After an uncomfortable long hiatus, work has begun again. Last week was reserved for the plumber to come and do work but getting him to show up was a challenge to say the least. He had double/triple booked himself and several times said he was coming later that day only to never show up. He finally did clear his plate and showed up on Sunday (two days after he was supposed to be completely done with the rough in). Getting waste lines run through the bathroom and down to the main sewer line was an incredible challenge. The waste lines from the tub, toilet and sink within the bathroom take a convoluted bath to get near the furnace stack and then continue in a circuitous path from there. First the line (3" black ABS) jogs under the floor in the bedroom wardrobe and then bends around to go down into the small wardrobe in the living room. It goes through that wardrobe taking a few turns along the way and down into the basement at which point it goes *through* a furnace duct and carries on into the garage where it goes across the garage ceiling to finally tee into the existing sewer line. It's really quite a journey.
It has been quite the challenge for the plumber and he said as much. At one point during the day when he was installing the waste line, he sent me a brief note saying, we have a problem in the garage, don't use the bathroom. I later found out that while cutting the existing waste line, it had cracked along the length so he had to rush out and get some materials to repair that at Home Depot since the normal plumbing supply stores were closed at that point.
In easier news, the in-wall toilet carrier and the water lines also got installed. The water lines are made of PEX by Uponor which is a remarkable material. The plumber showed me a neat trick where I bent a piece of PEX until it was kinked and then he took a MAP torch and heated up the bend which then returned to a perfect tube again. Apparently copper is not used at all anymore. It loses heat easily and the PEX is flexible almost like a hose.
At this point, not a single room in the house is unaffected by this construction, all for just one room! The bedroom wardrobe has been emptied to provide access to its floor, the guest bedroom is a storage room for everything that has been moved out of the way from various places, the office is a storage room for cabinetry for which there is no room elsewhere, the dining room and living room are storage and assembly places for the cabinetry, the kitchen is a path to the basement and garage, the existing bathroom has no floor mat and the garage is the workshop for the contractor and plumber. Almost all of the rooms have cardboard on the floors to create a path to walk on to avoid damaging the wood floors.
It has been quite the challenge for the plumber and he said as much. At one point during the day when he was installing the waste line, he sent me a brief note saying, we have a problem in the garage, don't use the bathroom. I later found out that while cutting the existing waste line, it had cracked along the length so he had to rush out and get some materials to repair that at Home Depot since the normal plumbing supply stores were closed at that point.
In easier news, the in-wall toilet carrier and the water lines also got installed. The water lines are made of PEX by Uponor which is a remarkable material. The plumber showed me a neat trick where I bent a piece of PEX until it was kinked and then he took a MAP torch and heated up the bend which then returned to a perfect tube again. Apparently copper is not used at all anymore. It loses heat easily and the PEX is flexible almost like a hose.
At this point, not a single room in the house is unaffected by this construction, all for just one room! The bedroom wardrobe has been emptied to provide access to its floor, the guest bedroom is a storage room for everything that has been moved out of the way from various places, the office is a storage room for cabinetry for which there is no room elsewhere, the dining room and living room are storage and assembly places for the cabinetry, the kitchen is a path to the basement and garage, the existing bathroom has no floor mat and the garage is the workshop for the contractor and plumber. Almost all of the rooms have cardboard on the floors to create a path to walk on to avoid damaging the wood floors.
The P-trap for the tub on the left and the connection to the overflow valve on the right.
The waste line coming out of the ceiling of the garage
Crossing the garage on the right to tee into the existing vertical waste line
The waste line from the sink coming from the bottom left, joining the waste line from the toilet. Further above and to the right is the waste line from the tub. They join at the left and go into the wardrobe in the bedroom, under the floor. The vent rises out of the junction.
The tub waste line, now with a vent on it.
The toilet carrier and the valve installed. The valve has two positions e.g. for a shower and a tub, but both positions will go to the shower since that was a simple solution to the question of how to control the water. There will be separate control for the deck mounted tub filler and deck mounted hand held shower.
A closer look at the shower valve. The white tubes on the bottom left are PEX.
The shower head.
The sink water and waste lines (white PEX water line and black ABS waste line)
A couple of interesting pictures of the room taken with the Photosphere and Panorama modes on the Android phone.
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