The Sunroom Project

I am a very project-oriented person, I think that is partly why I was so drawn to our house in the first place. There were so many projects to be done. The latest was just completed today!



We had a 20-something year old hot tub in a vaulted sunroom right off the master bedroom. We had someone come out twice, but never timed it right so he could figure out why the GFI electrical safety was tripping. Basically, it never got hot enough to use before it shut itself off. Anyway, my husband made the big decision to have it removed when he found someone related to someone he worked with who was right for the task (and it saved us a little from having it "professionally" done by the spa people who we'd already paid plenty to just show up at our house twice and never solve anything, but I digress...).


Sunroom/Hot Tub Before:

After the tub came out, the real work (for me, anyway) began. There were cracks in the walls from the moisture over the years that I repaired first and gave the room a going over with paint. Then the old tile had to come out, especially since there wasn't any under the spa. So I rented a tile stripper. If you've never used one of these, consider yourself lucky. This was the worst part of the entire project. I guess we had thicker tile than usual, since it was non-slip and all. All I know is it took much longer than expected and I had the bruises to show for it when it was all said and done. Then of course, there is still thinset left behind, which is what secures the tiles to the concrete. So I rented a floor grinder. Not so bad after the tile stripper, but I did leave alot of swirl marks in the concrete. And of course, it doesn't go all the way to the wall, so I had to buy a little angle grinder. Nifty little tool, but even more swirl marks.





Once the floor was cleared and cleaned, I stained the concrete. There is this really cool semi-transparent stain I wanted to try that is supposed to help the finish look like natural stone. Unfortunately, the gallon I bought was more pink than tan, so I ended up getting a solid tan color instead. While I'm happy to have pink walls in my daughter's room, I don't think I'd like it so much on my floor... Oh, and I got to install a new fan, too! All sorts of firsts with this project.




Today everything came together and I moved in the furniture that Jonathan picked out and put in the new plants and pictures. Now, we can finally enjoy the view of our lake. (and I have to get back to studying Calculus...)