I cleaned the floor in my bathroom (the one that has not been used since 2008) & pulled back the sheet vinyl. The self-leveling botched job wasn't as sharp & pronounced as I remembered. Either it dulled over time or I did a better job sanding & chiseling than I thought. My best friend is coming over Thursday to hit it with the grinder in the highest/bumpiest spots. Might not be as much work as I thought (I hope not). He insisted on doing the grinding since he's used a grinder before & is worried I would hurt myself. I got him some medium impact gloves, a face shield, safety glasses, dust mask, and gel knee pads. I also got a small shop vac to keep in the house. The one in the workshop is huge, heavy, and clunky. I wouldn't be able to get it through my bathroom door, so I got a little 3-gallon one. Grabbed some extra filters & bags for it just in case. Once the grinding is done & all the dust is vacuumed up, I will go get some patch leveling stuff to level out the floor & grab some doublesided acrylic tape to secure the sheet vinyl once it's set back in place (after the patch dries of course). When I was taking the painter's tape off, the wood paneling I painted started peeling (the actual wood, not the paint). It peeled up several inches so it can't be covered by baseboard so I'll need wainscoting. I hope I can find some good waterproof stuff for that. I'll do it the same height as the vanity & maybe add some sort of top trim. I have a chest of drawers to set next to the toilet but it needs a new coat of paint & new hardware. I got some wood wheels from a craft store to use as sort of escutcheons for the new pulls but I need to trim them down a little on one side- maybe cut off 1/8". Not sure how to do that. Maybe if I mark them and carefully use a coping saw... They are too small to use a conventional table saw on.
The crappy glue-up shower wall panels are falling off & the plywood behind them is no good. I still need to patch the scraped porcelain on the cast iron tub. I had a repair kit but it's very old & I lost the instructions. That is not a critical thing though. I'm leaning toward getting a direct-to-stud surround as a replacement- Delta Classic 500 or something like that is actually in stock at the local HD. I've also decided to go with a cheaper trim kit & valve. Instead of going Moen Kingsley & paying $100+ for the valve & $80+ for the trim I can get the Delta Lahara for around $70 or $80 & the Multichoice valve for about $30. I still want to get the Moen tub spout, but I'll have to check to see if I have set screw or twist on type. I'm hoping for set screw bc knowing my luck the twist-on one would be crooked.
Seeing Gary's bathroom remodeling pics inspired me to finally get moving on this. I'm going to have to nag myself to not procrastinate too much & to actually get things done. I'm really hoping to have the bathroom functioning by the time my sister comes to visit in April. I'm hoping to surprise her with it. I'm also hoping it will surprise my brother if I get it all done while he's at work. I'll have to make sure to take my friend to Taco Bell as a "thank you" once stuff is done. Hell, might even take him to Texas Roadhouse if he's up to it.
I sometimes feel bad for asking for his help so much, but then he knows he can call me any time of night or day if he needs a lift or help. He can call at 3am & be 2 hours away & need a lift & he knows I'll come get him (he found that out the hard way).
My brother is doing well at his new job. He's about to get a promotion & a $2 raise. Not sure if the paperwork went through yet. He's trying to talk to the lady in HR about getting his medical benefits & such bc he needs insurance to pay for his medicines. He's currently on Medicaid but they are refusing to pay for some of his meds.