Hi everyone!
It feels a little crazy, having so many projects going right now! We’re actively working on getting the master bathroom completed at the same time that we’re working to get the cottage in live-able shape.
Our current plan is to have the Vineyard House ready to go on the market at the beginning of February, at which point our countdown to moving into the cottage will start. We are hoping to secure a two month leaseback, which would put us moving around the beginning of April.
So this week we’ve been putting up drywall in the master bath, as well as fixing the old plumbing so that it will be ready for the new fixtures. We’ve already received the fixtures, lights, mirrors, and vanities for the master, so the final things we have to order are the glass for the shower enclosure and the freestanding bathtub.
Here we are with all of the drywall up.
Jordan also needed to replace all of the old plumbing so that the plumbing for the new shower and vanities would be in the correct location and water tight. Here’s the new plumbing installed, before putting the insulation over the pipes and the exterior insulation back up.
Then Jordan placed new foam insulation over the new pipes, securing it with black duct tape.
And here we are with the wall insulation replaced.
Our next step was to hang some heavy plastic which will be covered by the cement board, and will act as a moisture barrier between the shower and the exterior insulation.
The next piece Jordan chose to work on was the existing shower drain. Our shower was installed below the level of the slab, and we are bringing it up to be level (although still pitched toward the drain). We’re still debating about having a zero entry vs the shower having a lip or ledge, but there’s enough prep work we can decide later.
To bring up the height of the shower, we’ll also need to bring up the height of the drain. Here’s the original shower drain after removing the tile around it. Fortunately (or unfortunately) the drain was installed incorrectly to begin with, so this is giving us the opportunity to fix it. For some reason the original builder used fill dirt on top of the slab to create a slope, and then used backer board and tiled over it. We’ll show you how we’re correcting this as we go.
We used a PVC saw installed on our Ryobi drill to cut the PVC pipe of the drain from the inside.
And here we are with the drain removed.
Then we solvent-welded a new PVC coupling to raise the height of the drain and also to attach the new drain.
The new drain was installed on the new coupler, raised up to the appropriate floor height.
Jordan placed a test plug in the drain temporarily just to ensure nothing falls in while we continue to work.
That’s it for today! We’ll be back soon with more updates on all of our projects.
jordanpluskate 