Roughing in the Plumbing

It is nice to have a long weekend off of work. Three days is nice. Four is great. I get to get lots done and still have time to relax and enjoy myself.

The washer and sink connections  plumbed in.
The washer and sink connections plumbed in. Notice the remnants of the foam insulation I added years ago to try to slow down the cold air from that corner of the house. With the wall removed it will be easy to do a proper job of insulating.

Yesterday I finished the subfloor and did some cleaning. Today I tackled the plumbing. I roughed in the washing machine and sink drains as well as added the water connections for the sink and drain. The new plumbing is PEX, hooked to a manifold in the basement – but there is no water to the manifold yet. I’ll get the water hooked up this week. But at least the piping is put into the laundry room.

The plumbing is (sort of) on an exterior wall. There is an unheated enclosed porch on the other side of the wall, so I will insulate the pipes – Susanna helped me insulate the two pipes going to the sink after the picture was taken. I need more piping insulation for the other pipes – but it is a quick job.

Demolition and subfloor installation

I was able to make more progress in the mudroom/laundry room today.

Picture of the joists with the subfloor removed.  I sistered the joist in the center, and repaired the mess on the left side.
Picture of the joists with the subfloor removed. I sistered the joist in the center, and repaired the mess on the left side.

First I removed the flooring. All four layers. The top two layers (plywood and linoleum) went into the trash. The next layer (original flooring) and the subflooring went into the fire pit. Even the boys helped by removing debris. Not that they volunteered, but they didn’t complain too much either.

Next I repaired two damaged joists. The two joists that had been next to the chimney had suffered from some water damage. I removed the framing that had gone around the chimney and added a sister joist to both of the rotted joists.

I cleaned up the remnants of the old flooring and added a new subfloor. Now to decide if I like where the new floor will line up with the door thresholds. I may add another 1/4″ subfloor, but haven’t decided yet.

mud room with new subfloor installed.
mud room with new subfloor installed.

A little Thanksgiving morning project time.

Mud room with part of the floor removed.
Mud room with part of the floor removed.

It is Thanksgiving. The weather outside is typical for a New England November day; cold, overcast and wet. A perfect day to take it easy and hang out inside and relax.

Or work on projects for a bit before heading over to visit family for the afternoon.

We are making progress on the mud room. This week I hung the drywall on the ceiling. We are planning on contracting out the drywall work, but with the old lath and plaster ceiling, I decided to hang the ceiling early to help keep the dirt level down in the house.

This morning I started attacking the floor. I started removing three levels of floor, getting one end of the room back to the original subfloor. I’ll probably remove the entire subfloor and replace it – it will make sistering the two joists on the north side of the room easier. Plus, that will allow us to do a full thickness (3/4″) floor and have it the correct level.

Susanna even headed down to the basement to work on the second window sash. The “Silent Paint Remover” does wonders, and the windows are looking good.

Susanna working on a window sash.
Susanna working on a window sash.

Blog Milestones

I’ve made it writing for over 4 years in this blog. I have 396 posts (397 with this post) and 113,000+ words and nearly 700 pictures in the blog. The blog takes 800MB of disk space. While that may not be a great number of words or posts as far as blogging goes, for me it is an accomplishment.

I have too much of a tendency to like shiny new objects and get bored with old projects. However, forcing myself to sit down and reflect is a good exercise. It helps me keep focused (as focused as I’ll ever be) – though if you looked through old posts, I’m sure you would find it pretty random and wonder if I could ever find focus at all.

Anyway, here is to focusing (sort of) for the next four years.

Fixing a broken window frame

Broken frame and upper jamb after removing the trim.
Broken frame and upper jamb after removing the trim.

We had to remove the trim around all the doors and windows so we could tear down all the plaster and lath in the mud room/laundry room. We are replacing the plaster with drywall. Apparently I wasn’t careful enough removing the trim around the window in the laundry room, and the window frame came apart when I pulled off the trim.

These are original double hung windows. The frame had come apart where the wood was thin – the dado where the parting bead was installed. We decided to glue the frame back together instead of trying to duplicate the piece in the workshop. I also had to repair the upper jamb which also broke in half.

