Improper plumbing & trying to remodel bathroom/laundry

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Don't forget that the vinyl planks need a 1/4 inch gap where they meet the walls. You need to cover that with a molding...either a 1/4 round that matches the floor or something you can paint to match the walls
 
Thanks, slownsteady. That's what I was thinking. I figured I would need mostly reducers, although we will have to see how things go with the exterior door in terms of how it sits and with the height of the kitchen floor. I wonder if I have enough leftover sheet vinyl scrap for my bathroom to put in the little closet.

I'm also still trying to figure out what the best anti-vibration pads would be to use under the washer & dryer. Not only would it prevent any sliding/walking & protect the floor form the feet, but reducing the vibrations would be good. When I choose sheet vinyl for the bathroom, I wonder if I can safely glue some of it to a cheap reducer to make it match the floor. Has anyone here ever done that? (I want loose-lay sheet vinyl or something that is optional for gluing).

All of the transitions in my house are just t-molding style or metal strips that got screwed down. I want to have something that is easier for my mother's walker to go over.

Of course, I still need to sort out the subfloor & figure out if there is a way to level things at the joists without too much trouble. The house sunk a bit toward the kitchen (north side of the house). The bathroom might be easier to level since it's smaller. At the very least I want to level it where the washing machine and dryer will go. I will probably do extra reinforcing under that area with some 2x8s or 2x10s just to make sure it's sturdy.

Edit: just saw the comment about the molding. I'm planning to go with just white vinyl/pvc baseboard or shoe molding. I want the walls to be white to make it feel brighter.
 
I read the instructions for the vinyl plank we purchased. It requires only a 1/8" gap at walls. If round 2 of patch leveling goes ok in my bathroom, I may use the same type to level the floor for the laundry room. Right now I'm working on my bathroom. Got the botched leveling job tidied up a bit with an angle grinder. Friend will be coming back Thursday to help me with a 2nd attempt with a freshly purchased batch of leveling compound. It won't have to be very thick & I'm mostly concerned with getting it level where the toilet & chest of drawers will sit. For the rest, I just want it to be smooth so it won't have bumps transferring through the sheet vinyl.

I found the tub spout I wanted for my bathtub new in box for $26 (It's normally $52). Also ordered the Delta Multichoice valve & Delta Lahara 17 trim. It allows for temperature & pressure to be adjusted separately- it has stacked levers with one being larger than the other-- kind of like clock hands in a way. I'm also planning to get the Delta Classic 400 surround for my tub. It doesn't require a specific tub & Delta CS said it should fit my tub. It's direct-to-stud but I may have to add shims to make sure it fits square/straight. I'm hoping the plumbing in the closet won't be too difficult to mess with. Right now it has PVC & CPVC but I want to go to PEX to allow for a little more wiggle room with moving the valve forward or backward to make sure the trim kit will fit correctly.

I still need to find some sort of pvc/vinyl baseboard (not the ugly glue-up kind in commercial bathrooms) & shoe molding. And I need to get some sort of wainscoting for the lower part of my wall bc the panel started coming apart over 10" up the wall. I can cover it with wainscoting & then add a small trim to the top- trying to figure out what kind is best. We might get a Skil flooring saw that can do miter cuts that would be awesome. But, trim can wait bc the priority is getting the floor leveled & sheet vinyl straightened out and tacked down with the acrylic doublesided tape & then get the toilet in. Once we have a 2nd toilet, we will be able to work on the adjacent bathroom w/o worrying about rushing too much. I think the way to tackle that floor will be to remove the old subfloor closer to the vanity first (after moving all of the stuff over toward the tub & out of the way. Once that is in & secured, we can move everything over on top of it, tear out the fugly avocado green tub, get the plumbing roughed in for the new shower, pull up & replace the rest of the subfloor, install the new shower, move everything out of the way again, put in the sheet vinyl, secure it, & put the toilet back on. The tall cabinet is going to be a total pain to move around.

I forgot the part about needing to cut the wall panel in the adjacent green bathroom to add plumbing vents. While looking at photos I noticed that what I thought was the toilet drain was actually an old vent. It doesn't go through the roof, but I think it may go up into the wall & possibly in to the attic. It likely is not capped which could explain the random mystery odors & why people in the house are so tired all the time. If I can find it in the attic, I can run it out of the house. Either out the side wall or get the plumber to put it through the roof & get a roof boot for metal roofing. I can then add branch vents to the tub, shower, & my toilet & connect them to the "new" vent. I'll have to add a new soil pipe for those bathroom groups & run it east to west until it picks up my lav drain then have a long sweep to run it north to south (picking up green lav drain) & connect with the main pipe going out to the septic tank.

