Contact Me

Tuesday, August 6, 2024

Lights, Tub, Oven

 If you remember, there is only a light in the vent hood over the stove for the kitchen and dining room. No more darkness for us now. We have a fixture right near the refrigerator. I am not sure why it is not in the middle of the kitchen. There is a new fixture now. We also now have a chandelier over the dining table. We have glorious light!

He started with the light over the sink. But, the pretty light I chose could not be mounted on the wall as the mount is not on the wall. There is a box on the ceiling. So, it was not going to work. Tomorrow, I will return it to Lowe's and get a new one.  

This guy is the one I saw in Lowe's. He is not an electrician but seemed to know what he was doing. He was mounting both the ceiling lights standing on the floor. He is 6'7" tall. I did bring him an 8" stool because he just needed it because it was a strain working. He did not get here until after 8 pm and left after 11 pm. He charged $50 for each light. The kitchen one was especially difficult. 

We did find the third light I purchased, and we lost. It was under the dining room table. Tommy had searched the room. I knew it was in there!

Now, we don't need to have two floor lamps to be able to see at all. Tommy told me there was no light in the oven. I cannot bend so far as to see. The guy took it out and tested it. It works. He could not find the way to turn it on; there is a strange little knob on the stovetop. I have tried my best to twist it or something. I pointed it out. He could not make it work, either. I believe the light does not work or the control broke and someone screwed something in there just so the stove would look like it was all there. So, Tommy bought a house with a stove that has no control for the oven light. That is not a biggie, I suppose. But, lots of things were sold to him that are not right in this house. It took 40 years to figure this out. Oh, the stove is Harvest Gold and thermostat in over is off 50 degrees. 

Cleaner came today--made my bed, helped find curling iron, most things she did after that were things we could not reach or do. I had a list of things that took so little time and effort. One thing she did was to clean car windshield inside and out. That was the hardest thing she did...lol. Tommy thinks it is clean all the time and never, ever cleans it. 

Things are looking up all over. I asked Tommy when he was getting a shower/tub I could get into. He said it was getting harder for him, too. He said he had been thinking that we might as well bite the bullet and stay in a motel for the two or three days they promise to do the job. He meant stay away for the whole two or three days. No Way! We will just stay at night in a motel and spend day here when they are working. YAY! Any suggestions for the best brand? We only have space of tub to install.  Or, we could convert one bedroom to bathroom and put washer and dryer into the current bathroom.  That is what I would like to do. No, I will not have washer and dryer in the bathroom. It will not work. I was shocked when he said he had been thinking about an accessible tub/shower! Neither of us wants a sitting tub in which to bathe, probably just shower. 

Today, I had cleaner take down curtain over kitchen window and throw it and bent curtain rod away. Tommy has still not noticed. It was a cheap, yellow, fiberglass curtain, filthy and sticky. If washed, those things shred in the washer. It was coated in grease and cigarette smoke from over 40 years. The curtain was here when he bought the place. 

Last week, I noticed there was a clock in the kitchen. I put one by the sink, but not this one. I asked him about it. He said we put a new battery in it when I came here, and the clock did not work. Two days ago I asked him if he would drop it in the trash. He said, "Okay."  He insisted we keep a cheap, broken clock for five years, and I am not sure why. 

I can now see that one wall, solid wood paneling, and I hate it. I want to paint it lemon yellow. We need more light...lol. 

If anyone has a recommendation on the walk-in showers, let me know. We want a 1-inch lip and glass doors to close, not the open shower. 

WE HAVE LIGHT!

Do you have an accessible tub or shower? Any problems? Recommend? 

14 comments:

  1. Our master bathroom had one of those large garden tubs and the skinniest little shower stall I've ever seen. Because of this, for several years, I showered in the guest bathroom and then finished getting ready in the master bath. A few years ago we redid the master bath and it has a glorious shower that is approximately nine feet long and four feet wide. We took both of the other things out and now only have a shower in there. The entrance is on the opposite end from the shower head, so we do not have a door. There is a tiled wall that goes up about four feet, and then glass above that. The entrance has maybe a two inch lip that could easily be altered (maybe with a piece of angled wood) to get a wheelchair into it, if needed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad the lights are working. Theon/off to my oven light is on the oven door - but it is newer model than yours.
    Around here they advertised one day installation for removing old bath and installing only showers. Hopefully you find something that is good service there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am suspicious of the one day guarantees. Supply issues and finding another problem could make it longer.

