Bathroom vanity

The bathroom vanity was a builder's grade, $130 tri-fold from Home Depot.  The shelves were pressed fiber board stretching across 34 inches with no center support, so they were warping from weight of the items on them and the moisture in the bathroom air. 

I found a design from Kohler that I liked while browsing Lowes, but I wanted a three mirror front at 36 inches wide.  It turns out Kohler doesn't make one like that, so the search continued. 

I went to a few bathroom renovation shops in San Francisco, and one person tried to sell me on a single mirror, slide up front medicine cabinet that was nowhere near 36 inches (I wondered if she even listened when I told her what I was looking for) with a tv built into the mirror for the low price of $4,800!  Yes, I walked out. 


I found one that I liked on Home Depot's website made by Pegasus.  It was 36 inches wide, had three mirrored doors, aluminum frame, mirrored interior, and glass shelves.  Awesome!  I ordered it on-line for in store pick up.  At this point, you would think I measured the space from the top of the tiles to the vanity light.  I did not.  All vanities are the same height, right?  It would take about a week to arrive, so I started looking through pictures from the demo and rebuild to see where studs were and what my options may be for surface mounting versus recessed mounting.  My cousin insulated the walls, and reframed the space where the old medicine cabinet was recessed.  Translation: no recessed mounting unless I wanted to redo the whole wall.  Part of me thought about tearing out the wall from the back side, since I could just dry wall the hole, but it would be way more of a mess.  Anyhow, surface mounting was the only option, I decided.  Good thing all medicine cabinets have a standard height, right? 

I measured the current one - 28 inches tall - as I flash backed to the day we installed it.  Chuy asked if I did the measurements for the tile and light height to make sure it would fit.  Nope.  We dry-fitted it, and luckily it fit.  It had these little double sided stickers for the back of the cabinet to attach it to the wall.  I thought it was flimsy as hell.  Gil asked, "You wanna make sure it stays on?  We can glue it. We have hella glue left."  "Hell, why not?  I don't want it to possibly fall.  Plus, whey would I ever swap this out?!"  Liquid nails was applied to the backing when we installed.  We put it right at the top of the tile, and there were still about 2 inches of room to the bottom of the light.

I'm sure you can see where this is going.  The Amazon link above actually shows the height in the title.  Home Depot's does not.  I figured they're all about the same height because why not, right?  Well, this one is in fact 31 inches when surface mounted.  Since it's got a mirrored interior, there are no places to drill inside.  It has all external mounts including a bottom bracket and four top brackets.  Nowhere on the instructions does it list the total height needed to surface mount.  In case you're wondering, it's 31 and 5/16 inches.  How much space did I have from the top of the tile to the bottom of the light?  1/8 inches above 30 inches.  Great.  No problem.  I'll just chisel out some tile.

I looked at my safety goggles and gloves when I grabbed the chisel and hammer from the tool box.  "You won't need these, it's just 6 tiles," I told myself.  I chiseled the grout first, then went to work separating the tile from the wall.  The first one came out without issue.  The second one cracked in half, and my ninja quick reflexes kicked in, and I caught it before it shattered on the counter top.  Ouch, that was sharp.  Back to chiseling.  Four tiles down, I noticed my hammer was getting sticky.  The black handle still looked black, keep chiseling.  As pieces of grout and tile started flying, I decided to put an old towel over the counter.  Shoot, while I'm being safe, I might as well grab my gloves and goggles, too.  I put on my goggles and notices there's blood on them.  Fresh blood.  WTF, there was nothing on the hammer...  But, the tiniest cut on my finger was getting blood all over.  UGH.  Wash, bandaid, gloves and goggles on, I returned to chiseling.  I got all the pieces of tile off and looked at the wall.  

I measured from the new top of the tile to the bottom of the light - 32 and 7/16 inches.  "oooh, I can mount the bottom bracket 5/8 inches above the top of the tile, and I can cover the screws and bracket with a 1/2  inch of tile! 

