Shower Remodel, Weekend 6

I'm a little behind on the shower updates.  This picture is from the weekend after TALE - so that would be March 9th or so.  Basically this part consisted of painting on the waterproofing material.  It's really like thick paint so I was able to roll or brush it on.  I also used a reinforcing fabric in the corners along the shower pan to prevent any cracking at the joint.  The other joints all have fiberglass tape in the thinset so they should be fine. 

After everything dries, the goal is to do a flood test.  The flood test consists of plugging the drain and filling the shower pan with some water to make sure it doesn't leak...for 72 hours.  Sounds simple in principle, but I'm out of ideas on how to plug the drain.  One online article recommended using a balloon.  That worked for about 18 hours before it shifted and I lost some water.  A second attempt didn't even get that far.  The other plugs I've tried didn't seal for more than a few minutes so I'm still working on the flood test part.  At least I have a successful 18 hours test!

The Attempt

Wry Me and I went back to the Bastrop area to pick up the remaining boxes from TALE 10 and visit some other parks and boxes in the area.  We had no trouble finding the remaining boxes at Buescher State Park and the nearby cemetery on Thursday, and we even happened to be in the right place at the right time.  We visited the Lost Pines box again (Wry Me hadn't stamped in on her first visit) and discovered someone had placed a bag around the box.  While some boxers think this helps protect a box, it actually traps water as soon as the bag is punctured.  So we removed the bag right about the time someone else reported seeing a comment about the bag and asked for volunteers to check on it.  Talk about a coincidence!

On Friday we visited Lake Bastrop South Shore Park.  This is was the site of TALE 5, but not many of the boxes have survived.  I had most of the boxes from a previous trip in 2011 but I still needed a few.  One series I missed was the Texas Champion Series by SandiBox.  At this point two of the four boxes are retired and only boxes #2 and #3 are active.  We found #2 just fine, but #3 appears to be missing.  The box was supposed to be in a hollow at the base of a tree...well, it's now a very deep hole!  And if that box is in there it's way beyond the reach of anyone without a shovel.  See for yourself...

and yes we did poke it thoroughly with sticks before Wry Me tried to get to dive in after it!

We had better luck on Saturday when we visited the McKinney Roughs Nature Park while looking for Silver Eagle's Rough Racerunner box.  It was supposed to be in a dead tree about 3 feet off the ground.  We found the tree fallen over and buried in branches and sticks.  Fortunately Wry Me's persistence paid off and we were able to find this one and move it to a new home nearby.  One of Boot's Tex boxes here also lost it's home (another fallen tree) but it was easier to replant safely.

All in all we did have a great time.  I even slept well in the Smithville Riverside park despite the invasion of hundreds of bikers for a biker rally over the weekend!  Here is a shot of the tree above our tent with the beautiful new spring leaves.  I just love that color :-)

   

Bastrop After the Fire

The Friday before TALE I visited Bastrop State Park to see what the park looked like after the 2011 fire.  My last visit was in 2010 so this is my first return trip.

What's surprising are the number of dead trees still standing.  In some ways it looks like a forest in winter...until you remember these are supposed to be pine trees.  Most of the trunks are blackened so it looks very spooky.

However the undergrowth is returning and locals are making a big effort to cut down the dead trees and replant.  The dead trees are falling over and pose a serious safety hazard in the park and surrounding areas.  We drove by many areas with recently cut trees, and the open land was sometimes covered with little red flags.  We later learned that the flags mark the newly planted saplings. 

First Texas Letterbox

Well TALE 10 has come and I've finally logged all my boxes from the event. I've also gotten to sorting the handful of pictures I remembered to take. This rather blurry shot from my phone is special.

Beuscher State Park is the home of the first letterbox in Texas which was planted in 2000. This is Eoghan's Lost Pines box and you can only get the WOM clues through the Texas letterboxing yahoo group. Given the pile of rocks this sucker is buried in, I can see why it has lasted as long as it has.

