I called Mercea, the Romanian guy who installed our kitchen counter-tops, and did some other work for us a year or so ago..  He is the hardest working guy in the world, and is a bit of a perfectionist.  Just the kind of person you want doing remodeling for you.

He got here on Thursday morning with his helper, Robert.  First step: the demolition – the fun stuff.  Here he is removing the disgusting shower door and frame.

The house was built in the 1960’s, so the floor is plywood over the joists, then concrete, then metal mesh, then more concrete, then tile.  I remodeled the main bathroom, and it took me about a week to remove the floor and pull the tile and drywall off the walls.  These guys did it in about 6 hours, including two trips to the dump.

Magic!  See that insulation on the outside wall?  It could not have been more than one inch thick at the very best.  Probably less.  And if you look closely, you can see there are many small areas with no insulation over them at all.  Worst insulation I’ve ever seen.  When the guys left, I went to Home Depot, bought some new Owens Corning R-15 insulation and put it up.  That alone should save me about One Million Dollars on my heating bill.  Sad thing is, that’s what’s around the rest of the house, except the two bathrooms.

By Saturday night, they had the new shower pan built, the Hardy-Backer concrete board around the shower, the new light in the shower, the electrical wiring and boxes moved around, all the inside-wall plumbing done, and the new drywall put up, including the first coat of jointing and taping.  Whew!  If I were doing this, it would now be Halloween…Thanksgiving?

Today he will come by and do the second coat of joint compound. [Update: joint compound still not dry.  He’ll come back later this afternoon.]

Next two weekends will involve floor and wall tiles, grouting, installing and connecting the fixtures, and general tweaking.  Then I paint.

I’ll post pics as it progresses.