Vanity Hell

Initially we decided to get a new vanity for our new bathroom. After looking at vanities, ad nauseum, at  the big box stores, online and some local bath suppliers, I can to the conclusion that most all vanities are junk. They are primarily made with MDF and particle board for anything under $600. The problem with MDF and particle board is they don't tolerate moisture well and can swell if they get wet. There are a lot of designer vanities for around a thousand and more and I'm sure they're much better quality but I wasn't about to blow that much cash.

Aside from quality of construction, I have a floor register that sits right were most vanities have legs. This means I need to find a vanity with furniture style legs that would not conflict with register. It also needed to go flush again the side wall, and some don't allow this.

I found a vanity at Home Depot that looked like it'd work. I had to order it, but at least it was free shipping. When I attempted to install the vanity I noticed a fatal flaw in the design. The back of the vanity allows 10" in the center for plumbing, but my plumbing wasn't completely centered. Most vanities have an open back to accommodate plumbing anomalies but this one does not. I could cut it but it'd look awful since it has an open shelf design and the plumbing would be visible. So this vanity is going back to the store.

Here you can see the floor register and the plumbing is off to the left

The brand/model is Foremost Exhibit. I learned Foremost is just Home Depots name for vanities they resell from different manufactures. They don't tell you the original manufacturer. It came with a granite top that I was planning on reselling since my wife wanted white.

In this photo you can see the back of vanity only allows a small opening (10") for plumbing. The website doesn't mention this constraint

The open design shows back of the vanity. Best I can tell the only wood used in the vanity is the legs and the backing; the rest is MDF and particle board. Still, it looks like wood, but maybe over time it would delaminate.

The finish quality is not good. Up close there are all sorts of rough edges and imperfections. It looks nice from a distance however.

So back to the drawing board. I found another vanity from a local bath retailer and it's solid wood construction but the leg would hit the register, so it wouldn't work. Now the plan is put a new quartz top on the old vanity.

The Rise and Fall of the Evaporative Cooler

I written before on how I tried to live with my evaporative cooler and how it just didn't work out. Here the cooler sits proudly on the roof, in all its ugliness.




I got AC this past fall, not so ironically after the hottest summer in recent history. We decided comfort is very important to us; it affects our mood and can have a strong bearing on our day to day happiness. So the extra $50 or so dollars a month we pay extra is more than worth it.

Here is the last sighting of the cooler as the roofing company removed it from the premises and patched the roof.

Next Spring I'll probably put a whole house fan in to reduce the amount the AC needs to run

The Laundry Room Makeover

Our laundry started life (for us) in bad condition: nasty yellow vinyl flooring, a loose and clogged dryer vent, and all sorts of wall maladies.

The loose dryer vent would thrash when the dryer ran. I discovered the duct had become completely clogged with lint and the pressure detached the duct so it was venting hot humid air into the floor joists. This likely accounts for the squeaky subfloor upstairs. I bought a duct cleaning brush but it was only 12' and he duct was longer so I had to attack it from both sides. I removed a ton of lint.

Sadly this flooring never came back in style

The plumber who installed the new rough-in valve for the bathroom (other side of this wall) suggested a nice box for the laundry plumbing. It was a great idea.  

When we demoed the bathroom (left wall of laundry room), we discovered 2x6 studs. This allowed us to run a new dryer vent in between the walls and to vent out just above the window (south). When I had AC installed I asked them to install the new dryer vent (rigid). I have yet to figure out why the original builder ran it about 14' longer to the east side of the house.

The new laundry room with no dryer vent exposed. The walls had to be patched and textured in a number of areas. The texture is called stomp and requires a funny looking brush. We used a flat enamel Home Depot paint to minimize the texture. I would have liked a white window but we saved some money by going with a vinyl window in this room and it only comes in one color (our exterior window color is tan).

