The plumbing project we went over in the beer thread, recapped.

[AUDub 11,131]

Figured I’d repost this here since we have a dedicated forum for it now. 

I ****** up my plumbing last year. 

No, seriously. I did. Got a bit too big for my britches and jacked up some s***. Having been a homeowner on a budget for a little while now, there are certain things it’s necessary to learn. I already know electrical pretty well, as a result of my field, but I thought I could soldier through just about anything. This...

...cured me of the notion that I knew what I was doing real quick.

(Yeah, that blood is mine.)

Backstory. This house was a fixer upper when we bought it. For the location, size and price, we got a steal on it. Needed a new roof, new paint (interior and exterior) and a lot of other TLC right off the bat. Probably about $30,000 worth of work right off the bat. Delegated most to pros. We could sell right now and easily make money though, so it was money well spent. 

As a result, I’ve been doing a lot of the little stuff on my own. A lot of electrical work that needed rectifying, interior paint, etc.

But then came the plumbing. Nearly everything about this house is original, including the taps in the showers and sinks. Everything downstairs dripped constantly. Some 30 year old seats and springs needed replacing. Old Delta 60 series, with the dome. Upstairs bathroom was ok. So, 4 taps in 2 bathrooms. 

First two taps went fine. Fought a bit, but I was able to snap them off with some heat from the MAPP torch my wife uses for Creme Brûlée and elbow grease. Two down, two to go. 

Tap three, the tap in the master bath, and tap four, the sink in the spare bath, proved to be a bitch. Dome was firmly cemented on both. The tub tap is where I ****** it up. Got a bit too liberal with the elbow grease and felt it go. A distance too small to be perceptible to the eye, but not to feel. (The damage in the pic above came after I knew it was a lost cause.) Turned to main back on to gauge the damage. Water was leaking from the fixture into the wall. Oops. 

Unfortunately, this bathroom had no shut offs between it and the main valve, which meant that we had no water, and it was Saturday. Called my handyman. His plumber came out and said he could fix it without detroying tile and was going to get parts. He never made it back. Waited long enough. s***. Baby in the house. We need running water. Luckily it was a first level bathroom and the lines were right there in the basement. Guess I’d better learn to sweat. Watched some YouTube to learn the skill, went to Home Depot to get valves, flux, emery board, a cutter and solder. Got to work. 

OK, good. Down a shower, but I’ve learned a handy skill without doing further damage and we have running water everywhere else.

Day two, no word from the plumber. Well, maybe he’s busy. 

Day five, still no word. Well, I need a project. Time to learn how to tile. 

Four months later, finally no soccer and a free weekend. Let’s do this s***. 

Removed a bit of tile with a wedge, hammer and grout saw. 

Cut out the backer board and drywall with my sawzall. Wore the blade cutting through that concrete, and a N95 mask was necessary, but it did the job. 

Handy dandy pipe cutter.

Cut cut cut

The old fixture. Damage stemming from me destroying it is pretty obvious. Rotated nearly 200 degrees clockwise. Like I said, though, it was a lost cause at 2 degrees, and I knew it. The extra bit of rotation was just from me screwing with it after I knew it was a lost cause.

Rear view of the damage. Those copper lines are supposed to be straight.

Cut to length.

New mixing valve with lines, less the riser,  sweated into place. Sweating is easy as hell. It’s all about the prep. That being said, brass does requires a bit more attention in prep than copper. 

Necessary tool. Beer. Torch, solder, flux, burr tool and emery board optional lol.  

New valve in place. Bottom spout not sweated in yet. Did most of my sweating before installing. Had to sweat four couplings in the wall. Ended up working out pretty well. Water ran, no leaks. 

Another view. Coming along. 

Drywall and concrete back board in place. Silicon caulk all around. All that remained was to tile. 

Used a diamond wheel on my 7&1/4 inch circular to make the cuts, and a diamond hole saw for the hole cut for the faucet. Thank God my wife got a busy pattern that will hide my many errors. Still had to grout. 

And grout. Now it just had to cure, then I could seal it and we could use the shower again. 

Still check behind the wall (access from the basement) to make sure it’s properly sealed. So far so good. 

I didn’t screw around with the last dome. Pulled out my Dremel and a flathead, pried that thing off and simply replaced it. Will be replacing that fixture soon too. 

All in all, I learned a lot. Have even done some basic work for my dad. Replaced his pressure reducing valve and his water heater too. Gas was a new experience, but I got a flare tool out of the deal, so who’s complaining? Handy skill. 

[AU64 10,122]

Nice job and gutsy to take it on.   I've sweated a few copper lines but would not take on something like that these days.  

 

Your work looks much better than the original....and by the way, if you don't leave a little of your own blood in or on a project, it's not authentic. 

[Mike4AU 1,739]

I have sweated in a number of water lines and have done a few gas lines.  Given the critical nature of working on gas lines, I have made a conscious decision to quit working on gas.  I now call a pro when I need that sort of work done.  

[AUDub 11,131]

1 hour ago, AU64 said:

Nice job and gutsy to take it on.   I've sweated a few copper lines but would not take on something like that these days.  

 

Your work looks much better than the original....and by the way, if you don't leave a little of your own blood in or on a project, it's not authentic. 

It looks nice from a distance. Up close and upon closer inspection, the little errors become pretty obvious. But, hey, it works. 

[AUDub 11,131]

1 minute ago, Mike4AU said:

I have sweated in a number of water lines and have done a few gas lines.  Given the critical nature of working on gas lines, I have made a conscious decision to quit working on gas.  I now call a pro when I need that sort of work done.  

I limit gas to connections with flares and soap bubble testing. Any other sort of work, I’m definitely going with a pro. 

