They call it home improvement because it can't get much worse
 

The bathroom project has been crawling along, but this week it's been practically walking!
I photographed my progress today so I could see how far it's come.
The "before" shots were taken to give the plumber an idea of what we were starting with:
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There had been a bathroom in here before the last owners bought the place, but the pipes burst so they ripped it out. It was still ripped out when we bought it. The terracotta block wall is exterior, at grade. The floor drains were redone when we had the sewage line replaced. Turns out what was originally there wasn't even proper drain line. It was plastic conduit. :facepalm:
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Behind the kinda sorta but not really framed wall is a storage room. (old coal room). Both rooms comprise the basement of the "new" part of the house, added in 1923. Originally we were going to put a freestanding shower in because space is really tight. It was even tighter in the original bathroom - you can see the footprint of the original wall on the floor beside the toilet tank. It was tiny. Instead of having a hallway outside the bathroom, we've opted to make it so that you have to pass through the bathroom to get to the storage room, adding more than 15sq foot of extra space

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Above is the same corner as the first photo, now with newly framed walls, insulation, plumbing, bathtub, tub surround, and drywall. The toilet will go roughly where it was in the 1st pic. We decided to put in a full tub instead of just the (cheap ass) freestanding shower, necessitating moving pretty much all the floor drains except the sink. While they were at it, the plumbers suggested we swap the supply lines for the shower for ease of access (can get to them in the storage room if necessary). We insulated and sealed the fuck out of the exterior wall - that corner is where the addition joins the house and you could see daylight where the terracotta met the rubble stone foundations. Hence our pipes freezing last winter. Oh yeah, the plumbers fixed that mess, too. And framed the walls around the tub. And installed the tub. They were expensive, but worth every penny.

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This is the wall dividing the bathroom from the storage room. The blue stuff on the tub surround is just protective film. A pedestal sink will go here. You can see the door to the storage room. I'm going to paint it to blend in with the wall and hang a floor-length mirror on it.

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To the right of the door is the storage alcove - an ingenious solution to a pain in our collective asses. The foundation from the mid 1800's addition is also rubble stone, and gets rather wide and jagged at the bottom. Previously it was a closet. We've framed off the sticky-out parts and will put shelves in the top portion. The ceiling drops a hair in the alcove too, which will be a treat to finish, but it was necessary because plumbing was in the way.

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This is a slightly better (but dusty) shot of the alcove and the door to the rest of the bathroom, which will be finished (again; it had the same fate as the original bathroom) sometime in the far distant future.

My lasagna's almost done, and brownies are cooling. After dinner, fun with drywall mud! :thumbs:

Exciting amount of progress! You're almost there!

I got ya beat, I had a toilet drain that was made out of dryer vent conduit. :cookiemonster:

Well sure, but wasn't that "toilet" just a 5 gallon bucket with a hole in the lid? :poke:

My groover is better sealed and smelling. Thankyouverymuch

Leaving that between Chaco and his groover, nice work Solfy! Now you're not allowed to sell the place until you've enjoyed the finished bathroom for at least as long as you lived with the rubble.

That does take the proverbial cake.

I kept telling myself that last night. 3hrs to get the 1st coat of mud on (and two more people dead in Game of Thrones on Audiobook; you could measure time by the dead characters in that series). I mixed the last batch of 90minute setting compound too thin, so I'm not happy with how my interior corners came out. Since it's a first coat all it means is more work until the mud is done to my satisfaction.

I worked for Habitat for Humanity on a spring break project in college. We were mudding a house in Buffalo. I'd learned to finish drywall from my dad, who's a perfectionist. I was shocked and dismayed when we had only a 2nd, rather crappy coat of mud on and the project manager said, "Looks great! Time to start priming!" It did NOT look great, you could still see every seam plain as day. Later I realized that if you don't have a place to live, you probably don't mind getting one with slightly visible drywall seams.

The plan for this house, Og willing, is that our move out of it will be to a nursing home or an urn. It really makes a difference in how I feel about projects, since they're for me (and my family) and not the next owner.

Woke up a bit stiff this morning. Told myself I will take the evening off. Now to see if I actually stick to that, or if the siren call of drywall mud lures me downstairs again tonight. This stage is so rewarding!

Wow, I'm impressed. I can do the work but I never have the vision in my head of what I want it to look like in the end. Also, lasagna sounds really good right now.

