It All started with
Clider. Last year he was throwing away a buffet top that had been in
his basement for years and was covered in layers of paint and grime. I
thought it would be perfect for my Sweetie, she loves layers of paint
and grime, so I saved it from the dump and brought it home to my shed.
After months of seeing this thing every time I mowed the lawn I began
thinking about the possibilities it had beyond holding yarn and sewing
‘notions’. Maybe, I thought, it would be perfect for a bathroom vanity
cabinet to put over the top of a converted dresser, you know, like they
do on HGTV. And so began The Bathroom Project.
Hunting
season ended with a whimper. Clider was clearly the ‘Expert’ and I was
low on motivation to ski because if I’m skiing, I’m not getting paid.
So with the mountain closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays I started to
refinish and repurpose the topper. Soon after I bought an old dresser
from the Goodwill and turned it into a sink and storage center with the
topper making the system complete. Along the way Fred G. heard about my
project and asks why he has not been invited to help, after all, the
two of us always are there to complicate each others projects, what else
are best friends for. I expand my plans to include a complete bathroom
makeover with more square footage from tearing down the TV room closet
and the hallway linen cabinet. What could go wrong? Right?
The
weeks before Fred Gs vacation I tore out the TV room closet and
replaced it with a new wall. The linen cabinet was removed and now
those extra square feet were created out of those spaces, and the far
bathroom wall came down as well. That wall contained the classy pink
kitchen sink and kitchen faucet that served as our bathroom vanity. It
was all held together by a flimsy cabinet topped with a hunk of old
kitchen counter. Even with the wall gone and random plumbing and
venting hardware sticking out of the floor it looked better than
before. With only the old nasty cast iron tub and the toilet in place
it was time to tear down the outside walls and make the bathroom ‘al
fresco’ to the rest of the house. At this point I’m sure my Sweetie
started to question my decision but little did she know the best was yet
to come.
Fred G
arrives and immediately we set to work by tearing out the tub and
remaining walls, the flooring and the tile were next and a trip to the
dump left the truck empty and ready to make the voyage to the Home Depot
for all the things we needed. We drank well that night with high hopes
and great expectations of the ease of the project to come. The next
morning at the Depot Al the plumbing specialist hooked us up with all
the things we needed to make the dream come true, my dream was to clear
my head and be sure I didn’t forget anything, we left heavy with stuff.
Next on the agenda was the floor containing the plumbing and drain
lines from the old sink that now needed to be relocated 3 feet further
forward. No big deal in a regular home, but we live in a cabin made of
logs, with a floor made of cement. The first blade on the rented
concrete saw did little work and ground down easily so the only option
was the diamond tipped blade with usage and cost measured by a
micrometer. Lots of noise and dust accompanied our slow progress
grinding through the 6 inches of burly 1950’s concrete until we had
created a channel to the far wall and a square hole for the new bathtub
drain. I contemplated buying a big sledgehammer for the job of breaking
up the floor but the former ‘Expert’ and co-creator of ‘The New
Standard’ (H7HT blog post circa 2002, look it up) convinced me to rent
the tool that goes between roto-hammer and jackhammer in the hammer
lineage. This 77 pound monster shook the whole foundation of the house
as it slowly broke out the concrete of the floor into small chunks that
Fred G pulled out one by one. We gently exposed the galvanized pipe and
drain that sat in the gravel layer under the main concrete slab. I was
a nervous wreck the whole time, The Whole Time!, because one small
mistake could spell disaster. Did I mention we don’t really know what
we’re doing?
