PROGRESS!!!!!!

We have been very busy.

Making some serious progress. My parents were in town this past week and my dad, the Architectural Engineer was on the job site several times this week. He said that they guys were doing a bang up job, using the highest grade materials and working their ass off. We got to select were the lighting fixtures and recessed lighting go. PLUS where to pre-wire for surround sound. ANY TIPS WELCOME!

Now we need to make a decision about clothing dryers, gas v electric.We know gas is much cheaper to run, but they are all very big in comparison with the smaller 24 inch European ones that only seem to run on electricity. We are thinking of the bosch axxis, because of their size. We need all the space we can get, so we have to weigh both options.



This week we have completed rough plumbing, gas line, and rough electrical, plus we have installed a NORTIZ tankless water heater . This thing is bad ass, it only heats up the water you need. So it saves tons of energy plus it qualifies for the 2009 tax rebate. We can run our kitchen sink, flush a toilet, take a shower, and fill up the bath at the same time without loss of hot water. HIRSCH plumbing has a special on them for $659! It should be between $800-$1000.

Here are some pics of the guys getting ready to pour the footing. Easy as 1/2/3.On the last pic, that thing is solid, you couldn't move it if you tried. and yes my dad tried to move it.

Chrome Plating Clawfoot Tub Legs

So to complete our tub we needed to refinish the feet. I was waiting to get these done until we had decided on whether we were going to go with nickel or chrome in the bathroom. If you see the hardware we got for the tub, you will know we ended up going with chrome.

I really, really, really, really wanted nickel but it was not in our budget. Nickel gets this amazing patina on it that makes it look antique. Before we bought our house, I found a nickel metal sink console that I fell in love with. I'm the biggest sucker. I went all single white female on it. Embarrassing but true. Anyway, the reason I love it so much is because it has more of a yellow tint to it and it feels more antique. The best part is if you don't like the patina you can always polish it and it will return to a shiny splendor. Best of both worlds right? Chrome on the other hand has more of a blue hue and it always looks new. Boring but economical.

We found this amazing place to get our legs chrome plated. They were $25.00 a leg and it was well worth it.

We called everyone in town and finally settled on Cal-Tron Plating Inc.

We learned that when refinishing your legs you don't want to sand blast them because they are more fragile. You want to have them dipped instead. At Cal-Tron they dipped them in copper before plating them to remove the rust and to keep it from coming back. Everyone there was so lovely with us. It was a bit of a drive but we decided to suck it up instead of mailing them in. We are so glad we did. The owner gave us a tour. It was unbelievable!!!!

Ever heard of the Fender Strat? They plate them there! They plate sooooo many cool things. The Mister went gaga over the Kirby Morgan 57. There were vats and vats and vats Willy Wonka style with bubbly liquid. We wish we could have taken a picture of the things we saw on our tour because it was the coolest thing ever. We were like kids on a field trip. Only thing missing was a brown bag lunch with a spoiled ham sandwich and a crushed piece of fruit. Yes we are super nerds.

Clawfoot Tub Hardware

We looked everywhere for hardware for my clawfoot. Because my clawfoot requires a tub wall mount we had a more difficult time finding all the hardware for it.

Most companies make deck mount and free standing hardware because the clawfoot tubs they sell now require that hardware but finding hardware for mine was hard. We kept getting quotes in the $800 and up range which included the water lines and the faucet but the faucets were not what I had in mind. Even when I found a faucet I liked I had to buy all the rest of the hardware separately and it was coming out to be way too much.

I found a place called Vintage Tub and Bath online. They had a package with the faucet I was looking for plus all the hardware I would need for $270 plus free shipping. Score! My only complaint is that they do take a little while to ship but on the bright side, my hardware looked better than the pictures on the site and I did not pay for shipping costs. They have most of what you will be looking for when redoing your tub. They even have custom paint colors to paint your tub if you are looking for that.

Refinishing a Clawfoot Tub

I'm a bit of a purist. I love to go vintage whenever I can. I guess I'm a sucker for charm. I don't like to go overboard but there are definitely some things that I will never budge on if I don't have to. One of those being old cast iron tubs. I have never been a fan of jetted tubs. To be honest, they freak me out a little bit.

I saw this tub on craigslist and I was smitten. It seemed like a perfect candidate but I still had to see it to make sure. For those of you who are thinking of buying an old tub, here are a few tips:

• Make sure that if it has legs, that all the legs are in good condition. Trying to find matching legs is near impossible. You can get away with different legs if you only see one side of the tub. However, keep in mind that they must all be level or your tub will not work.
  
• The inside of the tub should be pristine. You can buy kits to refinish the inside of the tub but it is best to get that professionally done. If it is in your budget to get the inside of the tub refinished, then the inside doesn't have to be pristine but it should not have huge pits or holes.
  
• The outside should not be porous. Some pits are normal because of the age and material but it should not all be pitted.
  
• Check to see what kind of faucet it needs. Some faucets are more difficult to find and not to mention, more expensive. The difference between a deck mount (drilling is on the rim of the tub), a tub wall mount (drilling is on the inside wall of the tub like mine), and a free standing mount (faucet is literally free standing and your tub will not have any drillings) can make a huge difference on your budget as well as where in the room you can place your tub.
  
• If you are not going to do the refinishing yourself call and ask for prices for someone to refinish your tub. It may make a difference on what you thought you were going to spend versus what you will end up spending. Also, some tub refinishers will not do a cast iron on site. Plan on dropping off and picking up the tub yourself. They weigh somewhere around 300-400 pounds so plan ahead.
  
• Also make sure to check costs on buying brand new legs versus refinishing costs if tub has existing legs.

We were up for the challenge and it was a great project to get to do together so we went for it. This is how we chose to refinish the tub and it worked for us. I cannot guarantee that you will have the same results we did so proceed at your own risk and don't send me any hate mail.

Materials we used:
A grinder
two different grades of sand paper
Mineral Spirits
Rust-Oleum Metal Primer
Oil based Paint in the color Sanctuary
Paint Brush
Paint Roller
Old Rags

1. We removed the legs and then used the grinder to blast off all of the rust and get the surface nice and smooth. We wiped it down with Mineral Spirits and old rags. Do not wipe down with water. It will immediately create rust. Wear goggles and a mask.
   
2. We then used a finer sand paper to smooth out any rough spots. Again, when we were done we wiped it clean with Mineral Spirits. This process was not done in one day. It took us a few days to get it done. Be patient.
   
3. We applied two coats of Rust-Oleum Metal primer which is a brownish color. It actually looked really cool. I think they sell a spray-on version but we decided against it and used the paint instead. A brush and a roller worked just fine.
   
4. We found a Ralph Lauren color we liked called Sanctuary ML16. Name sounds cheesy but it's a great color. We took it to a paint store that carried oil based paint. They were able to match the color almost perfectly. Another option that was presented to us was to use car paint, except they only sold it in gallons and it was somewhere in the range of $150. If we had that in the budget we would have gone with that for sure.
   
5. We gave it two coats of the oil based paint and let it dry!

The time it took for us to do this was about two weeks. The grinder saved us time, but the weather prevented the coats of primer and paint to dry when they should have so it took us longer. The total cost with materials, price of tub, delivery of tub to our house, faucet and water supply lines, and getting the legs cleaned and chrome plated was about $600 dollars. Had we bought a customized tub or had it refinished professionally we would have paid anywhere from $1500 and up once all was said and done. Not to mention, the tub would not have been cast iron but acrylic.

Below are pictures of what it looked like from beginning to end.