It was a good lasagna. Eldest Solfyette proclaimed it the best ever. Middle Dottir liked it, and she doesn't like lasagna. I thought it needed more sauce. I used a big mason jar of preserved sauce from Dad's garden last year, along with spinach and summer squash (courtesy of Dad's garden this year - the best kind of garden to have is someone else's). Since it was the 11x13 pan, two jars of sauce probably would have been better.
Also: Aldi doesn't sell ricotta cheese in the summer.

Nice! I like seeing other people work. :)

I love your home ownership approach; ours is the same, we'll leave for a home or an urn. It fascinates me that so many people can't compute that. It's like the words don't register at all they're so fixated on resale value and such.

My parents had that mindset, too, but after 25 years of rennovation they did sell. Not because of the house, but because the neighborhood went to seed around it. That's highly unlikely in my neighborhood, fortunately.

They moved to a mid century ranch after fixing up a big old victorian, with low maintenance in retirement being a key consideration. I do worry a bit about that - my house will never be "low maintenance." The long range plan does include Hardiplank siding and a steel roof, which should help. My goal is to make enough money that I can pay someone else to do the maintenance when I can't any longer.

I think you have a good plan. Some home maintenance in retirement is not so bad. My grandfather is 86 and he likes the small repairs to keep moving and avoid plopping in front of the television. Things like roofing and siding are too much though.

My father installed a half bath downstairs in his house when he was 75. Who builds a two story, one bath house with the bath upstairs anyway?

Looking great. Glad you like doing it, helps much on quality of life.

And I agree with your decision to make the house for you and not for future owners. When I die, my kids can try to sell this place. I intend to have it suit me in the meantime.

In this case, there were no baths originally. I can point to the spot in the yard where the outhouse was, though. :) Bathrooms are our biggest issue in this house. It appears that internal plumbing was a 1923 addition - I know this because there was a bathroom upstairs that had a piece of drywall signed and dated on the back by all the kids who lived in the house.

When Last Owners bought the house, there were two full bathrooms upstairs and one in the basement (nothing on the main floor). One of the bathrooms upstairs was carved out of what is now Swimmy's bedroom, and it apparently had issues. When we bought the place, it was gutted to the studs, as was the ceiling below it (I assume due to massive water damage). The LOs were trying to rough in a powder room below it on the main floor, tapping into the waste stack that ran through a chase. The waste stack was completely split up its length, so I'm glad they never got that far.

We ripped out their half-assed framing, ripped out the chase and the rotted stack pipe, finished tearing out the bathroom upstairs, and restored Swimmy's room to its original dimensions. The only functional bathroom right now (over the kitchen, which is over the basement bathroom) is awful. Near term plans are to put in the basement bathroom, turn the exisiting 2nd floor bathroom into a closet, and turn a 4th (but small at 9x10) bedroom into a really nice family bathroom (5'x3' tiled shower with glass doors, 60" vanity, restored clawfoot tub, 2/3rds height board and batten wainscoting. . . mmmmmm). Long term I'd like to put a powder room in the playroom, but that'll involve a lot of wall, doorway, and radiator rearrangement.

Actually I think in many cases you maximize resale value with this approach anyway. Not that resale should be the point, I agree. But houses that have been carefully customized, over time, for specific occupants, are also those that stand out on the market. They have personality, and somebody will come along to love them.

Once I was a guest at a house that had a model train set installed just below ceiling height through most of the rooms. The pass-through at the walls were done up as tunnel mouths, and the track was built on either a small shelf along the wall or wood trestles hanging from the ceiling. It was set up on a timer to make a lap every 30 minutes. The guy planned to sell the system with the house when the time came. It wouldn't be for everyone, but I think he probly made out OK with it.

That would not have put me off for one minute, Jag.

Solfy - my fathers house was a two story, one bath on the second floor. Sorry for the confusion. Sometimes I not talk so good.

I suspect it depends on what you're into. My parents' house had a woodburning stove in the formal dining room. It heated the whole house in the winter (yes, they also had an updated furnace). I often wonder if that didn't factor into it sitting on the market for 2yrs. You don't see a lot of woodstoves in typical suburban homes.

I know a guy for whom that would be a wet dream. But only one.