Mounting was easy.  Thanks to all the framing inside the wall, three of the fours screws are studded, and only one needed a hollow wall anchor.  Sandra helped me dry fit the medicine cabinet.  I marked the holes for the top, then removed it.  Again, thanks to all the excess framing inside the wall, three of the four screws were studded, and I only needed one wall anchor.  Sandra helped me mount the medicine cabinet again, and I secured the screws on top. 

I did not install the side mirrors.  The shelves went in easily.  I wish I could adjust the height of them.  They're secured by a top and bottom bracket.  I wish at least one side had some sort of silicone coating to prevent the shelf from sliding. 

A few things I didn't quite love about this cabinet: each door's mirror was beveled all the way around.  There are 1/2 inch gaps in between each door.  Each shelf has printing on it that show where it was made and that the glass is tempered. 

Insulating the Crawl Space

Sandra and Robert were heading out of town the an extended weekend, so I decided to insulate underneath the back room and bathroom while they were gone.  I got out of work today and headed home to take some measurements.  It had been raining for the last few days, but traffic wasn't bad getting home.  I climbed into the crawl space and saw water dripping off the floor joists - yes, dripping.  Four of the joists under the bathroom were completely soaked, and water was dripping off them.  So much for insulation! I can't insulate while there's water coming in, so there goes that project. 

My sister had a paint bubble in her wall above where the water was coming in.  I don't know if the two are related.  I'm going to have to put this project on hold and wait to figure out where the water is coming from.

Windows... Anderson... UGH

The crew from Renewal by Anderson came to fix everything.  I missed the appointment back in March due to illness, so we rescheduled.  This is was first Saturday they had available.  Well, actually, I had it in my notes as October 12, but they arrived today.  :-/  Anthony and "Earnest" (not his real name) replaced the picture window's glass with privacy glass.  It was relatively painless.  A bulk of the work was just cutting the seal between the frame and the glass.  I just hope the silicon seal doesn't leak now that it's been re done. 

Anthony looked at the dual hung windows and said that he doesn't have any felt strips that can be placed anywhere to seal it better.  He looked at the lower sash and said that he thinks it was made incorrectly, and that's why it's not sealing properly!  I don't know why Rich didn't mention this.  Anthony said that the way the window was now, when it closed, because a piece was upside down, the window wasn't sealing.  He looked at the others in the room and one in the living room, and they were all like this.  He said he'd recommend that the lower sashes be replaced. 

They also redid the caulking in the bathroom around the window. 

Anthony said I should get a call in a week or two to schedule another visit to fix the front windows. 

I'm frustrated by the fact that these windows cost about 3 times what another contractor quoted me.  The reason I went with Renewal by Anderson was because my sister used them, and they seemed to have done good work at her place.  I can't believe it's been three service calls, and almost a year, and the issues I called about have still not been corrected.  I spoke to another contractor about the back wall, too, and he said that if they (Anderson) used an electric saw to cut out the old door (they did), it could have rattle the wall enough to break the seal, allowing water to get into the wall!  Whatever.  It's hard enough to get them to fix the mistakes that are completely clear they made.  Looks like this is another contractor mess that I'll have to clean up. 

Windows!

We currently have 6 single paned dual hung windows in the front of the house along with one single paned picture window in the bedroom that we believe contribute greatly to heat loss. We can literally feel cold air streaming in through the windows at night.  Plus, when it's windy outside, so much air gets through the windows that we can visibly see the curtains moving... or our house is haunted and the ghosts get rowdy when it's windy outside. 

The window in the bathroom also no longer opens.  The hinge at the bottom has been rusted for some time, and it was only a matter of time before it got rusted shut.  That time has arrived.  The permanently shut window along with one of my bad decisions (not installing a ceiling fan when we were working on the bathroom.. and had the ceiling open), is resulting in a lot of moisture in the bathroom during showers and baths.  This needs to be replaced.  

It's a long time coming, but today, we got Renewal By Anderson windows.  From the date that I signed the papers to the date of installation was a little over 2 months.  We had a missed connection back on November 30, and we got rescheduled for this week due to possible rain that didn't happen.  The most pains taking part of this was that I had to remove all the furniture near the windows both times!  That included the bed, dressers, couches, and curtains.  It may not seem like a lot, but I'm the only one doing it all with a 1 year old!  A total of three guys showed up this morning to do the installation.  They mentioned more were coming to attempt to speed this up, but the rest of the crew never made it. 