To clamp the frame up, I needed to take the storm window out. That would mean the house needs to be open to the outside for a couple of hours, or I would have to install a plastic sheet on the exterior to cover the window. However, today the temperatures soared into the upper 50s and the sun was out. No problem leaving the storm window out for a couple of hours.

First I removed the upper sash. It was really stuck, and I cracked one pane of glass getting it out. Then I removed the upper jamb and pulled the nails out. I used some thick epoxy to do the repair. I replaced the upper jamb with a piece of 2×8 framing lumber that I cut down to size.  Once the epoxy had cured enough to no longer need clamps, I reinstalled the storm window. Now to scrape the paint off and wait for Susanna to finish the window sashes.

The window frame glued and clamped up.
The window frame glued and clamped up.
Full window frame glued up.
Full window frame glued up.
New upper jamb installed, glued in with construction adhesive and a couple of screws.
New upper jamb installed, glued in with construction adhesive and a couple of screws. The original had a dado for a parting bead. I’ll just make a small bead and glue it into place.
Window repaired with the storm window reinstalled.
Window repaired with the storm window reinstalled. We still need to scrap and repaint the frame.

More project updates

Susanna and I have been working on renovating the mud room/laundry room space. It is a pretty big project, but we are making progress. The room has two windows, and one of the windows has a broken pane.

I have renovated old windows in the past. I’m not good at it and I don’t really enjoy it. It is detail work, and the workbench isn’t quite the right size for it. So typically I work on a pair of saw horses in the basement. Again, not ideal.

Workbench for repairing the antique windows.
Workbench for repairing the antique windows.

Susanna decided to tackle the windows. Of course I’m hoping that she will find it more enjoyable than I did and keep going when she is done with the four sashes in the laundry room. To make the project easier, I decided to make a workbench dedicated to repairing the windows.

The bench height is a little taller than my woodworking bench so you can see what you are doing without bending over too much. I made the top a couple of inches larger than the window sash size, and added a lip all around. The lip allows you to push on the window from any side and keeps the mess contained. I also added a shelf (place to store glass and tools) and a drawer.

The bench was made from scrap lumber that I had around the shop, and used hardware that I already had. I made the bench in a couple of hours last weekend, and as you can see, Susanna has already stripped one of the lower window sashes.

She has been using an infra-red paint removal tool, the silent paint remover, to help remove the old paint and putty. I’ll detail the process in a later post (if I get around to it).

Side view of workbench. The rear legs are from a 4x6 post I had - the bench is very solid.
Side view of workbench. The rear legs are from a 4×6 post I had – the bench is very solid.

More little steps… patching Will’s ceiling and floor

Will's floor and ceiling patched where the chimney had been. Now to clean the room and move him back in - but that will wait until I return.
Will’s floor and ceiling patched where the chimney had been. Now to clean the room and move him back in – but that will wait until I return.

This weekend, Susanna and I made the decision that we didn’t want to have Will’s ceiling replaced. The renovations on the first floor are enough without having to worry about the second floor.

Today I took a piece of plywood to patch the ceiling. I routed a nice edge on the wood, and covered the opening. Once painted it should match the ceiling and not stand out so much. It is not fancy, but should be good enough. Heck, we lived with a chimney in that room for years – a patched (and painted) ceiling will be an improvement. And anyway, neither Susanna nor I have to hang out in that room and Will was fine moving back into his room sooner.

I took some oak flooring that I had inherited from my dad when he moved from St. Louis to Columbia. It had been sitting in his basement for I’m sure many years and it moved to our garage to collect dust. While the flooring isn’t a perfect match, it is pretty close. Again, it is good enough. If it bothers Will, he can cover it with an area rug. And it is a drastic improvement.

It was a huge relief to decide to simplify the second floor project. Now I can focus on working on the laundry room and mud room. That should keep me occupied for a while. But not too long. We are planning on hosting a party on New Year’s Eve, so I’ll have to have the rooms done by then.