That's what I figured you meant. I suspect it was pretty common pre-1950 or so. Three of my grandparents houses were, at one point, the same. As was my first house. (well, technically the only bathroom was between the upper and lower floors, but it was a strange little house)

Maybe. Was it done well, though? Clean installation, well sited in the room? Looking like it belonged there?

I'd say so, but it's still a comparatively odd thing in a formal dining room.

2nd coat of mud is on. I am content with it.

Walls and ceiling done, primed, painted, and the floor tile is laid.
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I used 6"x24" wood-look ceramic tiles laid in a herringbone pattern. They're covered with spacers and blobs of thinset because I took these pictures 15 min after I set the last tile.

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Next up: Grout, trim, doors, shelves, fixtures. In more or less that order.

Doesn't it feel really, really good to say that? :D




ps - Nice job, very well done!

Thanks! : beaming :

What felt even better than setting the last tile was the fact that I started in the corner by the alcove and storage door, and when I got over to the bathtub, the remaining space was perfectly filled by a whole tile. The same thing happened when I got back to the wall behind the toilet - the tile pattern worked out perfectly for the room. My only weird cuts were a few by the threshold.

I had tried to do the math and dry fitting ahead of time to avoid awkward tile cuts (like needing a whole row of 1" cut tiles), but finally gave up and winged it. The tile gods were smiling on me yesterday. There was much happy dancing.

No final finished pics of the downstairs bathroom yet, though it's fully functional, because I still have to paint the trim and tidy up before it's ready for its closeup.

Meanwhile, we've started upstairs.
The room where this is all happening is a 4th "bedroom", significantly smaller than all the other bedrooms, that is adjacent to the existing upstairs bathroom. It's in the "new" part of the house, added circa 1923. The plan is to get as far as we can in the bedroom first. Eventually we will have to demolish the existing bathroom, as the new bathroom's shower will take up half that room. At that point, we're stuck trekking to the basement when we have to pee in the middle of the night, so we're putting it off as long as possible. The remaining half of the current upstairs bathroom will be a closet. It's a really small bathroom. I hate it and can't wait for it to go.

Starting with the "before" pics. This is mostly before - when we moved in, the room had a closet (the green wall; the radiator was in the closet) and a dropped ceiling. We already removed those a year or two ago because it was easy. Through the doorway you can see my messy china closet that holds towels, the stair and door to my bedroom (that part of the house is ~12" higher than this part), and the laundry chute (with junk piled on it).
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In this pic you can see where the track for the dropped ceiling was, as well as the gaping hole that was above the dropped ceiling. Above that is the roof. Many years ago there was a metal roof on this addition. It wasn't maintained, it developed a leak in the 80s, and it was replaced with an EPDM membrane roof that (fingers crossed) is still going strong. Eventually we'll have the whole place re-roofed and probably do something different.
The craptacular door leaning in the corner is the one I took off my bedroom and replaced a few months ago.
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This is the only window in the room. It was originally elsewhere in the house (I suspect Swimmy's room) and recycled. The gutters weren't installed correctly above it, making water pour into the window every time it rained. The window rotted out, as did various parts underneath it. We fixed the gutters several years back and sealed things up as a temporary measure until now.
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Last weekend we took out two of the walls. They're a weird hybrid of an early version of drywall, covered with plaster. There's a cut-off gas pipe in the exterior wall to the left of the window, I believe for lighting. I thought this addition post-dated the gas lights, but maybe not.
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This weekend, Husband took the remaining wall and ceiling down. It wasn't as bad as he'd feared. The wall in this pic (behind leaning craptacular door; note to self - take door out to scrap heap) was once the an exterior wall for our bedroom, which had been added in the mid 1800's, hence the beefier beams and plaster/lath construction. The plaster's shot in there. I shudder at the thought of redoing that room. Might just drywall over it.
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We pull the bottom sash of the window to shovel the walls out onto a tarp below. There wasn't much left to the bottom of the window because of the water damage. Apparently, in its first incarnation, this room was painted pink.
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Close up of the bottom of the window. Waste not, want not - the exterior of the house is a layer of recycled clapboards with the outsides facing in (some had been painted green), covered with what appears to be some sort of asphalt sheeting, covered with recycled yellow pine Dutch lap siding.
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And in this pic, you can see the culmination of all day Sunday's work. Husband rebuilt the framing, which was not a small job by any means considering the old window didn't even have a header, we lowered the whole shebang by about 7" so that the window wasn't tucked up under the gutter and to make room for a proper header, and the water damaged portions had to be rebuilt. I installed the window. I still need to seal everything up around it, but it keeps the rain and bats out for now. It was getting late and the Solfyettes were fractious by this point.
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Next up - another window will go 12" to the left of the first window. That will involve making a hole in the exterior, which should be fun. The last time we had to do that, the hole had already been there so we just re-uncovered it. This will be a new hole.

