Day Minus One: Bathroom Renovation Project 24

Dan is intent on getting home for his daughter's birthday, in a day and a half. It's 10 p.m. on  the day he had been hoping to get home. So, after a long, full day of installing trim, after sliding the tub into the bathroom, which you can read about here, after a shower and dinner, we start all over again at 11 o'clock at night. The tub is now in place, and this is where we are with the plumbing:

I sit in the tub, literally, with my head poking over the edge, half-asleep, watching Dan cut the piece of PVC drain sticking up out of the tile floor, then slowly, carefully, carve away at the tile and grout, to create enough room for the PVC fitting that goes underneath the tower drain. Then, he measures the exact spots for the water supply lines and drills through the tile to screw down the flanges, which had been left loose to this point. This is a slow and precise process. I finally go to bed around one or two, and when I get up the next morning, this is where we stand:

We're day minus one from our hard stop deadline. Olivia's birthday is tomorrow, and Dan has to be home, but we are still a long way away from being done. I go around the house with the camera, noting everything that's left. There are bits and pieces strewn about in practically every single room of the house. First, the maquette, in my own study. I study the things that are NOT yet in. Plumbing. Curtain ring. Sink. Toilet. Well, the tub is in the room at least, I think. 

Then I make the rounds, like an emergency doctor. Banister waiting to be reinstalled, in the dining room:

And, by the way, porch column bases -- an entirely separate project -- waiting in the studio:

The last baseboard to be installed on the wall with the curved corner--Dan's trim set-up waiting on the patio:

Plumbing kit, in the downstairs hall:

Sink legs, behind the step stool, in the downstairs coat closet, standing in for the sink which is out in the garage, yet to be hung:

Baseboard for the curved corner, still in its form in the kitchen:

Sink faucet and towel bars and rings, in their boxes in the breakfast nook:

Mess on the patio to be cleaned up:

Radiator (underneath a plastic bag) standing out by the garage, that I'd spent days scraping and painting, waiting to be reinstalled:

The other banister, in the guest room, to be reinstalled:

The upstairs hall -- our staging area -- to be cleared out:

The curtain ring, in Dan's room, waiting to be hung:

And, one of the biggest jobs: the freestanding tub and shower plumbing to be installed, plus the S-trap for the sink:

The sink water lines, yet to be installed:

The shower head:

Radiator fixtures, under the dresser in Dan's room:

And the toilet, which was still down at the supplier, waiting to be picked up. And the medicine cabinet, out in the garage. 

With my second cup of coffee fortifying my resolve, and both Dan and Capel rattling around in the kitchen, I take photos of the room. We're on the last leg of our job. By tonight, everything will look different, and I want to have a good record of the big changes in store for the day. So, one more turn around the room, as it stands at the outset of the day:

Time to go to work. First up, medicine cabinet:

That's one down. Next, attaching the second freestanding water supply line:

Then, installing the baseboard under the sink and the curved baseboard that had been steamed the day before. Looks simple no? You're not hearing the numerous trips up and down the stairs Dan made to fit and sand, fit and sand, and fit again, until the thing is flush and precise:

Now, back to the water lines, attaching the tub fill:

Then the sink lines:

Meanwhile, I've put together the towel bars:

And opened up the sink faucet. Looks like a lot of pieces, I think. I hope Dan knows what he's doing!

Then, with help from Capel, we set the sink, without breaking either of the porcelain legs. It's gotten dark somehow. The day has sped by.

Now, to install the faucet:

And the lines:

And, finally, the last pieces of the shower assembly:

I sneak a peak at the beautiful tower drain and water stops, now hidden behind the tub:

We all gather for one of the most important moments: the bathtub water test. Leaks ensue. Capel goes to make dinner and I escape elsewhere in the house. I hear lots of muffled exclamations in the bathroom. It seems that every time one joint is leak free, another one springs a leak. It's the one complaint Dan has about this plumbing--none of the fittings are rubber fittings. Every one has to be done and re-done, even the factory sealed fittings, and hours go by before the whole thing is balanced and leak free. 

But finally that is done. Onward. Hooking up the last of the sink plumbing:

And -- finally -- a second water test!

Still no toilet . . .

But the sink is done.

Some time later -- toilet is in and the last water test goes smoothly. Virtually no leaks!

Capel is now long in bed for the night. It's one, two? Not sure. Radiator in, Dan and I traipse all over the house, firing up the heat for the first time this season. Dan gives me a short lesson about the heating system, closing the lines here and there among the to me indecipherable loops of the heating pipes in the basement, and, slowly, forcing air out of the radiator, until it's drained of air and heating properly. 

It's now about 4 in the morning and we haven't started the curtain ring. We add up what remains, and come to the same realization that -- birthday or no the next day -- we have got to stop and sleep, pick up in the morning. I don't know about Dan, but I am asleep before my head hits the pillow.