Henry's News

AAA/CAA Retiree Reunion - September 2018

The annual reunion of the AAA & CAA Retired Executives took place along the Maine Coast with visits to Boothbay Harbor and Camden. The coast of Maine is very picturesque but remnants from Hurricane Florence brought many overcast days and fog along the coast. An enjoyable time was had by all with overnights at the Boothbay Harbor Golf Resort and the Camden Riverhouse Hotel. Enjoy the photos of the Maine Coast Retiree Reunion.

I've had a bunch of photos that were not previously posted from 2015 to the present that reflect some of our travels and also friends and family who have visited with us. They include several trips in Florida and Canada and some friends from AAA. There is even a photo taken with Jay Leno at a past AAA Annual Meeting. Click on Henry & Sam's Travels - 2015 - 2017.

I've been a little lax updating the website and just migrated it to a new and faster server. Come back and visit as other updates are in progress.

If you have had any conversations with Sam or Henry from mid-2014 to early 2016, you have undoubtedly heard about the three bathroom remodels.  Now from Henry's perspective, there was nothing wrong with the old bathrooms - they worked just fine! And in almost 26 years at our home, except for the master bath, the two interior ones had fairly limited use.

However, Sam said they were outdated and the old cabinets and countertops were starting to show wear.  So we engaged a design person and when we received the quotes, we couldn't believe the cost.  We were also not too excited by the suggested designs and we didn't feel we would be happy with the quality of the product that would be installed.  So we ditched the design person and decided to be our own contractor. We spent considerable time researching, selecting and then ordering product.  Henry ordered extensively online which saved some dollars. We did exceptionally well with bathroom fixtures and cabinet hardware. We contracted with the same installer that did our kitchen. Jeff is a perfectionist and did a wonderful job doing everything from sheetrock, plumbing, electrical, and tile and cabinet install. 

Like all major projects when the room is brought down to the studs, there are unexpected surprises.  In the pool bath, we found that the toilet did not meet the new building codes and had to be moved about a foot away from the shower area.  This meant trenching the floor and changing the cabinet from two sinks to one.  We also decided in the pool bath to remove the tub and go with just a shower and that also required moving the floor drain.

In the other interior bath, we replaced the cast tub with another cast one of a different color and of course the toilet and sink needed to match.  Because anything that is non white is a special order, it took almost 2 months to receive the product. This room was also brought down to the studs. Each of the bathrooms took about 6 weeks of construction, but the process was much longer as we had to wait for product delivery, especially the cabinets and the template and cutting of the stone counter tops.

The master bath was an even bigger project as we wanted it to be handicap friendly.  The original Roman Tub and shower area had step ups and downs and it was easy to slip.  The tub steps were cement which had to be jack hammered out and the drains in the cement floor had to be jack hammered and moved. The dust was incredible and of course during the construction process, we had to move all our belongings out of the area and we lived in the other side of the house. We started the planning and product ordering in June 2015, but construction did not begin until August. While we were reunited with our bedroom in early December, the final finishing touches were not completed until January.

This was without a doubt much more expensive, time consuming and disruptive than we anticipated, but we are happy with the end results and will get to enjoy our upgrades for many years to come. Henry calls these completed projects "the Royal Flush"! When folks drop by for a visit, the first thing they ask to see are the bathrooms. Click on BATHROOM REMODELS to view the before and after photos of the pool bath, the second interior bath and the Master bath.