I love these windows SOOOOO much. They're freaking expensive, but worth it. Low e, Ar-filled, tilt in, double hung, aluminum-clad exterior wood interior, with a custom simulated divided light so that they match the style of the original windows still on the façade. They're beautiful, energy efficient, and easy to maintain and clean.

For those who may question the wisdom of so much visibility into a bathroom, I'll be putting shutters or blinds on the bottom half for privacy. The view is onto the back yard, which is wooded. It's also nearly east facing - this corner of the house gets flooded with early morning sun. I can't wait to shower in here with the sunrise streaming in the windows.

Sounds delicious, the sweet fruit of your labor.

y'know what that bathroom needs?


MORE POWER

You aren't kidding. There's one functioning receptacle right now. Another in the closet doesn't work IIRC.

Husband and Dad ran wiring up to the attic a few years back in anticipation of this project. We think we'll need to run one more circuit up there yet, and we've got one more slot in the 100A box. Eventually we're having the box upgraded, but we're trying not to have to do it right now.

It'll need 3 receptacles, sconces on either side of the vanity, a central light/vent fan in the middle of the room, and inset lighting over the shower.

You see why I have this fascination with shotcrete.

I prefer shotcrete on retaining walls. I used to drive by this one daily - it was a nice addition to the landscape, as far as synthetic cliffs go.

They call it home improvement because it can't get much worse
 

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This pic does a decent job summarizing my weekend, although the doorway is gone and the yellow wall is de-plastered now. That's where the shower valve is going.

The view to the left of the yellow wall used to be blocked by half the bathroom.

ETA: Ack! So huge picture! I don't think I'll do future ones straight from the phone.

Solfy, please teach me your ways. I may have lots of windows to replace soon, and your thread gives me DIY delusions. :)

What I have learned about windows:

1. If your house is old and/or has been modified by crazy people, the structural integrity of the wall holding the window should be questioned. If you're the sort of person who goes about mucking inside your walls, this is not a problem. It only requires one to two extra trips to the home improvement store for more wood.

2. Good windows are expensive. If you're going to be in your house for a prolonged period of time, and/or if your existing windows are exceptionally shitty, good new windows are worth it. They go up! They go down! They keep rain out of your walls! They have screens that keep bats out! They look pretty! They tilt in for cleaning! The don't fall out of the wall!

3. Assuming a proper hole in the wall (either by virtue of you making the hole proper or by there already being a proper hole in your house, you lucky devil), the actual window installation is really not all that bad. Read the manufacturer's instructions first, have a nice level handy, buy lots of shims, and get someone to hold the window for you so it doesn't fall out of the house while you're attaching it. Window installation was the bit about Swimmy's room that really intimidated us before we took on the project. Ultimately I think filling in the 25sq ft hole in the floor was trickier.

4. I have an exterior . . . situation. . . with this project that wasn't an issue in Swimmy's room. When we put a new hole in that room, we really actually reopened a hole that had been there. The siding lines clearly showed where the hole had been, so all we had to do was break out the replaced boards and recreate the trim. This time we made one new hole, changed another, and are covering up another window. Fixing the siding and installing trim will be . . . interesting. Not to mention that the tops of the windows there are about 30' up. We got out Bertha, my big ladder. Bertha weighs 64lbs and is a bitch to set up.

Pro tip: Safety harnesses look weird and feel like bondage gear, but they can keep you from ruining your whole weekend. And they start at <$60.

I have no qualms regarding bondage gear. Since I won't have a handy porch roof to stand on this time, and since I won't be able to hang out the non-existent window that is closed up, that's a good tip.

When I had to work on a high area with no solid anchor points, I built an upside down V out of plywood to protect the ridge line and ran the fall arrest line over the roof down to a 3 ton anchor. Also you need to have a plan for how to get down to the ground when you're hanging from the rope. It will adjust your spine. My plan was, kid bro would fetch a ladder after he got done laughing.

