Bathroom - 03/2004

03.06.04 The Demolition Day 1

Here's the Boy inspecting the day's work.

The Boy is not too pleased with the existing plumbing.

This is the cause for Boy's concern. It's going to be difficult to remove this. (It wasn't that bad after all.)

Here's another shot of the tearout.

03.07.04 The Demolition Day 2

This is where the toilet used to be. I was hoping not to have to replace the sub-floor but at this point, it is unavoidable.

The tile surrounding the tub is all bashed up so Ro can remove it.

We removed the old linoleum and underlayment to reveal more patchwork repairs.

Here, the tile has been removed.

The tub is removed. It was a steel tub so it wasn't too heavy. But it was still quite a workout.

Disturbing. We found out that a rat had taken up residence inside the cavity behind the tub.

We also went to the home despot and bought more supplies:

	Pegasus "Series 1000" Brushed Nickel Tub & Shower Valve
	Price-Pfister "Georgetown Series" Brushed Nickel Lavatory Faucet

03.12.04 Something Constructive Today

Today I cut out the opening for an exhaust fan and then installed the fan housing. Here's the inside view.

By the time I got this task done, it was too hot in the attic to continue working. Here's the attic view.

I made yet another trip to the home despot today and picked up some lumber, three recessed light fixtures, and a miscellany of electrical parts.

03.13.04 Return to Destruction

We started removing the nasty subfloor today. The doofus patchwork of repairs is worse than we thought.

Even the boy thinks it's a bad repair job!

A big chunk of subfloor has been removed. Those boards laying there are temporary. Ro did a big cleanup too.

I was going to start framing the floor joists for the new subfloor. But my framing nailer needs an overhaul. Here it is, in pieces.

03.14.04 Junkpile Day

This is our junk pile 2004. Today is our last chance to dispose of any large nasty stuff.

Meanwhile Ro worked in the garden making "Frank's Corner" all pretty. It hasn't been cleaned in 8 years.

I took a measurement and compared to the specs for the new tub. Shit! The photo says it all. Time to call a plumber.

I removed and tossed the old heater vent & duct and also the old repairs blocking the way of the new beams.

Here, we removed more drywall to remove more doofus patches and to install the shower plumbing.

Here's another shot of the drywall removal after Ro's cleaning has been applied.

We also made yet another run to home despot. We picked up more lumber, underlayment, drywall, plywood, and the oil for my framing nailer. In addition to working on the bathroom, we cleaned a big pile of crap from the back yard and threw it into the street.

03.15.04 - 03.18.04 Puttering During the Weekdays

Not a lot of time during the week... but I did manage to get the holes cut and two can lights installed. One more to go.

The can lights are installed and the old light fixture has been removed. The lights are temporarily hooked-up until it's time to rewire the room.

The lights took a long time to install for three reasons: 1. I did it during the weekdays which leaves very little time after work. 2. There was a framing member right where the center light is. (No, I could not simply scoot the light over because then it wouldn't be in the exact center of the soffit.) It had to be cut out and the structure had to be re-framed. 3. It's really hot up in the attic! The lights are laid out so that left and center end up on either side of a big mirror. The one on the right is directly above the toilet for improved reading light.

03.19.04 Blocks

Today I installed some blocking to hold up the seams between the old and new subfloor. The little red dots indicate the new wood.

Here's more blocking. It took most of the day due to each piece being a custom fit. Each one had to be trimmed, notched, fanagled, coerced and nudged into place.

Today, for a change of pace, I went to Orchard Supply to get some supplies: goggles, masks, hoods, and earplugs. I was hoping to get some of the stuff I could not find at the home despot. Unfortunately, they did not have the stuff I need either. (In case you are wondering, We need a cast-iron closet flange, some 5 inch heater duct, a 5 inch heater register and some DRY 2x6x8's. Since they didn't have what I needed, I treated myself to some new tools. A matching screwdriver set and a "Bucket Boss" (You can see the Bucket Boss in the picture on the left.)

This day was also notable for it was the first venture underneath the house. Eccch! No, not really. It wasn't as bad as I thought. I found that standing on the dirt underneath the house while working is much easier than balancing on the temporary floorboards. Though it does make me feel quite short.

03.20.04 Even the best laid plans...

I thought that today's project would take half the day at most. It is not turning out that way. One good thing is that Ro got me a birthday present. A shop vac! It's very useful.

