Well That Escalated Quickly

Daniel644

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Feb 27, 2015
573
As some of you may remember I have been SLOWLY working on a MASSIVE, complete renovation of the lower level of the house Friday night I plumbed in the drain for the new Kitchens sink, well the under the sink portion, still gotta run it over to the sump pump and connect to the Vent stack, so to get it "rigged" up I ran a piece of pipe through the wall because the bathtub was on the other side of the wall and just had the sink draining into it, then I decided to remove a section of drywall that should NEVER have been installed (the bathroom was drywalled BEFORE the Tub was installed) and that left little support for the tub but gave me access to the drain to disconnect the tub, so I pulled the tub out, cleared out the remaining bits of drywall behind the tub, then got to looking at things and decided to pursue the idea of a larger tub (or maybe going full on shower) to that end I had to solve 1 MAJOR issue, the centerline of the toilet was 12-13 inches from the edge of the tub (WAY TO CLOSE, code minimum is like 15" and recommended at 18"), so I get to checking some dimensions in the room where my Fridge is and other things and I come up with that I can move the wall 10" giving me room for a FULL SIZE tub (not this 14" tall 60x30 piece of crap kiddie tub) and so OUT GOES THE WALL. no longer is this a kids bathroom (toilet will be replaced with a taller one when I do the Tile work and the pedestal sink will be replaced with a Vanity with a Vessel Sink.

Next weekend we build the new wall and get working on moving the plumbing to a new location to suit whichever option I go with.
 

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Daniel644

Original poster
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Feb 27, 2015
573
got my brother in law to let me borrow the jackhammer from work for the weekend, making some progress
 

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Daniel644

Original poster
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Feb 27, 2015
573
progress update, cutoff the P-trap from the old tub location, extended the line and created the new drain and vent pipe for the kitchen sink that is on the other side of the wall (up next to where the P trap is in the photos), feels like the sink isn't getting a very good vent in terms of water flow when the other side of the sink is plugged shut so will likely need to do one of those Air Admittance Valves under the sink to increase the venting, next step is to shutoff the water to the house for a few hours to cut out the old Shower/Tub Filler valve setup and connect those water supply lines to the Kitchen sink (will run new lines in the new location for the shower).
 
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Daniel644

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Feb 27, 2015
573
I've decided to expand this thread to be a general log of the work i've done hoping this will keep me more motivated to keep making progress on everything. we are working on refinancing so i've stepped up and started a push, had my brother up over the weekend and we wrapped up the vital points of the electrical rework and I got several sheets of drywall up on the ceiling and went ahead and hung the chandelier in the living room.
 

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littleblazer

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Jul 6, 2014
9,265
Looking good.
 

Daniel644

Original poster
Member
Feb 27, 2015
573
talked to my brother in law (the one that I was able to use the jackhammer from his work) who talked to his boss, to plumb in the center drain shower properly I needed to remove some more concrete, so we had a whole already I was able to simply dig out under the slab and beat the shit out the slab with a sledge hammer and about 2-3 hours of digging and sledging later and the hole is now big enough to route the plumbing so the drain can go straight toward the yet to be built wall so a vent can be run u inside that wall to tie into the existing vent and then from there tie into the existing main drain line I uncovered.
 

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Sparky

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Dec 4, 2011
12,927
Slab house huh? I honestly never want a slab house - at least for the main part where all the plumbing and such is - precisely for this reason. Way too much work for me!
 

HARDTRAILZ

Moderator
Nov 18, 2011
49,665
Plumbing a bath through concrete is oh so much fun! When I added one to my basement I used a concrete saw to cut the trenches. Lot of dust but I cant imagine using a jackhammer indoors.
 

Bow_Tied

Member
Dec 21, 2014
453
London, ON
When I plan renovations I come up with a budget and schedule that seem reasonable. Then I doublet the budget arbitrarily without adding anything to the plan. Then I triple the time required for the schedule. That way I am only somewhat over budget and late on the schedule. :biggrin:
 

Daniel644

Original poster
Member
Feb 27, 2015
573
Slab house huh? I honestly never want a slab house - at least for the main part where all the plumbing and such is - precisely for this reason. Way too much work for me!

Basement Reno into a full on "in-law suite" as they call it in real estate, where before it was a bedroom, a not to code bathroom (tub 12" from center of toilet) with kid sized fixtures and a large open room that I have partially divided into 2 making the living room and kitchen.

