Palm Springs Meiselman Reborn

Back to our Regularly Scheduled Programming

Yup, back to business, back to work. While the family was here, we slowed down a bit, but not much. But now it's back to kicking ass.

Since the last update:
Replumb gas and water: completed
New shower pan: completed
Pool: completed
Picked paint colors for exterior
Roof resurface: partially completed
Side patio: partially completed
Ordered new doors and new glass

On the job list for this week: install new doors and new glass, exterior painting and drywall/cement board hanging - woot! We're starting to get to the really fun part where we'll once again see some more dramatic changes.

Exterior Paint

We've selected paint colors and the prep work for that has begun.

(these aren't websafe colors so I can't promise that what you see is actually the colors that we've chosen, but generally, it's a gorgeous dove gray khaki with a lighter trim.)

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Lot's of scraping and sanding and yes, more caulking! To date, including the interior of the house, we've gone through over 60 tubes of caulk. Exterior paint should go up next week.

Shower Pan

All the plumbing and electrical work is done with the exception of new stem valves and misc. little stuff. The shower demo and new shower pan are done! When I got down to demo-ing the old shower pan (which had rotted out) I discovered that there really wasn't a shower pan at all... They just poured the mortar on the sand. I neglected to take any pictures, but there were roots all around the drain. Now normally, you have several layers to a shower pan (the floor of your shower)

1) sub-floor, either wood or concrete
2) liner (either lead in old homes, or new PVC vinyl)
3) mortar bed
4) thin set
5) tile

We didn't have 1 or 2. No sub-floor, just mortar on desert sand, and no liner, thus the reason it failed. It didn't exist!

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But now everything should be good to go. We'll hang cement board this week and begin tiling soon

Wall be gone!

Now that the plumbers are gone it was time to get back inside and finish the rest of the interior demo. I was looking forward to this job. Nothing more satisfying than tearing out walls! We did this in our current house and by getting rid of the small pocket door it totally opens up the small galley kitchen and integrates the kitchen with the rest of the living space.

BEFORE

AFTER

Progress!

Things are moving ahead. We now have subcontractors over there so we've been trying to stay out of their way as much as possible - the house isn't that big after all. Next up for yours truly will be some drywall hanging and patching, tiling the bathrooms, ordering kitchen cabinets and vanities, paint and finally floors! We're still on schedule to finish by the end of April.

An interesting development in the market around here. Prices are going through the frickin' roof! The exact same house as this one right here just went on the market for over $550K!!! Granted, it's meticulously redone - perfect in every way. They must have put over $150K into it - but DAMN! If they get anything close to that you can bet your bippy that the missus and I will be doing an extra special version of the happy dance!

I know I know - get to the pictures...

Electrical and Plumbing

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All of the electrical work is complete and waiting for inspection. Plumbers should be out of there by the end of the week. The billy-jim-bob hot water line as been replaced. We had a nasty surprise a while back when we discovered we had a gas leak under the slab which means they are running a new gas line for us too.

Pool

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The pool is finally chipped and ready for plaster today. The pool contractor that we used only had two guys working on the chipping so it took 5 days. I bet our neighbors are happy that the jackhammering portion is over and done with!

We had them save the original tile. It was in really great shape and after some cleaning will look like new. Unfortunately the chippers slipped and damaged two of them. At least they didn't ruin the classic "Hoams" tile. That one is a keeper right there. Hoams was the original pool contractor (probably the only game in town back then) for all of these tract houses in 1959.

Awning Be-Gone

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Thanks to my good friend John for joining the campaign to eradicate evil ugly aluminum awnings! They must be stopped!

Front Landscaping

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The front is pretty much done for the most part. The pads are all set, the gravel is in and the rest of the fountain grass is in. All that is left is a little fluffing, paint the house and a new mailbox. Grow ficus, grow!