Friday's accomplishments

I called irrigation company and asked about paying to have trees moved.  They promised to get back to me, and also set appointment for April 9 to reprogram system to meet new water saving rules.

I called the new contractor recommended by John Jones.  He will come out early next week to check out the wall I want rebuilt now from the hall side.  I had him really confused when I asked for double 3/4 sheetrock.  He said he could do 5/8 and I said that was good enough.  Of course, 5/8 is the upgrade thickness in drywall.  3/4 is an upgrade thickness for shelves, and I have recently had shelving on my mind.

I checked the polarity of the new dedicated AC outlet in the master bedroom.  I had asked that it match the phase of the other outlets in the room.  Every home has two opposite phases of 120V which make up the 220V supplied at the main panel.  Normally not much attention is paid to which circuit gets which phase.  But since the master bedroom will now have two circuits, and the wiring for my entertainment system is very complex, I feel it will keep things better to have both circuits with the same phase.  I forgot to tell John Jones about that on Wednesday until work on the circuit was nearly complete.  But we had previously discussed it a year ago when he added a new sub panel for Lyndhurst, so he left the correct slot open then.  When I mentioned this to John on Wednesday, he went outside for awhile, and came back, and we didn't talk about it any more.

So anyway, I very carefully checked the phase of the two circuits with my Fluke voltmeter on the 750V AC range.  There was no more than 0.1V difference between the hots of both circuits, which would be expected from loading and loss (actually I'd expect up to 3V from loss).  The new circuit is very direct and the old one wraps around 3 rooms.  If they had been the opposite phases, there would have been 220V difference.

BTW, the new dedicated outlet has made a huge improvement in A/V quality.  The music in the bedroom clearly has better pace and rhythm running on the dedicated circuit.  The fan sounds quieter, and the lights don't dim as much when I turn on the amplifier.  My house now has two dedicated A/V power circuits, and after I did the first one, I thought it was one of the best things I had ever done for sound quality.

But I need to get an isolation transformer for the composite video I am still sending from a computer on the old circuit.  Somehow I previously failed to notice the rolling bars on the TV when I play images from that computer.  There is, as should be expected, a slight ground difference between the two circuits.  The new one should have nearly perfect ground, the other one runs though about 50ft of romex.

I re-hooked up my Swann security camera with the new 50ft cable.  I had removed the 100ft cable on Wednesday in preparation for it being used with the new cameras that are going to be mounted on the south side.  I got one new 100ft cable, so in combination with my old 100ft cable I have two 100ft cables.  My existing camera could work with a 10 ft cable, but Swann doesn't sell the fire rated cables, which are also their nicest cables, in a 10ft length.  The cheapest fire rated cable I found online was 50ft, so I got a new 50ft cable to replace the old 100ft cable and free it up for the longer run.  I should have hooked up the 50ft cable immediately after removing the 100ft cable, but I was too stressed on Wednesday to do it.

Now that the maple closet shelf is centered, I don't think the gaps on either side are that large, about 1/8 inch on either side.  In any case, it appears that I could only have cut the shelf 3/8" larger to fit, and possibly not even that much, because it was very hard to maneuver the shelf into position since it is the width of the closet and the closet isn't entirely square.  The big gap is in the back of the closet above the shelf support there is about a 3/8 gap running along the back because the trim boards used are not quite straight and level.  For now I have put shims there, perhaps the new contractor could be persuaded to get this right.

I need to print out the info on Green Glue and Armstrong Flooring for the new contractor.

I measured the hallway.  It is very close to 18 feet long and 3 feet wide.  My raw measurement was originally 17' 7" but I didn't account for the doorway mouldings on either side.  Anyway, 18 ft can be used in computing quantity of flooring needed.  There is also a little segment on the bend that is about 20 inches wide and almost 5 feet long.  Counting that as 10sqft, the total square footage is 64, with the new wall running 18 linear feet.

Rob's mistakes

Now I find that Rob did not do his electrical work to code.  And he did not make the closet square.  And he did not do the support for the closet shelf square either.  He did not do the floor correctly the first time.

On the other hand, I think he ultimately did do the floor correctly (and very nicely), install the window nicely, and most of the sheetrock work and painting looks first rate to me.  So I could use him again to install windows or flooring or do general sheetrock replacement and soundproofing.  But before going back to Rob I'm going to give John's contractor a chance.

What were Rob's mistakes?

1) He put two electrical boxes in the wall without covers.  When he was doing this, I asked if that was up to code, including San Antonio building code.  It seemed somewhat common-sense that electrical boxes should not be sitting in a wall where you might drill through them, etc.  Huffing a bit, he insisted that they were.  Well as I expected they are not.  Electrical code requires all boxes inside the wall to have access covers.  You know where they are, they can be fixed, and if a fire starts inside it will be obvious outside, and they will not direct flame back into the wall itself.

2) Rob used 14 gauge wire on a circuit which has a 20 amp breaker.  Electrical code requires that the breaker be changed, and that only 12 gauge wire be used for new hookup even on a 15 amp circuit.

Other than the need to change the breaker, which John Jones will do next time,  and which is a problem throughout my house it turns out, I do not see these as immediate safety concerns.  I think John was a bit overdramatizing the issue with fires starting in hidden boxes.  But I have agreed to have it all redone soon, not only to have all the known errors fixed, but possibly to fix unknown errors. When you see the one you may worry about the other.  Rob is clearly not licensed to do electrical work, not qualified, and not especially good at it.

Head finally not spinning

As usual, my experience with John Jones Electric was perfection.  Or close to it.  But I bit off a big piece to start, and another chunk came with it.

I went through the long list of electrical upgrades I suggested earlier.  I got a big estimate, and agreed to all of it (the "dream" pieces being less expensive than the essential ones).  But before the day was over, I agreed to even more, though somewhat contingently.  I agreed to re-open the other side of the sound absorbing wall built and wired by Rob in February.  It turns out the Rob did not do the electrical wiring to code, and I have agreed to have the wall corrected.  John has given me the name of the builder he often works with, calling him a genius, and he will (if he agrees to do this, and I haven't spoken to him yet) rebuild the hall side of the wall with double sheetrock and green glue, AND do the hall floor with the same vinyl flooring as the Queen's Room.  I had been planning to do those two jobs later, as part of a phase II remodel, but I've decided to go along with John's strong desire to have the electrical code issues fixed.  It's work that needs doing anyway, the only question for me was whether to do them asap, in early April, or later in May as part of a mega remodel (which now I'm thinking of putting off until June).

Today John and his son T.J. added the ceiling mount for the Queen's Room fan, replaced the 4 outlets in the Queen's room, and 3 of them with point-of-source GFCI outlets (that was my strong preference,  and John charged me full pop for it) with independent GFCI action (the 4th outlet is connected to a GFCI circuit), and added the new dedicated 20A circuit for A/V in the King's Room.

He is to return on April 9 to do the security cameras, installing the actual fan (which I ordered today), installing the new back yard light and switch, adding a new outlet in the garage and replacing another one, replacing several 20A breakers with 15A ones, adding timer switches to the bathroom light and fan, replacing the actual bathroom fan motor, and adding 4 CAT-6 connections between the two sovereign bedrooms and the Kitchen.  And re-doing the wiring on the hall side of the Queen's Room Wall.  Or at least as much of that as can be done in two days.

Given a not unreasonable estimate for the CAT-6 connections, even though that was kind-of in my dream category, I decided to go for it.  But perhaps between now and April 9 I'll go even further.  Here are some changes I'd like to give John next time:

a) The CAT-6 panel for the King's Room should have two RG-6 coaxes as well.
b) Add an outlet to the reconstructed wall.  It would be nice to have an outlet on the hall side for a bass cancelled or vacuum cleaner.
c) Add an equivalent CAT-6 panel for the living room and computer room
d) King's room breaker should be GFCI breaker

On top of all this, I decided to take a big plunge on the ceiling light and fan.  I'm skipping all the second best options, and going straight for the best, regardless of price.  And as a friend at work said on Tuesday, I could buy 5 fans for the price of the one I'm buying.  Actually I could possibly buy more than 5.  But that's what it takes to get the best.  I ran this choice by John Jones, and he approved, calling Casablanca the Cadillac of fans.  I've decided to get a Casablanca Bel Air in Snow White.

So now I have two more names for the Queen's Room, the Bel Air room, and the Snow White room.  I like the Bel Air room, that really fits this one.

The Bel Air fan has these advantages:

a) lower than usual distance from ceiling to fan blades, good for low ceiling.

b) by far the lowest distance from ceiling to light bottom, allowing almost 7 feet of clearance (the Casablanca Le Fleur would provide little more than 6 feet of clearance)  The bottom of the light fixture is higher than the doorway.  No other fan that is not a wall-mount can do this.  Most are at least 5 inches lower.

c) intelligently designed and professional looking wall panel that fits in existing light switch box, provides coded wireless control through RF,  but not needing batteries, and with automation features.

d) The existing light feature will provide excellent quality light from a halogen bulb, up to 1600 lumens with dimming, using only 100 w (less than two 60w bulbs) but provding 150W of light.  One could get by with no other lights (though my friend also has bedside light and desk light).

e) Highest quality motor (Casablanca's top-of-the-line XLP) with incredible (too much?) fan output, but low speed operation as well with 6 possible speeds.

f) actual ball-style ceiling mount, the best.

g) I get to call this room the Bel Air room and wonder if movie stars have fans this good

My main concern, other than the cost, is the halogen light system's efficiency.  Although the halogen light is somewhat more efficient than old fashioned incandescent lights, it is not as efficient as CFL's or LED lights.  I am committed to phasing out CFL's in my house because of mercury, and going to LED whenever possible.  That *might* be possible to do for this lamp, at some time in the future.  There are already many LED bulbs having the same miniature candelabra base.  But they also will need to provide 1600 lumens of light, and operate from within a small mostly enclosed space.  I suspect that LED light technology is not good enough yet.  But possibly in 5 years or less there will be a suitable high-output super-high-efficiency LED with mini candelabra base that can operate in a small space.

