This thread gives new inspiration to "scope creep" 
What are we looking at? What are you trying to move?
This thread gives new inspiration to "scope creep"
What are we looking at? What are you trying to move?
In reply to SV reX :
Radiator from the oil boiler that we don't use anymore and I don't want to try to drywall behind. They're all coming out, eventually, but this one is in the way now. I might be able to pry it up some so I can cap the lines under the floor.
Hi, my name is Rico and I bite off way more than I can chew with projects because I'd rather redo everything than patch stuff that never should have been done in the first place.
Already going into credit card debt to fix it, might as well make it how we want it. This wasn't supposed to get renovated for another couple years, but Valentine's day when the tiles started falling off kinda forced my hand.
In reply to RevRico :
Gotcha. I was definitely looking at that picture wrong.
Can you get under to cap them? Are any of the radiators still functioning? Does water still need to circulate through?
For now, you should be able to remove the back housing, chip out the plaster, and slip the drywall behind (with no screws down low). Later it will need to be capped. (But may not be able to right now if water is still circulating through it)
No water is circulating through there, and won't be ever again with oil prices. Pulling on it I can get the side that definitely in the way cut capped and out of the way.
Big win, if the wife will wait 2 weeks, I can farm out the drywall hanging and taping. Thank God.
Here I thought you were gonna just caulk over the missing grout areas...
Turn my back for a few minutes and you've got the bathroom gutted and the heating system torn out!
In reply to SV reX :
I'd thought about it, I don't use that shower after all, I have my own .
My buddy wanted to cut out the bad spots and replace. Which I considered until I started cutting out the bad part and it kept growing. When the grout started looking strange last year I might have been able to get away with that, but I just chalked it up to old grout and half heartedly looked at sealers then got distracted by a more pressing issue.
Now that I've been really looking through the plumbing and realizing all the copper is scraps from other projects and none of it makes sense or is maintenance friendly, I'm redoing the upstairs plumbing entirely too.
I did come down hard that I'm leaving the basement torn apart though. We need to recover from this project first, financially and physically, and having it ripped apart will make all the other projects a little easier. Besides, aside from my bathroom we only use the basement to get outside anyway.
Do it once, do it right. Buy once, cry once. Half assed is half done. All those other lessons learned the hard and expensive way just kinda pushed the whole thing.
Looks like I messed something up in the fall when I had to replace some panels under the toilet. I didn't know until it was pointed out the other day that there is a considerable dip where the floor meets the cut section so I can focus on that after I finish pulling the 2 boxes of drywall nails.
On the plus side, depending what Dink charges me for labor, we should have the whole bathroom and upstairs plumbing done for under $5k (plus Lowes card insane interest).
Looks like I'm cutting out the bath tub. Can't use the plasma cutter because of all the wood, so guess I get to go buy a new sawzall and some more cutting discs. Great.
When I broke up the tub in my ex's house, I do remember I had to hit the thing effing hard to get it do break. I had been warned cast iron can splinter into really sharp shards, so I wore a face shield and chainsaw chaps.
The scope creep you're going through is why I've been so hesitant to start on my bathroom repairs. Unfortunately, I fear I will have no choice soon.
In reply to RevRico :
Is there a reason you need to bust it up?
Standard tubs are usually only 16-18" tall, which means they would go through any doorway. It went in in one piece.
Although a cast iron one is ridiculously heavy...
In reply to SV reX :
Well, I assumed it was steel when I smashed it with a sledge hammer and it just kind of laughed at me. But it weighs way more than the advertised 75-100lbs of a regular (modern) steel one.
Is very thick and very heavy whatever it is.
With the drain and overflow disconnected, and nothing holding it down it should come right out. But prying on the edges is only pushing walls around, and I can't get either end to budge.
I also can't find my baby trolley jack, and my normal floor jack won't fit where I can get to an edge.
So I've cut and split opposite sides, and I'm trying gently to score the middle to try to take it out in 2 pieces. I don't want to go too deep with the grinder and screw up the wood underneath though.
Hey it's OUT.
Yep. Cast iron. You should be able to break it up now, which should make it a little easier to get out. The cast iron was worth $3 from the scrap yard almost 20 years ago.
oh for berkeleys sake.
More heating system coming out it looks like. Not entirely mad about needing to add plywood to level the floor, I need to cover where the radiator was anyway.
I've taken the last few days off. Mostly from frustration, but also life.
What's left
So far I've simplified the plumbing pathways but haven't run any yet. I think I'm going to lay everything out, then connect it the day bbefore drywall comes.I'm trying to minimize time without that toilet.
