Plumbing Problems (and obligatory bump photos)

We strongly dislike our kitchen but for the most part we have been able to work with what we have until it's time to replace it.  With so many other projects going on around the house it sometimes seems silly to spend money and effort on temporary upgrades for the kitchen since we don't have a final plan for the space.  BUT we couldn't stand another day with this faucet.  We have hard water and between the hard water stains and scale along with some "retrofits" by the previous owner it was GROSS.  For some reason we have been in the faucet isles of Home Depot and Lowe's frequently in the past few months so we decided just to buy a cheap replacement faucet as a temporary fix.

Gross...and don't even get me started about the brick backsplash...

 

Grosser....

Grossest!  Andy actually had to cut the faucet free from the sink.

Someone once told me that you should never start a plumbing project on a Sunday afternoon because you are guaranteed to have a problem, need more supplies, and then the stores will be closed.  Andy started this project on a Sunday and we almost found ourselves in trouble when he discovered that the trap was leaking.  There was only a tiny crack at first but by the time he got everything removed it had turned into a large hole! Andy took stock of what we needed and quickly went to Home Depot.

 

A quick job turned complex but we were glad to discover the leak before it got worse and get the plumbing replaced before it caused a problem.

 

This faucet doesn't look like much but it is clean, works, doesn't leak or spray in odd directions and we even added a sprayer.  Life in our kitchen is slightly more tolerable.

Some of the family has been asking for baby bump photos.  Andy assures me that this isn't a selfie, but regardless I'm not much for posting photos of myself on the blog.  So here is the obligatory baby bump photo taken last weekend (around 24 weeks).

You can pick -- black and white or color?

Clamps Required

After we got all of the cabinets upstairs we realized that we needed a little assistance getting them all set, attached to the wall, and level.  We checked the floors and walls for level several times during the renovation, but the length and height of the vanity really highlighted some of the imperfections of our older home. Enter Kyle Wise and his amazing cabinet clamps.  These magical inventions allowed us to clamp all of the cabinets together and attach them to each other with screws.

While the cabinets were clamped together Andy was able to mark and repair one of our cabinet flaws.  The area below with the red pencil highlights the gap between the vanity top and the linen cabinet.  This gap was the reason Home Depot reordered the linen cabinet 3 times and would have ordered it a 4th time if we hadn't asked some more questions.  

This may seem minor, but we made sure to ask when we ordered the cabinets that the edge of the linen cabinet would be completely flush so that the vanity top would be completely flush with the side of the cabinet.  The order was for a flush side, but apparently this 1/8" offset is what the manufacturer considers flush.

Andy was able to practice on one of the reordered cabinets we have leftover in the basement and he created a jig to use with his router to remove a portion of the cabinet so that the vanity top would be flush with the cabinet.

Before Andy screwed the cabinets together he installed this EZ level system on the bottom of each cabinet instead of using shims.

Each system is installed to the side of cabinet and has a separate leveling system for the front and back of the cabinet so that you can level each corner independently.

With the linen cabinet routed and the leveling system installed it was time to attach the cabinets to each other and attach the whole system to the wall.

Nice and level! Andy glued the counter tops to the cabinets, installed the backsplashes and connected all of the plumbing so the sinks are fully functional.

With the overhang on the linen cabinet removed the vanity tops fit perfectly flush with the cabinet.

And the last critical element for the vanity was installing the knobs.

Prepping the Vanity

We are getting ever so close to hanging all of the drywall, but before we can do that there were a few things that we needed to check.  Because the vanities have drawers on one side the plumbing runs down right beside all of the drawers and there is very little room for error.  We carried all of the cabinets upstairs to check on the plumbing, cut out the backs of the cabinets for the piping, and mounted the electrical boxes for the new vanity lights so that we could make sure they were perfectly centered.

This laser level is awesome and made it easy to check that the center of the vanity and new light will line up perfectly.  

Cutting out the back of the vanity for the piping.

Test mounting to check for level.

Checking the plumbing alignment. 