Most of Eoghan's boxes have been lost over the years, but several Texas boxers are working on replacing them or in some cases planting tribute boxes which duplicate them as closely as possible.  One of these is the the O-Knots series originally planted in Bastrop State Park.  This series required you to find orienteering markers from a topographical map, and then use compass headings to find the box from the marker.  Sadly, these boxes and the markers were destroyed in the fire which devastated the park.  I was fortunate to have found 2 of the 4 boxes before the fire.

For the tribute series, Mosaic Butterfly and I recarved the stamps from images in PI Joe's logbook from  2003.  We planted them in Beuscher State Park and you can find them here.  While the clues are not quite as challenging as the original, we hope  you enjoy them. 

Ready for TALE

Everything is packed and ready to go for TALE 10 - the tenth year of Texas Annual Letterboxing event!  I've got 3 boxes ready to plant and some new logbooks made.  The green book and the one in the middle will be raffle donations.  The cover on the green one is hand made paper from an artisan at Scarborough Fair.  The middle book is covered with a Tim Holtz paper, and the red one is covered with some random scrapbook paper from my stash.  Each one is either painted or sprayed with Mod Podge to make it more water and dirt resistant on the trails.  The ends of the fibers are also glued to keep them from fraying. If my first attempt is anything to go by they hold up pretty well too.  I hope someone enjoys these. 

We also have some new self inflating camping pads.  One of these is for Steve, and the other is a gift for Wry Me since her old pad bit the big one on our last trip.  They beat sleeping on an air mattress for warmth so you can actually sleep on cold nights.  I got one for Christmas and found these two here on Amazon.  I'm very impressed with the quality for the price.  Like my original pad, it takes a little work to inflate them fully for the first time, but afterward they really do self inflate most of the way

Path Tags and Velcro

After several attempts Iv'e finally found a good way of securing path tags to my letterboxing event bag by using Velcro. I used the little circles that you can find pretty much anywhere (Walmart, craft stores etc).

Position one side on your bag where you want it. The adhesive won't hold well so you can move it until you get to the right spot. Now you need to sew the velcro on to make it stay put - this is very important. Make sure you use a heavy needle because the adhesive style velcro is tough. Now just stick the other half of the Velcro onto the path tag and you are set. I am also sewing through the hole in the tag as a backup, but the Velcro lets me position the tag correctly regardless of the hole position.

Shower Remodel, Weekend 5

Weekend 5 is officially over as of tonight!  I plan to spend tomorrow preparing for TALE 10 (Texas Annual Letterboxing Event).  Friday night I was touching up the thinset, and decided I wanted to add a ledge to put my foot when shaving.  Thankfully we had some bricks left over from the sidewalk project long long ago...

And now I have a ledge!

 Here we are preparing to put in the drain.  We filled in the hole around the waste pipe with sand and cut the pipe to the correct height.

Notice the black plastic in the hole - it looks like it was originally made with a flower pot! 

Next we added tar paper on the concrete and installed the drain.  The drain is another Hydro Ban product made by Laticrete.  It's specifically designed to work with their paint on waterproof membrane.  It's much easier to install than conventional drains for this type of shower construction.  The black plastic parts under the drain are Quick Pitch guides which make it easier to fill in the dry pack mud at the right slope.  Basically help angle the slope so water drains rather than puddle on the shower floor.  You are supposed to use them on a nice flat level base, but our slab was far from level around the hole for the pipe.  So instead of putting in another layer, we shimmed them (using some old carving material!) and made sure we had the right slope afterward.  A little hot glue helped hold everything in place - and you won't find that in any advice from the contractors!

And here is the final picture...the mortar bed installed!  You can't see it here but the outer edges of the mortar is slightly higher than the drain.  I owe a big thank you to Steve on this for mixing and hauling all that mortar. You wouldn't think there is over 150 lbs of it in there!

Here is a video that explains the shower construction method we are using and how it gets waterproofed.  I like this method because the seal goes above the mortar and there is less material in the shower that can absorb water.  Conventional shower construction puts the seal below the mortar.  So if the shower is used several times a day there is no way the mortar can dry out.