Removing each window was a really quick process.  The one guy who arrived (around 9:50 AM) before the other two removed all six double hung windows by himself in under an hour.  They laid plastic along the carpeted stairs and paper along the hallway.  Tarps were placed under the openings where the windows were.  He removed thin pieces of wood trim around the windows, then cut the rope inside the rails.  From there, the windows (surprisingly) just came out.  The weight stayed inside the wall.  Seeing the holes in the wall now, I should've bought a few cans of spray foam and filled them with insulation.  Dang it. The new windows went in pretty easily, too.  One thing I noticed was that every window was slightly smaller than the opening (about an inch or two).  What they did from there was cut trim to size that snapped into the window and covered the gaps.  I was slightly disappointed by this since it gave me a smaller window for pretty much no reason.  The gaps between the window and the frame were spray foamed before the coverings were placed over them. 

The picture window in the bedroom was pretty nasty.  By nasty, I mean moldy.  It had a serious moisture leak, so I was glad this was getting replaced.  This new window, however, was not privacy glass as it should've been.  It was regular glass.  The installation crew said they'd mention it to the office and have someone later replace it.  This window was measured to the opening, and it was about 1/4 inch too tall.  The installation crew had to chisel out the frame on the exterior to get the window the properly fit.  This took forever.  Just when you think everything's going smoothly, something always has to cause a hiccup.  They got it done and put the window in, though. 

The casement window in the bathroom came out easily and went in easily.  The hardest part was having someone climb through it to caulk the outside. 

They took no breaks and no lunch, and they finished the job at 4:36 PM!  Just in time for me to vacuum, put everything back, then run to daycare to pick up Robert!  These guys are awesome!!!

Nice Bathroom

Here's the bathroom at Star Noodle in LaHaina, Maui.  I liked the barn doors, the stone walls, and the sink.  I'd never do this sort of design in a place I lived in, but it was very cool to see.

Bathroom Pipes

So the whole PVC piping in the bathroom finally got to me, and I caved.  I bought a pipe cutter from Home Depot and the extra chrome pipe pieces that I wasn't able to salvage from Sully's truck at U-Save Plumbing on Lawton Street.  I basically needed a right sided swing arm waste line.  Odd thing is that they had them there!

The key to cutting pipes (or anything, for that matter) is to cut a little bit at a time.

Here's how it all came out:

Pipe Dreams...

For some reason, most people think of drugs when someone mentions pipes.  Why?  Remember how the bathroom sink backs up?

 (http://bornnraised415.blogspot.com/2010/06/installing-bathroom-sink.html)  It's been annoying me forever.  I finally was able to schedule some time with Sully to show him what was going on.  He came in on Monday to look at the stuff.  He said it wouldn't be too hard (he actually said it'd be easy).

Today, he called me up and said he got the parts and could come in to replace the pipes underneath the house!  We used Chuy's Sawzall (I LOVE that thing!) to cut out the old pipes.  It literally cut through them like a bread knife through a bagel.

That pipe was just nasty.

Here's a side by side comparison of a new cast iron pipe and the pipe we just cut out:

Sully used the snake going up through the drain to clean out anything on the vertical side, then used a shopvac to clean out anything on the side connecting to the main waste line.  He put the bands on, connected the new pipes, and within an hour, the water was draining from the bathroom sink like the house was brand new!  Sweeeeet!

Here's where Sully messed up, though.  He asked if there was anything else I needed done!  Well, there was always the kitchen sink drain that needed to be lowered!  (http://bornnraised415.blogspot.com/2010/06/garbage-disposal-installation.html)

We went upstairs to take a look at it.  He priced it out, and it was cool.  Same as the bathroom.  Me and his buddy Juan started to cut a hole into the drywall underneath the sink to expose the drain pipe.  Crap.  Issue #1 - this drain vents off to another pipe behind the cabinet on the left side.