I'm also a bit concerned that the high output of this fan will overwhelm the small room it is in.  Some fan guides suggest about 5000 CFM for a room this size (120 sq ft) but this fan has 7100 CFM output, one of the highest for a residential fan.  But I believe this will not be a problem because the fan has so many speeds, and because high CFM is a "feature".   A high CFM fan is great when you have worked up a sweat and went to cool down fast.  Or when you are in the process of working up a sweat.  I think I want one for my bedroom too.  And I think the difference between 7100 CFM and 5000 CFM is not dangerous, it is just 40% higher, shouldn't be a problem even at full speed.  I'm not sure I trust those fan guides that make the suggestion that smaller rooms have low output fans.  We'll see.

Now stuff I need to do before April 9.

1) Talk to the new contractor.
2) Obtain green-glue, green-seal, and sound-clips as needed for part or all of wall
3) Obtain Armstrong LUXE Best flooring and underlayment.
4) Bring bathroom fan to Post TV for repair.
5) See about fixing pomagranate tree in back yard
6) Seal around ceiling fan opening
7) (asap) tape around plugged wall opening where electrical work was done
8) Manage finances to make extra work possible

Shelf installed and inspected

I had purchased 80 grit and 180 grit sandpaper for the shelf.  The plan was only to sand critical parts.  No good is done by sanding top and bottom if they are not going to be painted.  That opens up wood pores and makes the wood more succeptible to damage.  The milling job on the flat face surfaces of the maple shelf is nearly perfect.  It wasn't quite so perfect on the edges, particularly the rough cut edge, which even has a crack (now facing the floor) that extends about half an inch.

My friend has said she does not want the shelf painted, but instead plans to coat it with beeswax, just as she does now with her pine shelf.  Fine.

So using the 80 grit sandpaper, I lightly beveled the corner edges on the two sides, especially the cut side, and along what I chose to be "the front" because it was free of gouges.  It took very little sanding with the 80 grit paper.  The bevel is very minimal, with effective radius of about 1mm.  After that the board seemed very nice already so I didn't even open the fine sandpaper.  I know that fine sanding can actually create sharp edges.

Putting the shelf in place was trickier than I would have thought without removing the closet doors.
If the closet doors weren't there, you would just slide it in right at the level it needs to be and that would be that.  But removing the closet doors looks to be a non-trivial task, so instead the shelf needs to be worked around into position.  Because the board is nearly a tight-fit in most of the closet space, it must either have the two sides flat to the wall, or be at a steep angle, there is not enough room to make the transition from one to the other easily.  So this was like a puzzle.  Finally I found a way to squeeze it in, up, and around, just barely making a few transitions (and possibly leaving some slight indentations in the sheetrock).

I was proud of all this, but when my friend came for inspection, she immediately saw the gaps on either side of the board and asked why it is too small.  Well I measured it to fit the narrowest space, in the back of the closet.  The width at the front of the shelf is wider by about 3/8 of an inch, so you'd see about half that on either side, I expected.

But actually, nearly all of the gap was visible one side, and the whole board could be moved back and forth a bit.  I'm not sure by how much, maybe half of an inch.  So it looks like my measurements were off a bit, though if I had gone for 48 inches instead of 47, it probably wouldn't have fit at all.

Also there was some gap underneath the shelf but above the moulding which supports it.  I'm not sure why, either the board is slightly warped or the carpentry of the moulding isn't perfect, or a bit of both which is what I believe.  I'd flip the shelf over except then the crack now on the bottom would be on the top, and there is no way to flip it except by removing from closet, and I don't want to go there again.  But because of the gap and/or warpage, the shelf did not stay flat but would easily rock front to back about half an inch.

I found some plastic shims made out of polycarbonate (about as strong as steel) in my junk drawer.  Actually, it is a set of shims of decreasing size, the entire set being about 5 inches long, and I had two such 5 inch sticks.  I inserted one below the shelf on the side, and one below the shelf in the back.  The shims fit in the moulding gaps perfectly, so now the shelf does not have a front-to-back wobble.  I inserted the shims lightly so they are not supporting all the weight, but just enough to eliminate noticeable wobble.  Shimming the back means that the front edge lays flat on the mounding, as it should.  There might be a very slight incline from back to front, but that's OK as long as the shelf doesn't wobble.  Actually, a incline going the other way would be equally problematic, things could roll to the back where they are hard to get at, and even fall behind the shelf down to the molding.  Anyway, the incline is so slight I doubt anything not perfectly round is going to roll at all.

The shelf can still be shifted from side-to-side about 1/2 inch.  When slid all the way to the left, the visible gaps are about the same.  When shifted all the way to the right, the visible gap on the left disappears, but the visible gap on the right appears almost 3/4 of an inch.  I'm going to get some more of those polycarbonate shims, to keep the shelf fairly centered, mostly pushed toward the right to make the bigger gap smaller.

I pulled down on the center of the shelf will all my weight (about 215 pounds) and it bends very little.  I suspect this shelf can easily support much more, maybe 500 pounds of live weight (like two people) or 1000 pounds of dead weight (like a stack of metal disks that just sits there).  The fact that the shelf is only supported by the edges of the moulding in front (due to the gaps) does not appear to be a problem. A pine shelf would bend more and also support less weight.

The Strength of Maple

No question the hard rock maple I purchased this week from Alamo Hardwoods is harder than any wood products I've ever purchased.  It feels somewhat like marble, and has been milled perfectly, with no slivers or any other indication that it was not cast in some faux stone factory.  (With the exception of the quick rough cut to cut the board in half, which unfortunately left a long point that needs to be filed down and a small split in the end of the wood that will probably not be noticed when the shelf is in position.)

But one can wonder, does this mean greater or lesser strength than, say, a pine shelf?  Hardness does not necessarily translate into strength, particularly if what is hard becomes more rigid.  Rigid objects that do not bend when under stress fail catastrophically when subjected to too much stress.  This fact is fundamental, so well known it is a central proverb of the Tao.

However according to published information, hard rock maple is considerably stronger than Pine.  When subjected to increasing weight, the pine shelf will break first.

http://workshopcompanion.com/KnowHow/Design/Nature_of_Wood/3_Wood_Strength/3_Wood_Strength.htm

Here are the numbers for Hard Maple:

specific gravity, compressive strength psi, bending strength psi, stiffness, hardness

0.63,7830,15800,1.83,1450

Here are the numbers for White Pine

0.35,4800,8600,1.24,380

The compressive strength is 63% greater, and the bending strength is 84% greater.  The stiffness is also somewhat greater, but no where near as much as you would expect based on the hardness, which is almost 4 times greater.  So maple bends proportionately with its ultimate strength as compared with pine, but it's about 75% stronger.

Right now, as Rob left it, strength is very important because there is no center support bracket.  The shelf is supported entirely around its 3 sided perimeter.  That's one reason I didn't want to go with any pre-fabricated shelf made of wire mesh or wood slats.  Big box stores sell closet shelves made of veneered wood slats, probably made in China, for more than half the price I paid for solid hard rock American maple.  Also, those pre-packaged closet shelves are too big for this closet, which somehow comes to exactly 47 inches wide (the standard is 48).  And the pole is only about 11 inches from the back of the closet, making 12 inches a good choice of depth, whereas pre-packaged closet shelves are most frequently 16 inches deep.  I noted that all the existing closet shelves in my home are 12 inches deep also.  When I was measuring the space, it seemed like either 12 or 14 inches deep would work, but 16 inches would make the space above the shelf very hard to get to without using a ladder.  I also noticed that the closet poles project somewhat further from the back wall than the shelf.  I didn't want the shelf to project that much more than the shelf, but an inch seemed OK.

I recall I have Skandia shelves that are 40 inches long.  They are only supported on the two ends (and not along the length of the shelf in the back, as a closet shelf is).  And it is very strong, strong enough to hold hundreds of pounds of equipment.  Skandia used to show a picture with more than a dozen guys putting their weight on a single Skandia shelf.

Just checking now, I'm surprised to see that Skandia shelving is made of pine!  It doesn't seem at all like the pine you get at home centers, it seems much stronger and denser as well as being nicely milled and coated with urethane.

Lundia, the US factory which actually preceded Skandia, makes 48" shelves in various pine grades.

So I think the 47" maple shelf supported on 3 sides is sufficient without any center support, although I might still add one.  I suspect a wimpy support as used in my built-in closets would be weaker than the shelf itself, so the shelf would be protecting the wimpy bracket.

Maple finishing

After a lot of online searching, it seems that maple does not need to be finished to last a long time as a shelf, so long as water is not allowed to sit on it and it doesn't get wet often.

But suppose you did want to finish it, and you wanted to avoid hazardous chemicals and VOC's, what would you do?

Well, pretty much any oil can be used, olive oil is non-toxic, as is walnut oil.

What about painting?  Since I couldn't talk much to my friend yesterday, I could only guess that her preference would be to have the shelf painted white, to match the interior of the closet.

