Here are the old pipes to the tub:

And here are the new flex tubes, which are much easier to attach to fixtures.

Since we were going to have the plumber here anyway, we asked him to remove some of the scary old fixtures that had been left behind by previous owners. This toilet was a must to go.

And so it  was gone…

And they capped the drain hole.

The pipes were all galvanized before and probably very close to original on the house and had calcified inside quite a bit. Here’s the inside of one of the valves they took off:

So, with all the galvanized gone they replaced it with Pex.

Now our water pressure is GREAT, the hot water gets to the tap really hot, and fixtures are all easy to attach!

We used John Carroll of Des Moines (Carroll Plumbing, LLC) and we were really satisfied with his work.

We suspect the plumbing on it was original.  Whether it was or not, it was old enough to be nothing but a pain in the drain. 

First of all, when Brandon went to take the drain apart so he could remove the tub, it came apart in all the wrong places and some of the pipe broke.  He resigned himself to having to replace the whole drain.  Not too big a deal, right?

Everything was peachy except the pieces in the drain hole itself would not come apart.  Brandon spent most of the weekend in this position, trying to get the drain to loosen:

Here’s what he had to work with:

When he tried to use a drain plug wrench, which looked like this:

The pieces inside the drain disintigrated to look like this:

Having nothing left to hold onto to turn the drain pieces, he resorted to cutting the whole thing off and hoping the threads would come apart in the process:

With a few taps of a screwdriver…

out it came!

Brandon said all that gross caked on yellow stuff is bits of hundreds of people’s skin who have bathed in this tub. I said, “Ew gross!!!” and told him it was more likely the old rubber seal that had hardened over time. Boys are so gross.

To see the finished drain he put in, you’ll have to come back next time because I forgot to take photos of it in time for this blog post.

 [tags]clawfoot tub, flooring, photos, bathroom, ceramic tile, plumbing [/tags]

(These pictures aren’t of the same quality as my usual pictures because Brandon took them with his phone’s camera, but I think it gives the whole thing a certain romantic antique look.)

The bathroom, sans toilet and sink pedestal:

The bathroom, sans bath tub:

The bath tub plumbing:

The toilet base:

Installing the subfloor in the kitchen:

Installing the subfloor in the bathroom:

Check back soon for pictures of the finished floors and some adventures with the bath tub!

[tags]ceramic tile, plumbing, contractors, kitchen, clawfoot tub, bathroom, photos, shower, flooring[/tags]

First Brandon turned off the main water line and unhooked the faucet from the tub.

Then he put the faucet back together on the pipes so we could turn the main back on to the house.

A minor accident occured when he tried to push the tub away from the pipes. The feet came off! Turns out they were never really attached to the bottom, the tub just rested heavily on them and they hadn’t moved in a hundred years!

The feet nearest the back wall were never painted. Here’s also a look at the disgusting mess that had built up behind the tub under the carpet!

Here’s a close-up of one of the feet. These things are heavy! They must weigh almost 10 lbs. apiece!

And the back of the foot where it attaches to the tub.

Brandon disconnected the drain pipe at the bottom, hoping the part where it branches up and over would stay together. When he pulled on the tub, however, the two branches came apart. Mission accomplished… sort of. Looks like we’ll need new drain pipes.

 Come back soon for part two: More prep work!

[tags]bathroom, clawfoot tub, flooring, photos, plumbing[/tags]

The flooring company has secured the right color grout, but they didn’t order enough tile for the bathroom.  They will finish the parts under the tub, toilet, and sink and finish the rest when the tiles are in.  They’re going to cut the tile to fit around the pipes in the floor, rather than some other way.  I’m glad of that because it didn’t seem right to have to cut all the pipes down and redo all that plumbing. 

When I talked to Brandon (who’s at the house today while I’m at work) he said they’d laid the subfloor in both the kitchen and the bathroom and were going to get the kitchen done today.  That was earlier this morning, so I hope there’s been some good progress made.

 While the flooring guys were working in the house, Brandon took the ladder out and broke the rotted fascia off the roof and removed as many nails as he could to prepare for new gutters being installed.

 Our quote from the gutter company arrived.  It is over $2000, which for a single story, 1000 square foot bungalow seemed ridiculous.  Our neighbor down the street with a similar house had theirs done for $450 or so.  Will keep looking.

We’re heading out to the Iowa State Fair this afternoon to blow off some steam.  Pictures coming soon of all our adventures!

[tags]gutters, thanks, ceramic tile, bathroom, Des Moines Rehabbers Club, contractors, plumbing, kitchen, flooring[/tags]

 [tags]bathroom, photos, plumbing, sink, bathroom sink, pedestal sink[/tags]

Meanwhile, here are photos of my progress so far:

I used a hack saw to cut the drain pipe to the right length.

Then I used the hack saw to cut the PVC drain pipe too.

The PVC pipe was a little messy after I got done cutting it.

I used a steel wool pad to scrape off all the burrs and clean up the shavings and grime that might keep the PVC cement from bonding.

Here’s the sink after we mounted it to the wall.

The faucet now in place. We got the one from the same line as the one in the kitchen. “Savannah” from Price Pfister.

Ooh shiny! (This photo should come with a sound effect: “Ting!” Like the little chime it makes when someone on TV winks or smiles brightly.)

Last night when I realized I was missing one final part to hook up the sink, but it was too late to go back to Menard’s, I decided to take a break and go hang out with my friends at a bar. After a gin and tonic and sampling my friends’ drinks, I decided to come home around 11:30pm and at least hook up the drain stop before going to bed. Let’s hear it for plumbing while under the influence!

Zoot says, “Ur doin it wrong. No waterz comin’ out.”

Hooking up the drain stop.

Almost got it.

There was a big hole in the wall behind the back of the vanity from where they’d taken out some water damaged plaster from the old leaky sink. The top of our drain pipe branches up and over to the left somewhere. I can’t figure out where this extra drain pipe goes. It’s pointing toward the outside wall, but there’s no evidence of it exiting the house. Quite mysterious.

Tonight, I will be making what will hopefully be my final trip to Menard’s for this project. Hopefully.

[tags]bathroom sink, bathroom, plumbing, pedestal sink, faucet[/tags]

Today’s mission: demolish the old bathroom sink to make room for the new bathroom sink!

Scratch can’t understand why he can’t sleep in the sink anymore.

Tore out some of the carpet to reveal some really… um… interesting flooring.

And what’s left of the water damage from a leaking toilet.

Zoot got to sniff in the wall.

Some of the… um… interesting paint colors the bathroom had been.

Coming up later this week: the installation of our new pedestal sink! (It’s shiny!)

And a bonus photo for you: Scratch got nosy when Brandon was making garbanzo salsa.

[tags]bathroom, flooring, plumbing, photos, cats, vanity, sink[/tags]

Consider me newly educated in hindsight.

I checked the pipes.  The basement was cold, but not cold enough to freeze the pipes inside the house.  They must be frozen outside the house.  She put in a ticket to have someone come check our pipes tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, on a whim, I tried using my heat gun to heat the pipes inside, just to make sure.  Nope, still no water.

So I need a shower.  It’s about 2am as I’m writing this and I’m looking at having to take a shower at my mom’s house before work if our water’s not back on in the morning.

Anybody have any words of wisdom that might help me out with frozen pipes possibly frozen outside my house?  Pretty much inaccessible to me?  Am I going to come home from work tomorrow to find my front yard dug up?

As I go to sleep tonight I have visions of impending expensive disaster.

Somebody please cheer me up.