OT-Weekend Major Plumbing Project, not what you think.

[adamjr]

Doing a plumbing project this weekend. I have two pictures, before and current. After posting I am off to rent a truck to haul the refuse to the dump.




And as of now:


If I manage to spend the weekend not in the emergency room all will be well. I love my reciprocating saw almost as much as my wife! She is standing over my shoulder though.

Must go.

Adam

[GrandeGixxer]

Just watch out for those wires. Looks like a big job, good luck.

[pescadero]

sawzall! there is no substitute.

[adamjr]

Demo is almost done. Just have to remove the toilet and the floor (the whole floor due to rot and undersized for porcelain tile.)

I thought the tub was porcelain over steel but I was unpleasantly surprised to find that it was porcelain over cast iron. That was a treat to move.

We had to make a couple more hardware trips then I expected. Power is shut off to that room. I am more worried about plumbing then electrical.

If I don't finish on Sunday I got a great hotel deal on priceline for the Candlewood Suites in Libertyville for $35.00 a night and I have the option to extend my stay at the same price.

Back to work now......

[bignick]

I laughed for about a godd 30 seconds when i saw the after pic.

Looks like a real chore.

[fishnu]

Rock on, Adam.

[GrandeGixxer]

You are planning to have the whole thing done this weekend or just the plumbing? I could probably help with the tile towards the end of next week if you need help.

[karenL]

that sure brings back memories
our tub was cast iron too
I think the local junk man got a, nevermind, he was pleased
I gutted mine down to beams and cement block exterior wall
good times

[DarkLordCoral]

You should have called, I like breaking $#*T!!!!

[mm949]

Originally posted by DarkLordCoral
You should have called, I like breaking $#*T!!!!

....how about gluing it back together....lol..!!!

[adamjr]

I needed to take a break. Like usual things haven't gone as planned. At this point (4:36 PM Saturday) I am at the point I expected to be at noon Friday. At this time Yesterday I wanted to have the cement board down over the sub floor which needs 24-48 hours setting time before doing the tile.

I am planning on having it completely done by Tuesday at the latest. I was planning to have it completely done except for mounting the toilet and vanity by Sunday night with the tile done. Then I would have mounted the toilet and vanity after the tile had set for 24 hours.

Break is over. I am going beck to work. I have a long night ahead of me.

I'll post more pics probably on Tuesday.

Matt, I'd love to have someone come over and glue it all together.

Adam

[karenL]

Originally posted by adamjr
I needed to take a break. Like usual things haven't gone as planned. At this point (4:36 PM Saturday) I am at the point I expected to be at noon Friday. At this time Yesterday I wanted to have the cement board down over the sub floor which needs 24-48 hours setting time before doing the tile.

I am planning on having it completely done by Tuesday at the latest. I was planning to have it completely done except for mounting the toilet and vanity by Sunday night with the tile done. Then I would have mounted the toilet and vanity after the tile had set for 24 hours.

Break is over. I am going beck to work. I have a long night ahead of me.

I'll post more pics probably on Tuesday.

Matt, I'd love to have someone come over and glue it all together.

Adam

yep, brings back memories

[GrandeGixxer]

Good luck Adam, have fun!

[adamjr]

electrical is done, ductwork is finished and the new vent fan is installed.

Insulaton can now be done. Then building the new walls and roughing in the plumbing and hopefully installing the tub. Plumbing and electrical always take me time because I try to be as safe as possible (electrical) and use as few bends as possible (plumbing). The engineering as I go takes more time then the actual work. Couple that with the morons that did a lot of upgrade work to this house in the past. I spend as much time trying to figure out what they did and removing the sub standard work as doing the job correctly.

Back to work again. I have set a time limit of 1:00 AM which leaves me 2 hours adn 45 minutes to work.

Adam

[adamjr]

I am still way behind where I thought I would be at this point. Doing this project alone is really tough. I was going to finish the plumbing tonight but I hit a snag earlier. When I was cutting out the slot for the tub drain out of the floor with my sawzall the 9 inch blade hit the cold water supply pipe to the water heater. Another trip to the Home Depot. Probably been to Menards and Home Depot at least 5 times each. Every time I think it can't get any more difficult I am dragged kicking and screaming back into reality. I have barely been in bed more then 5 hours a night since Thursday and I am not sleeping much because this project is on my mind even when I am sleeping. Anyway, as for the plumbing I was rearranging the plumbing upstairs because the plumbing downstairs had to be routed differently since things in this bathroom are moving. The way things were under the sink the valves would have been cold on the left and hot on the right. I took the opportunity to correct that so hot would be on the left. After spending an hour moving valves, replacing valves, creating a manifold where the 3/4 supply is split to 1/2 for the sink, toilet, and shower I verified my work with the cold fit. I spent another 20 minutes sweating it. When I finished and took a step back to admire my handy work I was amazed to find that, although beautiful, cold is still on the right.

I am rambling. Enough for tonight. Looks like I'll be spending a few nights at my mothers house this week. This really is starting to suck. At least major construction is done. I need to finish the plumbing, install the tub and surround, insulate, drywall, and install the cement board and then the tiles.

I'm tired, angry, hungry, and completely broke.

G'nite.

[madadi]

thank God our reef tanks are a labor of love, or we would be very often frustrated as you are right now.

hope things workout, good luck with the rest of the project.

Be patient and take it easy, don't rush!!!

[adamjr]

Thanks for the words of encouragement. Rushing isn't the problem. I know I am slow. Problem is when you get up at 6:00 am you shouldn't be making important decisions at midnight .

IT was a short night. Now I am off to work. Oh for joy.

