Not Quite a Two-Day Install 13

I finally (FINALLY!) have a completed shower. This whole process started in October. And so, to commemorate this long bathroom nightmare, I'll take you through all the snags in 13 steps (for Thursday 13). 

ONE

I didn't particularly want a new shower, as I was afraid the whole thing would go sideways, but it wasn't up to me. Landlady noticed that the old shower had developed some holes. She had been talking about replacing it for a couple years, and then one day she got a company to come out and look, and she signed the contract. This was late September. 

TWO

It was to be a two-day install. Day one they tore out the old shower. (This was October 30th.)

THREE

Day two was Halloween. Because of the way these condos are configured, to turn off the water to the place required access to the neighbor's garage. You know, the neighbors that flooded our place. Twice. They were apparently not home, even after being called repeatedly for two days. (They were home.) 

So, to get the water turned off, we had to turn off the water to the whole condo complex (it's an ongoing problem). Which required 24 hours notice. As Halloween was a Friday, the earliest they could complete the shower would be the following Monday. 

(There are two bathrooms in the place, but the other one is an en suite attached to landlady's bedroom. This will become more important later.) 

FOUR

When I returned home from work on that Monday, I learned the awful news. The shower was almost finished. All that was left was to attach the doors and a couple finishing touches. But...

An hour away from finishing, they got a knock on the door. The city inspector, who just happened to be in the complex for other reasons, noticed the work truck and had a question: Did the company have the required work permits for the construction? No, they did not. 

FIVE

They had to stop work immediately, get the permits, and then they could finish the shower. In the meantime, we could put up a shower curtain to use the almost fully finished shower in our bathroom. (For the record, I hate shower curtains.) 

They would have to prove that the room had no asbestos. (The complex was build in the early '70s. They definitely used asbestos.) Then they would have to tear out the shower so the inspectors could confirm they were building the shower up to code. Then they could reinstall the shower. 

SIX

Although landlady's convinced that the inspector was just in the area was a lie. She thinks that upstairs neighbors turned us in. (Upstairs neighbors have since moved out.)

SEVEN

After much back and forth with the company, the first hoop to jump through was an asbestos inspection. Failed. So, they had to do asbestos mitigation. Thursday, December 18th. I went to work and returned home to:

No bathroom access AT ALL. Which was kinda a big issue as December 19th was a work day for me, and the only other bathroom in the house is an en suite. I generally get ready quietly so as to not wake landlady when I leave for work in the morning. Having to traipse through her bedroom to get to a bathroom is not quiet. 

Oh, and the bathroom and my bedroom share a wall. In the bathroom was one of those heater/dehumidifier machines. They are loud. I did not get much sleep that night. 

EIGHT

The next day, Friday, December 19th, they came and tested the bathroom again for asbestos. If it tested negative, the worst was over. But, of course, we'd get no test results until the next working day, Monday. Which meant for the whole weekend, no bathroom access and the hum of the machine through the wall to my bedroom. They couldn't legally remove anything until they had the negative test. 

NINE

Landlady wasn't having that, though, and she tore everything open and removed the machine. Whew.

Unfortunately, when they did the mitigation stuff, they threw out the shower curtain. Landlady got another from Dollar Tree. Which did the job, but...

Okay, so I hate shower curtains because they float towards me the entire time I'm showering. And so that's what I'd been dealing with. The old curtain was nice and thick, so not as big a problem. But the Dollar Tree one was flimsy, so it attacked me with more gusto. (Eventually I figured out a way to tape the thing down.)

TEN

Monday, we got the results back: negative. Whew. But, that was December 22nd. Ain't nothing happening Christmas week. Or before the new year. 

ELEVEN

Although, we got a call the next week. (Monday or Tuesday, my memory's hazy on this.) Could they stop by with one of the inspectors who needed to sign off before they could install the shower? Of course. 

The guy arrived, parked by our open garage, but there was no sign of him. When he finally appeared, he said the plumbing inspector had gotten to the complex gate, and he went to meet with him. Turned out that he was okay with just seeing photos of the install. 

TWELVE

Monday, January 12th was the day. They had to tear out what they had done so the inspector could approve their work. 

They arrived at 8 AM. Tore out half the shower. The inspector was scheduled for noon-2 PM. He showed up pretty close to noon. Approved. Then they had to reinstall all that they had torn out. 

The guy asked if they could stay late (after their usual 4-ish finish time), and so when he left just before 8 PM, the shower was done. Double whew. Finally. 

THIRTEEN

Ignore the hole in the wall behind the toilet. They had to rip that out when they did the asbestos mitigation. They patched that hole on Friday.