Not Shop - but house, remodeling a bath . . . ( mad scientist style ) . . .

[conv67bdere]

Pointed out . . . that the tub faucet was not centered in the new cast iron tub. Guess what that meant . . . Reworking the plumbing.

So my dad had bought me a re-circulating pump, to allow for instant hot water at the taps, but that required a full loop of plumbing to allow re-circulation. Since this was also plumbing - got two birds done with one stone . . . Yup, yet another side project . . .

This is my access to the crawl space . . .

Spent a lot of time under there cleaning it up after I bought the house . . . don't really like going in there to do work . . .

But I have added lighting, and multiple vapor barriers - which makes it a bit "nicer" than crawling in the dirt . . .

Finished up all the plumbing work . . .
Notice the painted floor joists - had mold down there, so the joists were all wiped down with clorox/water mixture and then painted with primer . . .
All of the Hot water pipes were covered with rubber insulation ( not the cheap foam stuff )

On to some of the more "interesting" details of this project - hooking up the pump and testing . . .

Before we could hook it up we needed to drain the tank ( holy crap was that an endeavor . . . )
Here's only part of what we got out of the tank . . .

Then we fitted up all the parts and got this - through the floor up to the pump - then back down and into the original tank drain location . . .

Here's the pump hook up - originally it stopped at the left cutoff - which allowed us to get to the pump as time permitted and still use the hot water.
- - added a check valve on the water inlet ( far left tube ) to not feed water back to my well house
- - (2) dielectric unions on either side of the pump to prevent a short running through the pipes
- - (2) ball valves to allow the pump to be replaced from the system ( fairly easily )
- - thought the pump would act as a check valve for the hot water ( guessed wrong - had to add one more check valve in the system )

Part of the "fun" that we had was that the tank was not heating the water - so drain the tank and find this . . . one fried heating element . . .

And the final look of this amateur plumbing installation . . .

The brass area on the right is the new check valve that was needed and a union was added below that too.
- - added a aqua-stat to allow it to control the pump with pipe water temps
- - also have the manual mode for running with the timer that came on the pump
- - and added an OFF position in case the house will be empty if going on vacation ( just in case )
- - all the electrical was done in a junction box
- - and the pipes were all insulated as they were done under the house too

With about 80 feet of pipe the pump runs less than 3 minutes to get the water hot and then shuts off.

Love it - works great . . .

 

[conv67bdere]

Next . . . the old linen closet . . . and plans for it . . .

I think you'll like this result - split it into twos section . . . top section for storage . . .

Bottom section . . .

Finished work . . .

For storage of the all important gun safe . . .

Like the way that this turned out ! ! !

 

[Brandy]

Looks great Larry! If you need any tips about tile work, hit me up. I used to own a tile and marble flooring company back in the day.

 

[kiwigtx]

Nice work Larry....try to limit the number of projects running concurrently

 

[conv67bdere]

Time for the next installment of the project(s) . . . Mad scientist style . . .

Here's the plan for the sink in the bathroom . . . yes it is a large Pail ( will have it powder coated ) . . .

Got the concrete backer board up around the tub and the sheetrock on the wall . . . making progress . . .

Mentioned the hollow core doors . . . well, here's the upgrade - both a solid core door and new hardware for the door too . . .

From inside the bath room . . .

And the new flooring has finally been put down . . . this is ceramic tile flooring ( no I did not put wood in my bath ) . . .

Closer view of the tile ( wood ) flooring . . . this stuff looks great ! ! !

Time for the tile around the tub to get installed . . .

Making progress . . . goes up fast with these big tiles . . . but "fun" to work with them this big . . .

Accent being added to the area . . .

Here's the idea of how it's going to look . . .

And I have to give some credit to my oldest daughter that helped with the picking of the tiles and the decor for this bath . . .

 

[vintage chromoly]

I dig the 5 panel door.

Looking good!

 

[kiwigtx]

Very cool, and fast...nice work Larry.

 

[conv67bdere]

Forgot to get on here and update this thread with more of the pictures of the work that has already been done . . .

Working with large tiles has it's advantage . . . and it's disadvantage . . . notice how all the plumbing it contained on a single tile . . .
That's good . . . maybe . . . unless the measurements are off by a little bit and you have to make an adjustment . . .

And making that adjustment does not go quite the way you had in mind . . . .

This is round #2 on the tile, and I got it right this time around . . .

So time to get the tile installed . . .

The shower surround has an added shampoo niche . . . for holding . . . well, . . . uh . . . shampoo . . .

Just a close up of the metal edging and the tile being used around the decorative accent stripe . .

Back wall coming along . . .

Accent stripe getting done . . . for the record . . . I hated this tile ! ! What a pain to work with . . .

Note: Mistake . . . see the back wall bottom right tile, it's a half tile, which means that the tile going into the plumping "should" have been a half, but in my measuring, and fitting it onto a single tile - it slipped my mind. It was not until I got ready to add the next tile on the plumbing wall that I noticed the mess up . . . but it's WAY TOO LATE to go back and fix it all . . . so it's staying . . . as is.

