TOPIC: Bathroom Project

I had to smash the tub into pieces to get it out. I'm doing the whole room but I'm still planning. Tub was original 1940's. Porcelain was totally shot. I'm putting a new high rise toilet in too. The plumbing is old too. Leaks pop up often. The impurities of the old copper pipe is coming out and causes a small dripping leak. At present I have several. Most never drip onto the floor they are so slow but they are there. I have a bunch of work to do.

....on the plus side, you don't have to take out tons of dusty lath and plaster like I do when I renovate anything.

Looks like fun! Good luck.

like that cub cadet. been looking at the 19hp at home depot. but do you need 19hp to cut a lawn? seems like overkill. ron

robert i still have work to finish on our room/porch addition,3 years later,i hope your faster than me,lol.
ron we cut our yard with a 20 hp mower,but you saw our yard,lol,john

john, why is so much hp needed. i remember my father cutting a 2 acre field with a 8hp craftsman back in the 60's.

In five years the only thing I've done to the cub is a new mower belt. I don't push snow or haul anything that heavy. It has an 18 hp Koh ler on it and it cuts great. If I have to haul anything big I use the ATV. I'm separating the downstairs bathroom plumbing from the upstairs so I can use the basement one. It has about 40 years of repairs on it. What a pain.

Grafting new to old, especially plumbing, is a pain. Important tip, if you take 15 years to not finish the house, it may cause divorce. Then again, sometimes that is better.

When I'm finished it will be almost 100% new. I put a couple temporary sweat fittings on so I can use the basement bathroom and a new leak has popped up. It is not serious but it will be getting replaced in a week or so and it is such a minor leak. A drip every 30 seconds or so. My Grandfather built this house right after WWII. He was a carpenter by trade. He was a mathematical genius. He seldom needed paper. He could figure out how much cement was needed just by dimensions and could look at a project and tell you exactly how many 2x4 or anything else you would need. He went to a Catholic School.

Well Robert, I have to say thank you very much for the pics of you tearing out your bathroom.My wife wanted me to redo ours since it is only 112 yrs old. She saw the pics and asked if ours was gonna be harder than that and I told her " sure will be and alot dirtyer and take longer" She told me to forget it. SOOO Thank You, you have made me a happy man. Now I can work on my dockbuster more. Skip.

One word. PEX.

It is wonderful stuff, and will cut your installation down dramatically.
I redid 2/3 of our bungalow. It took a few hours. The plumbing was all under the house, but it is exposed to salt air and every few years the water too.

Don't envy you Robert but I'm sure it will be outstanding once your done. Unfortunately the wife wants me to redo ours also. Tile the floor, remove the fiberglass shower and make it a tile one with solid glass doors. I told her to start saving her pennies since the door was probably going to cost more than the floor and shower tile put together!!!!!!!!!!

Ron, there's not such thing as too much power!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course I have a tendency to over kill everything! LOL Is that bad thing?

Bob

My Grand Daughter Kelsey is staying a few days next week and I told her I didn't have a bathtub anymore. She asked" How do we take a tubbie?" I told her she could stand in the yard and I'd squirt her with the hose. She likes that idea.

OK, I completely gutted half the bath, poured my cement floor and today I bedded the tub in mortar. I am slow thanks to my stupid back. It takes me five minutes to get off the floor. I can't get on my knees. So when I do something low I have to get on the floor and lay. I could only carry a half bucket of cement at a time so that job took a whole day. A floor joist had to be half cut out vertically to make room the tub waste so I had to sister a six foot one in next to it. To do that I had to take a good portion of my downstairs bedrooms ceiling out and re-install. The waste-overflow for the tub was supposed to be for a 12 inch gap from the tub bottom to overflow but comes up 1 1/2 inches shy when the trip lever rod was installed at it's longest position. So instead of ripping it out I bought the parts to make it a toe plug. Tap the plug down with your toe to plug and hit it again to let the water out. One bag of mortar was not enough. Had to send the wife out to get another. I did install plywood in back of the tub so I can mount a grab bar anywhere I want. I had to relocate two heating/ac ducts. This job is getting old. I'm tired. I know it looks like it's not fully down. It is'nt, I have a tile floor to lay there. There will be a cabinet an inch behind it too when done so it won't be in the middle of the floor.

