Movin' on Up!

grandpaul · Feb 16, 2023

Picking it up on the bathroom wall framing from a couple of weeks ago; we went thru some freezing / icing all over Texas, lots of broken tree limbs and roads iced up.

2/7 The ice has all melted, so back to work (yesterday). I broke a sweat finishing the bathroom framing. Also picked up (2) sink/vanity kits, putting together a triple vanity setup was going to be way too pricey.

Wall & door framing almost done, ceiling joists done; no more room to work in there!

Bathroom door installed

At this point I hadn't framed the toilet space door frame yet; it's done now (forgot to get a photo)

grandpaul · Feb 16, 2023

Yet another trip to Lowe's; this time for vanities, PEX fittings, and lumber for ceiling joists & blocking for the bathroom. I'm doing this job with Style! (photos out of order, sorry)

I think that makes 15 loads of lumber (I need to go back and check)

grandpaul · Feb 16, 2023

2/10 I had to re-do the main drain because it wasn't giving me enough slope to also catch the bathtub drain. I took advantage of the opportunity to swap toilets with the 1/2 bath that was a "shorty"; on the pedestal, it is now just a bit taller than the other one is.

The aforementioned bathtub drain was just as much of a headache due to the tub drain hole's final resting place being JUST next to a floor joist. I got in there thru the drain hole with my Sawzall, but had to follow it up with shaving the lip of the plastic flange, and using a sheetrock vibratory saw to "dig" out as much of the offending joist edge as I could. It JUST fit.

There may end up being a tiny puddle at the double-90 transition, it was a poop fitting all that stuff up with barely enough room to get my skinny arms/hands in there and hold stuff till the PVC cement set up!

I put down a "carpet" of paper towels under the whole system, then flushed the toilet and poured a gallon of water down the sink drain.

ZERO LEAKS.

The notched joists are all supported by the kitchen pantry walls, and the master bath shower wall. Zero loss of support due to multiple deeply notched joists.

"I planned it that way"

grandpaul · Feb 16, 2023

2/14 The vanity cabinets were oh, so fun. I first had to do some cutouts to allow the downstairs ducts to cross thru/underneath...

Awful lot of cutting, but I managed to keep it to the minimum. On the drain hole, I used the "measure twice, cut twice" method.

Rough-in is done. They fit tighter than I planned, but the door casing is still clear, so I can trim it with a quarter-round bit along the edge.

grandpaul · Feb 16, 2023

(weird posting issue?)

ashman · Feb 16, 2023

All good GP and you are slowly getting there, being retired you learn to work your own pace and do things right as well learn by your mistakes and fix right, I been like that all my life, learned by my dear old dad to be patient and never get angry as that is where you make more mistakes, walk away and think about it before fixing it, do the job once not twice or more, get it right the first time, easier said than done sometimes lol.
But once all done you can be proud of what you have achieved and sit back and enjoy all your hard work, can't get better than that my friend and enjoy your retirement been 9 years for me now and I am still only 64 years young.

grandpaul · Feb 16, 2023

ashman said:
All good GP and you are slowly getting there, being retired you learn to work your own pace and do things right as well learn by your mistakes and fix right, I been like that all my life, learned by my dear old dad to be patient and never get angry as that is where you make more mistakes, walk away and think about it before fixing it, do the job once not twice or more, get it right the first time, easier said than done sometimes lol.
But once all done you can be proud of what you have achieved and sit back and enjoy all your hard work, can't get better than that my friend and enjoy your retirement been 9 years for me now and I am still only 64 years young.

Thanx, man. You sure got to retire young! My son will get to retire from the Army at age 42 or 43! (Unless he re-ups for Lt.Colonel)

ashman · Feb 17, 2023

GP I had no say in my great job became redundant we got a Liberal state government in power who wanted to privatise all public servants and if you didn't take a redundancy you be out of a job within 2 months without the benefits that we got by putting our hand up.
After 31 years and because I was born before 1960 I was able to get my full super retirement fund and with 2 years full pay it was a easy decision to retire early and enjoy life without working for the man, I do my own stuff at my own pace without someone looking over my shoulder, the state government at the time got rid of 16,000 public service people the only people who were safe at the Technical College were the teachers and they wanted to bring in private business to run the public service, they were kicked out at the next election and the state was in one he'll of a mess, but it worked out for and was the best thing that happen to me in my whole working life.
Enjoy your retirement mate as there is more to life than working for the man.