Last thing to do is to add floor trim, a cabinet, a new door and we're done

Today I Learned How to Spell "Escutcheon"

After the bathroom was painted I noticed how dingy the toilet water supply valve looked. I went to Home Depot to get a replacement where I learned from the helpful plumbing department guy that I wouldn't be able to get the escutcheon plate off because of the copper compression ring. As it turns out, the compression ring is exceedingly difficult to remove for the average DIYer. I wanted to put on a nice new shiny escutcheon plate, not one that is split (so it can be put on without taking off valve). The guy in the plumbing department show me a new style of push connect valve. This type of valve is available from BrassCraft and Sharkbite. BTW, these cost about $5 more than the compression nut style valve. I also wanted a nice 1/4 turn ball valve instead of the older (oval turn knob) turn-forever-and-leak style. To put this on I had to cut the pipe just behind the old compression ring. I used a $6 cheapo pipe cutter. I sanded the pipe to remove the burrs and get it nice and shiny. Before replacing the new valve body I spray foamed the wall cavity because the pipe was loose. After the great stuff foam dried, it was very secure. Now I could slide on the new escutcheon plate. The valve simply slides on, but with firm pressure. NOTE: YOU MUST PUSH IT ON 1-1/8". Mark the pipe to make sure it's fully on. If not you could have a catastrophic failure and flood your house. Once on, a plastic nut slides in place to keep it tight. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but I'd guess it uses water pressure to compress against the pipe. I bought two and one was defective and simply wouldn't go the full 1 1/8". I got a new one and it slid on perfectly, actually going a bit more than 1-1/8". I turned on the water main with my wife watching it to check for leaks. One side note about this style is the valve body rotates freely about the pipe. Now if I ever need to put on a new escutcheon plate in the future, I can easily pop this off and replace, granted it'll be years and years before I touch again, hopefully.

No, the other Kohler Cimarron Toilet

I'm less than proud of the fact I looked at more than a few toilets for my new bathrooms. I settled on the Kohler Cimarron because it seemed to be high quality and it was the shortest (depth) toilet I could find for the price. Two of my bathrooms are really small, so an extra inch makes a big difference. The Kohler was about a half inch shorter, yay! And, admittedly, I was excited abou the aqua flush engine.

I purchased the first toilet at Lowes, on sales for around $230. Sadly, I discovered a huge crack in the tank when I removed it from the box. This was a major downer since I had to pack it back up and return. Next one I checked out in the store. (BTW, it seems to me that someone either returned it broken and didn't say anything - despicable - or Lowes put it back on the shelf. Either way, I've learned to check things out that would be a pain to return.

Ok, so I got the Lowes toilet home and it was easy enough to install. I went for the bells and whistles (XL 10 year wax ring). I even read the instructions about not installing the ring unless it's 70F or above for proper flow. Made sense to me. I put it on the heat register for about 15 minutes.

Now being so pleased with the Kohler, I decided to get another one for the master bath. This time I went to Home Depot since it's closer and it was also on sale. I found the same one: same color, elongated, 1.28GF, ADA height. I was really excited to get another. I installed it with great pride and then I opened and closed the lid. Something was different. It was the lid, it wasn't a soft close like one from Lowes. How could this be? It's the same toilet. Well upon close inspection. They're not exactly the same. The have different model numbers to start. The verbiage on the boxes indicates a subtle difference. The one from Home Depot says "Quick Attach, Quick Release Seat Included" The Lowes box says "Quiet Close, Quick Release Seat Included". So take note Kohler and Home Depot. This sort of chicanery is what pisses consumers off to no end. Specifically, you are selling different products under the same name and that's misleading. It was reasonable for me to expect to receive the same product as what was sold at Lowes. In actuality I don't care much that one of the toilet's slams closed, it's that I was duped. Will I return the toilet to Home Depot? Although it will be a huge pain in the ass, I may just do that. I have 90 days after all.

The models numbers are as follows Lowes K-118113-0, Home Depot K-11451-0. Neither of which generate any search hits on Google. Did I write too much about toilets? Perhaps, but I think this practice of Kohler is misleading and wrong and felt I need to say something about it. 

For reference, here is the Home Depot toilet for $228 (as of this writing) http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100658777/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=cimarron&storeId=10051#.UN0ysonjmCs

And the Lowes for $239 (as of this writing) http://www.lowes.com/pd_39461-20602-11813-0_0__?productId=3163897&Ntt=cimarron&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dcimarron&facetInfo=

BTW, the extra $11 is totally worth it for the soft close lid!