With a little more of the tub support framing removed I
can get a clearer view of what needs to be done with the plumbing. First, is to cut the drain line riser off a
few inches below the top of the concrete slab as shown in the top photo. Also shown in the top photo is the primer and
glue that will be used to glue the cap on.
The bottom photo shows the drain riser cut down some more with the cap
glued on. I have also started to fill
the pit with compacted sand so later it can be filled with concrete.
Next is to remove the copper lines feeding the tub and
cap them. Here a small tube cutter is
being used to cut the copper pipe after turning the water off. These are just rough cuts. Once I get everything out of the way final
cuts will be made after measuring to make sure the capped pipe will be hidden
within the wall cavity. The blue
material behind the water lines is a plastic material that is a part of the
shower waterproofing. It’s going to make
soldering the caps on interesting since I don’t want to melt it or worse yet
start it on fire. When cut most of the
water drained out of the lines but since this is the low point of the system it
kept dripping and didn’t get really dry which I need when soldering the caps
on. To get around this I used compressed
air to blow most of the water out of the line through hot and cold open sink
faucets. 
To prevent melting the plastic or starting it on fire
when soldering some extra precautions are taken. First, one of the old tiles gets wrapped with
a wet towel and set between the water supply lines and the plastic. Second, when heating the pipe and fitting for
soldering the flame from the torch was never pointed directly at the wall. It’s always at an angle and pointed away from
the wall if possible. With these
precautions the tile never even got warm.
Here are the hot and cold-water supply lines capped with
the water back on. The pit has also been
filled up with compacted sand and is almost ready for the concrete to be
poured.
More demolition progress with some of the tile removed
along with the framing and cement board the tile was set on. The tile and framing need to be gently
removed where it is adjacent to the existing tile that is to remain. I don’t want to bang away and potentially
crack the grout or worse yet a tile.
Fortunately, the tile setting was not done very well and the tiles were
not solidly affixed to the cement board. They came off easily and did not chip the wall tile when
removed.
The demolition continues until all the unneeded framing,
tile, plumbing and the like are removed.
Here in the top photo, you can see the existing electrical outlet the
tub’s pump was plugged into. It will get
mounted to the wall once the tile layout is finalized because I want it
centered on a joint and not in the center of a tile. In the bottom photo the red arrow points to a
ridge where the mortar base for the tub oozed out under its framing and left a
ridge stuck to the floor. This has to be
removed so the tile will lay flat. After
trying different removal methods what worked was an old school combination of a
hammer and chisel. Grinding it off would
have probably been faster but would have created way too much dust.
Moving back to the ¾” water line for the hose bib that
has to be re-routed with all the extra tub framing removed the top photo shows
what the corner looked like. The red
arrow in the bottom photo shows where I had to notch out a couple of studs to
make space for the pipe’s re-routing.
Because the space is pretty confined and I am working around the
existing water line there was not enough room to get the power saw in
there. As a workaround a series of
almost touching holes were drilled then knocked out using a hammer and
chisel. The bit at the top right is the
one used and if you look at the tip it has a lead screw which pulls the bit
through the wood making it easier to drill the holes.
Once the notches were cut so the pipe could be rerouted
the water to the house gets shut off.
The plumbing here is a little different than what I am use to in that
the domestic water has a shutoff at the water softener after the main
shutoff. In practice this means that
when I was working on the tub hot and cold-water lines the water could be shut
off at the softener while the hose bibs remained live. However, now since I am working on the hose
bib line the main shutoff had to be used.
Once the water had been shutoff at the main 1½” gate valve the curved
pipe could be cut out and rerouted.
This consists of a couple new short sections, a 90-degree elbow and two
unions to tie it all together. The same
method of protecting the shower waterproofing and wood structure with a tile
and wet towel is used here. One addition
is a wet cloth wrapped around the copper pipe near the elbow for additional
protection for the stud.
Here is what the finished rerouting looks like. The copper line against the outside wall will
get insulated with pipe insulation like the pipe on the right side of the top
photo. The empty space will also get
insulated with a fiberglass batt.
Unfortunately, when I went back to turn the water on at
the main shutoff its shaft twisted off inside the valve in its closed position. This meant the water could not be turned back on to the house. The
top photo shows the valve and the pipe section that I cut out after digging the
supply line up. Fixing this requires two
people each using both their hands to glue two unions (red arrows) in at the
same time. Since there is only one of
me, I had to call in a plumber for help.
Fortunately, they came out the next day and by that evening we had water
to the house again. The bottom photo
shows the new valve and the unions. Once
the water was back on, I checked for leaks and found none which is always
good. My guess is this will be the most
expensive item of the bath remodeling.
Next Up – Concrete, Drywall, Electrical & Starting
Tiling
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