It was nice to see all of the cabinets in place (even if only temporary).  It just means we are getting closer to a newly finished bathroom .  We even took turns fake brushing our teeth at our new sinks! 

Miscellaneous updates

We continue to work on the house (I promise) but we took a few weeks off to plan and begin some larger projects that are all still underway and also enter in a little home improvement contest.  We hope to complete painting and replacing the shutters this week so stay tuned for more updates.

We entered our kitchen into The Worst Kitchen in America contest by the DIY and Food Networks.  We created a video (including rap written by Andy) to enter into the contest.  Unfortunately, Andy and I can barely stand to watch it (pure embarrassment) and I just don't have the nerve to post it here.  If you really want to see it you can find it on the DIY Network website.

Andy was able to install the faucet and part of the shower.  It's crazy to see water running out of a faucet in an otherwise unfinished bathroom, but at least we have running water (and no leaks!).  He began working on the wiring this weekend and discovered that we really needed to add a new circuit and rewire the existing bathroom so he had to take down the entire ceiling and feed new wiring from the basement.  It was a productive weekend.  I'll post some pictures ASAP.

The garden is also doing great -- lots of tomatoes, squash, eggplant, and beans.

The tomatoes that are yellow on top of the heirloom variety called Mr. Stripey.  They are delicious!

A mechanical engineer and a happy rachet (or two)

We spent the ENTIRE day on Sunday working on bathroom projects and other projects around the house.  In the bathroom we were able to get the tub situated in its final home and Andy got all of the plumbing hooked up.  It was a little strange running water in a bathtub in an otherwise unfinished room, but it was a relief to get the tub in place and know that all of the plumbing is working as planned. 

 Attaching the ratchet and strap.  Andy likes to say that I'm stronger than I look, but this 480 lbs monster was no match for me.  We needed a little extra help to take some of the weight so that we could slowly maneuver the tub into the corner.  Since it's surrounded by three walls it was more of an "engineering marvel" than straight manpower.  Andy gets all of the credit for this idea (even though the ratchet straps live in my car and it was my idea to use both ratchets to make the strap longer).  Especially since I was convinced that he was going to cause the ceiling to collapse.  

 Strap and ratchet assembly.

 Hope this thing holds!

 Tub and drain in place.

 View of the new drain line from below. 

 New trap for the tub from below.

 New PEX supply lines for the sinks.  This is the view from the family room below.

 PEX is great, but it was a tight space to work the the proper PEX tools.

We also cut down a pine tree in the front yard in preparation for a new flower bed.  

 Before.

 Taking down as many limbs as possible.

 More limbs down.

 Separating usable wood from the brush.

Chainsaw Andy.  He rigged a great winch system to pull the tree back away from the street.  Unfortunately I didn't grab any good pictures.  I must have been too busy worrying about where the tree would land or else Andy was just too efficient with the saw.

 Post TIIIMMMMBER!

 Working on the stump.  The chainsaw decided it didn't want to finish the stump on Sunday.  We'll have to go back with a better blade.

All chopped up.  A sad, but necessary sacrifice for a new improvement. 

Plumbing progress

Andy has been steadily working on the plumbing in the bathroom.  It's a slow and not very rewarding job as the progress is hard to see and measure.  The biggest accomplishment over the past few weeks was re-routing the baseboard heat piping with a new pex pipe system.  Another annoying part of the process is that a lot of the work he is doing now is only temporary (removing plumbing to get the tub in place, re-routing the baseboard heat until the final loop can be installed, etc).  It's all part of the process, but that doesn't make it fun. 

 Before the plumbing work started.  The subfloor is still intact.

 Subfloor removed to expose the drain from the old shower.

 Pex tubing for baseboard heat.

 New drain line extension and supply lines for the shower.

Don't fall!  We had to open the floor/ceiling into the 1st floor powder room to expose the plumbing and also install ductwork for a future fan in the powder room.  That's the toilet and sink.  It makes for some strange noise transfer as you can now hear someone talking in the kitchen upstairs in the bedroom.  It took me a few days to get used to it and not constantly look around to find "where that noise is coming from"!