[AU64 10,122]

1 minute ago, AUDub said:

It looks nice from a distance. Up close and upon closer inspection, the little errors become pretty obvious. But, hey, it works. 

Put it behind those pretty tiles and NOBODY will know.   My job was outside water line extension to our 2nd level deck...ended up with a few beads on the joints but they did not leak....and that was about all that mattered.   

Recently I had to have my shower valve replaced....called a plumber...he cut the copper (60 year old house so copper everywhere) and used poly lines to make the new connections....does not leak (yet) but I made sure I could get to the valve in the future if I had too without tearing out the tile. 

[AUDub 11,131]

1 minute ago, AU64 said:

Put it behind those pretty tiles and NOBODY will know.   My job was outside water line extension to our 2nd level deck...ended up with a few beads on the joints but they did not leak....and that was about all that mattered.   

Recently I had to have my shower valve replaced....called a plumber...he cut the copper (60 year old house so copper everywhere) and used poly lines to make the new connections....does not leak (yet) but I made sure I could get to the valve in the future if I had too without tearing out the tile. 

I debated whether I should use sharkbite and PEX for the shower riser, but once I had the tile out, I had room to get in there with my MAPP torch and could use the existing riser. 

That and I’m not entirely sure I trust sharkbite behind the wall. Or PEX, for that matter, considering we get the occasional mouse in my man cave. 

[AU64 10,122]

4 minutes ago, AUDub said:

I debated whether I should use sharkbite and PEX for the shower riser, but once I had the tile out, I had room to get in there with my MAPP torch and could use the existing riser. 

That and I’m not entirely sure I trust sharkbite behind the wall. Or PEX, for that matter, considering we get the occasional mouse in my man cave. 

Hard decision...I have rear access to both of my shower/tub valves....just in case ..one bath had it and the other I went ahead and made the cut when changing the valve.....was easy to do for a corner shower and I just use a mirror to cover the hole in the wall.

Re-did our bath last fall...total upgrade.  .right down to the doorknobs.  My job was mostly to stay out of the way....broke my heart that I was not able to do the work but just not up to that kind of thing....taking out an entire bathroom (shower and floor) of old tile which was a major mess.     I  did most of the electric changes and also the cabinet doors and the cabinet over the toilet....still can do the woodwork.   As noted, the shower valve is behind the mirror on the right hand wall. Love those new sinks and faucets...

.   

[AUDub 11,131]

Jeez, that’s pretty. My wife would kill for those sinks. 

Wish I had rear access. Layout of the house just doesn’t allow for it. Mixing valve for the master bath is behind the tile in the tub for the guest bath. So it’s either working with the existing cutout for the valve in the master or cutting tile. I took the cutting option, since I would only have about 4ft of cutting to do, and that’s manageable with a circular saw with a diamond cut wheel. 

[AU64 10,122]

13 hours ago, AUDub said:

Jeez, that’s pretty. My wife would kill for those sinks. 

Wish I had rear access. Layout of the house just doesn’t allow for it. Mixing valve for the master bath is behind the tile in the tub for the guest bath. So it’s either working with the existing cutout for the valve in the master or cutting tile. I took the cutting option, since I would only have about 4ft of cutting to do, and that’s manageable with a circular saw with a diamond cut wheel. 

Small narrow bath...had just one sink built in and wife had wanted two of them....so after 20 years we decided to rework the whole things... go for double sinks, updated tile, etc, etc. and we could not give up what little storage space we had under the counter.  Good news was the lady who built the house was about 5 feet tall and the counter top was low...about ruined my back.  Made it easy to put the units on top and tie them together under the cabinet.  Bought most of the stuff from Wayfair.com...not much more than Lowes or Home Depot and some much more interesting items.   My house is small and old...just 2 bedrooms but was architect designed and has some really nice features.  We added the window in the shower and more mirrors to make the room seem larger and lighter.  I spent about 6 months on Pinterest getting ideas and then scoped out the design....and wife picked the tile and colors.   We were surprisingly compatible during the decision making process..

As for your job....sounds like you did the only thing you could have done. I like the tile area that covers where the plumbing is hidden...gives you a reasonable way to get to the valve without destroying the whole wall if you had to. 

[Mike4AU 1,739]

Well, I guess I am being a contrarian because I don’t think the DIY Club is conducive to a good exchange of project info.  I think the Club section is in the hinterlands and has resulted in less information, not more.  For example, in the regular section of the forum I can see right away that new posts have been made, but that visual just doesn’t exist, quickly, in the Club section. 

Am I the only one who wants project information to go back to the All Thing Considered section?

[AUDub 11,131]

4 minutes ago, Mike4AU said:

Well, I guess I am being a contrarian because I don’t think the DIY Club is conducive to a good exchange of project info.  I think the Club section is in the hinterlands and has resulted in less information, not more.  For example, in the regular section of the forum I can see right away that new posts have been made, but that visual just doesn’t exist, quickly, in the Club section. 

Am I the only one who wants project information to go back to the All Thing Considered section?

We had the same problem initially with the beer club. We’ve gotten used to it.

Try following the club and you’ll get reminders every time someone posts a new thread, and you can do the same for individual threads.

[AU64 10,122]

3 hours ago, Mike4AU said:

Well, I guess I am being a contrarian because I don’t think the DIY Club is conducive to a good exchange of project info.  I think the Club section is in the hinterlands and has resulted in less information, not more.  For example, in the regular section of the forum I can see right away that new posts have been made, but that visual just doesn’t exist, quickly, in the Club section. 

Am I the only one who wants project information to go back to the All Thing Considered section?

Thanks...been a bit confusing to me...but maybe I don't understand the concept well enough.....but still seems like we end up in the All Things Considered.  Maybe we need some time with it?