This sucks

Over the weekend I tackled another project that I had been putting off.  I needed to connect the plumbing vent for the basement bathroom into the stack vent.  The only place that was possible and code compliant was in the attic.  I debated just running the new vent through the roof but I really didn't feel like cutting holes in our roof in the middle of winter.  Below is a picture of me in the attic attaching the vent into the existing vent. Not pictured is my overwhelming hatred of this task.

On a side note my reventing of the kitchen vent from earlier in the month seems to have gone well since there is no longer a frost build-up in the kitchen area.

On another side note...<sarcasm> thanks for the heads-up <sarcasm>  To all you handy guys viewing this blog, how come no-one noticed I roughed in the shower on the wrong wall.  I put it on the wall opposite of the door which is especially a no-no since we will be just putting a curtain in.  Thankfully PEX is incredibly easy to move and this little mistake will only cost me about an hour.

Slow and steady

The plumbing is all roughed in!  Tonight I finished plumbing in the utility sink and running lines to the wet bar.  I also installed the shower valve and riser.  See pictures below:

FML

This weekend was a bachelor weekend so I figured this would be the perfect time to plumb in the new water supply lines to the basement.  This turned out to be the right decision because this phase turned out to be a giant pain in the a$$.  It required three separate hardware store runs, a couple buckets, a bunch of towels and a big fan.

I planned to supply water to the new bathroom by adding a PEX manifold and running PEX lines to each fixture.  I was going to tap into a main line near the bathroom and add a valve.  This project reminded me of an ancient Chinese proverb "when you want to drive a nail into a piece of wood, don't get fancy, just hit the fucking thing with a hammer"

Here is my first (fancy attempt):

I soldered a tee into the main line and the valve would control the water to the PEX manifold.  It turns out that in a large, clean space and no water in the pipes I am pretty good at making solder joints.  In an awkward location with pipes that don't completely drain I suck at making solder joints.  The large spray of water from the above tee joint after I turned on the water will attest to those previous facts.

Below is my plan B (unfancy) attempt.

I decided to just abandoned the copper lines to the kitchen and add a simple elbow joint to divert water to the PEX manifold.  I would then resupply water to the kitchen through the PEX manifold.  Since all of these connections would be in a supply closet and not hidden behind walls I felt fine going with this less time-tested method.  The weird connection joints are a recent discovery of mine (and turned out to be a major godsend). They are Watts push-on connectors and provide a water-tight connection without soldering.

Here is the final product.  This is the PEX manifold with lines running to the kitchen and basement fixtures:

I loved this stuff.  Once I got going it took only two hours to run supply lines to a kitchen and a bathroom including shutoff valves at each location.

I also added drain lines for the wetbar and moved the utility sink to my shop.  Below is the before and after pictures of the wet bar area.

Speaking of my shop,  I may have made it too small.  See below:

Starting to take shape

It was an incredibly slow week capped off by a very productive Monday.  Last week I accomplished very little of any meaning.  I spent a few hours cleaning up from my Brothers and moving all the materials to the other side of the basement to make room for the bathroom framing.  I also had a multiple hour trip to Menards for various supplies.  When I did get a chance to work it was very minor stuff.

We will be leaving parts of the ceiling open and just painting black so that meant areas like the rim joist needed to be sealed up so the paint would't get sprayed on the insulation.  Below is a picture of that covering:

I also started putting down some subfloor.  I went with a product called Platon which is dimpled plastic that is meant to create a 1/4 inch gap between the floor and concrete.  Laminate flooring can be laid directly on top while carpet or tile only requires a 1/2 plywood on top.  The black cloth below it is landscapers felt to cut down on any clicking that might occur where the concrete is uneven.

Brad came today and together we got the office framed and electrical ran.  We also got 80% of the bathroom framed.

You ask why only 80% of the bathroom?  Well because there was some interesting blocking that needed to be contended with.  See below:

phew!

It has been a while since an update but that doesn't mean nothing has happened.  I have had some help the past week and we have really powered through.  On to the pictures!

Brad helped frame in the soffit along with some other random jobs:

I was able to get the basement bathroom rough in done this weekend.  Here is where I tapped into the house drain:

Heres me doing the best to make it look like I know exactly what I'm doing (spoiler alert)... I don't.

Here is the final plumbing all glued up.  Not exactly elegant but it all goes downhill...and isn't that really the most important part?

How many men does it take to concrete a 2' trench?  Three...not funny, thats just the truth.

Done! 

 Brother 1 hanging insulation:

 Brother 1 and Brother 2 hanging drywall:

Looking good: