Have you ever brainstormed an idea, out of necessity or not, only to be shut down by others who believed your thoughts/solutions would never work?

 

Mister and I have been dealing with a leaky shower door since day 1 at the new pad. Thankfully, we have a second bathroom so cleanliness hasn’t been sacrificed while avoiding our leaky shower. But I digress. Anyhoo, we tried the usual quick fixes – silicone in cracks, new shower door sweep – and nothing worked. I just couldn’t understand why the door was so leaky on one side. And then I went and got my level. Turned out the install of the danged thang was all wonky. Not only was the stone on top of the short step-through wall crooked from side-to-side, it was also crooked from front to back. So water consistently ran toward the left side of the door and out of the shower.

 

I’d like to re-do that entire bathroom someday. Some day. But not right now, and not any time soon. I absolutely do not want to devote funds to that bathroom, funds that are needed elsewhere. So when I started looking into new framed doors (thinking a new door install could address the crooked opening), I was none too happy to learn of the costs involved.

 

So I started brain-storming. And I came up with an idea. I searched on the interwebs for some sort of how-to that would guide me in executing my idea, but I found nothing. My next step involved seeking guidance from repair guys at home improvement stores. I even asked advice from a dude at a stone/tile store. Each and every person I questioned had the exact same response: that won’t work. They’d never heard of such an idea. No one had tried that before. It won’t work, lady.

 

I began doubting myself. I mean, what do I know about tile? If even one guy had sparked to my idea, I would have latched on to that. But no one supported me. No one thought my idea was valid. I very nearly abandoned my theory. But then I talked it out with Mister and we realized we were looking at a fairly cheap solution, should it work. I decided to go for it.

 

My first step was to remove the existing framed shower door. The plan was to re-use it, so this was done with care. (Actually, Mister handled this job.) My next step was to make a template of the area of the top of the short wall beneath the shower door. (This was done with regular wrapping paper.) The template was merely a rectangle, which I then took to a stone shop, trying to match the size and approximate color of the travertine and marble already in the bathroom. I was told they wouldn’t sell me such a small piece, but then I asked about some of the scraps out in their stone yard. Those were old samples, not serving any useful purpose. They were happy to sell one of those to me, thank-you-very-much. But they wouldn’t cut it, so I had to do a little work to find a stone shop willing to take on my little job. I asked at one joint, and they recommended a guy. I drove over, met the dude, and he was happy to add my small stone piece to his work pile. I was told it would be ready in a few days.

 

In the meantime, I started trying to learn about how to actually install the piece of stone. I did some consulting with another home improvement store dude, and he advised me on mastic and installation (drying times, sanded vs. non-sanded grout, grout sealer, etc.). I had all my supplies and waited for the stone to be cut.

 

When I picked up the prepared stone piece, it was beautiful. The mason had not only cut it to the dimensions of the template I’d provided, but he’d also smoothed the sides. I brought it home and it was a perfect fit. It needed only to be installed.

 

I again got out my level and started adding mastic to the existing stone on top of the short wall step-through. I built it up more on the low side, then I added the beautiful new stone piece on top. With my level, I pressed on the new short wall topper until it was level from side-to-side, with a slight slant leading into the shower (not out of the shower, as it had been). Once I was satisfied with what the level was telling me, I walked away from the whole she-bang so that the mastic could dry completely for a few days. After the adhesive had cured, I filled in the gaps with my sanded grout. (I used sanded – and not non-sanded – because the space was wide enough to warrant it.) I let that cure for a couple of days and then I sealed the grout with sealant. The low stone wall was complete.

 

After the low wall work was finished and set, it was time to re-install the shower door. Because the entire shower is stone, I wanted to re-use the existing drilled holes on the sides of the shower instead of trying to drill new ones, lest I crack the stone. But now that the low wall was a bit higher, the holes in the metal shower door frame didn’t line up. That meant drilling new holes in the metal frame. So I marked where I needed to drill and I hit it. And let me just say – I absolutely used eye protection while drilling! The last thing I needed was a metal shard in my eye. With safety checked off, I proceeded to drill my holes and brought the pieces in for an accuracy check. I did have to tweak a couple of holes a bit, and it worked out great. Once the frame attachment pieces were secured to the sides of the shower opening, I reattached the shower door, then reattached the magnetic strip on the other side. Only the magnetic strip piece didn’t quite line up. It was off by the smallest of margins, and I almost flipped out. But I didn’t. I thought about Mister’s Daddy. He wouldn’t have flipped out. He would have figured out a way to deal with the situation at hand. So that’s what I did. I went through our tools and found a metal file. I secured the slightly-too-tall metal strip to my work table (oh yeah, I’ve got that) and started filing away. It didn’t take much, and I again held the strip up to the metal frame piece. It lined up perfectly! I reattached it and slipped the plastic sweep piece on the bottom of the door. I then ran a silicon bead along all the joints, smoothed it out and that was that!

 

Almost. I still had to test the door for leaks. I kept putting it off and putting it off until I realized my fear of failure was keeping me from using that shower. So I took a deep breath and got in the danged thang. Mister was outside the shower, on leak-watch. I splashed water and I splashed water, expecting the worst. And you know what? The worst never happened. There were no leaks. Not one.

 

If I had listened to all the naysayers, I never would have tried my repair idea. If I’d succumbed to their professional opinions, I’d either still have a leaky shower door or I’d be out a pretty penny to have fixed the door in some traditional way. But this home repair taught me something: just because someone’s not tried an idea doesn’t invalidate the idea. If we don’t try things, we’ll never know if they work or not. This particular repair worked. And I’m only out a little cash. No, the stone color isn’t an exact match, but it’s mighty close. My shower door doesn’t leak and I conquered a fear of failure. And, on this occasion at least, my idea was a success! I’m still beaming!

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