1500 Days to Freedom

Think different and escape the rat race.

Day 2: Plumbing and puncture wounds

by

This week, I take a break from my normal posts to show you the bathroom I’m remodeling. I’m going to try to finish the entire thing in 5 days*. Today, I tell you about day 2.

Plumbing problems

What could possibly go wrong?
What could possibly go wrong?

So, we got the tub out today and quickly realized that we’ll have to replace most of the plumbing. Didn’t account for that. Oops! I also figured out that I need to sweat the copper connection for the tub spout. I’ve been spoiled with PEX and PVC for a while, so I haven’t touched copper in years. Hopefully, it’s like riding a bike. In any case, I didn’t account for that either. Ooops again.

But plumbing isn’t hard. The actual plumbing work takes about 5 minutes. Proper planning to prevent 58 trips to Home Depot takes 5 hours. I spent at least 2 hours this morning just thinking the job. Down to the crawlspace, back up to the main floor. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Then, on to Home Depot where I stare at the parts bins, eyes glazed over for another hour.

Behind

So now, I’m more behind than ever. At least by a day now. Doh! I have another trick up my tool bag though that may help me catch up. More on that when the time comes.

I don’t have much hope for day 3 either. There are a lot of little things that are going to take a lot of time.

At least we got the tub out
At least we got the tub out. See my nifty new PEX supply lines?

Critical statistics for day 2

  • Puncture wounds: 2 (shout out to tetanus shots!)
  • Trips to Home Depot: 2
  • Curse words: infinite and loud
  • Money spent at Home Depot: $202 (I buy way more plumbing parts than I think I need. Despite this, I never seem to pick up the correct ones. In any case, most of this will be returned.)
  • Wake up time: 5am (I’m as tired as ever. No matter what time I go to bed, I’m up at 5. If I go to bed at 4:45am, I’m wide awake 15 minutes later. Some day, I’ll learn to get my butt in bed at a decent hour.) (Mrs. 1500 note: No, he won’t.)

Progress

  1. Remove all fixtures including light, tub, toilet and vanity.
  2. Remove all plaster from the walls and ceiling, gutting it down to the studs.
  3. Remove all floor tile.
  4. Frame new wall.
  5. Fix rotted floor. The shower doors were not installed correctly which resulted in a leak which rotted lots of stuff.
  6. Reframe wall to accommodate a bigger door. The current door is very narrow.
  7. Fix the plumbing: There is a clog somewhere in the sink’s pipes… (Mrs. 1500 note: Ask Mr. 1500 how that clog happened. Go ahead, ask him. **Someone** cleaned tiling tools out in the sink… Not naming names but it rhymes with Trister Bifteen Lundred…)
  8. Hang and finish drywall.
  9. Install new tub/shower enclosure.
  10. Tile and grout floor.
  11. Paint.
  12. Install toilet.
  13. Install new vanity and cabinet.
  14. Tile backsplash and install light fixture.

 

*LOL!

Join the 10s who have signed up already!

Subscribing will improve your life in incredible ways*.

*Only if your life is pretty bad to begin with.

Powered by ConvertKit

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Loud and infinite are best suited for curse words.

    The real question is why the plumbing needed to be replaced? Was it related to the Mrs’ note?

    Puncture wounds are the worst, get some sleep!
    Debtless in Texas recently posted…The Tax Man ComethMy Profile

    • Some of it was in poor condition. Most of it was just in the wrong place to accommodate fixtures. It’s all good now!

  2. Oh, that sounds familiar…. finding unexpected surprises when stripping down a bathroom/kitchen/house (strike through what’s not applicable). Had a few of those when we had the rental property gutted to the brick to build back up.

    We wish you well in the coming days. Are you still convinced that you will stick to just 5 days for a bathroom remodeling? We sure are cheering for Team 1500!
    Mr. and Mrs. FSF recently posted…April UpdateMy Profile

    • Oh, don’t ask me about the 5 days! I think I’ll be 95% there, but at this point, I don’t think I can finish completely. It will be very close though.

  3. I like the pex! My hubby is now addicted to it and wants all our plumbing to look pretty in blue and red pex. He’ll wait until FIRE I’m sure.
    Amosla recently posted…Updated BathroomMy Profile

    • Ha ha, feel free to give me some barbs. I throw enough of them out! 🙂

      Yeah, MMM could probably have a workforce of 50, highly qualified folks in about 24 hours. You know though, I’m a bit of a lone wolf. Working alone or jsut with the wife suits me fine.

  5. Hmm… That’s the only thing that’s slightly putting me off giving things a crack myself in our bathroom… The unforseen problems. I just wouldn’t have a clue on what to do! In fact I probably wouldn’t even be able to tell whether I would need to replace the whole of the plumbing (or was it pretty obvious?!)

    I’m with you on the procrastinating front, I really have to get things straight in my head before I even touch anything. A lot of DIY stuff you only get one chance so no point in rushing in and destroying something and making it 10 times a harder job than you started with!