Plumbing a bath through concrete is oh so much fun! When I added one to my basement I used a concrete saw to cut the trenches. Lot of dust but I cant imagine using a jackhammer indoors.

far to much dust for a space being actively lived in using a concrete saw, plus they didn't have one and I didn't want to pay to rent one. the jackhammer was one of those Electric models which is a lot better for indoor use, made quick work of the initial hole, only took like a few hours to do that first hole.


When I plan renovations I come up with a budget and schedule that seem reasonable. Then I doublet the budget arbitrarily without adding anything to the plan. Then I triple the time required for the schedule. That way I am only somewhat over budget and late on the schedule. :biggrin:

timeline is SO out the window, i've accepted it will be done when it is done, my budget was insanely tight starting out and I expanded my scope plans a few times, initially I was just gonna tile around the tub instead of the crap tub surround but as I pulled back the layers and saw how improperly installed it was (drywall put on the walls before the tub was set in place) I decided to rip it out and once I did that I decided to go full tile shower so I will end up spending how ever much I end up spending, I haven't added up the number in a LONG time, I've got a excel spreadsheet to plug in numbers to for tracking costs so I keep all my receipts for stuff, I know I went a few hundred over on the Dishwasher/Stove budget but it was a really good deal on the ones I got so it was worth it, i've still got like ALL the tile and tile related stuff to buy and some more framing materials for the rest of the ceiling but ultimately whats going to blow the budget out the window is what kind of tile/stone I use on the wall the TV/Fireplace is on and at some point in the future the backsplash tile/stone I will eventually do when I have the money for nicer countertops then these FREE ones my sister left behind when we bought the house from her.
 

Daniel644

Original poster
Member
Feb 27, 2015
573
Dig a hole, Fill it up.
 

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xavierny25

Member
Mar 16, 2014
6,323
Staten Island, N.Y
I would of piped that a little differently. Seem like the the pitch in draining is toward the bottom of the second picture. So any rushing water through the main would be pushed toward the tub drain. I may be wrong just looks odd. Or if I'm correct I'd put a check valve for the tub drain just in case. Nice work other wise.:2thumbsup:
 

Daniel644

Original poster
Member
Feb 27, 2015
573
I would of piped that a little differently. Seem like the the pitch in draining is toward the bottom of the second picture. So any rushing water through the main would be pushed toward the tub drain. I may be wrong just looks odd. Or if I'm correct I'd put a check valve for the tub drain just in case. Nice work other wise.:2thumbsup:


it's fine, the angles look odd from this angle but I assure you the pitch is good (the end of pipe right before the trap is probably the better part of an inch higher then the pipe at the Wye), if anything it has to much pitch as a test I ran the bathroom sink after getting the Wye installed at the side of the ejector pit (top left on the first photo) before attaching any other piping and no water came out the OPEN 2" hole, the basic piping layout idea (I made a few tweaks as I was able to get the wye closer to the tank then first thought possible) came from my Brother Inlaw after he talked to his boss (they are plumbers by trade with his boss having over 20 years experience) the layout was mainly determined by the need to have a vent pipe come up in the new wall i'm building that was in the path of water travel between the drain and the wye so when you flush the toilet it wouldn't suck the shower trap dry.

it's easy enough to check, I didn't glue the cap on the vent pipe so when I get home I can flush the toilet and look and see if any water comes back up to the vent pipe location.

Edit: @xavierny25 definitely no flow back, there is a small amount of shavings at the bottom of the fitting where the vent pipe is in the wall, I turned on the kitchen sink, the bathroom sink and flushed the toilet all while looking down the vent pipe and not a drop of water.
 
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Daniel644

Original poster
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Feb 27, 2015
573
I would of piped that a little differently. Seem like the the pitch in draining is toward the bottom of the second picture. So any rushing water through the main would be pushed toward the tub drain. I may be wrong just looks odd. Or if I'm correct I'd put a check valve for the tub drain just in case. Nice work other wise.:2thumbsup:

further testing before pouring concrete, I just dumped a couple gallons down the new drain and it took it as fast as I could dump it in, even with the cap on the vent. Also even leaving the cap on the vent didn't result in flushing the toilet sucking the trap dry, the water in the trap did bob up and down about an inch, not near enough to drain the trap.
 

Daniel644

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Feb 27, 2015
573
so I made the drive down to Floor & Decor to look for shower tile, but everything I liked for the shower was way to expensive, but I did pick out my floor tile for the kitchen and bathroom floors, bought it and loaded all 14 cases (30 Kilograms each, 926 pounds total) in the backseat and hauled it back up here with the ass end of the Trailblazer riding an inch or so low.

here are some pictures of it against the Carbonized Bambo floors that will be in the living room and the bambo against the existing carpet in the bedroom.
 

