This Cold House

So it’s been awhile since I’ve updated this site mainly because I just haven’t felt like taking the time to.  I decided I would take a look at my last entry and started laughing when I read that I posted “bathroom almost done” back in May.  Hah.  I could say now that it’s somewhat almost done but still not close enough.

 Since may I’ve finished the floor and installed a vent fan and exhaust out the top of the roof.  I did not take any pictures of the vent installation since I wanted to be up in the attic as little as possible.  I’ll sum it up.  Step 1: I cut a hole in the roof, cut and lifted shingles surrounding the hole, put some roof tar around the edge of the hole, put the bottom of the vent in, put more tar around the vent and then set the shingles back down around it.  I hope it never leaks!

In the bathroom, I cut a square hole in the center of the room and mounted the metal box for the vent and fan.  Then up into the attic to connect the foil vent (looks like a dryer vent) from the metal box to the vent sticking out of the roof. 

Now for the floor.  Last year when I was replacing the steel plumbing in the bathroom with copper, it was necessary to cut up and remove the old floor.  Way back in December (Christmas eve in fact) I put a new sub floor of plywood down and it’s been just that up until a few weeks ago.  The original plan was to slap some luan over the plywood and then some self stick vinyl flooring over that.  I decided that with all the work and blood I put into this tiny room that real tile would be more appropriate. 

After researching a bit on the many Internets I had a pretty good idea of what was necessary to do the floor.  First thin set mortar, then cement backer board, more thin set, tile, and finally grout.

The backer board I used is called Hardi Backer and it seems to be perfect for tiling.  It was a PAIN IN THE ASS to cut.  I read to use a circular saw with the blade reversed.  That worked well despite the blade glowing orange and smoking after a foot or so of cutting.  I ended up using mostly a sawzall with a “rescue” blade (the type used to cut up cars, etc in emergency situations) to make the cuts and a razor to clean up the rough edges.  A drywall rasp seemed to work well on the edges too.  After a lot of agony, I made all the cuts to fit in the room.

A few days later I mixed up some thin set, spread it with one of those notched trowls, laid the backer board and secured it with some overpriced special hardi backer screws.  Drywall screws would probably work fine.  I’m convinced the only thing special about these is the square bit head.  At least they give you a bit when you by a box.  All the joints are then taped with mesh to help with leveling with the thin set for the tile goes down. 

The next step was to layout the tile, cut it to fit and then set it. 

Finally I can get this bathroom done.  I’ve had the project on hold because I needed a pro to do the walls.  I can do very little with drywall, especially finishing, so I had to call in a pro.  Short of slapping up some crudely cut pieces of drywall, I had no idea where to begin, especially around the window I put in.

The guy I hired, a family friend, did a wonderful job.  In less than two weeks he accomplished what would have taken me months to do and he did it 100 times better.  My biggest concern was around the window and the “shelf” inlet because I just couldn’t see how it could be done without a lot of work.  He made it look easy!  A few pieces of wood and the drywall fit right in.  The finishing work looks excellent also.  No bumps, no goofy drywall mud marks.  I’m impressed. 

Before:

After the drywall:

And after the first phase of finishing (taping):

And finally the finish:

Next step is the floor and finish the shower plumbing (test for leaks!).

Then, I can put the surround in, the toilet, sink, a vent fan, and finally take a shower after all these months! (that’s a joke)

Life has been pretty hectic and I haven’t had time to update this site much as things occur so I’m going to dump several posts at one time.  About 3 weeks ago I tackled insulation installation on th exterior walls of the bathroom.  Not much to say about it except make sure you wear a good nose/mouth mask (which I did), rubber gloves, AND SOMETHING FOR YOU EYES (which I did not).  This shit is not only dangerous but irritating.  Try to keep the insulation smashed down when you cut it also as you can usually cut most of the thickness with one swipe.  Otherwise, you’ll end up sort of chopping at it which creates a lot of death dust.  I found a better solution to the masking problem as you’ll see in my next post.

 R-13 is suggested for 2×4 studded walls with the moisture resistant paper back.  I still think that is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.  Water resistant paper.  Stupid.

I got the shower valve half-way installed this evening.  The one that I got has I.P.S. inlets instead of solder, so I had to rely on thread tape and luck to get those suckers attached without leaks.  What a miracle.  It worked on the first shot.  I’m glad they did too because the valve is mounted so close to the stud to the left of it that I had to solder directly to the threaded connector.  If it leaked, I would have had to cut the pipe and sorta start over.  I’ll know by tomorrow morning if the threded joints are worthy and then I can move on.  Next is the feed up to the shower head and to the tub spout, which shouldn’t be too hard.  No, I didn’t get that damned duck spout for those of you that were encouraging me to.

 The damned duck valve that I did not buy:

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated, mainly because of the holidays and well, just life in general.  Over new years weekend we installed a new window in the bathroom.  I ordered a custom size to replace the one that was in there, however, when the old one came out, so did the rotten garbage wood that it was mounted in.  It was actually mounted using the original window’s casment trim!  I don’t have a picture because the wood is already dumpstered, but imagine using the decorative wood that surrounds a door to secure a window in place.  We ended up building a new frame to mount it in with 2×4s (one which I had to shave to a 1.25×4 with a circ saw) and secured it to the brick around the window using cement anchor screws.  Fun.  The new window went in relatively easy after that and then we put some spray foam insulation around it to keep the cold in.  The hardest part was constructing the aluminum to cover the outside of the window and caulking it to seal out the water.  It looks like a 2 year old spread cake icing around the seams, but it’s functional.  Unfourtunately, I only have pictures of the inside.  I got a crank style window because I think they look nicer in a bathroom and mildew doesn’t have as many places to hide.

To you, my house, I give a bathroom subfloor.  After lots of measuring, cutting, and some re-cut around the crap pipe circle, I finally got the plywood down for the subfloor.  I had to slice it into a few pieces to make sure I could slip the wood under the crap pipe lip to support it, but all and all, it didn’t go too bad.  I’m partially deaf now from running saws in the garage and I’m sure the neighbors appreciated the noise at 12:30am.  Next is the finish wood which should be equally as exhilarating.

 I can’t remember if I mentioned that the supply valves are done for the sink and toilet too.  No, they aren’t perfectly straight.  Dan, remind me to take that tie wrap off the hot pipe before the walls go up.