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Elizabeth Weintraub
Heaven and Hell of Moving a Toilet Flange
Hurricane Lane won’t cause much damage before tonight, which gives me time to talk about moving a toilet flange. Such an exciting topic, right? Well, it is to me. I wish we had known about moving a toilet flange when we remodeled our master bath in Sacramento 10 years ago. But c’est la vie. At least I acquired that knowledge in time for our Hawaii bath remodel.
Plus, for some reason, our existing guest bath toilet in Hawaii was not centered exactly between the bath tub and vanity. It’s a little bit tough as there is a lot of labor involved, especially on a slab foundation. Primarily because you have to dig through it. And our house in Hawaii is basically built on a bed of lava.
The workers from Lowes were here on-site almost all day yesterday. Reciprocating saws going as they dug up the floor. Good thing I wasn’t saving the floor tile. Spent most of my day out on the lanai, away from the noise. Fielding emails from people worried that I’ll meet my death with Hurricane Lane. But the way I look at it, at least they cared enough to check in.
Like I said, though, not much will happen storm-wise before tonight. Then the winds and rain will begin to pound us. Hawaiian Airlines is offering waivers to travelers, and my husband might get caught up in that as he’s flying to Honolulu at the end of the week. The storm should be over on Big Island by this weekend.
I am also feeling grateful that we are a mile up the hill from the ocean. Already had one home fall into the Pacific and not about to live through another disaster. Once is enough.
Our first photo on top is of the new deeper and wider tub. It is 3-inches wider than our horrid fiberglass one-piece tub. It is also about 8 inches deeper. A couple people had asked me for a photo when I mentioned buying a bath tub, so there you go.
The second photo is digging up the toilet, and the third is the finished toilet flange. Although some of the pieces for the tub are on back order. Turns out a lot of people like the design I chose. Which puts us on a waiting list for the valve and diverter for the Moen 90 Degree Collection. I ordered it from Lowe’s more than a month back. Just now, it is arriving in Georgia for shipment to Hawaii.
Painting Baseboards Day Two Hawaii Bath Remodel
Painting baseboards is not really my idea of a fun time in Hawaii. However, with the new vinyl plank flooring that will be installed, it will look odd without baseboards. I matched the baseboards in our bedrooms with the same tiger bamboo, and now I wish I hadn’t. The reason is the baseboards are not snug to the wall because walls are not plumb. And that is where the critters that make up the downside to living paradise like to hide.
My neighbor Buzz showed me that painting baseboards is the way to go. That’s because he painted his baseboards the same color as his walls. How brilliant is that? You don’t even notice them. And the tops hug the wall, topped with a bit of caulk, which discourages pests from taking up residence.
I decided to jump right into painting baseboards today because it’s a nasty job that’s best getting done early. Finished my two coats in record time, too. It was a lovely day in Kailua-Kona. Perfect for painting baseboards on my lanai.
Maybe today the guys from Lowes will get lucky and Lowes will actually deliver all of my materials. Lowes was supposed to deliver all of my bath remodeling supplies yesterday but for some reason did not. The only progress they made on Monday was to install the cabinets in each bath.
The quartz guy showed up, though, to check out the situation. He asked me why Lowes didn’t install greenboard behind the sink vanity and toilet. I have no answer for that except that I had asked them to do it, and they said it wasn’t necessary. My quartz guy said it is code here in Hawaii. Wherever there is a shut-off valve that could produce moisture, you need greenboard.
Sunday Stroll at Kona’s Historic Kailua Village
The Sunday Stroll at Kona’s Historic Kailua Village happens once a month when Ali’i Drive is closed to only pedestrian traffic. And dogs, of course. On a leash. It provides an opportunity for locals and tourists to shop and dine. They set up blocks and blocks of vendor booths selling mostly handmade items. I saw many of the same goodies last June on the grounds of Hulihe’e Palace on King Kamehameha Day.