I want to stay away from oil based paints, since they are traditionally high VOC (and hard to imagine otherwise, since oil paint is made of VOC's).  But oil based paints are the usual recommendation for hardwood if you want to paint it at all.  Typically, and especially nowadays, hardwoods are stained and oiled or stained and sealed.  The oils and sealants used are typically way high VOC until cured, in my experience tung oil and the like can remain volatile and smelly for up to a year.

But modern chemistry has made latex paints that can do just about anything.  I've had very good luck recently with Behr Premium Plus latex paints in interior applications.  So I asked Home Depot online about the Behr Premium Plus Primer and Stain Blocker (which declares itself to be Very Low VOC on the can, and I still have some left over from the remodeling).

The correct answer seems to be that it will work on any kind of wood.  (The label simply says "wood" without qualification.  It also adheres to concrete, aluminum, and vinyl, so you'd think it would be OK for hardwood too.)  Here is an official looking response to my question:

Dear Charles, Thank you for your question. BEHR PREMIUM PLUS® Stain Blocking Primer & Sealer is an excellent primer choice for unfinished hard rock maple. No. 75 primer is specifically formulated to have excellent adhesion to wood surfaces.

Another less official looking response was that I must use the oil based primer.  But the response above even gives the correct Behr product number (No. 75) so I believe it is the official word.

So anyway, painting with latex paints, just as used in the entire rest-of-the-room, would be fine and dandy, or so they say.

Now another set of alternatives relates to waxy compounds.  Beeswax is often used to polish maple and other hardwood furniture.  It turns out, beeswax is what my friend used on her pine shelf at home, and was what she already had in mind for this shelf (which she had apparently assumed would be pine).

Beeswax is not the last word in water protection.  In fact, it is barely water protection at all.  Nevertheless, some folks actually use beeswax to polish gunstocks, which are subject to intense handling, heat, and moisture.  Here's a great discussion on beeswax by some gun owners.

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?action=printpage;topic=18472.0

The upshot seems to be that beeswax doesn't penetrate any kind of wood very easily because the clumps of wax are too big.  They can be broken down by many kinds of solvent, which is often done to make beeswax polishes.  That makes the clumps small enough for significant absorption.  Another approach is heating: melting the wax beforehand or applying heat (e.g. with a heat gun) afterwards.

While turpentine or linseed oil is routinely used to break down beeswax for better wood absorption, foodsafe oils such as walnut oil or mineral oil can also be used.

Beeswax can also be blended with palm wax (better known as Carnauba wax, used on cars) or Candelilla wax.  Then one might also ask why not use Carnauba wax in the first place, it is both better absorbed and a better water repellant.

Sometimes a Beeswax misture includes both Carnauba wax and some oil such as walnut oil.

Once again, it might be better simply to use the oil!  Oil has better absorption and water repelling properties.  It does not form a surface coating however, but the surface coating provided by wax is very limited and needs re-waxing frequently, while an oil treatment can last a long time.

One issue with the waxy choices is that one you go that route, or with oils, applied straight to the wood, you can pretty much forget about ever using paint in the future.

So anyway, there are lots of alternatives, apparently no finishing options were lost by going with maple instead of pine, and the maple is stronger and probably would hold up better than waxed pine even if not waxed.

Maple is best

My friend argued that I shouldn't get a maple shelf for the Queen's Room closet.  She told me not to do that on the basis that I would be spending more money than necessary.   I explained that most builders get a piece of particleboard and paint it.  So there you have formaldehyde in the particle board, and VOC's in the paint, and that toxic waste dump is in the middle of your closet, surrounded by your best clothes, and that makes no sense to me.  A similar option is to get Melamine board, which has strong plastic coating, but once again is made of toxic chemicals (mainly in the particle board actually), and of course the whole thing is made in China.

I also explained the horrors of the lauan wood sold ubiquitously by Home Depot for everything.

She asked why I didn't just get a pine shelf.  Actually, I hadn't thought of that.  I suppose Home Depot sells pine shelves, though I haven't checked recently.  But pine, I said, is slightly toxic.  They make disinfectants out of pine oil for a reason.  Maple, on the other hand, is edible, and we even eat the syrup made from sap.

Here's a discussion on eating maple, which parts are most edible.  Notoriously red maple leaves are toxic to horses.  But that is exceptional, other than that maple is non-toxic.

Maple also has the best sonic characteristics of any wood.  It's the wood of choice for string instruments.  It's also used in special audiophile stands.

It's also sustainably grown in the USA and Canada.  Lauan is not sustainably grown, and one may have doubts about pine (much pine was old growth pacific until recently).

She relented and said that it's my house and my money, I can do what I want.  Whew.

I added that it's not like I'm making a shelf out of diamond.  Maple used to be the standard wood for making furniture, though not so much any more.  I like to think of my house as a little jewel box, and that's my basic design strategy, make everything as nice as possible.  I should have added, especially those things most people ignore.

Actually I'm very much looking forward to visiting the hardwood store.  Seeking out harder-to-get stuff is what I do and enjoy doing most.

Far out showers

A new shower is in my plans, either the King's bath remodel this year, or the future 2020 construction of a 3rd bathroom.

Doing a dedicated shower in the King's bath would require just as much drain moving as putting in a larger tub, if not more.  It would avoid the need for changing the closet wall, but moving the closet wall to make bathroom bigger might still be a good idea if I switch to real medicine cabinets.  Actually, the 5 foot depth of the room is quiet limiting.

In some ways it makes more sense to have shower right there where I actually will use it every day, rather than a step out back to a room which might not be equally well climate controlled (though the plan is that back room will have minisplit climate control).

A dedicated shower could be made fully handicap-accessible, and in any case is much easier to use than showering in a bathtub.

Here are some far out shower pictures.

More down to earth, but still cool, is this shower conversion planning guide.

Don't buy lauan

I didn't even know what lauan was when I bought a 24" door now used in the garage in 1993.  (It was inconveniently cut down to 16" by the carpenter my mother hired.)  I figured it was a style of door, the lauan doors were flat, and you could also (and still can) buy solid core lauan doors at big box stores.  So I figured a lauan door was a flat door, flat and 1" thick, a nice thick door.

I was thinking of getting one of those for the King's room.

But now I find that lauan is basically imported tropical hardwood, often old growth wood extracted unsustainably and dumped on world markets.  It should be avoided.  Of course, big box stores have heavily sold this cheap but unsustainable product.

There is a list of sustainable alternatives.

Rob conveniently didn't ever get the closet shelf he promised several times.  Fine.  I'm going to get something different than the usual particle board, plywood, painted or melamine coated.  Any of those is like putting a toxic waste dump in your closet, since the glues are almost certainly formaldehyde based.

Many closet shelves are made of louvered wood.  I want something of unquestionable strength.

So, I contacted local hardwood dealer and plan to get custom piece of solid maple from North American sources.

Strong, beautiful, lasts forever, and so non-toxic you could cut food on it.

How important is a bathtub?

Lively discussion, many people feeling fine not to even have a bathtub, though many say it's a good idea to have at least one (I wouldn't do without at least one).

http://blog.timesunion.com/business/how-important-is-a-bathtub-to-your-home/17991/

Second Weekend in March

Didn't do much, and especially didn't do anything big.

Mowed back lawn around Lyndhurst.  That was the only part needing mowing badly.

Picked up tree limbs, trash, and a few weeds in the front yard.  Front yard looked like it could wait a week before mowing.

Watered the houseplants in front.  Watered Palmy.

Moved the last nearly-full box of Armstrong flooring into Lyndhurst.  First took out one piece as souvenir, put one small dirty piece in trash, then sealed the box.

Did some reorganizing inside Lyndhurst.  Got rid of one pile of boxes.   Put plastic container with kitchen stuff on big shelf on top of a similar plastic container on big shelf.  Moved several boxes onto big shelf also.  Decided to recycle several boxes.  Was planning to move some boxes from King's room  into Lyndhurst but didn't get around to that.

Put out trash.  Washed one load of dishes and put them away, started loading second load of dishes.  Put out lots of boxes for recycling.  Carefully vacuumed all the styrofoam bits from one box in living room and put into big trash bag before putting box into recycling.

Cleaned off sliding glass window somewhat.  Washed play shirts and fun shirts.  Cleared bedroom floor and living room floor.

Cleaned off the top of the Queen's table (still in hallway) with liquid spray Pledge.  It's an old bottle but smells OK.

Vacuumed front of living room around stereo system (which I hardly ever do).  There was considerable dust on subwoofers, was that from concrete grinding in Queen's room?  The top of the Denon DVD planer (where the Lavry and dB systems box are sitting) was particularly dusty, I noticed after playing a SACD.*  To clean these items fully, I disconnected them and put the two small pieces elsewhere so I could clean the top of the Denon with vacuum then soft damp cloth.  Then I put the small pieces back and hooked them up again.  Even vacuumed 7 foot tall Acoustat speaker panels with special adapter I made that reduces suction pressure to make it safe for speakers.  The cloth on the panels was quite dusty.

*The Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Mood 30th anniversary SACD.  I had been disappointed when my old Denon 5900 could not play the DVD-Audio included with the 40th anniversary DSOTM, so I got out the 30th anniversary disk.  I was amazed at how good it sounded.

Set up small night light bulb in parallel with CFL light in living room.  This bulb allows the CFL to be switched with an X10 appliance module, so I can control it remotely, AND now it will automatically turn on at dusk and off before dawn.  I haven't had that functionality for about a year now.  Because I tried doing the same thing, without the night light bulb, with a Philips LED bulb, and that didn't work well, it got flakier over time.  So when I tried to set up a CFL light again, I couldn't find the old "Hartz flea trap" that conveniently holds a small night light bulb as I have been doing for 10 years.  So then a couple months ago, I was going to buy another Hartz flea trap but couldn't find one like it (that was a horrible day in December when my nose was running so badly I had to run out of the store).  I was going to buy one online, but then I found something better, a miniature night-light castle, which I bought on eBay.  That was two months ago.  I finally set it up, and it works fine, so I'm back with fully automatic living room light again.

