First, Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends, and Happy Columbus Day to my friends in the US.
Before I get into our newest find in the bathroom plumbing saga, I will share some cuteness.
This is what the view out our bathroom window typically is, not that the platform has been set up for the winter.
The cats are just smashed together up there!
I think that’s Shop Towel with his head handing over the edge of the cat bed, being used as a bed by several kittens. He may be aggressive with the adults at times, but he’s good with the babies!
Nosy, I see, is cuddled up with him. Now that Nosy has been neutered, it does seem like he’s no longer involved in any aggressiveness that we still see at times.
Anyhow.
Today’s main job was to see if we could get a panel cut into the wall in my husband’s room, to access the plumbing for the tub and shower. After gathering what tools we thought we might need, my daughter flashed a light into the holes for the bathtub taps, to try and see where the wall joints were.
Turns out, they were pretty much right at the pipes.
Then she went to the other side of the wall, while I used the drill with an auger bit and made a couple of holes above the taps, trying to be close to the joists, but not too close, through to the other side of the wall. The first pair of holes was made using one of the narrowest auger bits. Once those were through and I got the go ahead from my daughter on the other side, I did them again, using a larger bit.
Then my daughter cut an opening in the paneling.
We hoped to be able to use the jig saw, but that would have hit the pipes. She ended up doing the first cut across the top, using the saw on her multi tool. It was the only saw small enough. After that, aside from having to start the first inch or so with the multi tool, she was able to use the pull saw.
My brother thought there might be aspenite behind the paneling, but there was no. It was just open joists. At one point, as my daughter was saying away, the panel was flexing so much, it made things almost impossible. I ended up reaching under her with a broom handle to hold it against the paneling to hold it, so she could finally finish the cut.
She wasn’t able to cut all of one side, though. She was a couple of inches short when she hit something. She pulled back the cut piece as much as she could to see, and thought there was a nail or something, in the joist. In the end, she cut everywhere else, then just snapped the panel off.
Finally, we could access the plumbing!
In the end, there was nothing we could do.
My daughter tried to take off the piece for the taps, but it just would not happen. It turned out it was soldered. I ended up taking pictures and sending them to my brother.
We took out the faucet set we have and discovered another problem.
It threads completely differently.
Here, you can see both old and new.
On the right, for the hot water, you can see that wood was gouged out of the joist to make room for the plumbing. There is also a strange pair of right angle beds in the hot water pipe below.
We don’t know why the cold water side is black.
In the middle, however, you can see the problem.
The old fixture is threaded internally.
The new fixture is threaded externally.
In the end, we put everything away, then taped the section of panel that was cut off back over the hole for now.
After a while, my brother was able to look at the photos I sent him, and we ended up talking on the phone.
It turns out that, 40 years ago, it was standard practice to solder plumbing together with lead. The only way we’re going to get that out is to cut it.
After talking about it some more, and getting a look at that bend in the hot water pipe, my brother suggested that we replace the copper pipe with Pex, including the pipe to the shower. We can then get Shark Bite parts and adapters to install the new fixture. The set we have includes a shower head, but we won’t be using that, since we currently have the accessible hand held shower (it has an extra long hose, and a shut off valve under the handle of the shower head).
I don’t know that I want to mess with the pipe for the shower, if I can avoid that. I have no idea how it’s attached at the top, and I don’t want to cut another hole in the paneling to see!
So that was it for today.
Tomorrow, I’ll be going to the hardware store. There’s a guy there that has been most helpful. I can show him the photos and talk to him about what we need. My older daughter says she can cover the cost, though at this point, we have no idea what those would be.
We did get a few other things done today, though it was nowhere near as productive as I would have liked. I have so much I need to do outside, and I’m just not getting to it!
My daughter and I got the last of the winter squash moved from the garage to the root cellar; we’re supposed to reach -3C/27F tonight, and I figured it was time. We did leave the big Crespo squash upstairs, though. It has the most damage to the shell, so we will see about using that as soon as we can. I definitely want to save seeds from this one, so we can grow them again next year.
The tomato paste I was making in the slow cooker out of just San Marzano tomatoes was finally done last night and left to cool until today. I like using the slow cooker for this, but it does take longer. I probably should have cooked it down more, but we were going to need the slow cooker. There was enough somewhat saucy paste to fill two 750ml jars. We’ll just keep those in the fridge to use as needed. We like to just add a spoonful of paste into various things, almost as a seasoning.
I did taste test it and, to be honest, I don’t find the flavour any better or worse than any other tomato sauce or paste we’ve made. I’ll have to get my daughters to try it. I’m not a good judge of such things! 😄
Our Thanksgiving turkey got deboned, and there is now a stock being made from the bones in the slow cooker. It’s as plain as plain can be. Just the bones and water. Not even salt, so that we can use it for the cats as well as for ourselves. We can add seasonings for ourselves, later.
The last of the vegetables that were under the turkey went into a pot, along with the leftover squash, some of the leftover turkey and some of the freshly jarred tomato paste to make a large soup. Between the soup and the rest of the turkey, we won’t need to take anything out of the freezer for a while!
We’re still having to heat water to wash ourselves and anything else, including the dishes. I have found that, if we leave the hot water alone long enough, we do actually get some almost hot water. It takes a long time for one element to heat up a 40 gallon tank.
Another job for tomorrow. Take the elements out of the previous tanks to see if any of them can be used to replace the burnt out one in our current tank. I took a quick look at one of the tanks while I was done there earlier today. The bottom panel is already open and I could see scale built up around the element on the outside.
There’s a reason we go through hot water tanks so quickly!
I’ll have to grab some tools and have at the old tanks. Aside from opening the panels and removing the elements to see how they are, I want to take out the anode rods. At the top of the tank is just a flat cap. There’s nothing to grip. I can’t see how it’s supposed to be removed without digging under it and scratching up the surface of the tank. Of course, nothing I find online is the same as what we’ve got. It’s probably a simple thing, but with how absolutely everything seems to be breaking at once right now… well, let’s just say I’m glad we’ve got a couple of old tanks to practice on!
Our new powered rod isn’t supposed to arrive until Oct. 22, so we have time for that. It’s the element that I really hope we can get replaced.
Meanwhile, the girls are going to be taking on scrubbing the area around the tub as much as they can before treating with with an anti-mold and mildew disinfectant again. Then, once that’s dry, all the exposed area will get painted with the mold and mildew resistant primer. Once that’s dry, we can look into getting the new tub surround ready to install. The most important part being, cutting the holes for the plumbing in the right places.
The tub itself is going to need a whole lot of CLR, too.
It’s going to be downright strange when all this is done, having a tub and surround that isn’t water stained with rust.
I just want to be able to have a real shower again, with water that wasn’t heated in a kettle, first!
Ah, well. Little by little, it’ll get done!
Very little, by very little, with this particular job!
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 