Day 8 (Wednesday) - Tile, electrical, countertop & sink

1. This morning George brought sheets of the mosaic that will be used as an accent line in the shower and on the backsplash.  We determined how much to use each place.
• The mosaic sheets have a repeating pattern every 3 rows.
• The plan for the shower is 6 rows of mosaic.
• The plan for the backsplash is 3 rows of mosaic, with shower tile above and below that.
2. The shower tile is laid, including the shower cubby, with spacing left for the mosaic liner.
3. The shower floor tile is in.
4. The countertop arrived and was installed with the sink under Matt's supervision.  The installers made 2 dry-runs with a luan template to plan out how to navigate the corners & line things up before they brought the counter in.  The fumes from the adhesive (apparently the catalyst that hardens the epoxy) were dreadful, but relatively short-lived.
5. Preparations for the fan & switch install were done, e.g. mortising & running electrical cable and the fan was installed.
6. The guy who will fabricate the glass door & half-wall came and took measurements.

New fan mounted in ceiling

Matt and George

Day 7 (Tuesday) - Tile, shower cubby, toilet floor.

Jose came back to work with George today, while Matt took care of other business.  They put in close to a 12-hr day -- those boys worked hard!

1. The first 5 courses of tile were laid -- up to where the mosaic accent will be installed.
2. A 12" x 12" shower cubby was constructed in the half wall -- a place to set shampoo, body wash, etc.
3. The shower curb and top of the half-wall were pitched and tiled.  The pitch caused some angst because it seemed so extreme, but both George & Matt said it's standard (& subsequently the glass door guy seemed to agree & had stories about situations where others had done it wrong).  I think we won't notice it when the glass is in.  I also checked it from head-on, as if entering the shower, & it's imperceptible then.
4. The new shower ceiling was put in.  A shower light will be installed later.
5. The outside of the half-wall was dry-walled.
6. The water-damaged subfloor around the toilet was removed & blocking added.  A new plywood subfloor was installed.

Mid-day

Mid-day

Day 6 (Monday) - More backer board, some electrical

George arrived back from vacation today to help Matt with the project.

1. The existing lights in the soffit above the sink look fine, so we're keeping them.  Matt climbed up in the attic & fully checked them out.  (p.s. Brian - he said it's the best lit attic he's ever been in; too bad it wasn't in the part he was working in.)
2. There's more backer board up & a ceiling in the shower and the seams are taped.
3. There's a coat of something over the mud in the shower pan.
4. There's a hole in the ceiling where the old exhaust fan was.

Day 5 (Friday) - Mud pan, backer board, more plumbing.

Today was a long day, almost 12 hrs (9:30am - 8pm)!

1. The mud pan is in.
2. The shower curb is in
3. The moisture barrier & cement backer board is up
4. The shower valve & shower head are in.
5. Apparently the nailgun, used to install backer board on the shared wall studs, knocked some of the grout out of the hallway bathroom's tile, because I found shards of it in the tub as well as holes in the grout lines.  So a little grout repair is going to be needed there.

Day 4 (Thursday) - Preslope & pan liner

Report:

Today was a half day, because a former client had an emergency.

1. The pre-slope is installed.
2. The pan liner is in.
3. Considering:
• whether to install new can lights above the counter.
• chrome vs brushed nickel fixtures (leaning towards chrome).
• a shower fixture with detachable handshower like the Delta In2ition.
• a faucet style similar to the Delta Classic in the downstairs bathroom.

Net net - Steady progress.  Still on schedule.

Day 3 (Wednesday) - Framing, floor, countertop template

Report:

1. New half wall is framed in.
2. New shower sub-floor is in.
3. New studs sistered to the one(s) with dry rot shaved off.
4. Shower cubby will go into the half-wall because there isn't room in the side wall with the hall bathroom's plumbing. 
5. New exhaust fan switch will joining the heater switch in the heater switch location. Switch box will be changed to plastic. 
6. The fabricator came & made a template for the counter-top.

Net net - Construction seems slower than demo, but on schedule (2.5 wks).

Day 2 (Tuesday) - More demo & some plumbing

1. The flooring dried nicely overnight. :)
2. The electrical  box at the shower entrance is history.  A new switch/ timer will move to a new "legal" location (code says it can't be within reach when standing in a wet shower.  I thought... "that's a little overly conservative," but shortly thereafter changed my mind when insulation of the white wire to the existing switch turned out to be abraded, apparently from a ragged edge on the box, & energized the box while Matt was removing it.  Eek!)
3. The soffit & studs making up the NW corner of the shower are gone and the roof did not collapse, so they truly weren't load-bearing.  ;)
4. The iron water lines in the shower have been replaced with PEX tubing and run to the E wall.
5. New drain installed & re-centered (was off-center before).
6. Dry rot was shaved off stud.
7. We decided on an oval sink.

Net net - Good progress.