    Good luck for the rest of the week
    theFIREstarter recently posted…april showers – income/expenses, net worth and savings rate reportMy Profile

    • It really depends on how old your home is. Any modern home won’t give you issues. However, the old stuff can be full of all kinds of Mickey Mouse nightmares. There is no shortage of folks who don’t do good work.

      Me, I care intensely. Even if I’m running pipe in a wall that won’t be seen until the next homeowner remodels in 50 years, I have to do it right. I will always know that it is there.

  6. Ha! Mr PoP is the same way when it comes to plumbing supplies. He way overbuys and then returns what doesn’t get used.

    I meant to ask you this weekend – have you ever run into problems with getting insurance after using Pex? We were all set to use it a few weeks ago to run the replacement icemaker line for our refrigerator and found out that some insurance companies in FL use Pex found during inspections or during any claims as a reason to deny underwriting for future coverage. Our current insurer isn’t on that list, but we decided to be on the safe side and run copper for the line instead.
    Mrs. PoP recently posted…PoP Balance Sheet – April 2015My Profile

    • Whoah Mrs. PoP, I had never heard of that PEX issue! I googled around though and there it was. I’m surprised because I never see copper put into new homes.

      I think PEX should get a discount up north. I’ve had it freeze solid (thanks horrible builder of days past) and it was fine. Copper could have gone blammo!

      • Wow … Now I know I need to look out for this. Its amazing the stuff you learn in the comments section
        The Roamer recently posted…Blog BirthdayMy Profile

  7. Thank you for explaining the thinking part of the project. I always wondered why my husband just stares and stares at his project before starting. Then, he spends hours at Home Depot staring at things there! He is currently tiling our old shower (which had an avocado-colored enclosure!) and this project has required much staring time.

    • Ha, trust me, your husband is a wise man! Folks who plunge into projects with reckless abandon end up taking longer with time tacked onto the end because of improper planning or hasty decisions.

  9. Always chugging along on your remodels. Just don’t tell my wife you can remodel a bathroom in 5 days. Our last one took me a couple months, because of the absence of free time. I’ll be curious to see if you went with a Pre-Fab enclosure, or made your own. My secret to sweating copper, plenty of flux. I’ve also been spoiled by CPVC and compression fittings!
    -Bryan
    Income Surfer recently posted…One New Purchase and Two Potential Value InvestmentsMy Profile

    • I have always done tile, but this time, I’m going with a prefab thing. I’d only do one of these for a rental or for the kids’ bathroom. In this case, its the latter.

      Thanks for the flux tip! I’ll be doing just that in a couple short hours!

  10. “Then, on to Home Depot where I stare at the parts bins, eyes glazed over for another hour.”

    Been there done that! It’s the worst.

    ” In any case, most of this will be returned.”

    This is the worst. We have a box from my parents of leftover plumbing parts that they gave to us since they didn’t need them. It just grows slowly every project but not in a convenient or useful way where you can actually find anything you need!
    Chris @ Flipping A Dollar recently posted…April 2015 Profits – Love Re-Stocking FeesMy Profile

    • Yep, thankfully it is easy to return crap at HD. The people who work at that desk probably roll their eyes every time I come through the door.

  13. Plumbing projects suck. No matter how much I plan, measure, and overbuy I don’t think I’ve ever had one that was less than 3 trips. The worst is in the evenings on, say, a Sunday when the stores close early, so then you end up with parts to return from two different places because you started at one, but they were closed when you had to make (in this project, it was the fifth) another trip. Sigh.

    That said, I am better at actually fixing the problems, instead of breaking something else while fixing one :p

    I’ve never done any copper work before. I don’t think I’ll need to do any copper stuff in this house. The only old stuff remaining is all either PEX or PVC capable.
    Thegoblinchief recently posted…Goblin Hoard Report Card – April 2015My Profile

    • I used to hate it. PEX makes life much more enjoyable.

      I do hate going to HD over and over and over. 3x today alone…

  15. As i was sleepily reading your post at the end of the day i got this view of your website. The quick glance at the pic on the right looked like a bathroom in the background and my first thought was “dang! is that his wife?!”. I was even more confused when the link above said “stuff we like” and “see more photos”.

    http://tinypic.com/r/dwxixv/8

    P.S. Not intended to discredit or otherwise insult Mrs 1500 but i was amused at my groggy response. I should not have skipped the afternoon coffe =P

    • P.S.S. I have no idea why AdChoices decided to show that to ad to me. It’s my work computer, i swear!

    • LOL! Funny sh*t! I assure you that Mrs. 1500 looks nothing like that. I don’t know what else to say without getting into trouble with the actual Mrs. 1500.

      I’m also a bit flummoxed as to why ads like that are on this blog? I’m not sure whether to complain or request more of the same?!? 🙂