The dryer outlet's circuit breaker isn't installed yet (because I bought the wrong type of circuit breaker; they all look the same but are subtly different, and there are at least three types; mine are Square-D) - but other than that, the washer and dryer hookups are a go!I glued the drain yesterday, then installed the trap for the utility sink this morning, and then the Building Muse took over and I cut and glued the entire plumbing to the washer hookup in one session lasting about four hours, time I really hadn't intended to spend on building today. Also, I had to visit Menard's because I ran out of 3/4" CPVC elbows (just one freaking elbow) - but as I had to return the circuit breaker and get the right one, that means I don't have to go tomorrow to get the dryer finished, so it all evens out in the end.
At 7 PM, after returning from a short hike with the kids and dog, I turned the water back on, and discovered only one leak - and that one not in a glued joint; I'm on a 100% roll on glued joints so far. The leak was in my homemade washer hookup.
I'm really pretty proud of this, even though it looks like a school project. I just bought the shutoff valves, drilled two holes in a bit of 2x4, and screwed the CPVC connectors onto the other side. The only problem was that the stem of the valve was juuust too short to make that final turn on the cold valve, and when I turned the water back on, it leaked copiously. So I scraped off a little wood on the bottom of the 2x4, and tightened the valve one more turn, and it was fine, crisis averted.
The only fly in this ointment is what my pictures haven't shown you yet: for some reason, there is a large hole in the floor around the drain stack, leaving me no easy way to put my washer and dryer there. I'm going to put some plywood there for now, but obviously at some point I'm going to want to fill in that hole and put concrete over it.
And it's not an even hole. It looks like it was dug up for something and never filled.
ReplyDeleteOh! It's not too obvious from the angle of the picture, but yes, it was clearly dug out to get to the drain or something. I only wish I knew why, because if I fill it back in and lay concrete, only to discover an intermittent drain problem two years from now, I'm not going to be too happy.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the plaster on the lower walls is pretty much shot (a lesson in the reasons for tuck pointing) and so I knocked a lot off and filled it into the hole. It was about two feet deep, and now it's about a foot. I should get some fill and gravel and at least level it out, but really it just needs a new layer of concrete. Kind of low on the prio list, though.
As the owner of such a large hole, it probably was left there because they weren't too sure it had been fixed (or discovered that it wasn't fixed) and didn't want to dig/jackhammer out the concrete over and over. If you run the washer a few times and there isn't a leak, it's probably safe to fill in.
ReplyDeleteIt was left there because it had been fixed and the lady owned a total of 363 apartments on this street, with one maintenance man. If the building was no longer falling down, he was done and on to the next job.
ReplyDeleteWe've been living here for a month now, and there's no leak. It's just never been finished. And it's still pretty low on my own list, so we'll just see when it does get finished.