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The enemy

Plumbing

OHNE rebuilds a second floor bathroom

THE WALL



To get at the plumbing behind the wall, Joe the Plumber had to remove large sections.  Not as large of sections as the floor, but still, pretty large.  He would not have had to do so much demolition, but we got to a point where it was pretty clear that if we ever wanted a third floor bathroom, now was the time.  The alternative was to have Joe the Plumber begin third floor plumbing, taking off from the newly installed second floor pipes, but cap them.  Later, when we had enough money in the piggy bank, Joe the Plumber (most likely by then a grand child of Joe the Plumber) could come back, rip out part of the wall and finish running pipe up to the third floor.  The thought of having to rip out this much wall again was just too much.  We decided to add a third floor bath. 

Meanwhile we were facing yet another huge hole to repair.  Actually two huge holes...one in the wall and the other in our budget. 

Lucky us.  We were able to find "bead" board to match the old wall covering.  I wish now that I had torn out even more of the wall, but when I was in the thick of it, that idea was just too much to handle. 

Behind the bead board was a plaster and lath wall in terrible shape.  Every time I touched it more of the plaster came off. It was time to get that hole covered. 

Careful measurements allowed me to drill holes for both water pipes and waste pipe.  No, I did not do as good a job as it appears in the picture.  Fortunately, Joe the Plumber has these HUGE rings that he used to cover up my goofs.  The cutting and fitting of the bead board was pretty simple.  The biggest headache was at the home center where we had to go through a gigantic stack of wood to find a few straight pieces.  Knots and dings were all over the place.  The match is not exact between the old and new wall, but when painted you can barely see the difference.  

Next came another challenge....covering an even bigger hole where the pipes run up to the third floor


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Last modified: June 14, 2003

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