To avoid all that, the first thing when you get to the top of the ladder is to run in some 3/8" x 3" stainless screw eyes and tie off the ladder. I put them into the bottom edge of a couple rafters but you can also run them at an up angle through the siding into some studs. Seal well with silicone and leave them in for next time.

At the bottom of the ladder slap together some plywood in a channel shape to hold the foot of the ladder. Then slam in some beefy 2x2 stakes to keep the bottom from skidding out on you. Then you have something you can work off of without pressing your luck.

Or, forget the whole thing. :D

The plumbers are here today, as is the dumpster.

Today's find: A shotgun in the wall. A rather corroded 1930s toy pop gun, to be specific.

I just scored a new harness a month ago. Costed it to a job. Now I've got two sets. And a new 5/8 safety line.

Jag as far getting down I use an upside down safety brake with a foot strap. Stand in the foot strap to loosen the brake you're hanging from. Lower it and engage brake. Pull up to let the foot brake drop. Repeat.

One of those things is on my someday list. However figure if I fall six feet and fetch up against a dacron rope, I'll probably need a little help getting down anyway.


Nah. That would be too easy and make too much sense.

You know that they have shock absorbing lines. I use a four foot one. Barely time to pick up any speed.

Progress!

PEX lines in the process of being installed in the kitchen ceiling. They looked like hula hoops when they showed up at my house all rolled up. Everything's squared away now, not hanging like in this pic.
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This is one of two holes the plumbers cut in the kitchen wall to run a new waste stack. You can see how thick the wall is - when the addition was added, they left everything intact including the siding. Over the siding is a layer of beadboard, over that is drywall covered in plaster. This is where we found the toy gun.
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Found in the hallway ceiling - a beer can. . .

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And Sean's wallet from 1975. His social security card is in there, and a check for $5 that was never cashed. Also a Pirates game ticket stub, raffle tickets from a bowling alley, a Greyhound bus receipt, and a school photo of Sandy. The photo washed away, but she signed the back.

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We've got a lot of work to do trimming the window and repairing the siding when we're done. Below is the filled-to-the-brim 15yd dumpster. Also: the shitty kitchen porch. That's probably next summer's project.

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If you look closely, you can see the ghost of window trim above the doorway.
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In addition to the siding, they left the eaves on the house when the put the addition on. They're still up there, painted green.

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Behold! A fully gutted room! (or two rooms and a hallway) Ceilings, walls, floors, everything must go! We can't figure out what the unpainted spot on the floor was from, but it's more evidence that this wasn't the original configuration of the 2nd floor of this addition. The hardwood that's still down (over by the contractor bag) will be the hallway floor. I may have to replace a few pieces that are water damaged.
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I have to credit my helper for her valuable assistance on the project. She hammers walls. . . .

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And calculates lumber requirements.
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New wall! This wall will separate the back of the shower (blue ladder side) from the walk-in closet (white step stool side)

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I am very happy about my wall. Also I am sweaty and filthy.
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The help with the hammer is great.

I am so glad I am too old to get into what you are doing anymore.....

Bawahahahaha

You do sweaty & filthy very well. Made me breathe hard.......... Yousa !!!

And she keeps mommy under budget! :science:

Thanks! It was about 80°F yesterday and we don't have whole house air. Coupled with the fact that the room has no walls, ceiling, or insulation, it was pretty toasty up there. Then while I was pulling a few more boards off the ceiling, a nasty old rodent's nest showered me with yuck.

She's been amused at the "huge mess" we're making, and wants to come check things out. Fortunately it's messy enough that she doesn't want to help often, but she really does have her own functional hammer. Because every 2yr old needs a hammer.

Solf was kind and fair
Mastering in home repair
Fixin' up her house
Workin' on the walls late into the night, aye-aye-ite
Little Solfette 3 lookin' cute as she could be
Likes to help her mom
"Can I help you with the hammering, Mom-ma-ah-ee?"

But just as Solfy turns around
She creeps up from behind

Bang! Bang! Little Solfette's hammer came down upon her head
Clang! Clang! Little Solfette's hammer made sure that she was dead slightly stunned


...

(Later Solfy calls her office)

:thumbs:

Call me "Dusty."http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09...078a1a28fc.jpg