But . . . all in all, it didn't turn out all too bad . . .

More updates later . . . got a lot more to get posted up and get you caught up to my current state . . .

 

[conv67bdere]

Time for me to add a few more Mad Scientist Bathroom remodel pictures to this thread . . .

Found these neat LED lights at Lowes, and figured I could use them as my lights ( slightly modified ) in this bath . . .

Using the same "wood" tile, with the added metal border was decided for the floor moldings in the bath . . .

This corner was converted to a quarter round corner ( no a square edge ) so the floor moldings were modified to accent it . . .

Got some paint . . . and had to send a picture up to my daughter for approval . . . good news, she liked the color choice . . .

Added the color to the back wall ( no purple was not staying up there . . .

Adding more paint to the different areas of the bath . . .

Finally got the toilet set back in the bath . . . nice to have a partially functioning guest bath again . . .

Better pic with the flooring . . .

Got plans for this in the "mill style" bath design . . . pics coming soon . . .

Buying the "cheaply made" off the shelf bath pieces is a whole lot faster than making up all of the parts yourself . . .

Guess I just wanted something "unique" for this guest bath . . .

 

[conv67bdere]

Forgot to get this updated with more pictures from my past work . . .

Found this old gas pump handle light and just could not pass it up . . . might, or might not go in the bath . . . not sure yet . . .

Closer look at the handle . . . might need a little Mad Scientist adjustments to it though . . .

Found these old gauges at a antique consignment shop, and they will be used in the bath to get my desired old shop mill look . . .

And this was also found at the antique place . . . got plans for it too . . .

First off, it was far to thick to use as it was, so I cut the thing in half to thin it up for the wall . . .

And this was the resulting look . . . not too bad . . .

On the wall, covering up the wall vent, it will look kinds like this . . .

But I was not real happy with the big opening that was on the bottom of the heater . . .

But the top had (2) halves and I was only using the front half of the heater . . . so I cut the back half out . . .

And welded it into the bottom area to help close it up a bite more . . .

\

So now I've got the wall vent covering ready to go . . .

More to come . . .

 

[conv67bdere]

Next part of the project . . . .

All of the fixtures in this bath will be made out of black pipe to make it "fit" the old mill shop style bath . . . Initial TP holder

It would work . . . but I came up with a minor update to it . . .

Made the holder side out of 1" pipe instead of 1/2? pipe . . . which meant welding it in place, and milling the end cap to allow it to fit the P over it . . .

These were the LED lights that I found at Lowes that I was wanting to use in the bath . . . modified a bit as needed . . .

Here is the fabrication of fitting the light onto the black pipe decor . . . this was the plan and initial idea . . .

Then there was the metal panel . . . but it was all new and shiny . . . that would not do . . . so . . .

Pull out the air brush and do a little work on making it look rusty and old . . .

And then mount it to the ceiling above the tub . . . plans for the back area is a boxed in area with LED lighting . . .

More to come . . . still got more completed . . .

 

[snakeyes]

 

[mopar 3 B]

Be glad you can do it yourself. Your labor cost would be out of sight.
I do this for a living. Special touches get expensive real fast.

Yes I agree Prego flooring we will not do. I don't care what they are willing to pay. Total crap.

 

[mopar 3 B]

If you haven't done so clear coat that black pipe. It will rust over time if left bare.

 

[conv67bdere]

If you haven't done so clear coat that black pipe. It will rust over time if left bare.

All of the black pipe was painted - after cleaning off all the oil . . . of course . . .

 

[kiwigtx]

Nice work Larry.

 

[conv67bdere]

Next update . . . more stuff that has already gotten done . . .

Now it's time to start adding some of the needed accessories to the bath - and in keeping with the "old mill" style . . .
Here's where one of the gauges comes into play . . . the towel rack ( again in black pipe - painted )

Got the TP holder and the vent cover mounted as needed in the bath . . .

And the towel rack too . . . the boards are because I added that in the wall cabinet in the master bath - right where this needs to mount. So to keep the screws from sticking out of the back of the master cabinet, these planks give me a mounting surface. They are lag bolted into the 2x6 suds on either side of the cabinet . . . plenty of strength to hold up towels . . .

Then get the raw wood painted, so it'll blend into the wall . . .

Now to fight with the lighting . . . and get the wires strung through the black pipe . . . here's the thought . . .

Guess this got out of order . . . towels on the towel rack . . .

Got all of the lights mounted on the black pipe - fabricated them so that they still swivel as they did before ( about 340 degrees )

And . . . let there be light . . . they do work . . .

Here's the final fab work on the junction box . . . welded a piece of metal to cover the switch as I could not find a blank cover . . .

And on last view of the lights after I got the gauge added back into the picture . . .
( hope . . . is to add LED lights behind the gauge and make it a night light for this bath . . . )

more pictures coming . . .

 

[mopar 3 B]

Looking good.

 

[Ironbuilt]

Great work Larry, it looks awesome!!

 

[Richard Cranium]

No wonder the plumbing doesn't work, the pipes are all plugged up with wires!