My friend Linda, who lives down the street from our house in Hawaii, is from the Sacramento area. Small world. We had met up with Laura and Judy at Kona Haven Coffee yesterday morning to Talk Story. What I did not realize earlier is Laura and Judy “ride.” Because I’ve never seen Laura’s bike. How would I know? But it does explain the boots. Even the Harley Davidson t-shirt worn by Judy did not give it away immediately.
What I learned from that get together is the motorcycle clubs in Kailua-Kona do not let women become members. That seems so backward. They will let a woman ride with them but she can’t join the club and pay dues. And there is, let’s say, friction in the clubs when the member’s girlfriends allegedly try to dictate rules. Another interesting tidbit is the fact Judy sells homeowner’s insurance. Many of her clients lost their homes in Leilani Estates due to the eruption of Kilauea.
Some homeowners made the choice to buy a cheaper policy that excluded lava flow. They were attracted to the 40%-off rate. According to Judy, there were also policies that did not include a loss payable for the mortgage company. Worse, the mortgage company failed to check on their loans to determine whether their borrowers had secured adequate insurance coverage.
As a result, some banks were not insured. Payments were made to the owners, who did not share any of those claim funds with their bank. Who did the bank decide to sue? The insurance company, of course. Like that makes logical sense, even though from the bank’s point of view it does. If that happened in California, the banks would have put their own policies in place and charged the borrower. Needless to say, Judy has been a bit stressed.
We had hoped that Judy and Laura would join us for the Sunday Stroll at Kona’s Historic Kailua Village, but they did not. However, this event gave me the chance to get to know Vern and Pam a little bit. They are from Roseville and have traveled all over the world. Vern seems to know a lot about orchids and can recite the scientific names. Before Linda moved to the Big Island, Pam and Vern were her neighbors and they came to visit.
Of course, I could not help but buy a few t-shirts. We stopped to chat with many vendors, and everybody was in such a good mood. It was hard not to marvel over and caress the hand-made jewelry, glass jellyfish pendants, chimes, koa wood trinkets and eat the tasty banana bread with fruit.
At one of the last booths, we met staff at KARES: Kohala Animal Relocation and Education Service. They said when I come back to Kailua-Kona in November, I can foster a dog. Check out this cute chihuahua mix. He’s about a year old, with the sweetest disposition. Cannot believe that not one person at the Sunday Stroll at Kona’s Historic Kailua Village adopted this adorable guy. He is still searching for his forever home.
Day One of Hawaii Bath Remodel Project With Lowes
Because I am not in Hawaii all of the time, I divided and scheduled our Hawaii bath remodel project into two phases. The first phase guts the guest bath and replaces the bath tub, vanity, toilet, medicine cabinet, lights, mirror and flooring. The master Hawaii bath remodel project is a two-part job. First phase is replacing the cabinet, light, mirror, medicine cabinet and flooring.
This way I figured we will still have use of a toilet and shower and we can always use the kitchen sink when brushing our teeth. It’s a bit like camping. The second phase will be this winter. It involves replacing the shower in the master and remodeling the entire kitchen.
So what can go wrong? Well, a lot, actually. But I don’t want to cross the bridge twice, so I won’t go into everything that could happen and will just share what did happen.
First, I hired Lowes to do our remodeling project. All my friends in Kona say they are sooooo expensive, but at least I have a point person who will coordinate the workers. I do not want to be on the phone at 7:30 AM asking where they are. Got other things to do, like sell Sacramento real estate and staying on top of my files from Hawaii. I figure letting Lowes hire the workers is better because if one of the guys can’t get out of bed and drive into Kona from Ocean View, they’ll find another who will.
Lowes is expensive but not totally out of whack. Well, there are a few charges that seem a bit excessive. After the workers gutted our guest bath, they discovered a leaking shut-off valve. They replaced it. But now it explains why the bath always smelled wet. We were constantly replacing Damp Rid containers.
