Friday, May 10, 2013

BATHROOM RENOVATION MOVING RIGHT ALONG

Week of May 6 – Having completed the framing, Paul tackled the copper supply lines and the waste lines. Nothing too tricky here but it's been awhile since Paul did any copper line installation.

plumbing

fixtures

This was the scary part…drilling the holes for the spout and shower head.

drilling holes

With the walls up. Paul checks for plumb.  Right on the mark!DSC04871

tub surround

With the bathtub surround completed Paul set his sights on dry walling. Dry walling is NOT a fun job. It's tough, dirty, and exhausting. The walls went up fairly well. It was then time to tackle the ceiling. Now that is not a one man job.

It's impossible to hold a heavy 4X8 sheet of drywall over your head and screw it in place at the same time. Sooooo....he had to recruit a helper. Come on down......Marsha! What a trooper. She really is willing to help when Paul needs another set of hands.

Of course, she suffers a height disadvantage so it's pretty difficult to hold those dry wall sheets over her head for very long. So Paul loaned her his biking helmet so she could use her head. Now isn't that a cleaver idea?

marsha holding drywall

She did awesome and we had the ceiling done in no time. Paul spent the rest of the day finishing up the dry walling, taping the joints, and cleaning things up. Thank goodness Marsha helped with the cleanup because Paul was about to keel over!

paul and drywall

Why the two colors of drywall you ask? The green around the tub is water resistant drywall, the white is the normal type.

drywall up

The next day, Paul applied joint compound to the drywall seams, installed some cement board on the floor and began the rough-in for the new toilet location. He has to cut the cast iron sewer pipe and convert it to 3” ABS plastic. That's a first for Paul. Never did the cast iron thing before.

Paul rented a cast iron pipe cutter from Home Depot tool rental department and almost died trying to cut that pipe. After two and a half hours of pushing and pulling that cutter ABOVE his head, he gave up and took the rental tool back.

cut pipe

cutting pipe

He purchased a diamond tipped blade for his sawzall and that did the trick. Should of thought of that method in the first place...jeesh!

pipe cut

Once cut, Paul easily glued up the 3 inch ABS plastic pipe and made the connection for the new toilet location and installed the toilet. He then ran the necessary copper supply line, patched the holes in the floor left by the old toilet and glued and nailed cement board down to complete the preparation for tiling the floor.

add pipe

On Saturday, Dave, Kelly's boyfriend, and Paul will lay the ceramic tile. Dave has done this many times before. He even has a tile cutter. This will be a first for Paul. Let you know how it goes. Everyone keep your fingers crossed.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day.

 

17 comments:

  1. My sister and brother-in-law are doing the same thing. Their bathroom is from 1964 so they are running into all the problems with copper and brass also. Judy said their still talking to each other so that's a good thing. I'll have to tell her about the bicycle helmet. That's a great idea.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Make sure you keep Paul, he's handy to have around. It was also a pleasure to see Marsha using her head.

    ReplyDelete
  3. you guys are moving right along. Paul will have no problems w/ tiling. It makes me want to go and buy another house and do some remodeling.................well, not so much. Have fun!

    ReplyDelete
  4. i love how you held up the dry wall with that helmet! Great idea.

    ReplyDelete
  5. love, love, love the bicycle helmet. . .awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  6. When I first saw the dark green drywall I was thinking that was the color you were painting your bathroom. Whee! It's just drywall.

    ReplyDelete
  7. All of Paul's work looks very, very professional - well done! I really have to admire him for tackling all that plumbing work. You sure have saved a ton of money in labour.

    Way to use your head too, Marsha!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Converting from the cast iron pipe to abs is a chore but now so easy to work with.
    The project is coming along pretty good, soon be all done!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Looks like a great job Paul. I have remodeled all I care to remodel. Maybe I'll hire Paul if we ever buy another house.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'll have to remember the bike hat tip for next time Mui wants me to hold things up for more than a minute or two. Looking good on that re-model.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Once again you two have worn me out to where I need to go take a nap. Love the bike helmet trick, though.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Soon, you will be enjoying that new bathroom. THEN what do you have planned for Paul's next job?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Paul makes it looks so easy! You two are just flying along with this reno. Everything is looking good so far.

    Ruth
    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

    ReplyDelete
  14. Dougie the master builder says -
    Good job guys! Especially the cleaver idea. We laughed all the way out here.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Looks like it's coming right along. Can't wait to see the finished result!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Looks like you guys are doing the job right. Never heard of the bike helmet trick.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I can't wait for the completion of your bathroom renovation! Paul certainly knows his way around it. Plumbing and electrical wiring are the toughest part in renovating the bathroom, but I can see that everything is moving right along especially now that you're making a huge progress. Good luck and please update us soon! Roland Duffer

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for leaving us a comment. We enjoy reading them. Have a great day!