When we had visited the plumber a couple of weeks ago, he said that he would "try to fit you in on either Thursday or Friday" of this week. For that reason, we took Wednesday afternoon off to drive to Wisconsin Rapids to visit my mother. We have not seen her in weeks, and although we know she understands that we are busy, we still needed to make that visit. She is 95 years old, so she deserves some of our time and attention, too.
Yesterday (Thursday) morning dawned, and I told Rick that I wanted to call the plumber. He was hesitant to do so, but he finally agreed. When I called, I simply said that Jason had mentioned trying to get to our house on Thursday or Friday, and that we were wondering if that was still in his plans. We needed to get the laundry room plumbing roughed in so we could add drywall and install the cabinets before the countertop people come out to measure for the granite countertops. The woman who answered my call said she would talk to Jason and get back to me. About a half hour later, she called and asked if the plumbers could come out that day. Of course, I agreed. Rick and I were planning on installing the large cabinet in the room, but we knew that our job could wait.
Dennis and Neil came to our house and worked at least five hours. They roughed in the plumbing for the washer and installed a vent pipe up through the roof. We are SO glad that Neil rather than Rick was the one to go up into our hot attic for that job. Our only chore was digging out some leftover shingles that we had stored in the shed so Neil could repair the roof where he cut the vent opening. He did a fantastic job.
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| Plumbing lines lead to the new supply box while the vent pipe travels up through the roof. |
Dennis and Neil also rebuilt our soil stack in the basement and prepped that for the new tankless water heater that we will soon need to install. Rick had added an outlet where they want to relocate the heater, and today we bought a large plywood panel which we will install so they have a place to mount the new system. That will save them time and us money. They will come back at a later date to install the new water heater.
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| A new soil stack and additional drains await the installation of our new tankless water heater. |
Ironically, the plumber had mentioned that the hose from our water softener was slightly crimped, and that since he put in a new drain system when he put in the new soil stack, that we might want to re-plumb the water softener unit with CPVC so the unit would not have restricted flow. OK. Good idea.
At 4:11 this morning, our water softener kicked in to recharge. We both woke up and both heard a strange noise coming from the basement. Rick went downstairs and found a flood: the water softener hose had blown off, and it was spewing water everywhere! So there we were, reattaching the hose, mopping up water, and peeling back soaked carpet in the laundry room in the wee hours of the morning. Such adventures! Was it coincidence that the water softener just happened to blow its hose the day after the plumber mentioned it? Had he touched it when he noticed it and jiggled something loose? Was it just that old and under that much pressure that it finally gave way? Who knows. All we do know is that the clamp Rick put on the hose will keep it in place until our remodeling upstairs is complete so we can re-plumb the softener downstairs. All in good time...
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| Note the clamp that holds the hose in place at the back of the water softener. |
This morning we both wanted to install the large pantry cabinet that we had somewhat put together yesterday after the plumbers left. We added the face frame and spacer molding, and then we screwed the cabinet to the wall. It is level and plumb, so we are happy with the results. Rick tried some cabinet screws to attach it to the wall, and miraculously, we actually found the studs in the wall! (With these older homes, one never knows exactly where the studs might be placed.) Six screws later, we have a secured cabinet that probably will withstand a EF5 tornado. It's not going anywhere.
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| The large pantry unit secures storage in the corner of the room. This picture was taken before we added the face frame (resting against the wall) and attached the whole thing to the wall. |
Rick really wanted to continue installing cabinets, but he faced reality and knew that finishing the newly plumbed laundry wall had to come next. He added bracing between the studs so we would have extra places to secure cabinets. Then, while I completed my Friday cleaning chores in the rest of the house, he stuffed Safe and Sound (fire resistant and sound-barrier) insulation in that wall. The insulation was nasty stuff with which to work, but in the end we think it will be worth it.
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| Sound-barrier insulation will hopefully make running the laundry fairly quiet in the rest of the house. |
We are going to add a Vroom central vac component to the lower cabinet on that wall, so Rick extended the connection for that system. Right now it hangs out about a foot from the wall, but once the cabinet is installed the system will rest inside the cabinet and will provide me with a quick way to pull out a 24 foot hose. That will give me a easy-to-use, convenient vacuum for the laundry room, kitchen prep area, and back door.
After he finished that, Rick took measurements because there were several drywall cut-outs on that wall: outlets for both the washer and dryer, a dryer vent, the washer water supply box, the regular light fixture switch box, and the Vroom piping. In the end, the drywall cut-outs worked fairly well, and the wall is now up. Two hours later, Rick had the seams taped and mudded.
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| It's a wall! Another coat of mud, then primer and paint, and no one will ever know that it was not always there. |
While he was doing the mudding, I prepped the garage for tomorrow's task. When he adds a second coat of mud on the new wall, I will stain the three wall cabinets and one base cabinet that will surround the washer and dryer.
Then, while everything dries, we will continue with the task of installing the cabinets on the west wall in that room.
A little bit each day. We work long days, ache for our efforts at night, but feel satisfied as we continue to work toward our goals.
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