grandpaul · Feb 18, 2023

Yep, I worked 48 years in the Texas heat. Retired the first day that I became eligible. That meant taking a lower monthly check, but I'd had enough of paying in to the system that has teetered on insolvency for the last 2 decades. I'm going to get back as much as I can, for as long as I can.

grandpaul · Feb 18, 2023

Getting back to the bathroom plumbing (had some weird issue that it didn't allow me to post pix)

Cabinets in place, I ran the PEX lines from a home-made manifold (PEX manifold stupid price). One tap for the toilet, one for the bathtub (cold) one for the sinks, and one for the point-of-use water heater.

Water heater in place...

Sinks piped in...

grandpaul · Feb 18, 2023

I set up the drain pipe and vent riser...

Danged if I didn't chop thru the ridiculous newfangled spout feed pipe when cutting the hole for the vent rider from the backside...

Wouldn't you know it, the warranty parts illustration has each part numbered EXCEPT for the spout!!!! No part number, no replacement. Lowe's MIGHT let me return it but I have to put everything back in the box with the installation papers, etc.

I got a PEX tub & shower kit, but it lacks (3) pipe nipples and an elbow that I still lack. Oh well...

grandpaul · Mar 20, 2023

Wow, I really got behind on updating this thread. A LOT has gotten done, but still a lot of finish work to finally be done...

mean gene · Mar 20, 2023

You need a break, I think you should go to the swap meet at Fredericksburg! I guess they still have it.

grandpaul · Mar 21, 2023

mean gene said:
You need a break, I think you should go to the swap meet at Fredericksburg! I guess they still have it.

That would just get me into a lot of trouble.

I need that money to finish the barndo!

grandpaul · Mar 21, 2023

Okay, backing it up to where I left off...

2/21
The neighbor's horses hang around a lot now, the kids love it...

The bunk room now sleeps 6 comfortably, and there are 2 folding cots on standby. My oldest son also brought over a nice TV for the upstairs, complete with ROKU box.

A few golf balls were whacked, the 2-seater ATV was used for golf ball collection, and no work was done (apart from assembling the one set of bunkbeds), a welcome break.

grandpaul · Mar 21, 2023

2/22
Day before yesterday...

Really busy day today, FINALLY finished with 2nd floor bathroom plumbing & drains. Installed a nice light fixture over the vanities and made a temporary power connection for light & one outlet by back-connecting an extension cord to it. Just need to buy a few rough-in boxes and another roll of romex and I can finish the electrical.

I goofed and cut the holes for the tub faucets too low. Used the center hole for the bathtub spout, will cap the other two.

Shower head elbow with backup support

All done. What a nightmare. Blocking everything in place and field-fabricated hold-downs for the faucet manifold.

grandpaul · Mar 21, 2023

A/C drain done.

Sink drains done; this one was easy...

This one was not so easy! Rube Goldberg trap setup, it all works with no leaks.

grandpaul · Mar 21, 2023

2/23
Running water!

(and no leaks)

Sheathed the east wall on the outside, so this side is done.

Let there be light! Just need to finish the exterior sheathing and it'll be a useable bathroom.

grandpaul · Mar 21, 2023

2/28
Good productive day yesterday, but solo (so ALL work). Picked up all the A/C duct & grilles to finish the 2nd floor, bought a fairly large fan/light for the game room, wired in the (2) exhaust fan/lights in the bathroom, and finished the Return Air ductwork from the filter grille in the game room. It got warm today, so I actually broke a sweat!

60" 10-blade ceiling fan with light. The mangled box didn't hurt anything inside.

Upstairs return air duct finished. With limited materials, I had to go slightly shorter than the frame-out, and came up EXACTLY done with the last scraps of ductboard to finish the far side. That was mighty close. That stuff is awfully expensive, and they no longer sell 3/4", only 1" which is even higher!

Checking the fit of the return air filter grille, frame-out was perfect.

grandpaul · Mar 21, 2023

2/28
Exhaust fan/lights installed, but not finished wiring the switches, and I need a couple of bulbs.

Trims caps on the 2 extra holes that I cut by accident. Still need to seal all the seams and trim bits.