Procrastinet

"Towards a 2BR" Part II: Plumb Tuckered

filed under: Demolishments and Renewvations

Previously: Part I

Last week's episode saw the emptying and demolition of our bedroom, in preparation for its being cleft in twain. Now it was time to re-plumb the baseboard heaters, adding one to our side of the room and cutting one out of Max's.

Day 2, Monday: But first, the pile of debris from the closet demolition had to be cleared, so Day 2 was spent breaking and bagging drywall chunks. It's a funny thing about drywall (okay, okay, "Gypsum Wallboard"), because it makes up probably about 90% of the structures we see around us every day, but it's only stable under certain circumstances. Outside of its comfort zone, when not screwed in place and braced every sixteen-inches-on-center, the stuff breaks like an old saltine.

Day 3, Tuesday: I must not have hit my construction stride yet at this point, because I have no recollection of what the frig I supposedly accomplished on Day 3. Sigh.

Day 4, Wednesday: I was on Max Patrol while Mommy studied, so a late start. Got the building super to shut down and drain the heater system and removed the baseboard from one wall by mangling it with a dull hacksaw.

Day 5, Thursday: What should have been a very simple soldering job came over all complex, when it became clear that the pipe that came up from the floor was not in any way perpendicular to the pipe I was trying to attach it to. Copper is not known for its bendiness, so instead of a simple 90 degree elbow I had to build an elaborate crazy straw of multiple elbows to absorb the odd angle.

I should point out at this point that I don't, technically, actually know how to solder copper pipe. I mean, I understand the principle: you clean off the joint with sandpaper, smear it with flux to draw the solder in, put the joint together, heat it with a blowtorch, and poke at it with solder until it melts and fills the joint. But I've done it all of once before.

But the solder was disappearing into the joints with dispatch, so I figured all was well. I had been daunted, but now I was all "this plumbing ain't so damned hard."

Then it came time to connect the old baseboard in Max's room to the new baseboard in our room, through the new closet and wall.

Day 6, Friday: I'll spare the details and get right to the pictures:

More below...

Pretty nice looking, right? When it was all done, after many many hours of sweating and cursing and soldering, I was so proud of myself that I kept coming back in to stare at it instead of going to bed. Copper happens to be really pretty, and the nice parallel lines looked more like art than utility. I damn near snapped my shoulder patting myself on the back.

My pride and joy? Through insufficient planning, I ended up with one joint directly behind a stud, which had to be soldered in place:

I contorted myself, jammed my hands into the one inch gap between brick and stud, wrapped the wooden stud behind it in tin foil so I didn't burn the house down, and by god got the joint hot and the solder melted. I was superman.

C'mon, you can admit it. You're at least a little impressed, right? Right? Right.

YEAH.

DON'T BE.

Tune in to Part III to find out why.

Posted by rjt at July 5, 2005 02:31 PM