I drew up a plan for shower bathroom behind King's room as a future construction project.  My friend came over for a short visit on Sunday night and saw that, as well as taking another look at the Queen's Room and thinking about it.

Spent a lot of time thinking about bathtub (see post I made on Saturday) and other aspects of forthcoming bathroom remodel.

On Monday morning (part of my weekend) I finally contacted electrician and reserved a whole day for electrical projects.  I washed underwear (badly needed).  I found both the motor and the fan for the old bathroom fan (so I can show those to electrician who may or may not use them).  I tested the outlet in the Queen's Room that is on the King's room circuit to see if it is downstream of the GFCI outlet in the lab.  It is, and therefore it doesn't need to have an additional GFCI outlet.

Serious bathing

On closer look, the Tea-for-Two is radically different from all the other Kohler cast iron alcove bathtubs.  It is 24 inches high!  The typical US shower-bathtub height is about 15 inches, and some are lower.

The low height makes sense for a shower bathtub mostly used for showering, which is what most people in the US do; I can't even remember the last time I used my bathtub though I do remember using a luxury bathtub in Detroit in 2010 when I was stressed out.

The Mendota bathtub, one of the few Kohler cast iron alcove whirlpool baths, and my current "Plan B" is about 16 inches high, so is the Bellwether which is 6 inches longer (requiring closet remodeling for me).  The Memoirs bathtub, the only Kohler cast iron alcove with bubble massage, is about 17 inches--I'd find that compelling except it's also 34 inches wide and would require a toilet relocation just like the Tea-for-Two.

Some people do report using deeper bathtubs such as the Tea-for-Two for showers and say it is OK.  It's OK for adults.  I'd say, at minimum, it needs a grab bar on the side.  It's definitely unusual and I suspect many plumbers would suggest inappropriate for a shower bathtub.

I'm beginning to realize why bathing fans hate standard American bathtubs.  It's just a puddle!  You can't actually "float" in an American bathtub.  You sit on hard porcelain with maybe 10 inches of water above the surface, leaving your knees and belly above water.  The drain kicks in just above that.  The water goes cold quickly.  Or if you keep hot water pouring in, quickly the water heater hot water is used up.  Bottom line: not very pleasant for bathing.

You see these pictures of fancy baths with the incredible bathtubs.  Old claw foots, or big stone tubs, etc.  Serious bathing requires than 10 inches of water!  Ofuru bathtubs require complete submersion, that's the Japanese practice.

I wonder if bathing people are onto something.  Back in Detroit in 2010 I was super stressed out.  I didn't have access to my usual de-stressing methods.  Without that fancy hotel bathtub, I might not have gotten to sleep without it because of too much stress and caffeine.  (The hotel was the Westin Book Cadillac, I should check what kind of bathtubs they have.)

So anyway, I still think the Tea-for-Two with whirlpool features (including most essentially the water heater) is still a great idea.  I'll add a grab bar for showering, or I'll use my other bathroom.  Shouldn't a decent house have at least one decent bathtub for serious bathing?  It may not be one of my religious practices now, but as I age to 90, I suspect it could become that, probably leading to a better life.  I know this is a gamble, since I hardly ever use a bathtub now, but I think it's worth taking.

This bathing thing looks very much like religion.  I know about stuff like that, I did some serious listening to my high end stereo last night.

I also was thinking, maybe the bubble feature was actually a better fit for religious bathing than whirlpool.  But Kohler doesn't offer their most serious cast iron shower bath in alcove configuration with that feature.  It would be nice if Kohler offered a super duper tub with both the bubble feature and the whirlpool feature.

As far as other brands, cast iron bathtubs are now somewhat rare.  It doesn't even seem that many famous manufacturers such as American Standard make one; all the cheaper companies have gone to plastic.  I've read that other cast iron bathtubs are even more expensive than Kohler.  Those are probably what you call "super premium" with Kohler being "premium."

And I'm also seeing the virtue of a dedicated shower.  With a real shower, you step right in, and there's a flat floor, and you don't feel more stable.  I remember making love in a shower once.  That's stability. You wouldn't feel like making love standing up in a shower bathtub would you?

Cool discussion on toilets

Yes, I'm also a toilet geek.  I have been studying toilets for a few years now.  In the Hall Bath, I chose to use the well known American Standard Champion 4 for one reason: it flushes the most.  I have friends who push that capability to the limit and who have clogged my toilets twice.  After the second time my toilet was clogged, putting me into a cleanup nightmare for 3 days, I got the new toilet asap.  Then guess what.  Not long after that, and my friend used the toilet again, my drain pipes got clogged!  But that was because of roots, and the roots were cleared out, and the plants that were growing those roots removed.  I may eventually replace the main drain pipe.  I didn't do that last year as I wanted to install an irrigation system first, and I only got around to doing that in the second half of the year.  It is important that the soil moisture be stabilized because I have high clay soil.

American Standard claims 1000ml and I believe it.  Sorry to say, the Toto models I looked at were only rated to 800ml and independent tests I looked at confirmed that the Champion 4 flushed more better.  Once I found this information a couple years ago, it seemed that Toto was more interested in meeting the newest 1.3g standard in some places now than making a toilet that would actually flush more.  Where I live the standard is still 1.6g.  It has taken about 20 years of making 1.6g flushing toilets to get them them work properly, so I've heard.

For my own bathroom, I wouldn't necessarily mind getting a Toto, they are regarded by many as "the best" without qualification.  I haven't decided yet what to get.  But whatever I get, it is either going to have a built-in bidet-like device, or I will add a toilet seat that provides that capability.

Did I post here about the Clenessence bidet seat?   Clenessence was before Toto in making such a seat, and some think they did better.  The Clenessence seat has two wands, one for anus and one for female parts, each oriented at the correct position and angle (anus is nearly straight up).  Toto uses one wand to do both jobs, using different jets.  Toto also has at least one toilet sold in USA having built-in bidet seat and I'm not sure what principles it uses.

Anyway, I just saw this cool toilet discussion that covers many topics, including wall mounts (neat idea if you can do it, I wouldn't bother trying).

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/4682206/list/Meet-the-New-Super-Toilets

For me, this is probably actually more important than a fancy bath.  I use toilet more than most people, and I find I have to shower myself afterwards, at least twice a day.  As the discussion above gets to, people in USA have been slow to adopt bidets because we are a shower culture where people shower at least once and often several times a day.  Because we lack bidets.

Flange Mount Required !

Well I found the blog that answered this.  A flange mount is absolutely required for an alcove shower/bath installation.  Drop in mount unacceptable, etc.

That rules out the interesting 60x32 Kohler Tea-for-Two bath.  That's the only Tea-for-Two I can use which would not require me to move the toilet drain (a big expense, and I worry a lot about it).

The only flange mount Tea-for-Two is the 66x36.  That would require moving the closet wall just a bit,  but rather large cost, and also moving the toilet drain.  Both of those together would possibly add about $2000 to the project.  Or maybe more.

So because Kohler for some reason** doesn't offer the one I'd need (a 60x32 flange mount) I can't use that very interesting model, which looks like you could sit either way in it.  It does have the drawback that being 3 inches taller than other shower friendly tub models, it's just a tad harder to walk into, though I think I could live with that to get the cool right and left sitting positions that this tub offers.

So scratch option A, the best of all possible choices.  Next are options B, Mendota 60x32 and Bellwhether 66x32.  They have similar stepover height, the Bellwhether being longer and having a more twisty back with molded in lumbar support.  It seems the Bellwhether is just a tad better, but probably not worth all the effort of moving the closet wall.

So by process of elimination among Kohler cast iron tubs, I end up selecting the Mendota.*  For $4750.90 it's a bit pricey..that's more than twice the price of the Denver Bathtubs unit I mentioned long ago--which had been selected to be shower ready.  But the major difference here is that the Kohler is actually a cast iron tub, not a plastic tub.  Plus, it's top quality, not something from who knows where.  OK, I'll guess (though I have seen websites claiming otherwise) that Jacuzzi is top quality also.  But look at the Jacuzzi line of bathtubs...and they're all acrylic.

The downside of this rather expensive Kohler is that it only has 4 jets.  A typical Jacuzzi might have more than a dozen jets.  Jacuzzi is big on features.  Kohler is good at making solid bathtubs that can also function as showers.  For a shower, you want something with a really solid floor.  That would either be stone (like $12,000 and up) or metal.  I haven't seen whirlpools in stone, most stone tubs are just simple tubs, but hugely expensive because of the cost involved of tooling and shipping solid stone.

On the plus side, the Mendota does have a variable speed pump (that's very important) and heater.  It has a control panel that needs to be mounted, but no remote control.  (Most Kohler whirlpool models do have remote control, and you would think they could have included it at this price.)

There may be an issue of spending this kind of money for a limited functionality whirlpool, when a tub exactly like it could be had for far less.

(* To be clear, I haven't really decided, I decided after writing this.  I now expect to ask builder and plumber about what it would entail and cost.  Under no circumstances will I permit jackhammer to be used.  But I believe the correct way to do this is to use a concrete cutting machine.  If the cost seems reasonable, I might decided to do it.  But as this is at least a month away, I am still in information gathering stage.  I will only make the actual decision when it actually has to be made.)