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Daniel644

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Feb 27, 2015
573
some other progress i've made, i've decided to semi close in the ejector pit to help muffle some of the noise it makes so I built a second wall on the side of the shelves that where partially floating shelves before that the microwave and toaster oven sit on then once I had that in place I ran a header over the opening (still need to frame in the wall above the header) and built another 2x4 shelf over the fridge for even more storage.
 

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Daniel644

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Feb 27, 2015
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more progress, went down to Ikea last Sunday and made my final decision of the vanity cabinet, once I got it home and assembled I realized the upper drawer was a bit different then I expected so I had to rethink the plans for the plumbing which necessitated removing the drywall, pulling the toilet to get the drywall out and adding some blocking to the framing, I know it's not the best framing job, but I had to work around a lot of existing plumbing and crap and get blocking for the oddball spacing of the mounts for the Ikea unit, then I had to rework some of the plumbing because the drain coming out of the wall stuck out to far (coming from the wall the 1.5" pipe came out then had a threaded adapter on it instead of getting the threaded adapter that fit into the sanitary tee in the wall directly, I had to cut out the old T and put in a new one with the other fitting so it would fit as tight as possible, all said and done it's all in and the drawers close.

for now i'm using a shelf leftover from my kitchen cabinets for a countertop until I can get the countertop I want.
 

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Redbeard

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Jan 26, 2013
3,466
I like that the p-trap is next to the wall and not in the middle of the cabinet for everything to hit. I'll need to remember this.
 

Daniel644

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Feb 27, 2015
573
I like that the p-trap is next to the wall and not in the middle of the cabinet for everything to hit. I'll need to remember this.
it's a requirement for sinks to work with how the drawers are setup. It allows you to have almost full depth drawers across the whole cabinet instead of having a dead panel under the sink, it also allows you to position the vessel sink anywhere you want it to go.
 

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Daniel644

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Feb 27, 2015
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More Escalation, so I was working on cutting out a section of poorly done drywall so I could relocate the bathroom vanity outlet and when I reached over the top edge of the drywall I felt the top of what appeared to be a header, some drywall demo later and sure enough there is a 5 foot wide rough opening framed (that is partially split by the bathroom wall, note the gang of studs reveiled in the second photo) so now I know I can easily add a Window to the bathroom without needing to build a temporary supporting wall so I can install a header. No way can I pass up the chance for more natural light.
 

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Daniel644

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Feb 27, 2015
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another update, while we sort out a window my new Vanity Lights came in, I temporarily set the mirror in the approximate location (it's an inch or 2 high) just to snap a few quick photos. some may ask why the lights are so very very bright (short answer, non-dimmable, LOL) more precisely that room is gonna be super dark because baring simply not liking them in person my plans are to buy this tile https://www.flooranddecor.com/porcelain-tile/opal-black-hexagon-porcelain-tile-100505361.html to use for the shower walls and maybe even bringing the one wall out so the whole wall behind the vanity and toilet is a solid tile wall. All that black will need some bright lighting.
 

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Matt

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Dec 2, 2011
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I assume you're going to have some overhead lighting as well.
 

Daniel644

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Feb 27, 2015
573
Alright, got 2 can lights in, rewired the 2 switch box into a 3 switch box, moved the exhaust fan/light combo to over the shower area, framed in the rough opening for the window, caulked all the joints in the sheathing and studs in the area where I removed insulation to frame the window (bringing that small area up to the modern air sealing requirements for my state) and last but not least on thanksgiving day the Lowes website was running a 15% rebate offer on all purchases, I stacked that with a 10% off coupon code I got for like 2 bucks off a website i've used several times since lowes caught onto people figured out how there old random code generation system worked, so effectively 20-25% off and so I bought a new toilet, that arrived today so I picked it up after I left work and finally got it in and leak free (had a pair of leaks the first time I hooked up the water), but it's looking good now and it's much taller seat height, like the rim of the bowl is the height of the closed lid on the old one (rim height to rim height is like an inch and a half different, which may not sound like much but lower your chair that much and you will see the difference).

My cell battery is about to die, I'll edit this to add other pictures later, for now here is the toilet to compare to the old one from previous pictures.
 

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Daniel644

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Feb 27, 2015
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alright here are the pictures from last weekend (note the blocks a few inches below the bottom of the window rough opening) and what I got done this weekend. since last weekend I removed the bathroom door and it's jamb, added 2 more studs and shifted the entire rough opening over 3 inches (so it's not so tight to the corner) which involved removing the header, cutting/removing sections of drywall, cutting the nails holding the studs on one side of the door frame and shifting everything 3 inches, the fool that installed that door jamb used a mix of finishing nails, FRAMING nails and DRYWALL SCREWS so the jamb came out in pieces, a new jamb will need to be sourced. I got several sections of drywall hung (including drywalling over the window area for now) and mounted the custom built towel bar to that blocking I mentioned before, it is positioned so when the window is installed it will be centered on the window.
 

