Every place I've ever lived has been designed for that "average American family," with lots of bedrooms, living room, dining room, family room, etc. The problem was that I was a single person, not an average family. I needed space, but for hobbies, not people. And because I'm over 6'2", bending over to use sinks designed for children was a constant frustration. Over the years, I collected a list of things I would change if I could have my dream house. As I approached retirement, I realized time was running out for that house; it was now or never.


Dreams are not always perfect, however. I could never afford my dream house, a spacious Southern California home overlooking the Pacific Ocean. But I could afford a modest ranch house, with a 20-mile drive to the beach. It was a very long way from perfect, but it had potential.


This blog documents the process of turning that small average house into something that matches my lifestyle. It will be as close to my dream house as I can make it. I'm doing all the work myself to stretch my resources. By not hiring contractors, I can afford high quality materials, and I'll know the job is always done right. The remodeling will be my primary avocation for a few years, even as I try to fit in my writing and other hobbies.


It promises to be an interesting journey, and a challenging one!

Friday, May 28, 2021

Guest Bathroom—Part 9 (Installing tub valve, spout, and shower supply lines)

 Last time I installed the tub and its drain lines—a big milestone.  This time I extended the hot and cold water supply lines from the attic down through the bathroom wall, and installed the valve and hardware for the shower and tub spout.  Another milestone.  Going forward, it's carpentry, wall and floor tile, etc. 

Building a new bathroom from scratch is much easier than starting with an old bathroom.  In my case, the bathroom was bounded on two sides by outside walls, and those walls had suffered significant water and insect damage, and had been poorly repaired, so the walls were in bad shape.  The studs were uneven in every respect, with many of them having been reinforced with partial doublers.  The first challenge was to shim out the wall where the plumbing would go, so it would be flat.

 This had to be done first because the hardware had to be positioned relative to the face of the finished wall tile.  Once I had calculated the various shim thicknesses, and installed those, the plumbing could go in. 

The valve body needed to be the first in.


 Then the pex tubing brought down from the lines previously run in the attic to a position above the bathroom ceiling.  I used 3/4" PEX tubing in the attic because the water flow would need to be maximized so as not to take forever to fill a 100-gallon tub.  Unfortunately, the valve body inlets were all sized at 1/2", so I used adapters down to 1/2" pex.

Since this is an outside 2x4 stud wall, I insulated with rigid foam as much as possible.

And then installed cement backer board over it all.  Next I will continue installing backer board and then tile. 




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