THE REMODEL OF A CHIROPRACTOR’S OFFICE 

January 10th thru January 13, 2020 

Nicholas and Terri (Nana) were working on his office from mid-day Friday until late Sunday night (actually early Monday morning 3:15 a.m.), having worked late both Friday and Saturday night.  By Sunday they had taken off all of the baseboards, used Kilz on the walls of 5 rooms (exam rooms and other rooms), as well as the kitchen/break room, bathroom, and had gotten two coats of paint on all of the walls, replaced the baseboards, cleaned out the kitchen/break room, stained the cabinets – at least one time - near the back of the office next to the break room and started on the bathroom cabinet, sink and floor/tile replacement. 

The bathroom was becoming a headache.  First the cold water under the sink wouldn’t turn off via the valve, so Nicholas had turned off all the water in the building sometime late Saturday. The cold-water line still dripped a little, so he taped it “closed.” While that appeared to work, the next day (Sunday morning) there was water all over the bathroom floor.  The tile work he had done the evening before needed to be redone because of the water.    

Upon arrival early Sunday morning, they had had completed a lot of what needed to be done, to the exclusion of the bathroom sink, cabinet, and floor, with clean-up and touch up, etc., yet to be completed and some edging and maybe another coat of stain.   When they began working on the sink area, Nicholas determined that there was likely a leak within the wall to the cold water pipe because whenever he put pressure on it, pulled on it or pushed it towards the floor even slightly, he could hear what sounded like water leaking from the pipe “under pressure.” He cut a piece of the wall out to expose the leak/crack and ultimately determined, after much consideration of a quick fix, to call a plumber.  

The plumber was not able to get there until late afternoon and he ultimately fixed/replaced the pipe and the cold-water line, including the valve as it was obviously not working. At this point Nicholas and Terri could start on the actual replacement of the counter, sink and floor tile or covering.

As usual they made a few trips to Lowes for parts, final sink replacement and parts for the cabinet. He bought dry wall anchors and screws and placed four holes in the drywall to insert the anchors with screws. After doing so and placing “shims” around the sink to keep it level, as well, he pulled slightly on the unit, but it simply came free from the wall. He determined that due to the depth of the wood across the top of the cabinet and through which the screws were to be placed and into the wall to stabilize it, the screws provided for the anchors were too short. At this point, he determined that, at least in the short run, he could place at least two screws directly through the board within the cabinet intended to anchor it to the wall and into one 2X4 in the wall to make it stable. This worked sort of. The problem was in this now second try to attach the cabinet and sink to the wall and after they had placed the sink into the cabinet and sealed the entire unit to the wall, they determined that the drain from the sink could not quite reach the pipe to drain the sink. They had to start over. He removed the sink and the cabinet from the wall. Then replacing the cabinet, centering it over the drain pipe.

As you can imagine, they were pretty much worn out and it was getting late in the evening, so they ordered pizza. They had done the same thing the day before and ran into issues when each time he called a local Dominoes to place their order they would provide him with a different number claiming he was out of their delivery zone. Ultimately ordering the pizza on-line and the on-line site directed his order to the correct franchise for delivery. Being as tired and worn out as he was, he tried the same call-in method as he did the day before, rather than the on-line site, with the same frustrating result.

After a few calls, he decided to simply call another chain and called Papa John’s

and, after a few more calls, he was able to get the pizza ordered. He and Terri then returned to their efforts while they waited for the pizza. Now, it was after 8 p.m. and, again, their weariness and frustration were likely peaking. The good news, they were able to get the sink in place and connect the drainpipe during this renewed effort. They also connected the hot water line, but now had issues with the “new” cold water line, as the new “connector” was not cooperating. By this time, as I am sure we can all relate, Nicholas was probably ready to punch a few holes in the wall(s).

Simultaneous with this high level of frustration, the delivery guy from Papa’ Johns showed up. Nicholas asked Terri if she could deal with the delivery guy while he continued to contemplate what the best method might be to connect the cold water line. When Terri went out to get the pizza, Nicholas heard her ask the delivery guy, half-jokingly, if he had ever, by chance, done any plumbing work. His response was that he had helped his dad do a good bit of plumbing work when he was younger. He came back into the bathroom area to lend a hand. Hmmm. Happenstance that the Papa John’s delivery guy had some plumbing experience? In any event, when he came back and helped look things over everything suddenly came together.

The connector collar went back on the cold-water line and Nicholas was able to connect the cold water pipe. They thanked the delivery guy for his help or Karma or whatever it was and were grateful that he had also brought some unordered cookies with the pizza. The fellow left but, like any Papa John’s pizza delivery guy (right?) returned within a minute or less and suggested that if the cold water line/connection showed any leak, to go ahead and use the tape to tape up the connection and it should keep it from leaking.

After he left, Terri and Nicholas were of course grateful that it had all worked out and had joked with the delivery guy that they wished they had ordered the pizza earlier. Upon arrival of the pizza delivery the energy in the room seemed to change and  everything sort of fell into place. At that point, after the delivery guy was gone, Terri (Nana) asked Nick “you know who that was don’t you” and when he said no, she said “That was John (Papa).” I don’t think any of us doubt that it was indeed John (Papa, and not Papa John’s).

While it took them until after 3 a.m. on Monday to finish up this big project there is little doubt in my head that John (Papa) had lent a hand as he always did, and I believe that he always will. And it was just like John to not only let them suffer through the learning experience a little until he decided to step into the mix, but also to return in anticipation of a possible leak and provide a simple solution, if needed, so that they could get this job done.

I feel sure the cookies were John’s way of being sure that they knew this was no ordinary delivery man, and that he had a good laugh watching all the efforts before he arrived and fixed things. Happenstance? I don’t think so.

Thanks again John, although I am a little surprised you didn’t step up earlier and

provide some insight when Nicholas was visiting one of your favorite places in this

world for parts and hardware– Lowes.

David Schumacher

January 13, 2020