Back bathroom remodel

Last post, we had gutted the back bathroom down to the studs. After gutting the bathroom, I had tied in the main drain line to the septic tank. Before continuing on with the drain work, I opted to cut out all of the old floor joists. Most of them were in bad shape and needed some form of repair. It would actually be easier for me to replace them then fix them. So I tore them out. With the floor wide open, the drain work was much easier. I stubbed out for the sink and prepped the lines for the shower drain. I’ll wait to glue the shower drain until I have the shower floor done so I know the exact location of the drain. I also tied in the vent line and ran it out through the roof. I went back up in the same spot as the original vent line so that I could reuse the same roof boot.

Floor framing

Once the drain lines were complete, I framed back in the new floor. I took the time to make sure the new framing was level so that I wouldn’t have to level the floor later on before the tile work. With the floor joists in place, I opted to cut the new subfloor for the room and lay it in place. I still have a bit to do below the floor joists so I’ll leave the subfloor loose for now. However, it provides a great platform for setting a ladder on for working overhead.

Let’s make the room taller

After looking at the ceiling height, I decided I wanted to raise the ceiling. This creates more work in a couple ways, both for framing and also for the drywall work, but it will give the room a bigger feel so I think it’s worth it. I ripped out the old ceiling joists. Two of them were in decent shape so we reused them. The rest made it to the burn barrel. I then laid out for and ran new ceiling joists. I was able to get another 6″ of head room which makes a lot of difference in a small room.

One hot nail

As I was about to begin tearing out the old ceiling, I noticed something strange…..a nail sticking out of a wire. Out of curiosity, I grabbed my voltage sensor and touched the nail. Sure enough, it was hot! Evidently it went through and contacted the hot wire. This was the last old wire still connected – everything else has been replaced. And this is why! I pulled the nail and got on with the work.

Wiring

With the new ceiling in place, I laid out and ran the wiring to the can light, the vent fan, the vanity light, an outlet, and the switches. I went ahead and tied in power to the outlet so that I’d have a working receptacle in the room. With the electrical ran, I installed the vent fan and ductwork. I ran the ductwork to the exterior through the side wall of the room.

Pocket door framing

The next big project was the pocket door. In order to save space both in the bedroom and bathroom, we’re opting to use a pocket door. To do this, we’ll have to tear out the original door and create a large opening with a header that will span both the doorway and the pocket in the wall. We will be reusing the original door for the pocket door. Using a sawzall, I cut out the old framing and made space for the new header. I installed new king studs and then wedged the new header up in between them. Lastly, I installed the jack studs that carry the weight of the header. With that in place, I added framing between the header and the rafters. This should adequately transfer the weight of the rafters to the header which then transfers the load to the jack studs. One jack stud landed on solid floor framing below it (which is great) while the other didn’t, so I cut out the floor and ran the jack stud straight to the concrete foundation.

Installing the pocket door

With the big opening in place, we modified the pocket door frame to fit the narrower width of our old door as well as the shorter height. Once the pocket door frame was modified, we got it installed in place and plumbed up. Once it was secure, I added the hardware to the top of the old door and got it sliding on the track. A few tweaks and it was good to go. Since the old door is narrower, I relocated the bumper stop for the door (for when the door goes into the pocket) so that the door will stop exactly where it is supposed to.

New water heater

We got the call that our water heater had arrived to a plumbing supply house in Lakeland. Woo-hoo! The next day we made the drive up to pick it up. We’re going with a tankless water heater. We’ve chosen an exterior mounted model so that we can save room in the house. There’s no real good place in the house to mount a water heater, so an exterior tankless option seemed to fit the bill. I read over the install requirements a few times and figured out where it was (and wasn’t) allowed to be mounted. I mounted it on the outside of the bathroom wall – directly behind where the vanity will go.

Water lines to the water heater

With the water heater in place, I ran the pex water lines through the wall and came out just below the water heater. I still have to run the electric and gas lines to it, but that will be for another day.

Odds and ends

Oceana got a bunch more painting work done on the outside. It’s looking really good! We’ve also been slowly but surely cleaning up the yard. It’s starting to look halfway decent again. Oceana processed all of her sunflower seeds this week. There was quite a few of them! She kept some raw for planting and then saltwater soaked then baked the rest. They’re pretty good! We found a red velvet ant this week. AKA the cowkiller. They’re not actually ants at all but wingless hornets with an extremely painful sting. That’s all for this week. As always, thanks for follwing along.