I keep going back and forth with the best way to drop the ceiling. I was pretty set for 2x8, but I can go to 2x6 instead and still fit the fan. The window is in the way of going much lower, but also a good spot for the exhaust to vent.
Also going back and forth on just putting in patches to the floor to level it or rip all the existing plywood out and do it over. That would be expensive though and a lot of extra effort. Or just patching around the drain and having the floor pan be recessed an inch, but at least one layer of solid plywood would probably be helpful there over the old hardwood underfloor.
What's the purpose to lower the ceiling?? I would keep it as high as possible.
In reply to jfryjfry :
Because new lights and fan, and if I tear down the plaster over drywall ceiling that's in there I'll be swimming in even more shredded 1970s vermiculite, and most likely asbestos laden, insulation than I already have been. I'm trying to avoid working in it or making anyone else work in it.
It's also weird, because that room in particular is 8 foot 3.5 inches high, really bizarre height when the rest of the house has 7.5 to 8 foot ceilings. So bringing it down to 7.5 feet should blend well.
RevRico said:In reply to jfryjfry :
if I tear down the plaster over drywall ceiling that's in there I'll be swimming in even more shredded 1970s vermiculite
Guess what's better than 1970s vermiculite?
1970s vermiculite with a hefty portion of bat poop.
And, paying $450 or whatever it was to have my living room, dining room, stairs, and upstairs hallway taped and mudded after I hung the sheetrock was the best money I ever spent.
In reply to RandolphCarter :
The best tool to use to mud and tape drywall is a checkbook. The people that do it every day are just so much faster and you avoid that unpleasant work.
RevRico said:What's left
- Level floor
- Level toilet patch panels with floor
- Sister studs
- Install vent fan
- Plumb new supply lines to bathroom and kitchen with pex
- Rough electric
- Pick out and purchase lights
- Purchase vanity, racks, holders, lights
- Insulate the walls
- Drywall
- Primer
- Paint
- Install new floor
Haven't checked a lot off, but some. The 2x6s are up for the ceiling. Bought and picked up the shower, and now I'm curious how well it's going to fit. Waiting to hear from my drywall guy before I do much more.
Really need to buy lights so I can get that wiring figured out. And find a plumbing list or diagram for a shower without a bathtub.
Shower without a tub is easy. Water in (hot and cold) and one pipe out the top to feed the shower head. Plenty of shower only setups at your local big box stores.
Actually, most of the shower faucets at the big box stores are tub and shower. They will ALL work for shower only- you just plug the tub outlet.
Do I need to take slope into account for a new shower drain?
The current drain is repurposed 1.25" that goes...somewhere inside the back wall of the basement. I have access to 2 and 4 inch drain lines from other parts of the house.
As long as I get a trap in, since it's just a shower, near vertical should be ok, right?
Sorry, no pictures.
Got the fan and lights wired up with new switches. Lights use a mounted driver box with a whip, lights have a whip, allows a little freedom in mounting places. The lights are also about 1/2"thick, need no backing of any kind, and use mouse trap clips to stay up. Thank you Halo lighting.
Still need to run the exhaust vent itself.
Insulation is sitting in the room ready to go up.
Looks like I'm going to have to drywall this myself. Dammit. Dink is very behind, Brandon has all his weekends booked through the school year and teaches this stuff all day, but can't call it a field trip. I can hang it just fine, ceiling is going to suck, but taping it is where I really wanted to farm it out.
This means I'm going to need to pull the window and case it in, because it's still attached to all the old E36 M3 and surrounded by expanded metal garbage.
In scope creep news, at least one corner of the basement is getting gutted so I can run a new drain pipe for the shower. This is probably happening tomorrow so I can push the rest of the plumbing through.
I'm going to run 2 inch to the 1.5 inch washer drain, because it's a hell of a lot easier doing that than tying to the existing 1.25 inch drain line that goes back out of sight and has very old very broken connectors on it.
I'm really thinking hard about replacing the cast iron toilet drain system with plastic. The cast iron is already rusty to the point I needed a flange insert to reseat the toilet, and there won't be a better time for access, but berkeley I really don't want to.
Is it possible to rent a ground penetrating radar? I'm very interested in learning how the toilet drains get to the septic tank, but concrete floor makes it hard to see.
RevRico said:I REALLY do not want or have the ability to afford to redo the entire room right now. It's not an option.
SV reX said:RevRico said:I REALLY do not want or have the ability to afford to redo the entire room right now. It's not an option.
LOL! That's right! Rub salt in the wound!
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