Moving the Water Meter
October 7, 2006
The passageway between the two basement rooms is 30 inches wide, and four feet deep. Within that passageway, was our water meter – hanging out of the wall. My wife and I had caught shoulders on this nuisance more times then we can remember, and we were bound to move it. Up until the point that we actually decided to give the meter a new home, we figured that the hassle of calling the city to shut off the water, and then working against the clock to both move the meter, and have it inspected was likely more hassle then it was worth. However, it wasn’t until we just took a good look at the thing that we realised that there was a shut-off before the meter.
While it may seem a little backwards, we needed to install a laundry tub before we could correct any of the plumbing. Our laundry room is one the main floor just off of the kitchen, along with our bathroom and other assorted amenities. All of the plumbing that services these appliances sits in the floor below – the ceiling of the basement room that we are renovating. It dawned on us that we had no way of draining these lines before starting work, which meant that a fair amount of water would come pouring out of the pipes the second we made our first cut. Likewise, up till now I have been using the kitchen sink to clean paint brushes, scour old hardware, clean trowels etc. and that hasn’t the most popular, arrangement. As such, it was only logical that we install a laundry tub in the back room of the basement.
Post demo fun, we decided to first address the heating. The rear portion of the house (summer kitchen bastardization) has always been quite cool. Despite the fact that the walls are alleged to be insulated (new construction), we’ve always had the damnedest time keeping the place warm. We do have a gas fireplace in the sunroom, further to the back of the house (sunroom – an addition not added by us, and perhaps the most monstrously hideous thing you’ve ever seen… I will never likely post photos in shame) which can fit the bill for adding warmth – but again, that bill doesn’t fit us.
Last night we gutted the basement. In a window of three hours my buddy Rudy and I managed to tear our every last scrap of drywall and framing and deposit all 1.5 tons of it in the driveway. What was the secret to our success? Firstly, we both grew up on farms so we know how to work hard. Second, we like breaking things. Third, we didn’t drink till AFTER we were done. Finally, we aren’t precious… We’ve watched a number of acquaintances attempt to reno their homes only to get bogged down trying to save absolutely everything! I do save things, but I’d like to think I’m a little pragmatic about it. I’m not going to try so save sheets of drywall, nor am I going to remove each nail from old 2”x4”s, nor will I attempt to rescue every electrical outlet. If I will be potentially replacing it, or at the very least, touching it – it goes. Naturally, if I encountered original pine floors, radiators, vintage light switches etc. I would do my very best to preserver that which I could. In our case, we were removing a blight someone else had added, so nothing was considered precious.
Tearing out the bulkheads in the front entrance was the great motivator to restore the bathroom, however the budget had never been smaller. One of the promises we had made ourselves when we bought this house was that we wouldn’t drown ourselves in enormous debt during the process of restoring. We had no intention of ‘flipping’ the house (fixing it up only to sell it) so we could wait as long as necessary to start the bathroom project project.
If you review the photos in past posts, you may have noticed that there are no supply-lines or waste pipes roughed-in for the tub, which is because there are none. Having learned a very valuable lesson the last time I installed ceramic (it is quite tricky to install ceramic around ½ inch pipe), we chose to add the plumbing after the fact.
The bathroom sink is a far cry from the ideal. Upon review of our budget, we decided that we would install a ‘good enough for now’ sink in lieu of purchasing what we really would like. Our issue: As the sink sits just inside the doorway, it needs to be quite small, and the local DYI stores don’t carry many miniscule period sinks. Your choices are: enormous and Victorian (also known as tastelessly gaudy) or small and modern.
Armed with the standard compliment of paint tools, we start to paint! We purchased a gallon of basic latex primer and first gave everything a light coat, both the walls and the trim, being sure not to apply too much paint on the woodwork and leave unsightly streaks. While I am a big fan of latex paint, I find it needs extra care in application as it doesn’t smooth itself out as well as oil based paint – the result being streaky brushstrokes.
