A Tribute to Harry Potter

The area under the stairs will become either Harry Potter's room or a closet for the guest bedroom. The shoring is in place so part of the wall can be demolished.

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.

Doorway to future closet under the stairs. Note the concrete footing that will have to be removed.

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.

Slits cut into the footing separating the fitness studio from the guest bedroom

Portion of the footing in between the hallway and foyer leading to the guest bedrooms and bathroom

Footing that is in the way of the closet under the stairs. Note the amount of dust.

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.

This area is basically done with the only thing remaining is to patch the holes and slits

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.

One inch white supply line in the background. Hot and cold lines running to the bathroom

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.

New hot and cold PEX pipes

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.