Plumbed

Continuing where my last post left off, today's post is about getting that additional bathroom rough plumbing done.

 

Rough Plan

under sink piping

I haven't really described this bathroom thing much other than where it would roughly go and what we demolished to make room for it. Ang and I intend to age-in-place in this house. That means, as we touch things, we consider how an old person might need things, and make plans accordingly. For example, I have heard that most home injuries happen in the bathroom. This is probably because you have wet tile, many obstacles and hard surfaces. To address all of this, we are pursuing a "wet room" concept that does not have a tub nor even walls around the shower. This means fewer obstacles and nothing to step over. To keep water from going everywhere, we will have a curtain, but there will be a floor drain and a hand-held nozzle too. In this way, if one of us is wheelchair-bound, the bathroom is ready. Otherwise, it is a simple lavatory with a toilet and sink, with a sink vanity that has more counter than sink. When the shower is not in use, the curtain will be pulled all the way to one end of the rod, leaving a large(-ish) open floor space. With that concept, we started demo, and then some construction and now the plumbing.

 

The Dig

toilet, floor drain

I spent 3 days digging my third trench this year, with this last one in the crap space. The others were the grey-water from the shop and the electricity/internet hookup from the house to the shop. Still, when the plumbers arrived, they needed to go to a different part of he crawl and expose the sewer. I knew that, and while I could have probably guessed where to dig and such, I also knew that it was highly probable that I would guess wrong and they would have to dig under there anyway. So, the first few hours on the first day, one of them was on his belly, digging out the original sewer line. At the end of the work, the spill went back into the cleared out space so for the most part, it looks the same as it did before they started. I think. I really don't like going under there, so I haven't checked. Yet.

 

The trench that I dug, however, ended up working out great for them. The photo on the bottom shows the waste pipe in the trench as do some of the others. Because of how little the pipes need to slope, however, I clearly over-dug. The flooring was still gone so they were able to do almost all of the work without having to get under the house, too. That last bit of sewer line and the hot/cold water feeds needed to be tied in, though.

 

Plumbed

routing under floor

The original plumbing estimate was for 3 days, and they were done in 2. They indicated that the trench plus all the flooring being gone made the work considerably faster. At this point, the rough-in plumbing is complete, supporting a toilet, a sink and a shower, with a floor drain. We had concerns that the main water feed would need to be upgraded. It was not needed, at least not yet. There was a concern that some of the original galvanized pipe might need to be replaced, leading to a much larger re-pipe effort. Similarly, that was not needed. In fact, because this galvanized pipe is from the late 1940's rather than the cheaper stuff from the 1960's and 1970's, it is holding up to time very well. The exterior of all of the pipe is rust-free and that pipe they needed to cut for tying in the new plastic to the new bathroom had no rust inside either. So, we will not need to do a full re-pipe for a long time. Honestly, since the kitchen and laundry behind it were re-piped a few years ago when we did those room upgrades, the only pipe remaining are the main feeds and the original bathroom. So, the scope of a re-pipe may not be as bad as your typical horror story.

 

Fixture Fixation 

shower, floor drain, toilet

Ang and I had been focusing on the foundation and wall locating and not on fixtures and such. So, when the plumbers arrived, they logically asked "where is the sink going"? Absent clarity on what we would use for a vanity, much less where we would acquire it, we went with "probably around here?", pointing at a spot on the North wall. We explained that we planned on something about 5 feet across with a single sink in the middle. They plumbed accordingly while we went looking in craigslist, fbmarketplace and the rebuilding center for a vanity that fit what we had just said. While we could have looked at brand new stuff at the big box building centers, we were skeptical of a new glue-board vanity withstanding a wet-room style bathroom. We were not really financially ready to take on the cost of a retail-priced all-wood piece either.

