Finishing up outside
This weekend we focused on getting the new plumbing drains tied in so that we could get the side yard buttoned up. We’ve been working hard getting the outside squared away with all of the irrigation, plants, mulch, and brush clearing. When we did the edging and mulch, we left the corner near the bathroom on the north side of the house unfinished as we needed to trench there to get the new plumbing drains into the house.
Dig. Run pipe. Easy. Not!
It sounds pretty simple – dig a trench, tie in the drain pipes, and fill it back in. Easy, right?! Here’s the complication. At some point in time the front bedroom used to be a carport or garage. It had a concrete slab floor. It then became a bedroom and got a wood floor framed in over the concrete leaving about a 2 foot tall crawl space. Well, to get the new drain pipe into the house, we had to go through the 4” thick concrete slab. In the crawl space. Oh joy.
Leaf blower for the win
In preparation for cutting the concrete, we laid out the fixtures in the new bathroom. My main concern right now was locating the toilet drain. With the drain location laid out on the floor, I drilled a hole just big enough to fit the nozzle of an electric leaf blower in. Cutting concrete is real dusty. And doing it in a confined space like a crawl space is even worse. The leaf blower would force clean air in which would help push the dusty air out. Jumping ahead a bit – let me just say that it worked fantastically.
Time to dig
We trenched out the side yard to expose the existing 4” sewer pipe and trenched toward where we wanted the pipe to tie into the house. We dug under the slab a bit which helped us locate where to cut inside. In the crawl space, I used a hammer drill to drill through the concrete slab while Oceana was in the trench looking for the bit coming through the bottom of the slab. On the second hole, she spotted it dead center of the trench. Good. Let’s get dusty!
I dislike concrete dust
In the crawl space, I fired up the circular saw with a diamond blade. This setup allowed me to cut about 2 ¾” deep which wasn’t completely through the slab but it provides a nice clean edge for me to start chipping up to. The cutting was slow going and super dusty. Concrete dust is nasty stuff. I would much rather be covered in drywall dust. I cut an area about 12” x 36” and then got out the chipping hammer. Right now my circular saw is not too happy with me. I’m going to have to give it some love (cleaning and lubrication) to get all of the concrete dust out of the important bits.
It’s hammer time
With the perimeter area cut out, I got out the chipping hammer which is like a mini jack hammer. A jack hammer would be great in this situation but it wouldn’t fit in the crawl space. A chipping hammer does fit but it’s not as fast. So I chipped. And chipped. Finally I broke through the slab and saw daylight from the trench we dug. Good. I kept chipping for the next few hours until the whole saw cut area was chipped out.
No more chipping, please
There’s a chance I may have to chip out the slab all of the way across the crawl space. You see, drain lines require 1 inch of fall for every 4 feet of run. We pulled some measurements based on the location of the master bathroom and the kitchen sink, which is the furthest line to be ran. Around 42’. Rough numbers means I’ll need about 11” of fall over this length of pipe. Since I have around 24” of height in the crawl space above the concrete slab, that means I can run the new piping above the slab and still have plenty of fall. Good, I don’t have to chip all the way across.
Supplies run. Again.
We made a Lowe’s run and picked up a bunch of 4”, 3”, and 2” lines and parts. While we were there we also picked up some pex tubing and parts. I figure while I’m already in the crawl space working on the drains I might as well run the water lines too. We got back to the house and did some initial layouts. I need more/different parts. So we made a Depot run and picked up the necessary pieces. We got back to find two plates of BBQ chicken on the front porch and a pair of avocados on the back porch. Awesome! Thanks Mark and Bud. We made the initial tie in on the sewer line and then called it a night.
Backfilling the trench
Monday morning I finished running the 4” line into the crawl space and then mocked up the tie ins to the lavatory, toilet, and shower. I won’t make these final connections until later on. With the 4” pipe into the house done (there’s still much more piping to do in the crawl space, but the tie in at the house is done), it was time to start backfilling. I filled in the trench and then finished running the landscape fabric and edging. Oceana had been raking out the side yards and planting grass seed and finished with that in time to help put down the mulch.
Odds and ends
The landscaping/digging in the side yard is now nearly done with the exception of the septic tank. I’ve yet to make a lid for it. Once I do, I can bury it again and smooth out the big pile of dirt next to it. The plants seem to be doing really well with the exception of the one rose bush near the back door. It died the first week it was planted. I’ve got a replacement on the way. The Jamaican cherry tree gave us our first cherry. And Oceana found a few grapes on the vines near the kitchen. That’s all for this weekend. Thanks for following along!
Great timing on the plumbing. Now we can come for a visit! Thanks.
Still loving following the progress (even though I have to speed read through most of the technical/mechanical stuff)! And the crawl space description…Yikes! Thanks again for sharing!
Thanks for following along. Sorry, I’m a details/ technical kind of guy so I try to share what I know. Thanks for bearing with us through it! And now that the concrete cutting is done, we can start working on the new bathroom!
Seems like things take a lot of extra time when remodeling older homes. Never a dull moment….but you have patience and can foresee what needs to be done. I’m glad you got that job finished!! Getting inside the crawl space would not be something that I could fathom. Hope to see you soon!
Since yall will be visiting soon, I can help you fathom working in the crawl space if you’d like. There’s still lots more to do down there!
Have you run into any snakes in all of your activities? We have a family of racers that visit us every March/April in numbers. They like to hang out out by the pool on the lanai.
I’ve found a few little guys – corn snakes I think. I actually expected to find more especially with all of the brush clearing. But I’m OK without finding more