Bathroom Project Week 5

Week 5 was filled with pipes, paper and plaster.

It started out with the tub drain. With the tub in place and the PVC pipes already dry-fit, they can now be glued together. A little sandpaper, some purple primer, and a thin layer of cement is all it takes to join the pipes.

And that stuff is permanent - I accidentally spilled some on the dryer and now we have a purple polka-dot dryer. Sorry Cendy.

Griffey interrupts progress.

Shiny new white PVC drain is finished!
The next task is to re-locate the copper water supply pipes for the same reason we relocated the PVC drain - to raise them above the basement bathroom ceiling. We had to turn off the water to the whole house for this task.

Here you can see the new pipes running two new holes drilled into the floor beam. You can see the old clips underneath (and also where I cut them beyond the floor beam.)

A couple of 90 degree bends will re-connect the relocated pipe. First I needed to trim the pipe to allow room for the elbows. I can do it with my eyes closed!
Here's the access panel behind the tub. The old water supply pipes have been cut and the old shutoff valves were removed. They'll be replaced with valves that actually work.
Thanks to the Sharkbite connectors by the Cash Acme company, the pipes came together quickly. No solder or torch needed - just some elbow grease to put them into place.

Things got a little wet with the first test, but after re-tightening some screw fittings everything is dry and functional.
The next day we tested the tub drain and all connections checked out A-OK.
Behind this wall is our hall closet. To give our bathroom more storage, we decided to open this up to give access from the bathroom.
Here it is opened up and ready for drywall around it. We'll have to make a custom door to fit.
With Micah over to lend a hand, we put this large section of drywall in place. There are openings for the vanity light, medicine cabinet and GFCI receptacle.
Micah staples tar paper around the tub surround. This provides a layer of moisture protection behind the cement backerboard.
With tar paper finished, Micah looks on as I screw the first cement backerboard in place.
Here's the finished backboard in place. Next week we'll have the rest of it up.

A couple more pieces of drywall are put in place on this wall. There was a slight miscalculation with the piece at the bottom of the wall. We'll fix that next time.