 

We were unable to find anything suitable, but at the rebuilding center we did score a functioning toilet ($35US) and a shallow overhead cabinet ($25US) that could be useful. If your reaction to a used toilet is "ew gross", you are not alone. We washed it with bleach water the moment it left the bed of the pickup truck. Add in $10US for a seat and another $20US for the inner workings (not going to reuse those either) and a wax ring, we will have a functioning toilet for around $75US. The cheapest toilet at HomeDespot is $100US, and this used one is much nicer.

 

rebuilding center vanity

Still without a vanity, we looked at the limited cabinetry that we still had in the garage from when we did the kitchen. When we bought that set, the rebuilding center included a few things which were not part of the "kitchen" but they deemed were part of the set. This included a 40" wide bathroom vanity and some overhead cabinets which looked like they were from a laundry. The overheads were attached to the south wall in the tiny attached garage. We had planned to use that vanity in the shop for a kitchenette or something, but we had a definite need now, and that was a maybe later thing.

 

Car Accounting

K'Lack: I am waiting on parts to do K'Lack's brakes. I expect to chase that in the next couple of weeks.

Hapy: still broken, sitting outside my shop waiting for me to have time to work on him. Honestly, I am waiting for the weather to turn because yard cleanup is so much nicer when it's not raining.

Frankie: I just got the O2 sensor. I will be replacing that soon. We are now getting weird errors about the driver-side tail light. I think the ground is bad.

Cedar's minivan: he did the gas vapor recovery system and started replacing the thermostat. We will return to the thermostat and maybe the sparkplugs before we call it winter road-ready.

Cedar's Subbie: we got it to pass smog (replacing o2 sensors) and now it's back to being his daily driver.

 

Wrap Up

pipes in trench

With the rough-in plumbing now complete, our friend Ray will soon return to install a floor. I will be staying out of his way. With the nice weather soon coming to an end, I have to paint the south-side barn doors or that exposed wood will get soaking wet all winter. I also have to get that bathroom vanity cleared from our overloaded garage, but I think that can delay a week or so while other work completes. Regardless, we are like many others this time of year: pushed hard by the boss-man all week and then on our days off we try to get a weeks worth of personal work done. It can't be. Even working your off-hours on work days has limited returns. Ultimately, I need to start setting lower expectations.

 

That's it for this time. Thanks, as always for following along- 

Digging Again

It seems that 2026 has become the year of the shovel. At least around here, it has. The latest chapter of farmhouse renovating has turned. So, today's post is about my participation.

 

Back Story

rough as-bought floor plan

For this part of the city / county, our house is old, built in 1948 it is one of the original buildings in this area. It was one of the farmer's original houses for one of the kids, and it is the oldest remaining house from that old farm. The house next door was built a few years later for another of his kids, but all the others, including the original house, are gone. This was a 2 bed / one bath house then. At some point in the 1960's, one of the bedrooms was blown out, making for a larger living space and 2 bedrooms and a connecting hallway were added behind it. It was in this configuration we found the house: 3 bed / one bath. That rear hallway ran from a bookshelf in the eastern wall west to a door into one of the bedrooms. Early in the house improvements, we removed that bookshelf on the east wall and put in a back door. Ang and I sleep in the original bedroom and our respective offices / guest sleeping are in the additions. After living in this formation for a few years, and completing lots of other things, we decided that getting a bathroom added would be a good idea. As the economy continues to erode, this looks more and more like a dicey idea, but we are in it now.

 

Demo

before the demo started

Once we got the doors on the shop, and I moved everything car-related out there, that created space in the garage for.... all the stuff that was in our offices to be stored. Yeah, that's not what I thought was going to happen either. Once we got most of the stuff out of the respective spaces, we covered what remained with sheets. The biggest areas to vacate were the closets which were pretty full. The actual demolition of the north-side walls of those 2 offices came next, and then we learned what old-skool wall work was like. They double-dry walled everything, but with thinner sheets. So, like today, the drywall is maybe almost a half an inch thick. This stuff was more like 3/8" thick, but double sheeted. The inner sheet is more like today's gypsum drywall. The outer sheet is more like a sheet of plaster that then has a light skin of plaster mud on top of that. The second layer is offset so the seams don't appear on top of one another. The result is why the house is so quiet and why a voice does not carry around a corner. This also makes demo more than twice as time consuming. The plaster stuff goes everywhere. There is chicken wire (or similar) in the corners and all of is is super dusty. For the actual demo plan, we eliminated both of our closets and that rear hallway.