If you're wondering why the cut extends out to the right, it's because I wanted to expose the old galvanized water supply lines.  They are no longer used since there's copper now, and they were just dead pipes sitting in the walls.  We exposed them so I could cut them out.

The odd thing about this was that to replace the copper pipes, it looks like they cut open a panel from the exterior, then replaced it.  There was newer cast iron piping in the wall banded to the older pipes, with a copper pipe connected the waste line to the vent line.

We cut open the wall in the back of that cabinet to the left, too:

GREAT!  The pipe that leads to the vent pipe goes through a stud.  Not bad, though, we just have to raise that pipe and cut a new hole.  At least it's not a support beam.

We cut through the pipes underneath the sink and put a band on to connect the new pipe.

Before we cut the pipe behind the left cabinet, Sully wanted to make sure it wouldn't fall on us.  He said he'd seen it happen a few times before, where they cut the pipe, and 30 feet of pipe above it just dropped straight through the floors.  Here's a picture of Michelle's kitchen walls exposed to see what was going on up there:

From this picture, we can see that there's a T-Joint leading off to the right side which will keep the pipe from falling on us.  Cool.  We proceeded to cut.  Even though the pipes were banded together, because a panel was cut from the exterior before, we couldn't reach the screw in the band to loosen it.  We had to cut it off.

We installed all the new cast iron pipe joints and bands, connected everything, then ran the water.  Guess what?  IT WAS BACKING UP!

The new chrome pipes under the sink were allowing the water to flow faster than the clogged pipes, and somewhere down the line, something was causing it to back up.  I thought, and Sully thought it might be as well, that the down grade from the waste line to the vent line wasn't steep enough, so Juan disconnected everything and with a grinder started to slowly cut away at the base of the vent line.  He removed about 1/8 inches, and we reconnected everything.  Crap.  Still backing up.

We disconnected everything and did it all over again, this time, grinding it down another 1/8 inches.

Check out the sparks flying.  This was serious.  We'd been working on this for a few hours now, and it was turning into a nightmare.  We kept cutting more and more of the pipe to increase the grade, and it was still backing up.  We used the shopvac to clean out anything inside the pipes, then tried flushing it down.  No go.

Here's all the crap that was in there:

We were getting close to the bottom, and it was getting harder and harder to replace the bands.

The kitchen was looking more and more like a disaster area.

Sully asked what was under us, and I said a storage room.  He asked what the pipes looked like from down there, and I had no idea.  I ran downstairs to look, and I could actually see the pipes!  Oddly enough, they were copper!  We decided to see if I could push the bottom up the pipe upwards to allow Juan access to cut more of the pipe and more room to connect the bands.  As I pushed the pipe up, I heard Sully say, "Muther fucker!  AY, ROB!  Come look at this shit!"  I let go and ran up.  Juan was holding on to the pipe piece.  It was about 3 inches of galvanized pipe banded to the copper piece downstairs.  That piece of galvanized pipe was just gummed up.  It looked like someone put a hockey puck in the pipe!

We used the shopvac and cleaned up what we could, then just removed that piece of galvanized pipe!  We connected some new cast iron pipe with a band to the copper, then reconnected everything.

Instead of connecting the chrome, we shoved the hose into the waste line to test it again.  It flowed!!!!  Sully was literally here for 8 hours!  But, geez, was I thankful!  That mess would've been a pain in the ass to get done from someone else!

Bathroom Cabinets

Sandra wanted to get new cabinet pulls to go with all the brushed nickel in the bathroom.  We found some handles from Ikea that were less than $5 for a pair - SOLD!  I decided to try to put them in today, and it turned out they were wider than the existing ones.  I had to fill one of the holes, then drill a new hole for the new cabinet pull.

Bathroom Stuff

I took a walk around the house to look for things to do.  The ugly copper pipe that jutted from the wall in the bathroom by the toilet looked like something I could handle pretty quickly.  I grabbed a piece of sand paper and started going to work.  Within 5 minutes, I had this:

It's either shine it up, or paint it over.  I think for now, I'll keep it shiny.  If it dulls really quickly, I'm going to put some white gloss on it.

We picked up the PERFECT toilet paper holder from Bed Bath and Beyond today.  I was pretty anxious to see how it looked.  It was pretty much exactly what I wanted!

