Innocent. Unassuming. Even strangely invisible. But this damn toilet paper holder brought blood, sweat and tears for my poor husband.
See, our walls kind of...suck. For the longest time, it took a couple of hours to hang ANYTHING involving anchors. They don't appear to be plaster, but they're super hard, so odds are they probably are. We needed to get a more heavy-duty drill to handle what they were dishing. Seriously. Hate. These. Walls.
That's probably why it's taken us so long to add the floating shelves, towel hooks and this TP holder to the bathroom. Those finishing touches that should be relatively simple could end up breaking us. Add the fact that there's HARD AS A ROCK tile (along with what seems to be the hardest mastic ever known to man used behind it; my stepdad, who has worked on countless bathrooms, has never seen such a hard wall) behind the bead board and you're just asking for a headache. We've known it. We've procrastinated.
But, one Sunday night, Dave decided it was time to check at least this one project off our list. Maybe he was sick of reaching around to grab the roll off the back of the toilet. For whatever reason, it was TOUGH.
There was a burned hand (from the torque of the drill, I kid you not). There were two calls to my stepdad. There was major swearing (he NEVER swears, folks! That's my job). And, finally, there was disappointment that it was crooked. He felt defeated. Yes, there were almost tears (I think he started to well up, but I didn't see it...so let's just say he kept it together).
I suggested he put the roll on to see how crooked it really was. When he did, we noticed...
.JPG)
Nothing. It looked perfectly fine. Considering how much general crookedness we have in our house, it fits right in and even looks good. Phew.
So, my friends, you have heard the story of how Dave won the Battle of the Bathroom, Round 1. Let's hope we survive the next couple of rounds to call this thing, finally, DONE! At least it's coming together.
Yeah, Dave!!
ReplyDeleteAlso, for what it is worth, I found out my house had some sort of concrete 'bath' in the walls when it was constructed. Basically, a metal mesh inside of a two inch thick concrete layer. I guess this is quite common in older homes in the bathroom to help provide stability and stop moisture from going from the bathroom into the walls. My contractor said it normally takes a day or so to do the repairs I had asked for - it took three because one whole day was tied up in removing the metal and concrete by itself. It could be that you guys have something similiar going on. Just a thought.
Yeah, Dave, indeed!!! Props where props are due! ;-)
DeleteThanks so much for the info, Bob! I think you've hit the nail on the head. I know they use cement board these days for tiling (not usually the whole wall), but concrete makes major sense based on what a pain this was.
Now I'm a lot less optimistic about the ease of putting up our hooks and open shelves...hmmm...hmph. ;-)
My gosh it's like you live in my house. We also have wall troubles. What we thought was plaster actually seems to be the concrete that Bob E. spoke of, except it's our whole house. And the wood.... I can't even count the number of drill bits we have broken. I love living in an older home, but jeez... most of our walls are bare or have a minimalist look!
ReplyDeleteLOL Awesome! Solidarity, sister! I'm wondering if the rest of the house is the same way (we've always had a problem when it comes to anchors), but whatever they used to install the tile (which is also insanely rock hard) has placed it there permanently. No chipping allowed. :-P I, too, love older homes, but man...I'm not a bare wall woman!
Delete