It's a ton of work, but I am going to try to tackle things a bit at a time. My friend has been available to help me a bit more lately. The grinding part was easier than we thought & he got to keep the safety glasses, impact gloves, and knee pads so he was happy. He has to kneel a lot at work to fix arcade machines so he's very happy with the knee pads. I also took him to Taco Bell afterward & Thursday I'm taking him to Lake Charles to help one of his co-workers & then pick up a cabinet from the Lowes there.

If the Delta valve & trim kit work well enough for my bathroom, I may use that for the guest bathroom as well. Not as pretty as the Moen Kingsley set, but the levers are more practical for my brother & it's much less expensive. The trim kits are about the same price, but the valve is a huge difference. Moen's valve is over $100 & the Delta one was under $30.

Once of these days I'll do a before & after thread where I can show the progress on the bathrooms. LOL.
 
I haven't given up on this project & I'm trying to procrastinate less but I move at slower than snail pace. My ankle is almost fully recovered from the latest mishap so I can start tackling more uneven terrain (which describes the floor in the hallway and laundry room right now).

I've found that the big box stores do carry baseboard trim & I believe the trim is sized so that I might be able to cut it with my flooring saw. If not, I can use other tools. I've been discussing this project in a thread about replacing the door with rotted sills.

I'm taking a break from working down in the workshop since weather has been rainy & I've been cleaning up inside. One setback is that a friend came over and when he saw how awful my brother's room was, he decided to clean it. My brother "helped" by shoving a bunch of stuff out his door and in to the hallway for the laundry room. When I asked him to please find space for the stuff, he refused. So, I'm going to have to do a lot more cleanup in that area before I can even check the slope of the floor. I did manage to get in and do a couple of measurements where I want the bathroom door to be. I want to bump the doorway over about 4" east from where it is now. I measured the distance from the stud I wanted to remove to the next stud & found it was about 4-1/8". I then used a level and found that the stud I want to keep is plumb. I could re-use the stud that I remove to put on the other side of the doorway. I may have to cut a chunk out of the remaining stud to put the header in, but hopefully that won't be too difficult.

I am curious about what sort of header is necessary for a non-loadbearing internal wall. Can I keep the existing 2x4 that is serving as a header or should I replace it with something thicker? Could I sandwich two 2x4s together and have them with the crowns up (instead of on the side like the single 2x4 is now) to be sufficient?

Thinking about the plumbing for the area, I'm wondering if I can find this product for 1-1/2" pipe:
I'd have to temporarly pull off some of my house siding (very carefully) or at least move it. Or maybe I can get the Fortifiber brand since it does come in 1-1/2". I'm going to play around with flooring layout in the new google sketchup trial version. I'm also going to try to find stud locations to mark.
 
Hey Zannej, I'm a bit confused about post #523 (goes back about a year). You mention vinyl plank but then you later mention sheet vinyl. Which one did you go with?

In the last post you talk about a header on an internal non-load-bearing wall. But if it is really not bearing a load it doesn't require a header, just the top plate (someone please correct my terminology if I'm wrong). That can be the 2x4 on the flat. Do you feel a need for something sturdier?
 
Slownsteady, to clarify: I got vinyl plank for the laundry room area (MSI Herritage Mahogany 8"x48" planks) but I want sheet vinyl for the bathroom. I ordered the vinyl plank on a special sale and got enough to do the one room (with about 10% waste allowance). The bathroom will need about 5'x5' sheet vinyl if I factor in the tub size, so I'm hoping to find some looselay remnants with decent wear layer. I'm currently playing in Sketchup to find the best layout pattern with least amount of waste-- taking in to account the 1/4" expansion gap. I was going to do 1/8" but found that 1/4" will work better.

I mistakenly thought all doors needed headers for some reason. If I can just re-use the existing 2x4, that would work. I can probably just secure it to the sides of the studs instead of having to cut the studs shorter, which will make things easier.
 
I might need 6'x6' sheet vinyl because it's around 5' 3/8" from tub to wall and 5' 1" from wall to wall-- although, I was planning on putting in shoe molding anyway & I should be able to cover the gaps with that, but I like to have a little extra just in case.
From what I've been seeing online, I do need jack studs under the header. So, I may still need to cut a chunk out of one of the king studs and put the 2x4 in. It will sort of be like a mortise & tenon joint. I can sister it up with another full height king stud for reinforcement.
 