Here's a discussion of moving toilet drain that shows a guy using jackhammer:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bath/msg020010533589.html

Here's another discussion giving a cost of less than $1000 for doing a bunch of things including a drain relocation, but it was for a shower not a toilet:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bath/msg062359225078.html

(**Kohler probably only offers models that it feels make sense or meet certain standards.  They only offer the tile flange for the 66x36 Tea-for-Two because the 60x32 model might be too small for comfortable showering...not enough flat space in the middle.  Tea-for-Two is one of their most premium models, so it should be expected to do everything well, if you buy the model suited for the job, which apparently means buying the 66x36 and nothing less if you want to use it for a shower.  If see the tile flange feature, you know that model is intended for alcove and therefore showering use.  This is probably not a matter where they are trying to steer you to buy a more expensive model by not providing less expensive options.  Rather, they don't want to sully their reputation selling models that don't quite work out as intended.)

New Bathtub Issues

My latest fave tub is the Kohler Tea-for-Two, a porcelain enabled cast iron bathtub made large enough for two people, and the faucet/drain is flush so you could sit either way, I think.  It's a very popular and well known piece, available in 5, 5.5, and 6 foot lengths, with 36 inch width.  It's available from Kohler with a 8 or 6 jet whirlpool package, which can even be ordered from Home Depot.  I think I first saw a tub like this, maybe the exact same thing, about 35 years ago.  I'm leaning toward the 5.5 given that the 6 foot unit is $2000 more expensive and would require more wall moving hassle.  5.5 would still require just a bit of closet changing, but would possibly get by just by moving closet pole out 6 inches, since closet currently is 2.5 feet deep.

The Kohler 5.5 ft is one heavy bathtub, weighing in at 510 pounds according to the specifications.  Speaking of which, Kohler requires that installation have an access panel for the pump.

However that 36 inch width will be an issue.  I have about 37 inches maybe from edge of toilet tank to wall.  The toilet might just barely fit in, but possibly not with better wall construction.  It's very close.

But it can't even be that close in the first place.  The standard requirement is 15 inches from the center of the toilet to the outside edge of the tub.  That would suggest about 7 inches of actual gap is required between the two.

What lots of people are doing is upgrading their 30 inch tubs to 32 inches, leaving them slightly on the negative side of the code, but remodel inspections are said to often let this pass.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bath/msg011917161302.html

But a 36" tub is obviously impossible, unless the toilet drain is moved.

I've been looking at this job.  It's a pretty standard plumber job.  Concrete has to be cut, the old drain dug out, and the new one put in where it needs to be, then covered with new concrete. I've seen one estimate online, not very trustworthy, for about $500.  That same estimate shows 5.5 hours of work.  I've seen pictures.  It sounds and looks like an awful job, and the concrete dust will take hours to dissipate as well.

So chances are, for full tub and toilet upgrade to what I want, both tub and toilet drains would have to be replaced  (the wider tub won't line up with previous drain even if on same side as before, and people who have installed the Tea-for-Two say it should be used with the drain Kohler makes for it.

Here are guidelines (and code rules) for bathroom design.

ADT Secures Lyndhurst

I called ADT on Tuesday and they made appointment from 11am to 1pm on Wednesday.  ADT truck pulled up at 12:30.  Job was done and paid for by 1:15.  ADT service has always been good but this is stellar.

Lyndhurst now has a wireless pet-immune motion detector.  The technician asked me if the name "storage room" was OK and I agreed, so that's what ADT knows this new zone as.  I've long since gone past the 8 light display on my control panels.  It's positioned to trip quickly upon entry through window or door.

A couple years ago I had 3 wireless motion detectors added to my system, so I already had the required receiver and zone extender.

First thing, however, and the reason for calling ADT yesterday was the new window in the Queen's Room was not hooked up to security.  The technician first suggested only securing the bottom section, otherwise he'd have to run a wire to the top.  I said I rather have good security and have the wire.  I asked if he had white wire and he said yes.

But for some reason when he got back from the truck, he decided to install a wireless switch instead, at no cost to me.  I agreed.  Probably nobody does wires as neatly as The phone company in the 1960's.  Those would just disappear.  And with a vinyl window...you can't use staples.  Good thing this was at no cost to me.  The total cost seemed amazingly low to me compared with earlier ADT upgrades.  If I had paid for the wireless switch as well as the wireless motion, it might have nearly doubled the charges, which in the past seemed more related to installation than part cost.

The technician very efficiently punched in numbers on my front panel to enable the two new sensors, and called ADT to register them.

He confirmed that I have the maintenance plan (I've been both on and off that, I might have gotten back on it when I installed the wireless motions a few years ago) and that if I needed the batteries changed, or any other service, I could just call.  He suggested changing all the batteries in my devices at that time.  I told him that the wireless motions were said to have 9 year battery life and he suggested probably more like 5.

Well, I kinda miss having an all wired system, though even all wired still requires main battery replacements every 7 years or so (I've done it twice).  Wireless seems to be becoming the norm, and you can see why when the alternative requires climbing into the attic to run wires.  But I can live with mass battery changing appt every 4-5 years.  There's even a question of how long my whole system is going to keep going, or when I'll have to replace the main DSC control board and panels.  ADT doesn't seem to be forcing the issue at all.  Eventually I'll probably have to or want to switch to a new system, probably which uses cellular rather than landline telephone.

Bulb Bases

The Casablanca Four Seasons III fan I am now intending to buy has a companion light fitter in the shaker style (it is very nice looking and very practical IMO). It comes with CFL's.  I intend to replace with LED's.  Would that be possible?

Casablaca says that the Shaker light fitter can also be used with incandescent 40W G16 bulbs with medium base.  What is medium base?

Medium base, it turns out, is what most people consider the standard base that standard light bulbs fit in.  The Mogul base is a larger base used for for high power lighting, such as HID.  The most common smaller base is the Candelabra.  An uncommon base slightly larger than candelabra is called Intermediate.

Well OK then.  But what about the bulb profile.  The G16 profile is short and compact.  The Standard bulb, say 60W, has an A19 profile.

I don't know but I've tried to ask the question in the question box at Lightingdirect.

Right-sized homes

I think my home is about the right size for a small family, 2-3 people.  It's actually over-the-top for just one person, even by contemporary standards, my 1470 sqft per person, when the current average in the USA is about 900 sqft per person, which is felt by many commentators to be excessive--but don't ask how they live.  But if I lived in a small home suitable for just one person, how would I have parties, and, one fine day, attract a housemate?  The bottom line seems to be that what I have is just about the right size, though it seriously needs de-junking to get the most out of it.  That really is what it comes down to, it seems many people live in homes that are half or more "warehouse" storing junk.  I've only barely gotten down to the 50% of non-junk space.

Here's one interesting post followed by interesting discussion.  Many people seem quite happy with their sub 1200 sqft homes, and one person with 7000 sqft rants that there is a whole floor nobody ever uses and it leads to family breakdown.  And if 7,000 sqft is too much for family cohesion, what about 64,000 sqft mansions of the robber baron era?  Actually, come to think of it, many of those castles weren't scenes of extended family bliss.  Searles Castle comes to mind, it was built with funds from the recently deceased railroad magnate Mark Hopkins, but his wife (for whom the castle Mark Hopkins himself had devoted the last years of his life to building in San Francisco wasn't good enough) only lived 3 years after it was commissioned, so it was barely finished, leaving the castle to the interior decorator who had married her, and endless stories of foul play (secret passageways, lovers, etc).

One comment about castles.  Imagine the gardening and maintenance bills!!!  The fortune required to keep a place like that going is at least as great as the one it took to build it.

Another virtue of staying reasonably small is that you can keep every room comfortable, at both modest expense and carbon footprint.

Phase 2 Remodel Plan

To be completed before June 1, 2013 (after electrical work in March).

1) All new flooring and trim to match Queen's Room in hallway, King's Room.  Single sheet flooring in King's bath since it can be completely seamless.

2) 2 person whirlpool bath with shower.  This looks good, fancy jet package and all for $2000.

http://www.denvertubs.com/Departments/Model/Heavenly-6.aspx

American Standard has models below $1000 with jets at Home Depot, nothing like the Denver package above.  Jacuzzi has a stable of models, wouldn't be surprised if they make the Denver look cheap.

3) To fit bath, push out closet wall in back by 1 foot.  Closet continues full length as before, but in two sections, staggered.  Or just push out entire wall by up to 14", if that works.    Or angle wall.  Or loose 40" of closet (which would be OK...I'm not using that section anyway, it turns out, it's partly blocked by a junkpile, and it still leaves 68" of closet since I have a 9 foot closet to start, and another 4 foot closet in The Lab.  My preference would be the staggering, pushing out a section of the closet, and continuing from there as an open closet to help make the room seem more spacious.  My whole closet is open anyway, but the leading wall is important to the room, it hides my closet from visitors if the king's room door is open, or if they are using the king's bath.  The continuation, pushed out probably 18 inches to make it comfortable for the new tub space, can be just a flat wall panel with luxury closet hardware projecting out in the room (far corner)...if that is possible and affordable.

4) Toto toilet with bidet.*

5) New sink, vanity cabinet, and mirror.  Real medicine cabinet with mirror on side wall.

6) New Don Young window for King's Room.

7) Double sheetrock on two walls in King's Room, without wall teardown.*

8) Solid core door for King's room*

9) Double sheetrock on outside of Queen's room, continuing along side wall only if needed.  Do this if at all reasonable, but I worry.*

10) Double sheetrock above King's room door.*

11) Double sheetrock on sides of bathroom facing kitchen and laundry room.*



*If it gets too expensive, postpone (4) and selectively drop others marked with asterisk.  The main purpose of this remodel is to replace bath and window, which must be replaced, but flooring and vanity are very ugly and 30 years overdue for replacement anyway.  Bathtub replacement is always a lot of work and expense, so why not spend a bit extra to get luxury tub?

