No Water

So, it seemed that the bathroom was almost done. We had several guests during this time that were real troopers. Our friends from Chapel Hill stayed with us one night and experienced the "cup" baths with us, and others that just heard our stories and couldn't believe that we were still trying to do this on our own.

Other than putting the toilet back in its place and hooking up the new vanity, all we really had left to do was install the new shower faucet. The bathtub originally had some heinous acrylic knobs that had the grime in them that just doesn't come out, so it was time for a new look along with all the other changes going on. What we didn't realize was that you can't simply take off the old knobs and put new ones in their place; you have to replace the entire connection.

Daniel was now not only our electrician, tiler and overall handyman, he was now about to learn the trade of a plumbing. After making a trip to Home Depot (I think after all this is said and done, we will have spent more time there than the grocery store) for supplies, he proceeded to turn our water off and cut the pipe in the shower. After several tries to cut the piping, sauder it on with a blow torch, and turn the water on to see if there were any leaks, it was becoming apparent that this was not going to be as easy as it seemed. Several times that evening, I would go to the basement (two floors below the bathroom), turn on the main water line, wait three seconds, and then listen for Daniel to either yell "okay" or "turn it off!!" Each time he would yell the latter, and each time meant it was getting later and later in the evening. Once we realized that it couldn't be finished until the next day (the home improvement stores had closed for the night and we needed more supplies), I made the trip to Food Lion for gallons of water to brush our teeth and wash our faces. There would be no showering the next morning. Thankfully, Daniel was able to fix the leak and attach the new knobs and shower head the next day so we could shower!