Bathroom remodel day 41

The bathroom is chugging along just like the little train that could. I spent all day Friday getting three valves onto the copper pipe sticking out of the wall. The toilet valve was the easiest as I had a long chunk of pipe sticking out that had to be cutoff. The sink side had two short stubs that I needed to heat up and remove the copper caps. I ended crushing one of the tips with a set of pliers and then had to cut it off. I had to use the sawzall to cut it as it was too close to the wall for a pipe cutter. This then made a not even cut which messed up my compression tightening valve.

I had to go to Pendleton for a second time that day to get a new brass compression ring and a 12” hose for the toilet. On the plus side the toilet works and after soldering on an extension pipe the sink valves are in place and they do not leak. I am just not very good at plumbing.

We installed a curtain as a door so the toilet could be used on Friday. I had been working on the door all week. I had a wood insert glued into the end of the door and I purchased a 1” and 3/4” dowel so I could drill out the old door handle and lock holes. Once I had that all dried, cut off and sanded smooth I filled the cracks with an epoxy based filler. After that was sanded down I drilled the new holes for the new handle. It just made it easier to start with an intact door again before trying to make new holes. I am going to brush on a little stain after the door is hung.

Saturday we moved furniture! Sarah and Grant were given a nice set of Spanish style bedroom set. We cleaned out the old room, moved the box bed back into the sewing room and moved out several items from both rooms. We then cleaned up both rooms and all of the furniture. All of this we did in the morning, then I had enough time to install the door handle in the bathroom door. I need the door gone so I can get the corner trims stained then start working on the custom bathroom cabinet. Gingerman went out to their farm and started discing a five acre field that he is prepping for seed. The disc he got last week is working great.

Early afternoon we went and picked up the furniture. It was heavy. We were able to get the horse trailer across our spring by driving through the spring. I had brought in 2-3” rock when we thought the septic truck was going to have to drive around to pump our tank. It still makes a land bridge that the water flows over 1-2” deep. The truck and trailer went over it just fine. We used arm lifts to help move the furniture and they made all the difference. I don’t think I could have gotten the one dresser upstairs without them. As it was I had to place both feet wide on either side of the dresser and lift it up one step at a time. By the time we got to step 16 I thought I was going to die. When we made it to step 19 I told myself there were only two steps left and if I let go Gingerman was still holding up the lower end and could not do that indefinitely. As soon as we had it on the top landing we took a five minute break.

I took the low side on the long dresser and the Gingerman was surprised at the different muscles used on the uphill side. The lower side carries more weight but it is in your legs not your mid back. I told him it was much worse with the heavier piece of furniture. We forgot a piece of the bed frame. Once we tried to install the bed frame we realized there had to be more parts. All the parts fit in the bedroom and the kids have an actual bed to sleep on. I told the Gingerman when we left to go disc until dark that I was done working.

I ended up installing the actual bathroom door. It was a tight fit but I was able to get it in place and adjusted. It looks good. I think I will still hit it with one more coat of conditioner to seal up the wood. I was able to do a little work on the crown molding on Friday after the plumbing and now we have crown molding in the main section of the bathroom. All that is left is the shower enclosure. Now that the door is in place Annmarie is already talking about finish trim! We attempted to put the vanity in place but there is a cross piece that needs to be routed out about 1” to make room for the wall plumbing. I will also need to readjust some of the drawers in the vanity. The plumbing is more to the right of the cabinet than I anticipated.

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