Optix iVision Front Door Intercom/Camera

This looks like the thing to get when they have multiple-receiver model.

http://www.amazon.com/Optex-iVision-Wireless-Intercom-System/dp/B0046FTZPQ/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Plan for Electrical Work

1) Switched Light/Fan for Queen's Room.  Fan to be selected, color white.  Use exposed conduit if necessary.  Switch need only control light, or both.  One-wire fan control is unreliable.  I like pullchain control of fan and 3 lights as I have in kitchen.  However, dual remotes (one for wall switch) would be good solution also.  Problem is that wall switch must always override remote.  In principle, a thoughtful electronic design would make this possible.  For example, if wall switch already on, you would turn off then on and then previous off-state would be overridden.  Casablanca fans using the W-52 controller seem to have this feature, that turning power  on resets light to on regardless of previous remote status.  Plus the W-52 can mount over a wall switch.  Plus multiple handheld remotes can be programmed for used with each fan.  Casablanca fans also look to be a step above Hunter generally, and flexibly configurable.  Casablanca, like Hunter, is a real well known fan company, not a retailer's label.  Casa Viejo is the label used by Lamps Plus for their imported fans.

2) Fix Kings Bath fan.  I now have a replacement unit which would be OK.  Should locate old fan and motor in case re-use better.

3) Add unswitched outlet to Queen's Room if existing switched outlet cannot be made unswitched for step (1).

4) Make 3 outlets in Queen's Room GFCI outlets.  White Decora with extra large plates.  Verify that 4th is on GFCI circuit, replace outlet with white standard and large plate.  Rewire and fix outlet where Rain Bird plugs in.  Possibly make close outlet for Rain Bird.

5) Install Swann camera on south side of house, run wire somehow (attic?) to kitchen.  Possibly also second camera?

6) Add 10 gauge dedicated outlet to King's room for audio.

7)  New back yard light fixture and automated switch.  With automated switch, I can override on or off but still be sure unit comes on at dusk tomorrow.

8) Timer switches for fan and heat lamp in both bathrooms.  (This may be too expensive, but I think it's time to ask)

9) Consult on front door intercom.  I currently like wireless one with doorbell hookup to outside for continuous video camera, the Optix iVision.  However, perhaps best to wait until multiple receiver unit becomes available.  That would be ideal.

10) Consult on dedicated 20A circuit for whirlpool, and future additions.

Other ideas)  Hall bathroom fan due for upgrade.  Cat-5 in Queen's Room and others through attic?  Coax and/or double Cat-5 from King's to Kitchen?  Ceiling light/fan in King's Bedroom?  More outlets in bathrooms?  Are Rob's wall boxes OK?  Exhaust fan in garage?

Update: Electrician now booked for March 27.

Dualing mattresses

This much I'm sure: I'm going to get a split queen adjustable bed.  The split feature is well worth having, even when you're in bed alone, and you can keep one side flat for computer, books, etc.  But more, it makes for the ultimate luxury human pairing space, allowing each person freedom to view, read, rest, sleep as they wish, but together.

King size is just too big, 16 inches wider than the queen size bed I have used since I bought my first house in 1983.  My tracing out the border of the King Size in my King's Room master bedroom, it leaves so little extra room space between bed and closet as to make the room feel like mostly bed.

It seems to me there is far too wide a gap between the Queen and King sizes, from 60 inches to 76 inches.  There is only a 6 inch gap between the old fashioned Full Size, at 54, and Queen.  What would suit my room perfectly might be a 67 inch mattress.

So like I said, Queen size is a given, and my unshakeable ambition is to have split adjustable queen.

Well here's one full package option, for $4757, the Habitat 6" with Ergomotion 400.

That's one I'm pretty sure I saw before, and might have linked here before.  There many latex mattress products on the web, and they make competing claims.  For example, Habitat claims that their shipping method (vacuum packed and rolled) is the best, whereas others say flat shipping is a must.

Another similar set of offerings is found at Bliss, the latex core sounds identical, but Bliss includes a second layer for all firmness choices.  That's a great concept, since then one could have each side of the spit queen have a different firmness level.  However Bliss does not seem to offer split queen, and their adjustable base sounds like the less desireable Ergomotion 100 which also lacks a split queen choice.

"It's Beautiful"

That's what my friend said, when I opened the door of the newly remodeled queen's room.  And I couldn't agree more.  It is the among the most beautiful small rooms I have ever seen.  It reminds me of rooms in various Mansions I've seen from before the 1950's.  They might have similar visual impact, but often combined with warped creakiness and draftiness.  But like them, this room has an understated charm.  Formal but not stiff.  Playful but not experimental, though in fact it is quite the leading edge room, and getting it right required experimentation.  How many people do you know with Armstrong's best underlayment, the Quiet Comfort Premium S-1836, and their Luxe Vinyl Plank flooring in the Best collection with lifetime warranty?  It has their strongest vinyl surface known as Urethane Plus.  The underlayment is polyethylene foam with polypropylene sheet. Those are two of the most stable polymers in existence, used in the best electronic wire and capacitors.  Few vinyl plank floors are even laid with underlayment.  Few existing vinyl floors are even vinyl plank floors.  This is leading edge for someone who wants a waterproof, durable, beautiful, comfortable floor.

And of course the incredibly beautiful Exotic Fruitwood Honey Spice which will match pink trim and many other things.  It can handle light and medium colors extremely well.  It might not be the best for the darkest colors, but those are probably not going to be used much in this room.

Rob has now completed the second of two phases of work he did on the room, and the results are the highest quality.  But the results had as much to do with my project management, my vision, my choice of materials and my insistence that he do things correctly, as his fine workmanship.  If I do say so myself.  I think I handled this small project much better than Lyndhurst.  It helped that Rob is the best builder I've ever had in San Antonio.  Not perfect, but better than all of the others, and malleable toward perfection.  That's important.

I still plan a 3rd phase of remodeling in which a ceiling fan with light is added.  Rob couldn't figure out how to do that given the limited crawlspace above the room.  I'm hoping my favorite electrician will be more imaginative and flexible and figure out some way to do it.  I also plan to make all outlets in the room GFCI for shock protection.  And at the same time do about 7 other electrical projects around the house.

This is the way I do things, less focus on the flashy, and more focus on the practical things you really need, the must-haves, that actually make life better and safer.

But I got the flashy right on this too, pretty much, thanks to the cool flooring and floor molding I picked out.  I spent far more on molding than most people do, I believe it was $150 for the room.  Hardwood molding in colonial style.  I think it was the molding that gives this room magic now as much as anything.  So that $150 spent on molding, which would seem outrageous to many, was worth every penny and far more IMO.  I might also add that I spent more than a half hour picking out the straightest and best looking pieces at Lowes.

Rob's first attempt at doing the floor resulted in a floor with lots of too large gaps.  His chief arguments were either that underlayment should not be used at all (He called me from a Lowe's store and told me that was what the salesman said.  I told him the salesman was uninformed.), and later, that I had received the wrong underlayment.  We argued about the underlayment and correction strategy over 3 phone calls on Wednesday night.  He eventually said he would do whatever it took to make it right.

It turned out, of course, that Armstrong approves S-1836 underlayment for their Luxe Plank flooring, and that I had ordered and received the correct kind.  Once that was established on Thursday morning, thanks to my eagle eyes, he worked with great enthusiasm to rebuild the entire floor from the farthest corner, never walking on previous work.  That had never been necessary before with all the vinyl plank flooring he had laid since he had never previously used underlayment.

Floorplan like mine

Here is a "ranch, traditional" flooplan that is similar to mine, closest by far that I've seen yet.

http://www.homeplans.com/plan-detail/HOMEPW00367/three-bedroom-traditional

With 1159 soft, which is about 100sqft larger than my home was when built, it nevertheless has these issues compared with mine:

1) None of the rooms are especially larger.  Notably the small 10x10 bedroom is exactly the same as both of my original small bedrooms.  The 11x10 bedroom is the same as my new Queen's Room.  The so-called formal dining room is simply a slightly extended kitchen with island, and without the island it would actually have less counter space.

2) Bed cannot be arranged to look out window in ANY of the bedrooms, or at least if you do so in the master bedroom there is little space for night stand and you have to walk around bed to get at master bath.  The other bedrooms have a closet where the bed headboard should be.  My master bedroom never had that problem, and now my Queen's Room doesn't either.

3) If you put stereo around fireplace in living room, there is essentially no wall space for bookcase.  This is one of many drawbacks of the "open floorplan" type design.  I put my stereo around the fireplace and I still have 2 1/2 walls for bookcases, sofas, etc.

4) The staggered back wall of the house would not go with full length patio, etc., in the back yard.  My house has a flat back wall so the entire back could be patio/solarium/sunbathing space.

5) The dining room needlessly has bay window facing to the side of the house.  In most subdivisions, including mine, this means it simply stares at the next house which may be as little as ten feet away.  All that extra glazing has no good view and is energy inefficient.

6) Both bathrooms are minimal.  I have one long bathroom which has long counter (could have been double sinked).  I'm thinking I may use that space for a larger bathtub.

7) The master bed closet is actually smaller than mine.

8) The island is just another obstruction on the way to the refrigerator for me.

9) While I feel the glazing on the dining room is excessive with 3 windows and a sliding glass door, the living room only has one large window on one side.  While the side windows in my living room mainly just face the next house, they are close enough to the front that you also get some street views from them, depending on where you are in the living room.