 

Foundation Again

post-demo, walls gone

Early on in our adventure with this house, we brought in some foundation experts to stabilize the house. The main beam running under the original house had become compromised, so a new beam was put in. The 1960's addition was "bouncy", so we had them solve that too. As effective as the main solution was, the addition solution was not. That part of the house remained bouncy and having them perform a lifetime guarantee adjustment did not solve the problem either. So, since so much was getting demolished already, we took up the floor and added an access to the joists by removing some subfloor. And then removing some more. We soon realized that the "expert" work was not that great. They had added a beam right next to the original, but there was nothing wrong with the original beam. The added one was significantly smaller, however.

 

We got a few bids to resolve, but ultimately we saved literally thousands of dollars with a contractor simply firming the original beam. With the flooring removed we could also see that a couple of joists were missing and one was under-sized so it didn't even touch the beam. Once those shortcomings were resolved, the floor, even a floor that was simply plywood sitting on top of the joists, was far more stable underfoot. During this time, we all noted just how little crawlspace there was in the crawlspace. There was literally 7 inches between the vapor barrier and the bottom of the joists for most of it, and even less space over where the bathroom was going. There was barely room for a child to maneuver under there much less a grown person, and there was no way plumbing could be run. Enter me and another round of digging.

 

Dig It

A crawlspace is supposed to have at least 18 inches (half a meter) of clearance. Ideally, it is closer to 2 feet (2/3 meter). Rather than dig out over a foot of material for the entire crawlspace, I dug a 3 foot wide by 2 foot deep channel that ran from the access into the main house crawlspace southwest (diagonally) to the midpoint under the original beam, before turning straight west. I felt this would create sufficient space for the waste pipe while also creating enough room for someone to crawl around under there for maintenance.

 

My method was somewhat simple. First, I peeled back the vapor barrier and ultimately reused it. With the dirt exposed through the joists, I dug down with a post-hole digger, filling 5 gallon buckets, 2 at a time. I would then haul those buckets to the wheelbarrow sitting outside the back door (and down 3 steps). I would move 4 buckets of dirt and then take the wheelbarrow either behind the shop where the grey water pipe was done in my last post, or over to the location where we hope to grow food eventually. I lost count of how many barrows I moved, but I was able to fill a wheelbarrow in about 20 minutes and I dug hole for 3 days, at least 6 hours a day. The picture below on the right provides some perspective of how much dirt got moved: more than the height of a 5 gallon bucket.

 

Ang helped when she wasn't working, carrying the buckets and moving the barrow. When that was rolling, we were moving a barrow more often. Ultimately, we moved a great deal of dirt, digging to at least 22 inches of clearance, sometimes more, 1 meter (3 feet) across and perhaps 8 meters (25 feet) long. I took ibuprofen for 3 days, but after that, the pain subsided and I kind of enjoyed feeling my muscles to acutely. I feel reminded of when I used to go to the gym and has me thinking of going back again.

 

Wrap Up

With the access trench dug, our contractor could return and frame some walls. The inner wall of my office has been sheet-rocked so I can return to working in an office again. I had been working with my laptop wherever I could find space for a few weeks. The plumber is due in a few days to do the rough plumbing and the main contractor will return after the plumbing is in. We hope to have a usable bathroom by the end of the year, but we are at least partially managing the calendar by budget.

