Plumbing Upstairs Part 3 09-08-07

Well this is how my day began. Kind of looks like I passed out, but that was not the case this time. I was actually fixing the only leak we had in the water lines. There was one other one but we decided to replace the old line coming into the building, so that doesn't really count.
Come to think about it this leak wasn't my fault either.
This was the line that runs out to the outside faucet, which people know they commonly break in the winter months.
To repair the break you have to cut out the broken section and put in a repair coupling or you have to replace the cracked faucet, which luckily was not the case this time.




Here is the cracked 1/2" copper line.
When I fixed this line I tried to make sure there was an upward angle on the pipe so it will drain when the inside valve is shutoff for the winter months.

Really amazing that these types of leaks are cause for some of the worst basement and house flooding.
Always check your outside faucets each season!


Just some of the water that leaked out.
Good thing it really doesn't matter in our building!



Another stupid mistake on my part with the torch.
It is a great feeling when flesh bubbles up from these types of burns.


Picture of Jen's latest work.
I think she is going to be a while longer!


After making sure there were no more leaks in the copper downstairs, it was time to start moving things upstairs which means I have to get on the ladder again 16 feet in the air.

The water lines had to be run across the ceiling in and against the beams.

Luckily there was only four joints to solder in the air.


The first of the connections.
Oh BTW there is no floor beneath me so I had to setup a plywood platform across the floor beams.

So this made it even more stressful!

I decided to invent a drain for this line going upstairs as I really do not want anything to freeze up in the winter.

If we decide that we won't be staying in the apartment I can just turn off this line and then open the red valve to drain all the lines.


This is a picture of the water line coming up from the first floor.
This is where I put in another shutoff for those just in case something goes wrong moments.

From here you can see that I just hooked into the old copper water lines which saved me a lot of time in re-running them to the toilet and the shower.
I just hoped there was no breaks in the line again!


Here is a small victory! You really learn to take everyone you can get.

The shower has water and worked and so I decided to clean it out and think about how I got to this point by the end of the day.











We will leave you with another picture of myself lying on the floor.

I had to check and make sure the shower drain wasn't leaking, which it wasn't, so that is how we ended the day on a positive note.

Until next week!
Chris & Jen

Plumbing The Upstairs Part 2 9-03-07

Well today is Labor Day and guess what Jen & I are laboring away.

I thought I would start off with a picture of Jen's new project. Jen is in charge of cleaning off all the brick and plaster walls on the first level.

We will check in with her throughout this blog entry to see her progress.

This is the way my day started. Me thinking about how much I do not enjoy plumbing anymore.

I left the shower drain unhooked on Saturday because I just could not take it anymore. So today I started with this. I beleive that I worked on this shower for about 2 hours trying to get the shower trap hooked up to the 3" main.

Here is a picture from the first floor showing the shower trap on the left of the picture.

I was so happy I had to take a picture.

Well here is Jen working on the wall.

Keep on going Jen! Only 4 million more bricks to go.

Back to the upstairs plumbing again.

This is a picture of the backside of the shower area where the trap is located.

The real problem with this was that I could only use one hand to hook up the fittings because the space was so small.

Here is a closer view.

Once the 3" pipe was hooked up under the shower the pipe had to be ran out across the back rafters.

If you click on the picture you will see me down at the very end on the left hanging from a ladder.

Believe me this was a real blast to try and hookup when you are 16 feet in the air.

Finally got the pipe all hooked up and now I am ready to run the 90 and down spout over to the corner connection.

It has to be run down then over because the roof angle prevents any pipe from going all the way over to the final connection in the corner.

But I am out of fittings and all the stores are closed to due to it being Labor Day. So let go back and check on Jen's progress with cleaning the bricks.

Hey making some progress!! Well that is it for this Labor Day. I hope I am not still doing this next Labor Day???

Well we will see everyone next weekend so have a great week.

Chris & Jen

Plumbing The Upstairs Part 1 9-01-07

Hello again! Today we started working on the upstairs plumbing (Drain Pipes)

This the backside of the old bathroom which we decided to leave for now. My plan was to redo this but we decided we would like to have a working toilet & shower ASAP instead.

I had to cut out for the 3" drain that will run along the back wall. This seemed simple enough. Yeah right! I keep telling myself you have to remember things very rarely workout easy.



Thanks Jen for capturing the moment of, Oh Great!

This shower hookup will prove to be a real pain by the end of this day.



This is where the vent connects with the 3" drain.
This is also where the kitchen sink drain will be hooked into.


To the right of the picture is the bathroom sink drain and to the left is the toilet drain.
When this bathroom was first built it was plumbed in the first floor ceiling area. Since there was a drop-in ceiling it was never seen.

I wanted to make sure that everything was re-run the original way and this is the corrected way with this later addition bathroom.



Here I am adding the drain for the bathroom sink.

At least I don't have the plumber's crack!




The toilet drain with the upturned 90.
Almost ready for use!




Kitchen, bathroom sink and toilet drains finished.




Picture of Jen goofing around again.
She can't expect me not to put these on the blog.
Maybe someday she will learn.




Well this is the end of our day of plumbing.

Gatorade! I live on this stuff when I am working on this building.

Sorry Gatorade! I forgot to turn the label so I could give you a proper plug.
I really doubt they care about my little blog.

Later,
Chris & Jen