By my standards, however, it's not terribly bad as compared with my original house, but except for kitchen-centric people, for which the larger kitchen+island+dining is a must, I greatly prefer my currently modified layout.

Lame Floorplans

I have come to appreciate my small (by US standards) home.  It had started as 1050 sqft when built in 1983, was expanded to about 1230 sqft by the previous owner who converted half of the garage to an extra room that was (originally) used as a bedroom but lacks a closet.  That room is now my Gym but mostly filled with junk (to be cleaned out this year).  Then I added an external building, the inspiration for this blog, which is now called Lyndhurst.  Since that building is fully insulated and finished, actually better than most rooms in my house, it qualifies as additional 167 sqft of "living space" bringing my total to 1397 sqft.  The Queen's Room remodeling carves space out of the garage to replace the previous closet resuling in a 10 sqft net increase, bringing the new total to 1407 sqft of total living space.

Beyond that 1407 sqft I also have a half-garage large enough for my Prius (but not for the Tesla Model S I wanted to buy this year).  Many people I know do not have a garage at all, having converted it all.  I can park the car in the garage and unload groceries without ever stepping outside.

Then I also have an 84 sqft shed for garden tools.  (It's actually a top-of-the-line Tough Shed Premier...and that's my lowliest structure).

OK, but back to the 1050 sqft home.  It's was a very plain and outdated ranch style (I think) floorplan lacking the combined living/dining room that gives many recent homes that wide open spacious look.  This was an unpopular style even in my neighborhood when built in 1983.  It was only used in the first phase and does not appear in any later phases.

But I like this floorplan.  A lot.  Here are the reasons:

1) The separate kitchen/dining area is my #1 area for light relaxing with a bit of wine, browsing the web, listening to music, munching on snacks, watching TV, even producing videos (I did that for awhile).  It's AV gluttony and I have audiophile quality stereo and pretty good 5 channel and video as well.   I have never seen a room as usable as this for me, principally because most women would not allow a kitchen/dining room to be made into a mancave like this.  When I tried to figure how I would fit a room like this in new homes in the 1800-3500 sqft range, I was very disappointed.  I have an additional advantage here too.  The one and only window, a sliding glass door, faces the back yard.  There is no window facing any neighbor.  Thus I can play loud music at any time without disturbing anyone, and nobody can see me naked.  In addition, neighbors on both sides of my house have no windows facing my house at all.  That is an advantage that reaches almost infinite improbability.  About the only way you could be equally sure of not disturbing others with loud music would be to live far away from others--at much greater cost or inconvenience.

2) The separate kitchen is fine for parties.  Advantageously it permits two groups of friends to commune independently.  And yet the opening between living and dining rooms is still large enough I can prepare food for quests in the living room without losing track of what is going on.

3) There are no never-used countertop spaces with bar stools.  My previous home had a countertop which I never used except to store junk.  It was far nicer to carry my food into the main dining room where I could watch TV.  The home I mostly grew up in did have countertop space, and we used it a lot.  But times have changed, and I don't live in the kind of family where a countertop would be useful. And besides, my kitchen table, which seats 2 despite all the AV equipment, is much nicer to sit and just as convenient.  Countertop spaces work best with strip kitchens, but IMO strip kitchens don't work at all, they feel like prison galleys.  Kitchens that are not kitchen-dining rooms are too small or not organized for man cave use, having useless (to me) obstructions like islands.

4) No bedroom windows face the street.  The only windows facing the street are in the living room and the garage.  Rooms facing the street inherently get more noise and have less privacy.  Much better to face the back yard, as my master bedroom does, or the side yard, which my two smaller bedrooms do.  There is no great benefit of being able to watch the street from your bedroom window in suburban living.  The side windows face the windowless wall of the house next door, so there is no loss of privacy there either.  Nicely, the neighbor has a little garden on the side of their house which is the view.  That little garden surrounds their air conditioning compressor.  I am getting good enough windows to block most of the noise from that.  I moved my compressor to the opposite side of the house to reduce noise in the bedrooms, especially in the master bedroom.

5) The master bedroom has the prime location facing the back yard.  Now it has a view of my beautiful building Lyndhurst, and the tree garden.  Eventually I may add a back door for convenient access to my hot tub (to be built in about 10 years).

6) It has the essential 2 bathrooms.  You need two bathrooms to have a "nice" house.  Otherwise, people have to wait for the bathroom.

7) It has a laundry room inside, right next to the master bedroom.  With both doors closed I can sleep while doing laundry.

8) There are no costly-to-replace and energy-wasting huge expanses of windows, just the right and modest amount of glazing for each room.

9) The living room is (though just barely) large enough for the sort of parties I like.  I have hosted over 100 discussion and movie watching parties at my home.

Now compare my home (I can't find diagram unfortunately) to this example of a small three bedroom ranch home:

http://www.homeplans.com/plan-detail/HOMEPW19399/three-bedroom-ranch

The Kitchen area is too small and shaped wrong to be used as I do.  The two small bedrooms face front.  The laundry room is far away from the bedrooms.  The main entry door wastes living room space, which is already smaller than mine and has very limited wall space for book cases and entertainment system.  The master bathroom, where I sometimes head when arriving home, is at the farthest location from car and main entry.  This quaint design also has carport instead of garage.  It does have one advantage--there is a nice if smallish separate dining area (called breakfast room though it functions as the dining room in this house).  I have never needed that, though I often think about adding one for a partnered lifestyle (most partners would think the lack of a dining room to be a significant limitation.  But I wouldn't give up the advantages I have for that.  I don't want to give up actual comfort and convenience of the fantasies of having a family lifestyle that I don't have.

When I grew up my family had a 3/2/2 home which got garage fully converted to family room and very extended 2nd bedroom for my college age sister.  The bedroom extension was incredible, it gave that room a sliding back door to the back patio area which featured a small decorative garden with statue right at that point, then opening to larger covered patio areas, large pool, 3 large fruit trees in independent pods.  And it was the only bedroom having the hilltop view of the San Fernando Valley as well.  (Uselessly, the only other two original rooms to have that view were the bathrooms.)

But this was all my mother's fantasy.  The reality was that my sister only lived with us in that home for 3 years, then went off to 4 year college in another state.  For most of the 14 years we owned that home, nobody lived in the super improved bedroom with access to the pool.  It was a junk room.  Meanwhile, I lived in that house for 13 years in a 10x10 bedroom with small window.

The family room got used a lot, and it was really the nicest room in the house, with full glass view of the San Fernando Valley.  But that room really just displaced the formal living room which faced the pool.  That living room was only rarely used.  I have seen many other homes with formal living rooms that are almost never used.  In some cases, people just keep a covering on the furniture mostly.

After conversion, there was no garage, of course.  Mother had a carport built along the side of the garage going deep to the side.  The carport quickly filled with junk, and beyond the covered part a lot of more junk that got weatherbeaten over time.  Cars were parked in the driveway, thereby usually blocking the great view.

The master bedroom had window facing the street.  It was noisy and useless.  The bed was actually pushed up to that window, so you looked at the wall instead of out the window when lying in bed.

The worst story of all was the pool.  We used the pool heavily for about 5 years.  After some time, it never got used again.  It was a big pain to maintain, I was assigned that task, and I never did it.  I envied richer familes that had automated pool cleaning systems or pool service.  The pool turned green.  It was basically a swamp about half of the time we lived in that home.  Then we had to spend a fortune to fix it up when we sold the house.  I've learned my lesson on that.  While I still want a backyard hot tub (it may be just part of my fantasy) I'm not going to build one until I get very close to retirement age.

Floored on second try

Wednesday had been set aside as the final day for Queen's Room remodeling.  I took the day off of work.  But instead the builder worked on the floor the entire day.  And when he left, it was flawed with gaps in between various planks.  Unfortunately I did not measure or photograph these gaps, but one of the largest was right in the middle of the room and most visible just as you opened the door.  I would guess it was wide enough to stick 5-10 sheets of paper into it.  So it was good I had taken the day off, since I was able to talk about the issues with a friend and the builder in multiple phone calls from about 4pm to 8pm.  Finally, the builder agreed he would make it right.  I was still worried.  Was he really going to fix it?  It seemed to me he would have to re-install every single plank to get it right.  And it seemed to me he would probably not be willing to do that.

So on Thursday the builder came back.  He himself decided to remove and re-install every single plank, starting from the wall corner, so that he never had to walk on top of his previous work.  That was the trick.  He had never had to do that with Allure brand flooring sold at Home Depot because it sticks hard much faster, and also because he had never used cushion underlayment beneath a vinyl plank floor.  He dedicated the entire day to fixing this problem because he was interested in having my continuing business, and just personally he wanted to get it right to show he could.  Even though he hates how hard the Armstrong Luxe is to install (compared with Allure) he thinks it is the most beautiful vinyl plank floor he has ever seen.

The result is now a very beautiful and tight floor with just a tad of cushion.  As of Thursday night it has been rolled with the 100 pound roller two times.  The builder left the roller, and plans to give the floor another roll or two on Friday when he is going to install the window.

And that's the short version of the story, leaving out the long and interesting arguments I had with the builder before he got it right, starting from the very beginning.

Carports reconsidered

My friend really does want me to have a carport so she can keep her car cool when she moves in.  Also, when she comes over, I find it hard to get my car out of the garage due to limited space in my two car driveway.  For these two reasons, I want a 3 car driveway and a carport to match.  And since this is the best place on my entire property for solar panels, I also want it covered with 10kW of solar panels.