I keep trying to make up my mind about flooring for the bathroom part. After helping my friend with his kitchen, I decided I want something similar to what he used. I found some LVP that isn't too expensive & I'd only need two cases: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Home-De...ank-Flooring-19-8-sq-ft-case-480146/306041978

I'm going to get a sample first to make sure it's the same thickness and non-slip like the one my friend got. It will be easier to handle than a big roll of sheet vinyl. I know my flooring saw cuts through the stuff easily. Should I put caulk that has some flex to it in the expansion gap next to the tub & underneath any shoe molding?

I've also decided that we are going to move the old toilet from my mother's bathroom in to the guest bathroom & replace hers with a newer chair-height Eco Drake. It's the same size & design but comes with the newest flush tower mechanism. The extra height will help her with getting up until I can install a grab bar for her.
 
Home Decorators isn't as good as Lifeproof but the price makes it a good choice. The more flat and level that your subfloor is, the happier you will be with the finished floor. This stuff wants to be on a flat surface. I would use a silicone caulk where the floor meets the tub. I'm not sure that you need it all around the room. Silicone should still allow for movement in a floating floor.
 
Thanks, slownsteady. The stuff my friend got looks great in his kitchen- but we didn't want a wood pattern for the floor. I checked more reviews of that flooring I linked and apparently it has black spots on it so I've ruled it out. The official photos don't show the spots but the customer photos did & customers were very unhappy as the samples and online photos didn't show it. I may end up looking at Lifeproof & seeing if they have something better that is affordable. It would take longer to install than sheet vinyl but it would be a lot easier to lay out vinyl plank than to have to struggle with a vinyl roll. Although, if I get a vinyl roll I could use the leftovers for the pantry to get rid of the seam on the floor. I'd probably get rid of the water supply line that had been for the fridge in there too. I could probably find large enough cheap scrap for the pantry without having to use leftovers. I wish there were more tile/stone options in light colors (no browns) for vinyl planks. I saw some really hideous ones in there that looked like distressed green paint over wood. Ugh.
The search continues.
On the upside, we ordered a new toilet- found an ADA height Toto Eco Drake for a good price. It will replace the short toilet in Mom's bathroom and the toilet from her bathroom will be moved in to the new bathroom. The new one will be 2" higher so it will be easier for her to get on and off of. I may have to try to replace the broken flange myself bc the plumber hasn't been returning my calls. I will have to clear a spot to be able to set the old toilet where it won't get broken. I wonder if I can pull the old crappy toilet in the 23" alcove and set it there... The old toilet needs to go in a junk pile.
 
I've been thinking about this still. I noticed that since the plumber dug out the ground underneath the house to access pipes better & didn't fill it back in, it's starting to collapse and undermine the house's supports. I'm going to have to fill it in somehow or add some sort of support wall (I know the term, but I'm blanking on it). Filling it in will make it harder to maneuver, but I'm also thinking of putting down some foam pads that lock together to make it a bit easier to crawl on instead of being on dirt. I'll have to look at my options, but I don't want the house falling.
The plumbing for this is all ***-backwards and I'm thinking of wet-venting the toilet in my bathroom to the one in my mother's bathroom because mine has to have a drop to go under the floor supports. If I try to put it up higher, it hits a joist. So, it has to go below the joist AND the support beam that goes underneath the joist (running perpendicular). The other alternative would be to cut open the wall and connect, but I'd have to cut higher than I'd want to (unless I could safely pull the paneling away without breaking it). Worst case scenario I could replace the paneling or patch the wall and paint it. I did discover that my toilet rough-in is about 11-7/8" away from the finished wall. IIRC, the old toilet touched the wall. That should be ok, but worst case scenario, I can nudge the flange forward a smidge. Looking at the photos, I'm now pretty sure my pipes are 4".
 
The tub/shower unit I wanted has been discontinued. I ended up having to get a smaller tub, but my brother won't be using it and we have a curved shower curtain rod. Went with Sterling Performa LH drain unit because it can be cut for a window.
The tub has arrived & is in the workshop. Waiting on the wall kit to arrive within the next few weeks. That will also be stored in the workshop.
I'm debating which drain to get-- wanting to go with a direct drain for better drainage & to allow the trap arm to be sufficient length (traditional setup would not give enough room for trap arm). I've ordered the Muskee (or is it Mustee?) Duratrim window kit as well as some polyurethane trim for the top of the window.
I still need to pick the right window to put in-- need to order a vinyl dual-pane w/ argon one custom ordered with tempered glass.

