- Dan Schumacher
A Tribute to Harry Potter

There were three areas where load bearing walls were resting on a concrete footing that needed to be removed or moved. The first was the area or foyer leading to the guest bedrooms and bathroom, the second was the wall separating a guest bedroom from the fitness studio, and the last was the wall that was in the way of creating a closet for guest bedroom number one. The plan was to finish all three areas so I would only have to cut, remove, and grind concrete once.

Now that the work at all three areas is complete it is time do some concrete work. The first step was to cut slits in the footings every four to six inches so I could use the concrete demolition hammer to chip out the material.



Now that the concrete has been cut it is time to chip it out. This process went much quicker than I had imagined. It literally took more time to get out the electric hammer and set it up then it did to finish all three areas.



The next step is to chip and grind the concrete slab smooth so when the time comes I can put down the floor.

As exciting as it is to talk about concrete I think it is time to move on to a much more exciting topic, PEX plumbing. This my first time working with plastic pipes for distributing the hot and cold water. Truth be told, this was the first time I installed any type of plumbing lines. I ran a one inch line from where the water entered the house to a tee fitting in the galvanized pipes in the laundry room. From there I ran hot and cold (red and blue) pipes to the existing bathroom on the first floor.

The goal was to consolidate much of the piping and have it tie into the supply lines in the laundry room so it could be easily disconnected when it is time to take that bathroom out of service. All went well until early in the evening on Thursday. I just could not get the last crimp ring to close properly. It was too late to make a run to Ferguson plumbing supply and the rings from Home Depot weren't working right. The bottom line is that we had no water Thursday night and Friday morning. I was determined to get everything hooked by the time Trish got home Friday evening.

Well, all the lines were hooked by lunch and I am proud to say that when I turned the water back on there were no leaks!
Next week will be back to framing with the goal to complete the two guest bedrooms and bathroom.