Hardibacker Nightmare.

P4030024
Originally uploaded by houdinisblind

Man, I HATE this stuff. It's like drywall, except it's WAY heavier. And moisture resistant, so it's kind of what you have to use in shower/tub situations.

They tell you that you cut it by scoring and breaking, like glass. This is true, just like it's true that you could crawl to Las Fucking Vegas on your hands and knees.

And speaking of Nevada, after about 15 minutes of cutting the stuff, I felt like I was back on the playa. Except that on the playa I'd have a bandana, but I wasn't smart enough to make that connection until about 30 seconds ago.

I'm here to tell you: you can cut hardibacker with a skil saw, if you're not too worried about your blade. And since the blade on my saw came with the saw, back in 1984, I think it's already had a good long life.

Today, there's one more wall to install (hardiback?), new tub and shower hardware, and maybe the beginning of tile. I also need to get some new siding for the front of the house, and tack that up. I feel undressed.

Hi Neighbors!

Hi Neighbors!
Originally uploaded by houdinisblind

This is the bathroom at its worst (hopefully).

Inside After Day 1

P4020012
Originally uploaded by houdinisblind

There's something satisfying about knocking down walls. Flying shards of porcelain add just enough danger to keep things interesting, and hearing things fall and break in the tub (protected by painter's plastic, which kept giving me Prog flashbacks) was satisfying.

You can see the window, since this is an earlier picture, but you can't really see how rotten the wood is. The house had termites years ago, and that combined with water seepage means I have to replace pretty much everything you see in this picture.

I think I can do it. Once you get over the weird mental hurdle of Taking Out The Entire Wall (the neighbors can see me brushing my teeth!), it's just a collection of lumber and building material. Smart guy like me can see why the lumber is arranged in such a way, so as long as I put it back pretty much the way it was, hell, why WOULDN'T I do it?

The only thing I'm concerned about is doing something to my back that incapacitates me during the week I've taken off work, probably with a giant hole in the side of the house. Here's hoping that doesn't happen.

The Outside, After Day 1

P4020017
Originally uploaded by houdinisblind

This really doesn't do justice to the time and energyI spent just getting a window out. I will say that the window is really only about 2/3 the size of the hole you see. And a lot of the time was spent trying to be subtle and avoid destruction of the siding, which in retrospect was kind of silly.

Still, I'm looking forward to today's work, which entails completely ripping out the wall you see in that picture, and replacing it by the end of the day. If I'm REALLY good, there will be glass bricks where the window was...

The Destruction of The Bathroom

Since I moved in with Kimmie, I've been planning an attack on the bathroom. There's a hole in the shower wall already, through which you can see the inside of the exterior wall. The bathroom sink's starting to rust out. There are mysterious holes, drilled in the 1980's white glitzy formica, from which issue impressive streams of little black ants, some of which end up on my toothbrush every night.

This assault begins tomorrow. I'll post pictures.