Those two metal boxes are where I needed to splice out two circuits. The lighting circuit and a 20 amp general circuit.

I was not planning on having to tear out this big chunk of wall. But things are not always as they seem. Ro got a big sense of gratification when she pulled out a section from here.

The bathroom remodeling spilled into the hallway today. I needed to make a splice in a power line, so why not add a socket while I'm at it!?

Guess where we went today? If you guessed home despot, you'd be right. We picked up some heater duct, a heater register and grille, some sheet metal, some sheet metal tools and of course, the shop vac!

The source of the delay on today's project was my assumption that a wire going to the old light switch was a feeder line and not a load line. This turned out to be wrong and laid waste to my entire wiring plan. It turns out there were two separate circuits feeding one little dual-gang box. I pondered out the new wiring plan which included having to tear out the wall to gain access to the feeder wire. It wasn't long enough to reach the new box, so I spliced it in the hallway as shown. When it's all finished, there will be a rocker switch for the fan, a dimmer for the fan light in one box and a GFCI receptacle and a dimmer for the can lights in another box. I wanted to do a 3 or 4 gang box but there's no room.

03.21.04 Back on track

Here's the wall from yesterday. Now it's all patched up and rewired. The hallway socket is also wired up.

Here's The Boy guarding the tools.

First thing this morning, I was up in the attic routing the cables for the exhaust fan. Ro was right there handing tools up to the attic and taking stuff from me as I handed it down. As usual, The Boy was protecting the ladder from unauthorized usage. Once that was done, I moved down to the bathroom and completed the wall wiring. The can lights are now functioning on the correct circuit, protected by a GFCI.

Note to self: The white wire with black tape is the switched hot for the fan-light. The red wire is for the fan motor. The black wire is the hot line.

03.24.04 Fan Works!

Today, I wired up the exhaust fan. It was a BIG PAIN IN THE ASS!

These are the switches for the fan & light. A night-light is built-in to the switch and the dimmer has a little LED in it. (How could I resist.)

Someone needs to tell Nutone that when you need to splice 12 wires together, that YOU NEED MORE THAN TWO CUBIC INCHES in which to do so. Anyway, the exhaust fan is exhausting and it also has a built-in light and motion activated night-light. The dimmer switch is a touch-panel type that has a slow ramp up to the last brightness when you turn it on, and a slow ramp to darkness when you turn it off. Neat. So the grand total for illumination in this little bathroom is (3) 45 watt floodlights in cans, a 60 watt light in the fan, a 7 watt light in the fan, a neon light in the fan-switch and an LED in the fan-light dimmer.

Dream Baths called yesterday and told us all the stuff we ordered is ready to be picked up. We are SO not ready.

03.26.04 Birthday Project

Here's The Boy on his way to ponder the stupid hole in the floor.

The only way to fix a stupid hole in the floor is to make it bigger.

Then the blocking goes in... The blocking differentiates a stupid hole from a smart hole. (Red dots show the new wood. Pipes! Pipes everywhere!

The Boy does not like the big, smart hole in the floor.

03.27.04 Pickup in the Pickup

Here's the vanity and sink top sitting in the living room.

In another corner of the living room, we have the 200 pound glass doors.

Here's the toilet still in boxes... in the living room.

Here's a close-up of the Swanstone. The color is called "Bermuda Sand"

Today's project was to pick up our stuff from Dream Baths. Everything was extremely heavy. Loading and unloading the truck, (two trips) and schlepping all the stuff into the house further convinces me that hiring someone to install the bathtub is the right plan. We did not have to pick up the bathtub, we'll sync schedules with the plumber and the delivery guys to get this to happen at the same time. We are sore and that's all for today.

03.28.04 No room to work.

This is the plan for today. I measured thrice and cut twice. I always go a little large and then trim to size.

Here's the first piece of subfloor to go in. Now there's some working space in here.

The Boy is somewhat uncomfortable on the new floor. And he seems to miss the stupid hole in the floor.

The project drew first blood today... Just a little sliver is all.

It was very difficult working in the room when there was no floor at all. Especially when you'd open the door and realize that first step could be a real doozie. All I wanted to get done today was to cut out the odd shaped piece of plywood and get it installed. Not a big project, bit I'm still sore from yesterday. It's held down with subfloor adhesive and ring shank nails. Hopefully no more squeaking. The new wood sure makes the old wood look ugly. I may cover the entire room with another layer of plywood to cover up all the ugly.

Go to "The Bathroom April 2004"

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