As previously mentioned, we found what was likely asbestos tiles underneath the rug. Those came up remarkably easy, and were disposed of in the dumpster while it was still here.
While we demolishing the basement initially, our friend Andy saw our plumbing and highly recommended that we convert the copper pipes and cast iron drains to PVC due to the age of them. Plus, we are the first home owners to put in water filtration and pH balancing. Our well water is so acidic that if left untreated, it leaches the solder out of the copper pipes (discovered this during our home inspection when we did a water test), and our water tends to be brown from all of the iron in it. The only logical conclusion is that we're asking for a leak if we leave everything as status quo since the pipes and drains are being eaten from the inside out, and we have no way of knowing what their conditions are without cutting them open.
Let's see if we were right....
Those drain pipes look pretty corroded to me! YUCK!
To top it all off, being that we have a toilet AND shower leak in our master bathroom, we were going to have to at least fix those issues before going any further with the basement remodel. So we figured, while we're at, it may as well do as Andy suggested. Scope creep!
We recruited my cousin George to do the plumbing work since we have no idea what we are doing when it comes to plumbing. Standard remodeling protocol requires that there be something unexpected about the job, and this has proven to not be an exception.
George discovered that whomever remodeled our master bathroom cut too big a hole in the subfloor for the toilet, and so the flange was falling through it. Tada... the toilet was leaking. George patched the hole, and set the flange such that it's clear that thing ain't movin' one bit.
The shower leak was because whomever installed the drain on it installed the rubber seal upside down, probably tested it and found it was leaking, didn't realize it was upside down and instead, siliconed it to death to plug the leak. Naturally, with acidic water and years passing by, the silicone plug has worn away and thus, our leak. George managed to get that rubber seal out and installed correctly, so we should be set there.
But wait, there's more. Because it couldn't just be those two obvious issues.
The subfloor wasn't properly installed because it didn't reach from beam to beam. Really? So it was rigged, which is ok, if it were done with *screws*. But it wasn't done with screws, it was done with nails and as we all know, after years, nails work their way out and "pop". So part of the subfloor is sinking, too. George advised us that the only way to properly fix that is to rip up the tile, and effectively remodel the whole bathroom. But he doesn't think it'll sink any further since that particular part of the floor is not holding any real weight (it's dead space behind the toilet). Ok, leaving that as it is.
There's more!!!
As George has started to replace the copper pipes for our master bath (he's completed the drain replacements), we discovered that there is no access panel for our shower. It doesn't exist. After drilling holes in our bathroom wall and our linen closet wall (theoretically, this should have been one in the same, except that... they are 2 very distinct walls!) we finally figured out that the shower controls were behind the wide side of a 2x6 used to frame the bathroom wall and the linen closet wall, making the shower controls completely and utterly unaccessible unless we rip out the entire bathroom wall, linen closet wall, and all of the framing used to create both. That's SNAFU #1.
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| The other pipe is*behind* that structure. Really. |
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| Our demolished closet, bathroom vent pipe, and toilet water feed. |
SNAFU #2 is.... ok, so what if we rip all the stuff out. How does it get rebuilt so that an access panel can be added ... to avoid doing this very thing again in the future?? The problem is that the bathroom vent pipe that goes to the roof is smack in the middle of where the 2 walls were which is throwing a humongous monkey wrench into all of it. George, Steve, and I pondered a solution for this problem for a good half an hour.
We could have also chosen to do nothing, but George pointed out that the shower controls were looking pretty worn. Once again, to do nothing means we'd be doing this later. May as well do it now. But how??
Finally, it was decided to just move the vent, and rebuild the wall between the linen closet and the bathroom half a foot into the bathroom. This makes the closet a little deeper, and it makes the distance between the back of the toilet and the wall nearly non-existent. And we get an access panel for when we decide we're done with this cheap shower, rip it out, and replace it.
We spent Wednesday evening demolishing our linen closet and back wall behind our toilet. Tomorrow, George will come over and sawzall the frame boards. Then the reconstruction begins. And I get to repaint the bathroom.
Talk about unexpected. ::face palm:: And scope creep. UGH.
On a side note, we're wondering what the configuration of this room was when the house was built. We're guessing that the master bathroom was really only a half bath, and that the closet was much bigger. When the bathroom was remodeled, a major portion of the closet was commandeered for the shower, leaving only the small portion there today. It's just a hunch, and we'll probably never know.
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