Meanwhile, I also ordered the shower for Mom's bathroom. Just purchased the drain (Oatey no-caulk brass drain), P-trap, & some 2" pvc for the trap arm & vent. Will need more 2" later on. Also got a combo wye & sanitary tee. I'll need to get a cleanout plug for the end of the combo wye and get a 2" to 3" combo wye. Possibly 2" to 4" if I can figure out my pipe sizes. I'm going to try to find all of my tools & such for working on my bathroom floor-- found my sifter, mixer, wet measuring cup, spreaders, etc. Need to find where I put my dry measuring cups.
 
We now have the tub + wall kit and the shower kit. Picked the wall sets & shower up yesterday. Inspected them for damage- they appear fine. Shower pan came with a felt pad. Got them home just before it started raining. Stored down in the workshop for now. Now we need to pick a time for demo & see how bad the floor is underneath & if it needs any patch leveling. Need to grab some 1x4s to raise Mom's vanity up to a comfortable height for her. Thinking of sticking an applique on the front so it doesn't look so awkward. It will be too short to have a drawer face (and I hate fake drawers almost as much as I hate fake pockets). Shower is 30" one piece & door is 24" so there is no way it will come out in one piece.

Been procrastinating on finishing up the floor in my bathroom so I need to get myself motivated to work on it. I will probably bring in something to sit on so I don't have to be on the floor- I have trouble getting back up. I've decided it doesn't need to be completely smooth/perfect so long as it doesn't transfer through the sheet vinyl.

I'm thinking of seeing if my friend has enough leftover vinyl plank from his kitchen to cover the guest bathroom floor. We bought it for him so I don't think he'd object. I think as long as he has a few leftover pieces to patch the floor in his house he'd be OK with it, but I'll have to ask. My friend said it would take 3 minutes to take the old shower out. I laughed. Every time he says something will be easy and/or fast it always ends up being more complicated & taking more time.

Hopefully, everything will go smoothly though. Worst case scenario we have to rip of some floor and put in new plywood. I may use some of the patch leveler stuff if the floor isn't too bad off. Since the shower no longer works & we've been showering at my friend's house, it doesn't matter how long the shower is out of commission so long as the toilet is available.

My current plan is to try to remove a wall panel in my bathroom to see if we can access the plumbing behind the walls (since I'm assuming there is a vent pipe-- our late plumber said he'd installed vent pipes for stuff but that the previous owners or our tenants must have cut them out). I will also check the attic to see if any pipes protrude from between walls or if they were terminated in the wall. From the lower end we can add branch vents for the tub, shower, & toilet to merge with the vent for the toilet. I doubt the fittings can be re-used so we'll likely have to cut off where we can and add the proper pipes to have a closet bend lead to a sanitary tee (it's inverted right now) for the vent.

Here's a rough plan of the layout. Lavs will actually be going outside the wall rather than in the wall because the walls are not very thick.

plumbingplan1.jpg
I'm not sure what fitting to use where the shower branch vent connects- but I suspect it is one of the few times a sanitary tee can be used horizontally with the side down & sweep following the direction of the air flow.
 
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I really need to move on this project but I know I know I need help with it. I need my brother to get his crap off the floor so I can do some demo. I can't even get the back door open right now bc there's stuff piled up so high.
I think I may have found a cheap & ugly solution for the old dryer vent: Oatey 4 in. ABS Pipe Test Cap with Knockout-39103 - The Home Depot

I can fill in the hole behind it so it's reinforced & the knockout won't be able to be pushed in. I can fill in the rest with spray foam if I leave the metal ducting inside & cut it off so it won't stick out in the way of the tub.

I don't know how I misread, but my boards are 7"x48" not 8"x48". I think I've been plugging in the wrong measurements when trying to figure out how to do the layout. I wish I could find a good online program that lets me plug in room size plus board size & have it suggest layouts or show the most efficient use of boards. I know I need about 13.5 wide & 2.5 long. I got enough for 95.2sqft & the room is ~8x~10. I tried Sketchup but didn't have much luck with moving stuff around. I know I will probably just have to slightly wing it when I do the installation. I need to focus on the immediate tasks of cleaning up the space, removing walls so I can see how bad the floor is.
 