The
next day the water went off for good. We planned well the night before
by eating Chinese food and drinking wikki and debating the merits of
Fred’s new version of Backgammon that he created without any input from
me, how good could it be? So, with the water off and all our plans in
place, I cut through the pipes with a sawsall. Next we cut the massive
cast iron drain pipe but had to go buy a blade called ‘The Torch’
because that cast iron stuff is tough! Now with all the pipes out and
our plans in place we started to put everything back together. It went
slowly. Fred worked on finishing the electric installation and I worked
the tub plumbing. Al at Home Depot had sold us these connections for
galvanized to galvanized piping that used a rubber washer and plastic
housing that screw together and hold the pressure between the two
disconnected pipes, we were using 6 of them. The time had come to turn
the water back on and check for leaks, tighten the system, and continue
with the job of getting the tub and shower in. The first one of Al’s
plastic pieces of shit blew immediately, spraying water all over the
furnace and water heater as well as the walls and floor. Fred blamed
the problem on incorrect installation (me) and reconfigured the plastic
joiner. I went to the street to turn the water on again. The next one
blew in seconds. Since it was another one of my connections Fred again
corrected my workmanship. The third joiner never had a chance to blow
as the yelling to “TURN IT OFF” reached me immediately. Did I mention I
was stressed? At this point Fred worked on securing all the pipes and
sent me to put the tub drain together. I don’t know how often you put
together a tub, but this is only my 2nd one in 15 years.
Just some advice though, tub drains come from the back pipe that vents,
not the spot of the actual drain on the base of the tub, not directly
over the hole you had to jackhammer in the cement floor, but about 4
inches behind that hole. Add overwhelming rage to my growing stress.
Time to rethink. |
| Extra, just in case |
Being
the geniuses we are (or maybe I should take this blame) that I am, I
cut the galvanized straight through. In a perfect world we would have
decoupled the pipes at the threaded ends and worked from there, but when
pipes run under a concrete slab with no access you don’t really have
that option. That night we watched Youtube videos of people threading
pipes. They all started with a professional plumber putting the pipe in
a large American Made vise. The torque generated by the threaders
meant it would be nearly impossible to thread the pipes in place and we
had little idea of what to do. The next day after looking at pipe
threading options at the rental store and the local ACE hardware I
decided the only thing to do was call a professional. We worked out a
system to reroute the tub drain and Fred completed the sink drain. His
vacation wearing down and his calm demeanor likely slipping away, he
left for home and the rest of his vacation time. He also needed a
shower. We all did. I’m happy to report that upon his return he texted
me that he let the water run in his sink till it was “real cold” before
filling his ice tray, what a guy. It would be several more days before
we had that option at the cabin.
4
days later the plumber showed up. I had to get back to work and they
charge lots of dollars for weekend visits so we waited, without any
running water, until Tuesday. (At this point I have to give a huge
thanks to Clider. Upon seeing the situation we were in he insisted that
my Sweetie and I shower in his fully functional bathroom facilities. I
even got a shave! He loaned us a big water jug and me some pipe
wrenches which came in handy later, showed me his massive pex water
system and reassured me that it was no picnic for him to have to plumb
his home either.) I had been dumping Liquid Wrench on the crusty
galvanized pipes of the shower where a threaded joint was accessible and
using the pipe wrench was able to get them free. I set those up and
bought a new shower assembly to go in. When the plumber showed up his
solution for the cut pipes was to superheat a piece of plastic line and
slide it over the galvanized. While it cooled he used two threaded
collars in opposite directions to ‘strangle’ the plastic pipe and as it
cooled it shrunk around the ole pipe. I turned the water on and it
held. His cost was only $80 and I was happy to pay it. I did however
wait nervously for the next 3 days for the fix to blow up and I’m still
somewhat scared to bury it altogether.
With the water on but still no
tub and shower in the bathroom I spent my Thursday putting the shower
together. The reconfigured and elevated tub drain seemed to work and
all the plumbing was holding when the tub went in. I spent a good
amount of time moving some wall structure to make the shower walls fit
properly and after I drilled and cut the holes for the tub fixtures I
put them together only to realize that I cut holes in the wrong side.
Did I mention I’ve got some stress issues? That night I had only my 2nd shower in 10 days. The water was lukewarm.
