I've decided that plumbers like pain. What else could cause a person to decide upon a career choice that puts them at odds daily with rusted, seized pipes, giant iron tubes sealed with Oakem, and putting new plumbing in a room with a concrete floor and 8x8" sills? They must feel that they have to make up for some seriously bad stuff in a previous life...
In case you couldn't guess, I've been playing with plumbing today, among other things. I suppose I should back up a bit though, since I didn't actually post the update yesterday that I wanted to. I have been working, of course, on the laundry room. It has been an adventure in architecture and design to figure out where exactly to put a washer and drier - not to mention counters and storage - in this tiny room. I think I have it planned out now.
One of things Sian and I discussed was tearing out the doorway and making the laundry room part of the kitchen. We decided to do that. It will let more light into the kitchen, and will make both the kitchen and the laundry room seem larger. The kitchen.... the kitchen has smelled like super-potent cat piss for over a year now. During my emergency repairs before I moved in, I put down carpet in the kitchen to cover up the boards I used to patch the floor around the chimney. It was industrial carpet in 16" squares - acquired by my Mom from her old employer. Lyrus, during his many seizures (and just being a bit of a moron), did his best to cover every square inch with male cat piss. He did a good job.
Sian had had enough. We bought some vinyl floor tiles (temporary! Don't flame me please. lol) to put down when time allowed. That started Thursday. I pulled up all of the carpet, then the linoleum I remember so well from my childhood, then the layer of linoleum (Congoleum) below that. We were excited briefly... it looked like really nice brown wood under that. Nope. It was another layer of something-or-other that was brown, moulded to the wood grain perfectly, and made it look exactly like a very nice hardwood floor. Once that came up, it was drab, greyish wood underneath.
Next I started laying Luan for a thin underlayment for the tiles. I mentioned to Sian that if we were going to open up the doorway, now was the time to do it. She didn't think it was a good idea. So I continued with the Luan, stopping for the day with only one small corner of the kitchen left to do. The next day, Sian said maybe it would be best to do the doorway now. So I took down the door and ripped out the wall one stud wider. I had to move my light switches and stuff, of course, but that wasn't any big deal.
So, yesterday was spent working on the doorway and cleaning up the laundry room. Today was plumbing-torture day. I alternated between the basement and laundry room. First, I removed the last bits of the cold water pipe that exploded this winter. Then I tackled the old drain pipe from the sink that has frustrated me since January. It won't budge. I've torched it, cut it, used an enormous pipe wrench on it...nothing works. Put that with the fact that my back is about halfway "out" again, and it equals a pipe that ain't moving. Unfortunately, I can't do much more until that evil bastard is out of there.
So, stopped by a 50+ year old drain pipe, I started putting in the top-side plumbing that I could. I'm going to have to do a bit of rigging... There's only one place to run pipes down to the basement, and it's on the outside of the wall (future wall). I ain't drilling through what's left of the sill, since it's 8 inches thick and I'd then have to deal with bricks and limestone. So, my only choice is to use the big hole in the concrete that they had previously used for plumbing. Hence my frustration with the pipe that refuses to be removed.
The plan is to have the pipes inside the wall until they reach 30" from the floor. Then they'll exit the wall, and run down it into the floor. There will be a counter/cabinets along the wet wall, so the plumbing won't be exposed. Another necessity was to have the washer connections a) high on the wall, and b) on the wall adjacent to the wall the washer will actually be against. It's a long story. If you look at the pictures, you'll probably see why. The height thing is just my own paranoia. I want the shut offs in a visible, accessible location.
Also, Dave from Dave's Heating and Cooling came by on Friday and installed our central air. Well...sorta installed it. He took one look at the fuse box (still on 60 Amp here...) and said no way. So, I have an appointment with Green's Electric on Monday to get an estimate for installing a new main line from the meter to the box. Of course, I still have to install the box and run the existing wires to it... Who needs electricity anyway?
Anyway, that's about it for the writing part. Time for pictures now. Enjoy.
Here you can see three layers of the floor. Carpet in the background, then the linoleum that was here when Grandma bought the house (the red and white "piano key" design), and the funky layer below that. Looks like maybe the 20s or 30s?
Here the ugliness has mostly been covered with Luan.
Also takes care of my "rising heat duct" issue. It's held down by the Luan now.
Here's the original floor in all of its glory.
We blocked off the laundry room with sheets of Luan last night so the cats wouldn't play in the nasty black plaster dust.
Here's a shot from today. Looks big and open now, doesn't it?
Here's the view from inside the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Sian has been painting the kitchen (just primer so far) and scraping the rest of the wallpaper off of the walls and ceiling.
The stove was connected directly to the copper propane line - no flex tube or shut-off valve. I remedied that situation.
Here's my plumbing hell. You can't really see anything at all, but I've also added a line that pops out behind the refrigerator. Maybe one day I'll hook up the icemaker. lol. In case anyone is wondering...my cold water lines are 1/2" PVC and my hot water lines are 3/4" CPVC. I was going to use Pex, but even with the employee discount it was still too high. (Crimper tool, fittings, etc).
The new AC unit, sitting there doing nothing.
It looks like it's hooked up, doesn't it? They stuck the wire sheath through the hole in the foundation so that I can feed the wire through once I have an acceptable circuit breaker box (and 200A service).
Comments to date: 5. This is page 1 of 1.
Luis&Laura (VJ) Puerto Rico
Posted at 9:44pm on Sunday, April 29th, 2007
The kitchen floor wasn't so bad, after stripping it down from all the linoleum. Indeed opening the laundry room to the kitchen will look nice, more open space, more light, more flow to the house. Good choice!
Todd USA
Posted at 5:34pm on Sunday, April 29th, 2007
Nice blog and I totally agree about plumbers! If you get a chance check out the home improvement blogroll I started. It's a great way to get more readers and traffic to your site. http://homeimprovementblogroll.blogspot.com
Gary ohio
Posted at 8:38am on Sunday, April 29th, 2007
Hey, there's a fine dusty mist in all those pictures except the one when you opened the door! Hope you claimed mineral rights to your lungs!
Larry Here
Posted at 6:51am on Sunday, April 29th, 2007
The "plan" is that we'll live with the kitchen mostly as it is for another year or two - until the rest of the house is done. Once the kitchen is gutted and everything, we'll be using either ceramic or slate tiles on the floor. Sian and I both like the look of real stone, so if we can afford it at the time, we'll probably have slate.
The vinyl tiles we have now are fake slate. lol.
Patricia W. Jackson,Michigan
Posted at 6:10am on Sunday, April 29th, 2007
Again I'm impressed. You are getting so much done!
I don't think the wood floor in your kitchen looks half bad, especially for being covered in so many layers of linoleum. I love the piano pattern on the linoleum too; very retro, very cool.
I'm planning on linoleum in my kitchen too. Right now it's wood and I don't like wood floors in the kitchen.