      Delete
    2. Rebath has a one day guarantee. They wanted 18,000 and you had to use their materials. Too rich for me. I contacted a local contractor who would install a step in bath/shower from Home depot and a new vanity, lights, toilet and laminate floor for $4,000 and take 3 days. We would buy the vanity, etc. Suggest you contact your guy that put in your kitchen light. He should know about this

      Delete
    3. Tewshooz,
      I would rather do the three-day guarantee and less money.

      Delete
  3. Converting a bedroom to a bathroom will be ridiculously expensive. Lots of companies do bathtub-to-shower conversions, using acrylic shower surrounds.

    I don't have one to recommend specifically, but I don't think glass doors are wise.

    A slider door will limit your access in and out, unless you make sure the part that slides open is up by the shower head, not at the back end of the shower.

    A swing-out hinge door will need a lot of open space to work properly.

    I would opt for a weighted curtain that will not waft over the shower threshold as the water and air heats/cools.

    You definitely DON'T want a build-in shower seat. Those are always too far away from the water controls. Get a good, sturdy shower seat that can be moved back and forth to accomodate your reach.

    You DO want a handheld shower head that is hung where you can easily reach it while seated, not standing.

    Plenty of grab bars (installed into studs, not into just drywall)! One vertical on the outside to help you in, a vertical on the inside to help you out, and a horizontal one next to your shower chair to help you sit/rise.

    This one looks pretty good to me. I really like the positioning of the controls, and the fact that you could use a wheelchair or walker to get in/out:

    https://www.freedomshowers.com/APF6232BF5PC?srsltid=AfmBOoroSZBDAYSr8UQL7vk4T6LV1UDafW_n1ajM6Vjn4kZ6VRB4-PXeB7k

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, good ideas. I like the fold down bench. But, a chair could be used with it or instead of. Oh, I thought of lots of grab bars!

      Delete
  4. PS: Unless you plan to squeegee or wipe down the shower after EVERY use, glass shower doors are going to get extremely spotty with mineral buildup. Whereas a shower curtain can be washed or replaced very easily.

    I don't suspect you or Tommy have the mobility to do a top-to-bottom squeegee of glass doors, so...

    ReplyDelete
  5. All the homes I have owned had a separate shower in the master. My first two homes, as well as my Panhandle place, had spa tubs, which we never used. The Panhandle splace shower was a zero entry, which I never truly appreciated at the time. When we built the house prior to this (2019), we didn't bother with a master tub, but had two shower heads and a bench. I don't know the manufacturer, but it was a stock item. We were thinking safety, but didn't go far enough with that house. This house, (2022) we had to have a custom made tile shower enclosure, because the quality available at the time for the size we wanted, wasn't available. (I can't remember if it was only fiberglass or acrylic which was available, but contractor strongly advised NOT putting it in so we had it tiled in.) We have a bench, two grab bars, and a shower head which can be hand held. The shower head too, was a custom order, as the "hose" on it is seven feet long, instead of the standard six feet, so it can easily reach the bench. There is a slight rim to step over to get to the shower, so it's not a true zero entry, but the grab bars are double backed. We have two grab bars in the main floor powder room too.
    My advice: The time to get an accessible bathroom before you need it. The native New Englander in me loves older houses, but I realize how impractical they can be should mobility issues arise.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Meg,
      Thanks. I want removable shower head. Tommy does not. I saw one with both! Years ago would be a good time to do this.

      Delete
    2. Linda, ours has a shower head and a handheld. it's funny how things work out, hubby uses the shower head every time, and then sometime also uses the hand held. I ONLY ever use the hand held.

      Delete
  6. Nice to have more kitchen light. I like a lot of light in my kitchen. I wish we would have gone with just a walk in type shower in our guest bathroom, rather than tub/shower. It's not likely a guest would ever use the tub and I've showered in it a few times and wish it was just a walk in. We put a walk in type shower in our shop bathroom, which is what we used the whole time we had to live in there while building the house. I just used a shower curtain, rather than a door and it worked fine.

    ReplyDelete
  7. There is a walk in shower, which I appreciate.
    The tub is a deep as Lake Ontario and not more assessable.

    ReplyDelete

Okay, hoping the annoyances have gone away.