A Whirlwind Day of Plumbing

Wed Jan 20
Up early to prep the work area for the plumbers. After pulling up the drop cloth, finishing up a little paint touch-ups and vacuuming up even more dust. The plumbers arrive. A quick spray of grout sealer under the vanity's future location clears the way for the pros to proceed.

Uh oh! That's not good. The radiator is supposed to sit on the subfloor when it goes back in. We laid plywood underlayment and tile too close to where the radiator needs to fit. After some discussion about pulling up tiles, the plumber is able to use his angle grinder to cut back the offending tile. Sounds risky but the plumber makes a fine cut, and the radiator can go back in. Whoops... another drama. We finished the garage below, but the plumber needs access from below to finish the closet flange drain plumbing. Ugg! Also, the heating system's new pipes weren't tested while the ceiling was open. Two choices--open up the ceiling, or cross our fingers and hope for the best. It's a conundrum.

Anyway, they install the radiator, toilet and vanity in short order. Nice!
With the radiator installed, we can turn the heat back on. Nope! That bang bang bang sound rattling the house is the seized-up water pump for the heater. The good news is that the plumber found a nickel behind the boiler. The bad news is that I'm going to need to find a lot more of them to cover the cost of replacing the pump. Ouch!

Our new pump is good to go, but our water heater pressure relief valve is leaking. We better get that fixed, too. This is looking like an expensive day.

The plumbers bleed all the radiators (and our wallet), and we have heat again. Yay!

After the plumbers are done, the grout on the floor needs retouching. I don't know how, but big chunks got pulled up... whatever. Grouting was a lot easier to do before the fixtures went in... Finally, the floor tile grout is finished. While it is drying, I manage to get a second coat of grout sealer over the tiles of the tub alcove.

Now, for the final thrust --the shower! It is late in the day, and this task has been punted into the future more than once. It is an "outside the wall, external mount shower". We chose it because it is the only all-in-one device on the market that provides: (a) safe thermostatic temperature control, (b) a shower/tub filler combo, (c) temperature labeled in degrees Celsius (not that that's really a feature we were looking for).

Anyway, it is very fancy. It is a "flush-mount design" of presumably British origin and is yet another item requiring precision installation. Regardless, it is really pretty cool.
In the process of precisely installing the shower, Jake manages to accidentally turn on the handle of the ball valve for the water supply... Squirt, splash, bloody cursing ensues...(though thankfully for less than a few seconds), I guess it would be out of place to install something without a little bit of drama.

The shower is on the wall, but the impromptu water-works makes sweat soldering the last few connections less than easy to do tonight. We drain out the house water supply to isolate the problem shower connection for fixing tomorrow. A long day deserves some rest... maybe tomorrow we can take a shower... maybe...