How I spent my holiday
Gak, I just looked closely at the pics and it looks like our toilet hasn’t been cleaned in decades. No, it is clean, but sweeping up all the staples and concrete scraps left a layer of dust on the base.
The new tile floor might be as much as a full inch higher than the carpet in the hall and the bedroom. So not only will I have to trim the doors, I’ll have to construct a transom for the doorways. A threshold. Carve them out of an oak board, stain and varnish, screw them in and plug the holes. It will look good, no worries. And folks wouldn’t stub their toes on the height difference.
I have to put a new P-trap on when I put the sink back in. It was rotted paper thin. I’ll use PVC instead of brass. Lasts forever. And I’m tempted to sweat some new lever valves onto the water lines, as the ones on there had to be turned with a wrench. Valves kind of suck. You solder them in, then use them once or twice. Decades go by and they never get turned, which lets them rot or corrode inside. Then when you actually need to use them they’re stuck, and once you’ve fought them into submission with a wrench and the special plumber’s vocabulary of swear words, they tend to leak profusely once they’re turned back on. So replacing them is a good idea, and the time to do it is when the pipes are bare, just sticking out of the wall with nothing around them. And I think they make solderless valves these days that just tighten on. I can sweat pipe, it’s not hard, but it’s a skill that takes a little practice to master. But the solderless valves would be so much easier.
on 09/06/2010 at 09:37 AM
Drew ... Wife and I know exactly what show you refer to. We got hooked on Holmes when we were home. Riveted for sure and we like the way he goes about the business of making things right. Thought of him as soon as I got that email, which explains the HGTV subject matter.
We remodeled our bathroom five years ago. We didn’t have the carpeting problem, we’d had to knock holes in the tile walls to get at the leaky old galvanized pipes. Decided to just go for everything.
We had the original tiled floor, which I would have kept, but the cement underneath was cracked. (did I mention this is a second-floor bath?) Had to do the leveling as in your post. Then new floor tiles.
We stripped the entire bathroom out to the studs. Replaced everything, bathtub, toilet, washbasin, etc. New wall tiles throughout, including the bathtub/shower--where we took the tiling up to the ceiling. The original tile stopped at about my shoulder height. Oh yes, new electrical, two double outlets, ground-fault-protected of course. Before we only had two single outlets that plugged into the mirror lamps. Plus ceiling light/night light/vent fan that we didn’t have before.
The bad things? New ‘water-saving’ toilet. I don’t know how I’m saving water when I’m flushing twice or thrice, that’s after using the plunger. (I know, it doesn’t happen every time. But still, ‘tis a pain.)
Also, I don’t necessarily like the temperature-balanced fittings I HAD to install in the shower. I wanted the usual hot/cold water valves, but current code requires these fixtures so that my non-existent children won’t get scalded. Guess they can still get scalded in the kitchen or bathroom sinks. Anyway, the contractor would NOT install what I wanted. I’d have to do that myself. (I’m good enough with plumbing that I thought about it, but decided that if we want to ever sell...and I’m paying the contractor anyway...)
It took over a week. Since we only have one bathroom, I was concerned that we’d have to vacate for the duration. But no, they reseated the toilet for us each night. As for bathing/showering, the basement deep sink got a good workout that week. Just hooked up the shower-massage…
We ended up with a larger bathroom too! They took out 2 1/2 tons of old plaster walls. The drywall replacement wasn’t nearly as thick. Overall gain of 6” in width, length. Can’t vouch for height. This meant my old windowsill wouldn’t fit and I had to have a new one milled.
The toilet appears to be resting on a chunk of 2x10 that’s been cut into the floor. Huh? What on earth for?
I got so caught up in relating my own bathroom remodeling experiences I forgot why I was going to comment in the first place.
The only reason to do that would be the ease of working on the toilet line to the stack. The wood is much easier to remove/replace than the concrete I’d have to deal with. (on the second floor no less!)
I’ve done, or hired done, so much work on my 1930s house that the only thing left to replace is the stack!
Believe me, I don’t even want to think about the cost, inconvenience, etc.
My father-in-law was one of those people who would use bits and pieces and do a half-assed job of something, so long as it looked good on the surface. Some years after he and the mom-in-law split up, I ended up replacing a dishwasher at her house. After removing the dishwasher, I had to take up the countertop and replace the 25 or so little bits of wood holding it to the wall, cabinets, floor, etc with pieces cut to fit properly. You see, the new dishwasher’s size was a little bigger than the old one, and many of the wood chucks intruded into its space. It only took me a couple hours to do it and left me wondering why he didn’t do the job right in the first place.
Interesting reading guys. Prolly cos I’m not much into doing things myself, and find what you who know what your doing of some interest. Although I admit I have to keep researching some of things to understand. I guess when ppl have the kind of knowledge to do all that, they can save money. I also suspect (strongly) that ppl enjoy the challenge even when it gives you a headache.
Some folks are real handy with tools and details etc. I once knew a recording engineer who read schematics on everything electric, just for the fun of it. The way you and I might read a book. I never understood what he got out of it but obviously he enjoyed the exercise.Its always a good idea to have the toilets working so when the muslim hoards show up theres no standing in line.And god forbid we are not ready when the pope has to poop.
There, I think I covered all the posts so far in one breath.
Ha John, that brings back memories. My dad could not use 2 of the same screws or nails on anything. Every last project he did was a total ___-rig.
09/06/2010 at 10:37 AM