Although the previous owners of the house said they did not know anything about moisture or leaks in the guest bath, I wonder how they could not notice it. I saw cracks in the ceramic, and the floor was a bit hollow. It has most likely been leaking for years. However, only about 3 feet of the drywall was damaged. The workers pulled up a couple tiles that lost their integrity — a hollow sound.
For that little side job, Lowes demanded an extra $1,000. Like my husband says, they are charging about $1000 an hour for three guys to stand around and watch one guy cut 3-feet of drywall off the wall. This seems extreme. I could have pulled that drywall off the wall myself and reinstalled half a sheet for about $5.00. I’m handy with a drywall gun, hey.
Still, I am staying positive that we will work it out with Lowes. What I didn’t like was receiving an email telling me I had 2 hours to stop whatever I was doing, which was Talking Story at Kona Haven Coffee, and call or drive over to Lowes to make payment. This is after paying Lowes almost $50,000 in advance. Of course, they sent the email to the wrong account so I didn’t even get that message in a timely manner.
Breathe. Breathe. The secret to making it through a Hawaii bath remodel is to not sweat stuff. Go with the flow. Give people a chance to make it right. Besides, it’s only been one day so far. On Saturday, I learned the quartz guy had not yet shipped the quartz although I have been emailing, texting, calling for two months. My delivery date had not changed. Instead of arriving on Monday, it won’t get to our house until Friday.
A few delays. Nothing major, though. We’ll see how long it takes Lowes to do the bath. I told them other owners in my community have identical guest baths with those awful fiberglass tubs. Since I figured out how to move the toilet with an offset, that allows for a wider and deeper tub to be installed. They could package this plan and sell it to my neighbors.
Kona Haven Coffee Ushers in a Fun Friday in Kona
My friend Linda in Kona sent me a text message on Thursday to invite me to a meet up with her and Laura at Kona Haven Coffee. Only problem with that idea was I was still in route from Sacramento to Kona. I hate to decline any invitation because sometimes people take it the wrong way. They think you don’t want to get together or other things in your life are more important than friends. I suggested we do it some other time.
Then, yesterday morning, just as the guys from Lowes were pulling into our driveway to begin our remodeling project at the house, I received another invitation. I had to ask myself did I really want to micromanage the demolition of our two baths or did I want to sit by the ocean and chat with friends?
I know what my semi-retired agent friend Myrl Jeffcoat would do. It’s not like my Sacramento real estate business would suffer if I met up for coffee and spent a few hours with friends. So wired now. Apple Watch, iPhone, as long as I don’t have to create a document on the run, but home was only a mile away.
I decided it was time for a mental health break. Zipped down to Kona Coffee Haven and ordered up an iced Thai tea. It wasn’t on the menu for some reason. But I noticed they had hot Thai tea, so surely a little condensed milk could be added with ice.
Linda shared a few YouTube videos by Creative Mom making fairy houses. If you’re like me, you’re probably wondering: what is a fairy house? Silly, it’s a house where fairies and other mythical creatures live. You know, with mushroom caps for roofs and rounded doors. This woman makes fairy houses out of empty plastic coke bottles. Along with homemade clay, coat hangers and aluminum foil. Then she paints them.
No way am I that creative with my hands, and I’m in awe of this talent. Who knew? Fairy houses?
I suggested that Linda could sell them to real estate agents. Personalize them with a client’s name and include the name of the agent, maybe on a For Sale sign in the yard. Then, agents could give the houses to their buyers as a closing gift. She could charge $100 to $200 per fairy house, depending on how much work it entailed. Right?
With a Hawaiian twist. Maybe palm trees? A dolphin. Perhaps an I’iwi bird that feeds on Ohi’a, which unfortunately are rapidly dying in Hawai’i, which means the i’iwi could become extinct along with the Ohi’a trees. I know, this is a great idea. Brings awareness.
But you know, not everybody wants to start a new business. Especially while we’re sitting around talking story at Kona Haven Coffee. But she might. Never a dull moment in Kona.