The brushed nickel finish matched all the other metal fixtures in the bathroom, it could hold the giant rolls of toilet paper, and I didn't have to put any holes in the vanity or the walls, either!

Installing the Bathroom Sink

Geez!  This is another one of those, "if it can go wrong, it will," installations!

I bought the wide spread faucet from Costco for a pretty good price.  It matched the bathtub fixtures, too.  The problem is, the sink had the holes pre-cut, and they would not fit this faucet!

We ended up running out to Home Depot and picking up a different faucet.  It was a pretty nice looking, Glacier Bay model.  I learned that Glacier Bay is the Home Depot brand.  Pegasus is also a Home Depot brand, and it was classified as the more high end one.  Recently, though, Home Depot was phasing out the Pegasus brand, and even the nicer ones were Glacier Bay.  This was a new model.  I think it goes well with everything!

We got all the water lines and plumbing hooked up, and bam!  The sink was backing up!  The water will run for about 30 seconds just fine, then it starts backing up.  Ugh.

The Toilet Has Water!

We connected the water line to the toilet today.

I got the quarter turn shut off valves from Home Depot.  I think they're pretty sweet, since there's no need to keep twisting a knob to turn on or off the water (not that I anticipate doing that a lot).  It also looks a lot better.

Now that the toilet has water, it needed to be sealed to make sure none of that water goes underneath it!

We used white caulk all the way around the toilet.

Bathroom Coming to a Close

We pretty much finished the walls in the bathroom.  The bathtub and shower were a wrap.  The toilet was in.  We just had a handful of somewhat heavy items to complete in order to finish the bathroom.

Here's the vanity light.  

I like that it reminds everybody of a light saber.  HAHAHAHAHAH!

We installed the bottom of the vanity today.  It had to be lifted a few inches because shit, that thing was 29 inches high!  Do you know how short that is!?  We raised it about 4 inches.

To brace the vanity, we secured it with some L-brackets to the wall behind it.  Cutting into the tile with the drill was a pretty difficult thing to do.

I had bought 8, but we only used 4.  The other 4 ended up with my pile of things to return.  I've got a lot of that lately.  If you look at the above picture, you'll notice that this thing is secured together with plastic.  I should've kept those L-brackets to swap this out!

The shower and bathtub fixtures also went in today.

It was still relatively early, so we measured out the mirror, and installed that, too.

Here's how it looks with the light on.

Installing the Toilet!

Nothing really completes a bathroom like a toilet!  I was pretty excited to get this thing installed today.  We have the Toto Drake II.  It's a 1.28 gallons per flush low flow toilet.  It's a two piece, rounded bowl, model.

Toilet in a box.

I don't know why this is so small, but it's the toilet seat... in a box.

Hole in the floor for the toilet.

Toilet next to the tub.

Toilet next to the hole.

Another Toilet and Tub picture.

Toilet in it's new home!

Grout... It's Gggggrrrrrrrreat!

HAHAHAHAHAH!  Yeah, it's pretty fun.  I met up with Chuy at the house this morning to grout the walls.  It's not as easy as grouting the floors.

The best thing to do is make sure you don't have too much grout on the tool, and press really, really hard as you slide it perpendicular to the spaces on the walls.  This will push a whole lot of grout into the space between the tiles relatively fast.  You've got to let it settle for a little bit before you wipe it off with a sponge, otherwise, you'll end up removing too much grout (and you'll have to redo it).

It made a HUGE difference in the walls, and really puts a finished look to them.

Replaced the Light Switch in the Bathroom

Got rid of that annoying touch plate dimmer switch and replaced it with a normal rocker.

Painting the Bathroom

We did the tile on the side wall up to a curve in the wall.  The remaining drywall had to be painted.  

Various House Stuff

We were at Home Depot the other day, and I wanted to get the bulbs for the vanity light.  I knew it needed candelabras, but I couldn't remember what size!  I honestly thought there was only one size.  Here's my picture for reference.

I also needed to get all the stuff for the toilet, so we could put that in.  Things are moving up at a really good pace!