The concrete guy last week gave me a quick estimate that sounded very reasonable to add additional driveway area.  He felt that just adding some piers underneath the new section would be sufficient for a carport.  But I think the structural needs have to be considered all the way through this project.  Starting from the fact that the solar panels may add weight to the structure, and also add value that needs to be protected from the wind.

So the carport itself needs to be a fairly heavy structure that doesn't blow away.  If I weren't concerned about the solar panel aspect of the project, I might be very happy with one of these industrial strength carports from Stephen's Roofing.

That carport in Kirby (near where I live) is wide enough for 3 cars and was built around the existing two car driveway.  The structure itself is free standing, neither side has any attachment to the concrete driveway.  That would be great for me, since my driveway isn't wide enough.  But I wonder if such a structure is strong enough to deal with the highly expansive clay soil I have.  It might well be.  It also looks heavy and strong enough not to be flustered by wind.

I went to see the movie Chasing Ice last Friday night.  After the movie, Lanny Sinkin of Solar San Antonio spoke for awhile.  I went to the table in the back of the room and it was still showing the same federal and local incentives for installing solar that I almost acted upon last year.  I really do want to do this, for several reasons, even though my house still needs a lot of efficiency improvement as well.  But I need the carport right now.  Additional energy efficiency can be worked on over time.

Speaking of wind, an old standard used to specify 70mph wind bearing capacity.  The equivalent number is now 85 mph because the measurement standard has changed to short gusts rather than longer average.  According to this document, building where I live are supposed to be designed for 90mph wind gusts.  I'd like to push this to at least 110 mph to allow for the effects of global warming.

Cement dust cleaned and hole patched

Since the floor is going in soon, I focussed on getting those essential things I want done first.  When I got back home from work on Friday night, the air was clear but the dust in the queen's room was so thick the table top was grey.  I knew cleanup from the concrete grinding was called for.  Hazmat!

On Saturday afternoon I proceded to do 2 hours of vacuuming with full face respirator on.  I used the vacuum rod to pull up loose dust on the floor until I got to the table.  Using my Hoover WindTunnel vacuum with high performance bag and HEPA post-filter.  Then, at the table I used a similar technique to get all the dust off of the table.  Or most of it.  It was disappointing to see how slowly the dust was being vacuumed up, when you could clearly see what was left.

Actually, the first thing I did on Saturday was to vacuum the Living Room floor.  I figured that this needed to be done (since the party last week) and since it had picked up concrete dust and general construction dust also.  Since vacuuming the Queen's Room would get the vacuum dirty, I should vacuum the Living Room first.  Strangely, the subwoofer near the front door had gotten quite dusty.  But there was no sign of any kind of construction dust anywhere else.

After vacuuming the Queen's Room floor with vacuum rod, I proceeded to vacuum the moldings, then in the closet, using the genuine hair brush (from my old Electrolux cleaner).  Then I vacuumed much of the closet that way also, then much of the main floor.  The brush picks up far more than the rod by itself.  I re-cleaned the table with the brush.  I also vacuumed the floor using the Floor mode of my Hoover cleaner, and then with the carpet mode.  Neither of those seemed to do much, possibly the carpet mode was better, but sometimes I saw the red "dirt" light coming on so it was doing something.

After a long trip in the evening (see section below) I resumed the vacuuming, and started vacuuming the walls with the brush.  By this time, I felt that the room was 90% cleaner and I didn't need to use the respirator.

On Sunday I finished vacuuming the walls using the hair brush, and did extra vacuuming in the closet, including vacuuming the closet ceiling with respirator on to protect my eyes from falling popcorn mainly.  I also took down the now drooping plastic covering the A/C vent.  It was absolutely clean, not a trace of dust.  There were two tiny blobs of dust-like stuff on the vent.  I thoroughly vacuumed the vent, then sprayed it with canned air, then vacuumed again, then opened the vent, vacuumed, sprayed canned air, then vacuumed again.  Besides those two blobs, there was nothing visible there, but I wanted to be sure it was clean.

I cleaned the clothes rod in the closet.  The top was covered with concrete dust, AND it had several blobs of gooey stuff, possibly from the price or bar code stickers, or possibly from some fallen paint.  Pure alcohol, everclear, was the best thing for cleaning off all the sticky stuff.

Wearing respirator, I took the vacuum outside and changed the vacuum bag, also brushing off some of the cement dust with a paper towel.  I then got out the broom (it was buried in the hardest to get to corner in Lyndhurst) and swept where I had changed the vacuum bag.

On Sunday night, after changing my sheets, I proceeded to mop the floor.  I mopped using plain water, but actually reverse osmosis water so no chlorine.   I just mopped without drying.  I mopped the main floor first, then the closet area, then the closet floor last.  After just a few feet of mopping the water got darker and by the time the job was done the water was completely opaque from concrete dust.  The mop head just disappeared as I dunked it in.  I dumped the water down the bathtub drain and rinsed the bathtub.

Monday morning, the room smelled a lot cleaner than ever.  There was no remaining smell from the concrete grinding, and just a bit of the smell I started smelling during the removal of the old closet, smells a bit like old tide detergent, but far less of that smell than since before construction started.  Though I've already done far more construction detailing than most people, I plan to do another mop before Wednesday.  It's just not good enough, IMO, to cover up the crud with flooring.  The concrete subfloor should be clean also, for a clean smelling and safe room.

*****

On Saturday night, after the initial hazmat cleaning work with respirator on, I took a trip to Home Depot to buy a mop, bucket, and the concrete patching compound called "Hydraulic Concrete" by the concrete grinding guy.  I had to look all over the Home Depot store to find the Hydraulic Concrete.  It was not with the paints and caulks and the lady there told me to go to a particular aisle that had lumber molding stuff.  I looked there, then in the plumbing section.  Nothing.  But I had not explored the south end of the aisle the paint lady mentioned.  So finally I went there, where the real concrete was.  Sure enough, that was where the "Hydraulic Concrete" was, but there was none left in the shelf.

It was already 8:45 PM but I drove as quickly as I could to the Lowe's store and went all the way to the concrete section.  I picked up what looked like the Hydraulic Concrete and brought it to the nearby contractor register.  But then I noticed it was not actually "Hydraulic Concrete" it was "Hydraulic Water-Stop Cement."  I was worried that was not the same thing.  I left the container at the register and took another look back at the concrete supplies and other stuff all the way down the last aisle.  Then some guy, not having any store uniform or badges, was putting away the can I had been about to buy.  He asked what I wanted to do, and then suggested some other products.  I asked him if he worked at Lowes and he said no.  I left.

At that point, I was hoping the Home Depot store at Bitters, one of the largest I know, might be open until 10 pm.  So I headed up that way on Austin Highway, not knowing exactly how to get there, but figuring I would hit the Wurzbach Pkwy before long.  But I didn't.  It was a long and difficult drive because of traffic and bright headlights, and I made a lot of wrong turns, ending up very lost several times.  Finally I programmed my navigation computer for the correct Home Depot store.  It guided me through neighborhoods and back streets, and finally I got to the Home Depot store at Bitters at 9:58 PM.  If it had been open until 10pm, I would have been done.  But it was totally closed, and had been closed since 9PM.

Tired and disappointed I stopped at EZ's to have a second dinner.  Then I drove to HEB and bought groceries and a bucket for the mop I had bought at Home Depot.

I looked online and it appeared that there was no such item called, exactly, Hydraulic Concrete.  If you search for Hydraulic Concrete you find the Water Stop Cement I almost bought.  I spend about an hour online searching before I decided that the Quickcrete Hydraulic Water Stop Cement was indeed the correct product.  It was in a green-colored container too, just like the concrete guy said.

So on Sunday afternoon, before my friend came over, I went back to the Lowes store and bought the Hydraulic Water Stop Cement.  The strange guy I had talked to the night before was not there.  I also got a 75W equivalent LED dimmable light by Sylvania for the garage (only $39).  Then I stopped at Subway and had a sandwich before going home.  When I got home, I took a few extra minutes to install the new light in the garage door opener.  The old light, a 60W equivalent LED by Phillips, was working very erratically.  After the concrete grinding, the light stopped working, but just as I was going to change it, it started working again.  I hope the new LED light will be more reliable.  The Phillips LED was my test bulb going back a year, but it became flakey after being used with the X10 timer light in the living room.

After my friend had come for a short visit, I made the bed with fresh sheets and put way the clean underwear.  Then I could make space in the dryer for the cleaning cloths that had already been through 2 cycles (regular and sanitize) and I put them through a third cycle because they had been sitting in the machine all day.  Then, and only then, I got back to the mopping described above.  What a day!

*****

The patching went very quickly on Monday afternoon from 12:30 to 1:30.  The first thing that happened was that the water stop concrete started hardening into the bowl I used to mix it.  I ultimately trashed that bowl but saved a second one I had been rinsing the sponge with, and a spoon I had used.  As the concrete guy said, sponging the stuff in was best.  I never used the trowel.  I cleaned up afterwards very throughly, starting with a vacuum to clean up all the hard dry pieces instead of smooshing them into the concrete.  I didn't bother trying to patch the tiny holes near the outside wall.

Meanwhile I washed my work pants and socks to get the concrete dust smell out of them.

All in all, a very focussed and productive weekend, for me anyway.  Others may see this all as a pointless waste of time, but this is the way I do things, and I had fun.  It was even adventurous, though I will aim to avoid adventures like that in the future.  Still, the scavenger hunt for the hardest to find things--that is pretty much the story of my life going back to my childhood.  It seems I am always trying to track down the hardest to find things, and other people are telling me it doesn't matter.