Adam

[Kmiec123]

You need any help let me know Adam.
Carl

[adamjr]

Thanks for the offers of help. I had it all in hand (so I thought). My visions of avoiding the emergency room were dashed last night. I went to wok as normal on Monday although we were far behind. I was at the point I figured I could work on it at nights and we could stay in a hotel and at my mothers over night.

Mid-way through the day my right pointer finger started to hurt. I had gotten a splinter and yanked it out a'la Steve Irwin. Something about the pain didn't feel normal. Can't really explain it but something felt out of the ordinary. I called my doc and begged to be fit in. They made me an appointment for Tuesday. When I woke up Tuesday morning I felt like I pulled a muscle in my right fore arm. It was read near the elbow on the upper side. The doc told me I had an infection most likely from any of the cuts, gashes, burns, and abrasions covering my arm. He drew around the red and swollen area and said if the swelling or redness extended beyond the pen mark to go immediately to the E.R. and get I.V. antibiotics. He also referred me to a hand surgeon. He would have liked to dig for the splinter but decided that that was better left in the hands of a specialist due to already having an infection.

So, I went to the E.R. last night for I.V. antibiotics. They also whacked me with a tetanus shot. Got out of there just shy of 1:00 A.M.

Went to the hand surgeon today. He looked at and palpated (F'n OW) the swollen red area. He said it was incredible. I asked if that was good or bad but he didn't answer. Told me to take the rest of the week off and come see him on Friday. More then likely by then the swollen area will be an abscess. If so he wants to admit me to the hospital, drain it, and put me on more I.V. antibiotics in addition to the 875 mg of Augmentin (horse pills) I am already taking twice a day.

So my bathroom has stalled. Right now I have wood floors and I've been working at a snails pace. I finished the plumbing tonight. Had my wife standing in the bathroom to listen and look for leaks and she started screaming "Turn it off, turn it off" when the cold water tee from the basement sprung a leak. Seems among all that I did that was one fitting I decided to sweat later because it would give me freedom of movement when I was dry fitting other pipes. Oops, guess I forgot to go back. I sweated it and re-checked pressure and everything has been holding so far for about 20 minutes.

With that done I am going to dry fit the tub and cut the pipes for the tub drain. Likewise with the toilet flange. I need to get down the Wonderboard tonight in order to get the toilet flange in.

The drywall guy is coming tomorrow around 10:00 am (which really probably means 1:00 pm) and we'll be sheet rockin fools. Then Friday I have until 3:15 pm to get the tiles done. From this point it's all gravy.

Adam

[moon jelly]

Sorry about your mishaps. whenever a house project is started, it is like opening up a can of worms.

dang, you got a massive infection from the splinter! i hate when that happens! it happened to me and you think that it is a tiny foreign body, no big deal and the it t reaks havoc. best of luck and if you need any help i am on vacation for the next 10 days. pm me if you need anything. moon jelly RN

[adamjr]

Thanks moony. It hurts like a mutha to extend or try to lift anything. I need to get yup early to get the wonderboard down and an outet wired, a vent installed on the floor, and the fan moved before the drywall guy gets here.

night all. sleeping at home for the first time since turkey day.

[moon jelly]

glad you are home. nothing better then sleeping in your bed. it sounds like you are past the isolated infected part (so i can't come over and lacerate it). antibiotics is the solution. if you are not better in a day or two, call your doctor. i would hate to see this infection go systemic.

[444reefkeeper]

Wow man. Reardless of injury, you still truckin. Keep up the good work.

[adamjr]

444, dat's how I roll. Actually I am taking it really slow. The swelling on the finger has come down a lot to where I can bend it fully and where the splinter is is just a bump now. On the other hand (so to speak) the abcess (think giant puss filled zit) is raised about half an inch above the skin and is between the size of a golf ball and a racquet ball. I was thinking of painting it white with little grey spots to look like divits so it would look like a golf ball was stuck in my arm.

Moony, Thanks for the offer but I'll leave the lacerating to the surgeon. I can only think of one word with the procedure in my immediate future. Vicodin. Which will be lovely to have considering I am going to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra on Sunday afternoon. What a combo.

I actually made my wife do a little work yesterday. I supervised her putting in new R-19 insulation to replace the blown in cellulose chunks. Eventually I plan to replace all of the cellulose with bats. I know the cellulose is supposed to provide better R-value but I like the clean look of stapled down bats on the rare occasion I go into the attic.

Good news was I lost a pair of pliers about 5 years ago in the attic. A nice pair of xcelite long nose pliers. When I was removing the drywall from the ceiling they came down with it. I knew they were in that general area but I wasn't sure where and I'd rather have lost the pliers at the time then to have broken the drywall accidentally looking for them.

Back to work.

Adam

[444reefkeeper]

Originally posted by adamjr
444, dat's how I roll. Actually I am taking it really slow. The swelling on the finger has come down a lot to where I can bend it fully and where the splinter is is just a bump now. On the other hand (so to speak) the abcess (think giant puss filled zit) is raised about half an inch above the skin and is between the size of a golf ball and a racquet ball. I was thinking of painting it white with little grey spots to look like divits so it would look like a golf ball was stuck in my arm.

Thats friggin funny!
I would probably paint a face on it and give him a name. Then there'd be 2 of you working!

Not injured as bad as you, but I think I broke my thumb while "extending" the pumproom wall last night. I was ripping the studs off the base plate . When I yanked on one of the studs, I pulled too hard and got my thumb stuck between the one i was pulling on and a nice solid one I didn't cut yet. Ouch. It even creased/cut my finger across the top of the knuckle.... Oh well, kept working.

Its nice when the women get dirty too.

Thats awesome that you found your long nose pliers. Its almost like buying a new pair again. Score!