 

As for cars, I have found that historically October has been really hard on our cars. The first few colder days bring the barely-working things down. Case-in-point, I will be returning to K'Lack's brakes, Cedar is working on his fuel vapor system and Frankie (new Astra) needs it's bank 1 O2 sensor replaced and new wipers. None of these are blog-post worthy, but it is that time of year when things need to be looked at.

 

Thanks, as always, for following along. 

Shop Grey Water

Before I get after today's post, I would like to wish my US readers a happy belated Labor Day. I recognize the value our labor unions and those who fought for worker rights have provided those of us who came after. Ironically, I spent Labor Day and the days before shoveling dirt, but that's what today's post is all about. One last thing: Thursday is my son Cedar's 25th birthday. While most folks are looking at Friday to consider the implications of 9/11, 25 years ago, I will be considering the implications of his arrival just a few hours prior (1130PM on 9/10). Happy Birthday, C. 

 

Some History 

ready for the rains

Back when I started my concepts for this shop, I did not have much of a plan other than a spot to put and work on cars. During the initial permitting process (See Building a Shop - Permits), I did not have a plan for water use or even a plan to make a plan for water use like a bathroom or whatever. After the plans got started, and the metal building ordered, I thought about how nice it would be to wash my hands before crossing the yard into the house. And then I thought about how nice it would be to take a leak without tracking whatever was on my boots and then whatever my boots picked up in the yard into the house. I started first with looking at what was possible in terms of tying into existing sewer systems.

 

The shop is a good 35 meters from the back of the house. So, if the main sewer pipe under the house is less than a foot below ground in the crawlspace and the crawlspace is barely below grade overall, I only have less than 50 feet before I run out of elevation. I determine this using the basic formula for waste water management: a pipe must have a pitch of at least 1/4" drop per foot, or 1 inch per 4 feet. If we extrapolate that out to one foot of descent, that's 48 feet before the waste pipe is lying on the ground or being suspended above ground. So, that doesn't work.

 

2 foot deep 2 foot wide channel

Next, I looked at connecting to the sewer running along the adjacent street on the other side of my neighbors. While it is downhill, it would still be a couple hundred feet, and either through one of their yards or right on the property line. Either way, that would require an easement that one or both of them would need to approve and it would tie into the city waste system while my property is not. After all that, I was unable to determine how far underground the city sewer is. I decided it was all just too legally perilous and dropped the while thing.

 

Since these musings were taking place while the permits were getting finalized, I drew in a 2 meter square in the southwest corner where we would not put concrete, and just leave gravel. My thought was we would have a wet room or something if I could figure out the waste management side.

 

Storm Outflow to Bio Swale

trenching

As part of the excavation work for the foundation, I had the Clean Water Services -required storm outflow and a channel from the rear of the building to the outflow dug out. This cost me a few extra hundred bucks and a cherry tree. I then located and had delivered large rocks of the specified size (the finding was NOT easy). This cost me another $1000US. Ultimately, this shop cannot support rain gutters, so I spent multiple weekends last summer digging out and installing French drains to manage the rain water. That system has been working really well, by the way. Anyway, a year later, the permit has been long closed, and I still had a 2 foot deep 2 foot wide channel from the rear of the building to the hole with rocks in it. It can be seen in the foreground of the second picture from the top. When I had the trencher, I took a stab at putting a more direct trench from the hole to the backside of the building where the wet room square was located. This trench was only 4 inches wide, mostly 2 feet deep, but it did not go the full distance due to soft soil gumming up the wheels. The new plan was to put in a floor drain in the "wet room" and run that grey water into the storm outflow, and maybe, eventually, purposefully add plants designed to thrive in a bio swale.

 

More Trenching

bored through

All of this backstory leads me to the antics of this past weekend. I started with a shovel and soon had small hand tools, a post-hole digger and a hoe to work the trench. Unlike the major trench I did for the electrical feed, this 25 foot trench encountered a half dozen large roots. I was able to hand-dig around either side but to get underneath, I used a framing hammer and a steel rod to bore a hole and then used a hand digger to clear it out.