Since I'm still trying to cleanup after the hurricanes & raccoons, I haven't gotten anywhere on this but I'm trying to keep myself motivated. I bought the cleanout knockout plug thing. I saw someone else saying they used it for plugging a dryer vent hole in a wall after moving their dryer so hopefully it will work.

You may or may not remember my sketch from page 18.
tumblr_om74jow8S71qkwd9ao2_1280.png

The tub perspective being so off really bugged me, so I decided to fix it.
bathroomplanfancy1b.png

I then did an updated version with a toilet paper holder, the mirror I plan to use (putting medicine cabinet one in opposite wall to create a shaving station). Added a small shelf behind the vanity. Changed the light to have 2 bulbs instead of 3 (bc we bought a light with 2).
bathroomplanfancy2a.png
Mom has a doctor's appointment later today but I will see if my brother is willing to help me clean up a bit when we get back.
 
@slownsteady That switch will be for the vanity light only. I considered tying it in to the switch near the door, but it would be a royal pain to run the wiring & would cost more. Also, I'd like to be able to turn it off when it's not needed. There is already a light switch on the wall that I plan to but that outlet & switch on, but it is closer to the doorway. It will be covered by the door when the door swings in though, so I wanted to move it over, use a rocker switch, and add an outlet.

There will be an overhead vent-light-heater with a 3 switch rocker in a single gang box that will control the overhead & the switch will be right inside the door. Although I suppose we could make it so the switch near the sink is for the GFCI so it can be turned off. I'm in the process of drawing the opposite side of the room & designing a shaving station. I'm thinking of building a small shelf over the top of the medicine cabinet with a slim undermount light that can be turned on when in use.

I want to use a double outlet power perch for the GFCI & rocker switch near the vanity. It could hold my brother's electric toothbrush or phone or whatever he wanted to set up there.
I'm thinking of getting an outlet wall organizer for the shaving station over an outlet. It could hold my brother's electric razor. Although, in a pinch I could build a shelf myself out of scrap pieces of wood from the workshop, paint it, and have a hole for cords. Perhaps I could even add a dowel to hold washcloths/hand towels.

I'm currently googling shaving station/shelving ideas. I know I want a shelf underneath the between-the-studs medicine cabinet. Maybe a hook to hang the shaving bib (it has suction cups to hook to the mirror so it can catch hair & then it can be dumped in the trash bin. My brother liked the idea of a designated shaving station. Right now he has to open up a cabinet & use a cracked mirror on the inside of the door. I need to replace that mirror-- will have to see if they have any at the Dollar Tree in Alexandria bc the one in town closed.

Any suggestions/ideas for the shaving station? I don't shave so I don't know what all he would need. I believe he can store his little kit that is in a case inside the medicine cabinet. There's an electric razor, don't know if he uses shaving cream, but that can go inside the cabinet if he does... washcloth/towel maybe? I'll have to ask him. LOL.
 
So, I have 2 images I created of the opposite side of the room. One has the outlet lower and closer to the door. The other has it higher up the wall and closer to the middle.
What do you think?
2d1f85cf6692c557f7a10156902fd89434d40e5a.png

02bf0ebf97c6d12f7e400e8a31a9383aed5bf86d.png


Here's a side-by-side of the opposite sides of the room.
a0d3f40b7c16fdaded078b5d00b87f7c7fcc3dc6.png
 
I really need to make the shower trim lever thing larger. It's too small proportionately compared to the rest of the stuff. I should also draw a better showerhead or add the hose for the showerhead since I will have a handheld. Thinking of going with a rainshower handheld slidebar with a built-in soapdish but it will be a pain to draw. https://www.amazon.com/Retro-Fit-Diverter-Adjustable-Stainless-X6400A-CH/dp/B01H4RJYFI/

I wouldn't mind having that one in my own bathroom, but I will probably get one of the Moen Magnetix double showerhead thingies instead. My friend has a a version of the rainshower one without the soap dish.

I'm working on drawing the shower from the side view. It's a work in progress (WIP). Still need to do showerhead, double curved curtain rod, etc, but I've been having trouble with the angles/perspective. Plus I'm not sure which showerhead to draw. I might just do a placeholder simple one.
Here's the drawing thus far:
gusetbathsideviewWIP.png
Some details got lost in upload. There are bullseye rosettes as the corner plinths for the window trim. I will probably also have a little vinyl curtain over the window & I have some removable peel & stick privacy vinyl to stick to the lower window both for reinforcement & filter sunlight.
 

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