Ice storm damage

Although this happened a lot earlier, during the ice storm, I now get to see that it affected my truck too;

That branch on my truck hood broke off. I had to cut some off before I could pop the hood to reconnect and charge the battery, which was completely dead. We’ll know in an hour or so if it survived. After one hour of charging, the truck started on the first attempt, so I could get groceries.

Taking nr 1’s and 2’s in style

A floating toilet is always a bit nicer than one that has an exhaust going down through the floor. Especially when it’s on a floor that is right above the kitchen stove. A bit of work to the pipes work and to get it to lock with the bolts, but it’s in and all works well

The green will be painted white, and the gaps filled (in reverse order). It’s the first floating toilet with soft close seat I’ve ever owned (or installed). Scratch that of my bucket list. The seat closes very very softly and there are separate buttons for number 1’s and 2’s

En-suite bathroom part seven

This may seem like a never ending story, but I’m still making progress. Today I put the moisture resistant drywall into the shower stall.

After that, I started with the tiles;

It’s not difficult, just a bit labor intensive. I guess that’s the downside of choosing a small tile. My plan is to tile to the height a little bit under the rafter. Above that I will paint the wall white.

En-Suite bathroom part six

Small steps as I had to code and get materials first.

The shower and valve are now hooked up to the water lines. An intricate set of rings will limit the hottest and coldest temperature that can be set.

The line going down from the valve is for a bath tub, but since it’s only a shower it’s just capped.

Also got the moisture proof dry walls; they’re heavy to lift by myself, but for now they’re inside. I will cut them to size downstairs and only haul the needed sizes up.

En-Suite Bathroom part Five

With an intermission of visiting my friends the Klockman family in Alpine (West Texas) and a short visit from Arnoud, today I have recommenced the work on the bathroom. It was a bit of double work first, as the pipe joint compound I used wasn’t compatible with the pipes, causing them to not be glued at all. But no harm done; all could be restored and is now in place with the correct compound.

The picture above shows the new vanity, which now is hooked up to the septic and the hot and cold water lines. Going through the 12″ solid cedar wood walls was a challenge, but doable.

The shower now has the Pex lines coming to the valve, and the shower head has been mounted. I won’t be able to connect the Pex water lines to the valve, or the valve to the shower head, as I don’t have those parts yet.

En-suite Bathroom part four

From constructing the downstairs bathroom I knew that bathrooms take a while, especially when you don’t want pipes to go down through the floor.

The pipes with P trap ( an illogical name in my opinion as the intention is not to trap pee but water) are in and the center pipe aligns with the drain.

With a few shims, the shower base was level, so it’s now in place, bolted down to the studs and with the drain connected.

The shower stall does not strike me as small; I can easily dance around in there without hitting the walls. I’ll be doing that dance when the whole thing is finished 🤠

En-suite bathroom part three

Today I drove to Home Depot, and picked up a shower pan and most of the other items needed to build the shower; pipes, connectors, tiles thin-set and grouting.

It’s a 36″ alcove shower pan, so between the toilet and the shower I will frame a wall to support the tiles which will then be on all three sides. A simple shower curtain will prevent water from making the tiled floor wet.

I will raise the pan, to allow the pipes to go underneath it, and a water lock to keep smells away.

Home Depot didn’t have any shower heads I liked, so I will order one at Amazon.