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Daniel644

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Feb 27, 2015
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last year or so I took one of the 8" HVAC ducts that was running into the living room upstairs and split it to 2 6" ducts, one running to the vent for upstairs and the other dumping into the basement (since the basement didn't have enough duct runs coming into it). Well I decided to fully take over that duct for the basement (since i'm adding a window to the bathroom) and so I relocated the duct to dump into the bathroom in the basement and shoved a 2x6 up against the bottom of the subfloor above, screwed it in place, filled the cutout in the subfloor with a piece of MDF I cut to size and then removed the piece of laminate flooring that was cut for the original vent hole and installed a new piece of flooring, so upstairs looks like there was never a vent there. (Picture with the register sitting on the floor is for reference of where the vent was before installing the new floorboard.)
 

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Daniel644

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Feb 27, 2015
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I've got some updates in picture form when I have more time, but right now i'm playing with an idea of swapping the cabinet doors out for some other ones, in the attached picture the top drawer is whats on the cabinets now and the bottom drawer is one from Ikea (same basic skinned particle board construction method), I carefully and methodically drilled out holes to match the size and locations for the mounting for these cabinets since the Ikea mount is different, if I do do the swap i'm gonna also change the door pulls the pulls used in the third photo here https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40322782/

Also keep in mind the countertop is not the final countertop, it was FREE (as my sister didn't want to move it to her new house) so I used it to have something, if I do the door swap I'm thinking Butcher block, if I keep the darker doors i'm thinking like some kind of white stone or dyed white concrete or something like that, either way it WILL waterfall edge down to the ground to hide the side of the cabinet.

I also placed several pieces of the tile that will be in the kitchen next to it for reference.

thoughts?
 

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Daniel644

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Feb 27, 2015
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All right, here are a few other pictures, I rebuilt the wall for the entertainment center (where the PC is), did some conduit in the walls between the 3 shelves (built the shelves), reworked the electrical wire for the outlet (it's mounted to the bottom of the bottom shelf), I also added a second outlet at the middle shelf (which will be hidden behind the DVD's that will go there) and the conduit is then used to route the power wires for the streaming boxes and all that up to the top shelf and so when all is said and done most of the wiring will be hidden behind removable panels (bottoms of the shelves) so they accessible for swapping out components (bit questionable on the code legalities of that, but don't care). the Hole Saw for my cable pass troughs (to come out of the top of the shelves with the wires hidden inside the shelves) is due in this week so I will get the final cable routing done this weekend and will tidy up the cabling till I get to the point of installing the bottoms of the shelves (which won't be done till after the walls are finished out). There is also a conduit that goes up into the ceiling from the top shelf that I can access from the drop ceiling on the other side that will allow for any networking upgrades.

also attached is a photo of the window in the bathroom in which you can see the sink I finally settled on as the closest match to the faucets glass piece and a now fully functional STOVE, after like 2 years or more of cooking off a hot plate I ran the gas line and did the conversion (the stoves ship setup for NG but come with the parts to convert to Propane which is what we have).
 

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Daniel644

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Feb 27, 2015
573
well i need to get some cable ties that can be screwed down to clean up the inside of the shelf and I had to cut and solder in an extension for the wifi routers DC power wire to make the full run but finally all the devices are in place with the DVD's being used to hide the outlet and power strip., I also need to mount the surge protector the computer tower is plugged into up on the bottom of the main "desk" shelf.
 

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Daniel644

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Feb 27, 2015
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Phase 1 of Garage Storage Upgrade, 10 ft wide, 27 inches deep, the MDF sheets below will be cut to create the platform next weekend (weather permitting).
 

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Daniel644

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Feb 27, 2015
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Garage Storage Phase 2 Complete. Phase 3 is building some roll around carts by building 2 more of the racks you see in the one picture and putting casters on them, these will slot in underneath the suspended storage area from phase 1.
 

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Daniel644

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Feb 27, 2015
573
Does Property of Bimbo Bakeries USA charge much to rent those shelves?
my dad gets them from his work they are part of like some deliveries that come in once a week or something and the people in charge let him have them, he also can get the plastic milk crates.

That said you could easily swap them for sheets of plywood and be just as good.
 
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Mooseman

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Dec 4, 2011
25,257
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A wire brush on a drill would take care of that :biggrin:
 
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