OK it takes me a long time to do anything and my budget don't help. Well I'm almost done. My cabinet in the alcove is bigger than I planned. I had to build a pedestal for it to sit on so my heat vent was not covered. All the plumbing in the house is new except the old bathroom in the basement but it don't leak. When I took the pipe insulation off the hot water pipes I found so many new places seeping water I don't know why it was not dripping much more. The toilet is a higher model and talk about flushing. WOW It is a Kohler brand Cimarron model toilet with a 16 1/2 inch seat height. Believe me toilets are not created the same. I worked at Eljer in my younger days. This thing flushes so well and at less than 1 1/2 gallon water. It was not a cheapie and the tub is able to have 12 inchs of water in it before it hits the overflow. It's an American Standard fiberglass reinforced plastic finish tub. There are two bags of mortar under it and is rock solid. It keeps the water hotter longer than the old cast iron much longer. I installed handi-cap bars because I'm not getting any younger and it will be there when I get my other knee replaced after Christmas. My wife picked the green. All the drywall below 4 foot has been replaced. The tile had to be put over the new cement. Dad had enough left over from the original laid in 96 to do what I needed. It was in a box in a closet with the tile cutter he bought then. The window needs paint but that will wait.
The bathroom is small and tight. It made a challenge to get things to fit. Compromises had to be made. Yes I bought more expensive toilet and tub but it it in there for life. I'm already disabled and about to get another knee replaced so this new handi-capped bathroom is here now and almost done.
I don't have the new insulation on the pipes yet. It is all 3/4 inch main trunk and then 1/2 inch branch with shut offs for everything. NO LEAKS

Looks like the room turned out just great.Even though it took abit of time you have done a great job and should be proud of it. At least you have one less thing to worry about. Skip.

nice work robert,im still trying to get my room addition done but its hard with a broken rib in my back.john

Robert, it came out great!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bob

I'm not sure if economics or desire drove you to do it yourself, but I know I find that sense of accomplishment priceless. Nice Job. Isn't it great to have a place to "go"?

My Grandfather was a carpenter and my Dad was a Union Laborer who also did carpentry when not working. They taught me to never pay anyone to do anything you can do yourself. I have never paid anyone to do anything I could do. What I don't know I learn. I had to pay someone to replace a gas service a few years ago. $500 labor, parts and certified tested to get gas back on. If I had done it the certification was $450. He is the only guy certified in our area. Highway robbery but I had to pay it. It looks terrible and I noticed it now leaks at a union. Besides I can't afford to pay for it. I was self employed and I'm now disabled. I get just about $1,000 a month. I saved for years to buy the toilet and tub. The plumbing has been bought pieces at a time. I had most of what I needed before I started. I love to do my own stuff. I just hate to do it when I have to do it now. God I miss my Dad and Grandpap.

I've made the mistake of hiring people several times. It is NEVER done the way I wanted it done. I've found that even if I have no clue how to do something, I still do a better job while learning a new skill.

This summer, and for the past errr....15 years, my house has needed painting. I haven't done it because I needed to replace some rotted wood and rebuild some parts that were damaged when aluminum siding had been tacked over the original aggregate stucco. I also had to replace the eve boards and supports that had been cut down when house was ruined in an attempt to modernize it 50 years ago. Anyway, a painter had been bugging me to paint the house. One day he called and I described as above the necessary repairs that would go along with the painting. He says "you know how to do all that?"

Yes. Yes I do. I even figured out how to fix aggregate stucco in the process!

If you have DIY network or HgTv check out Mike Holmes. I used to home inspections. I was once certified. I enjoy watching him. He has a few shows. Holmes Inspection and Holmes on Homes.

Nice job, and tell your wife the color is great.
I didn't know your could use pvc for supply pipes.
It looks much neater now.

You should not use PVC, this is CPVC. I used the purple primer and regular CPVC cement. I was told by an plumber I know not to use the all purpose cement because it does not work near as good as this. He has been doing this for 35 years. The purple primer makes it visible to know you have primer the whole surface. It etches the pipe for the cement that actually welds the pipe together. If done right the pipe will blow out way before the joint.

Great job Robert! One thing I didn't see////Where's the bookshelf
I know there has to be a library somewhere close by. Or ya just clean your toenails.
Cal