls and there were great gaping holes in the tub surround that you could put your head through.

I've been saving money for the home improvements I need to make - but Dad promised to do the whole retile project as a gift. Because he's like that. And also my brother is frustrating him because *he* won't allow my dad to hire people to work on his house. So over a year he's been talking about what I want and getting people in and all of that.

I was all, fine, whatever, make it clean and pretty. Plain white tile, cobalt blue trim, replace the vanity. Simple, clean, NOT fifties dirty blue and black (really, tiny bathroom, and they decided BLACK wallpaper was the way to go? Really? Ew.) which was what I had before.

The vanity was a piece of crap (coming apart and never could stay clean, and like vinyl covered particleboard or something skeezy like that), and the sink was shaped so that your feet got wet when you washed your hands. Yup. Screwed up bathroom.

So what does my dad decide to do? Schedule the work for the week I am in Dallas on vacation. Sure, I don't mind having anonymous guys in my house while I am away. Sure, I'll move all my furniture WHILE I PACK so they have space to work in. Yeah, I'll be just fine with all that.

So I was in Dallas, and I get phone calls regarding how I want the tile to go in, and you must pick out a new vanity and shower fixtures over the phone, and btw we finally found the water shut-off valve for the house. Right. No problem if I've never seen the vanity, or the shower fixtures, or anything. I'll just trust it all goes in correctly. Right?

Um. Well. Not so much. I mean MOST of it is perfect and lovely, and just right. But one thing. You see, the pipes in the house are a little... odd in the bathtub. The hot water pipe is on the RIGHT not the LEFT. And the cold water pipe is on the LEFT not the RIGHT. And the plumber, not thinking anyone would mess up piping a house like that, installed his shit and went on his merry way.

Except now my shower starts with hot water and mixes in the cold, instead of starting with cold water and mixing in the hot (and since mine is a tankless system, the hot comes out of the tap really fucking hot - straight from the furnace). OUCH! So he has ordered a part that will go in the mixer and reverse the flow and he is coming back tomorrow to install it. He was very puzzled, because even when I told him twice what I thought was wrong, he didn't believe me for the longest time. BECAUSE it is BUG-FUCK CRAZY ass shit! Nobody installs pipes in a house like that! It's like they were on LSD when they built this funhouse. Except it was the fifties, so probably not.

So while I had my first stand up shower in my new bathroom this morning, I scalded myself pretty good trying to mix in enough cold. Tomorrow, that should be fixed. But had I BEEN here, this all could have been avoided, because I could have told him the pipes were screwy like that - since, hello, been living with it for the past eight years.

But yeah, showers are good things. And while I like the occasional soak in the tub, it gets old when it's your only choice. Waiting for the tub to fill is a pain in the ass. Sometimes, you just want a quick hot shower. And now I can have one whenever I want!

I just have to paint and hang a new medicine cabinet/mirror and the bathroom will be done! nd the money I've saved will go into the next phase of fixing up the house - the kitchen - or maybe the flooring! Exciting life I lead, huh?