 

I knew that the foundation for the steel building included a 1-foot by 1-foot curb. The rest of the floor was reinforced 4" concrete. The 1-foot, however, set the high-point for the top of the grey water pipe at the edge of the building. Every 4 feet closer to the hole I got, the trench needed to be another inch deeper until at the end, I was 18 inches below level. To determine a consistent relative point from which to measure progress, I laid out a stretch of pipe and used a level, propping up the hole-end to get level. Then, I measured distance and depth from the pipe. It took me a day and a half, but I got the trench dug out, with large openings under the roots through which I could pass a 2" pipe.

 

Surge Tank

surge tank

With the trench set, I wanted to complete the outside steps. I figured I could leave most of the indoors work until after the rains start. Even with a system as tiny as this with such low input (a rarely-used floor drain and maybe a couple of dry sinks), it is advisable to include a surge tank. This is so when a large wave of water enters the system it does not instantly propagate down to the bio swale. This also serves as a place to clean out stuff that made it's way into the drain that you may not want further downstream. I used a 5 gallon bucket for my "tank". Oh, by "dry sink" I mean a sink that does not have any water fed to it. We do not have a county-supplied water source out there, and no plan for one. We could harvest rainwater, but anything like that would not be pressurized water, it would be pure gravity feed, so a "trickle" of water. Alternatively, we could do something with 5 gallon buckets, but, again, it would be a gravity feed trickle.

 

layin pipe

Immediately outside the foundation, I dug a hole large enough to fit the 5 gallon bucket and then realized that I can't just stop there. The pipe that feeds from the shop side needs to be in place too. So, I measured to find the spot where the pipe needed to pass and dug about 18 inches down, and about a foot across inside the shop gravel at the spot I had measured. Then, I tunneled under the foundation with the hand digger. Once I was able to pass a short stretch (about a meter) of 2" pipe between the holes, I located and drilled holes in the bucket for the 2" pipe to enter/exit the bucket. At some point, I figured I would put a bucket on the shop side similar to the surge tank, but this bucket would be intended dry. Inside, would be where I would add a pee-trap, but I'm not sure if this little system would necessarily need one. Something to think about while it's raining.

Piping and Filling

I hit the local home improvement store for a collection of 2" pipe bits, but only really needed another 10' of pipe, a butt joint, something to put on the pipe ends to fill the space between the pipe and the bucket and some pipe cement. With the goodies in hand, I joined together the pipes with cement and after they set (10 minutes), I sent the completed 25' of pipe from the hole up the trench to the bucket outside the shop. I added a collar to that pipe, with cement, and then fit it into the hole in the bucket. To test the system, I poured a gallon of water into the pipe at the bucket and quickly walked down to the other end. Most of the water had already left the pipe by the time I got there, so I took that as success.

 

draining

The rest of Sunday, and part of Monday was spent shoveling dirt from the mound at the foot of the black walnut tree into the grey water trench and the 2 foot deep 2 foot wide channel. With the trenches filled in, the rains can begin and we can feel comfortable that neither we, nor our friends nor our pets will trip and fall into one of the open trenches. We still don't know what we are going to do back there. Maybe we'll let it get overtaken by wild flowers or we'll seed it for grass or we'll put a food producing garden back there or it will just get wood chips. At this point, since it is space we have never used before, we haven't a preconceived notion.

Wrap Up 

As you can see from the image at the top, as compared to some of the others, what was once a hazardous place to walk around has become relatively flat and hazard-free. As I figure out how to make something work inside the shop in terms of a floor drain or a dry sink, I'll post on it. Long term, it would be really nice to have, like, a composting toilet and some low pressure water for washing hands out there. Even that would be pure luxury.

 

That's it for now. Thanks, as always, for following along-