Bathroom - 04/2004

04.03.04 Hogan's Heroes
	Here's the footprints for the new footings.	The Boy knows that the footings are the most important part of the foundation. Here, he makes sure that the holes are centered properly.
	Here, The Boy is checking the depth of the footings. Foundations are important and The Boy insisted on several inspections during the process.	The footing holes are done. Nice - deep and bell-bottomed for better stability. Good holes, Ro!
	Here's a shot under the house. If you look closely you can see water stains from the leaks. Water followed the joists, down the beams and down the piers to the ground.	This was my "major" accomplishment for today. I bent a piece of sheet metal into an extension for the heater duct. I used duct tape for its intended purpose!
Today's title?... with Ro digging holes under the house and me "hiding" the dirt by spreading it around the garden and underneath the house - it reminded me of tunneling out of prison. Ro did all the hard work - this part of the project was a real backbreaker. So she's my hero. Ro commented; "serial killers have to work really hard to dig a hole under the house!" Anyway... The reason for the footings is that we are adding about 700 more pounds to the floor load in this area and even though the floor joists would hold it, they would sag considerably over time. The plan is to pour two footings, then install a beam on pier blocks.

04.04.04 Everything's Ducty
	Today's project was to connect point A to point B. We rolled out some old plastic we had to make it less dusty while we wallow under the house.	Here's the new ductwork. I soldered it all together (with lead free solder) and lowered it all by a few inches so it will clear the beam that is going in.
	These are some fossils that fell out of the old ductwork when I ripped it out.	Here's the ductwork after Ro duct taped the ducts and wrapped with fiberglass insulation.
It was imperative that we finished this project in a day lest our birdies would be without heat! We had to re-route the ductwork running to the birdroom to make clearance for the beam that is going in. Of course, no weekend would be complete without a trip to the home despot. Today's bag included batteries, concrete, a mixing tub, fiberglass, pier blocks, a torpedo level and a bull's-eye level. (more goodies!)
04.06.04 Faucet
	Just a little piddly project during the weekday. It's a Price-Pfister "Georgetown Series" Brushed Nickel Lavatory Faucet. Quick! What's half of 55 inches... Will you let Swanstone know the answer? Our sink is not centered in the sink top. It's only off by a half an inch but still, that pisses me off. Drilling the holes for the faucet was a workout, they don't call it Swanstone for nothing. I am less one drill bit now.
04.10.04 One More Day Down Under
	Here's Ro finishing off the last footing hole. They were a bit too small. It broke my heart to tell her about that.	Here's the larger and truly finished footing holes. Finishing off the holes was a "penny-worthy" project.
	A 2004 penny to be entombed in concrete. We always imbed a penny minted in the current year somewhere in the project.	Checking for level & plumb - Bulls-eye! I installed temporary handles on the pier blocks. It made it really easy to schlep them under the house.
	Here's the footings in place. Yay!	Some of Mr. Spackle's crapsmanshit and one of the major reasons for this extra beam we are putting in place. This is one of the floor joists he cut through to patch the floor.
	This is the color zone we are looking at. This shot was taken with the flash. There is piece of linoleum in the upper-left corner... pretty much the winner of the floor competition.	Here's the same color zone under natural light. The piece of wood is the same color as our new vanity. The surface behind everything is our new sink top.
Another trip to the home despot today, this time for more concrete and some dirt. Dirt was not project related, although the irony of buying dirt at the same time as hiding dirt from the footing holes kills me. We were armed with a wood sample and piece of Swanstone trim. We looked at paint chips and flooring. The flooring was pretty easy to pick out. The paint color? Not-so-much. Too many browns, too many greens. Brown is brown. Green is green. There is even a Disney line of paint colors. Don't they know "Mickey Mouse" translates to "Rinky-dink" amongst tradesmen and craftsmen? i.e. Electrician Bill: "Jeeze Bob, that was a pretty rinky-dink remodel job you did there." Carpenter Bob: "Not as Mickey Mouse as the illegal hookup you did! Bill."
04.15.04 A Taxing Day
	I managed to finesse the beam into place alone without crunching anything. Just some imaginative use of a band clamp and some bar clamps hold it in place.	Here's the beam nailed into place. For now the house is holding up the beam.
	Now the beam is holding up the house. I cut the posts a little long and sledged them into place.	No project is complete until The Boy gives it the once over.
Not bad for a little weekday project. The beam is now in place. I could feel the difference in the stiffness of the floor. Just like tightening up a guitar string. This floor will be able to hold up a tub made of depleted uranium and it still won't sag. Today's special note: I found a new lumberyard that is closer than home depot. It's Santa Clara Lumber. I like shopping the local stores. This place is OK, but they don't let you into the back where all the wood is stored. Insurance crybabies, I'm sure. But they won't get much biz from me unless I get to pick out my lumber.
04.17.04 The Heat's On
	Today I installed the other heat register and hooked it up.	Then Ro wrapped both of the new ducts with fiberglass and Mylar film.
Not a major accomplishment for a Saturday. But we brought six of our birdies to the vet for checkups and trims. That trip to the vet took a lot out of us. (and the birdies) We'll make up for it tomorrow.
04.18.04 OverKill
	We installed a bunch more new wood today. The little red dots show the new stuff.	Here's a big chunk of floor installed. I am using my laser level as a laser line to guide my nailing. The photo is a little dark to show the laser beam.
	Here's the heater duct and toilet flange "practicing" to be installed.	Ro with the The Boy and the nail gun. Ro likes the nail gun. It can kill zombies.
The old 2x6 joists are now sistered together with some new 2x6's and the span is only about 4 feet between the 4x6 beams. With all the new wood we installed today, there is no way this floor will sag. The other section of floor is still open to allow for the "readjustment" of the plumbing. It's nice not having to straddle the floor joists anymore and there are enough temporary planks leftover to completely close off the house from the under-the-house.
04.19.04 - 04.25.04 A Slow Week
	This is a view before the next layer of floor goes in. Although it's far superior to the "original" floor, it's still too patchwork for me.	Here's the next layer of floor installed. This part of the subfloor is finished! Even though all this work will be invisible, it gives me piece of mind to know that I covered all the seams.
	Another traditional penny. This one is laminated between the layers of subfloor.	The last bit of blocking is done and I cut out the last piece of subfloor (layer 1) and fitted it. It has not been nailed in yet.
This second layer of subfloor covers all the seams between the old and new subfloor, it brings the bathroom floor almost level to the hallway floor and it provides a tad bit more strength overall. I wanted to install this as one big sheet to minimize the number of seams. This meant schlepping the sheet of plywood for several trips to the garage and back to trim it to just the right size. Since it was such a tight fit, it was quite a project to get it into place. It had to be maneuvered around the doorknob and spigots, wedged under the drywall and around the door casing. And we had to do it twice! Once to make sure it fit OK and then once it fit, it had to come up one more time so we could apply construction adhesive.

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This page was last updated Saturday, 23. May 2009 02:35:13 PM -0500