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| toilet, awkwardly in a room/ closet by itself, without even a sink...aka the water closet |
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| bathroom, with a suspiciously perfect-looking spot for a toilet, or room to throw a small dinner party |
To this:
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| Still room for a small party if you ask me |
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| so pretty, yet so complicated |
Here is everything that went down in those 2 months.
First things first, we had to find out if creating an upstairs laundry area- which we had wanted to do since we first walked through the place- was financially possible. We were willing to spend a fair amount of money on it since it would not only increase our standard of living while we are in the apartment, but also allow us to rent out the downstairs unit for more now (as it now does not have a shared basement) and rent out the upstairs unit for more when we move out. We deemed it as a good investment in the house, but did not even have a ballpark figure what it would cost. So we had to find a plumber.
We started asking around with family if they had anyone they would recommend, or if anyone had done any major work like this, and we wrote down a few names. We had to get a plumber in to do a few other minor things, so we took that opportunity to get one guy in there to look at the space. He would not even give a ballpark figure without tearing up the floor. Ok, on to the next guy. The next guy we brought in is the plumber for a friend of ours who also owns a few duplexes. He spent at least half an hour going through the house with me- from the attic to the basement- looking at all the pipes and framework to see if it was possible. His conclusion was that it was totally doable, would cost about $5-6000, but would require tearing down the ceilings in the kitchen below to lay all the pipes. Hmmmm.... a little more expensive than we were initially hoping, though not out of the question, but really daunting since it meant messing with the kitchen and probably having to install new cupboards into an area we were trying to get ready ASAP to rent out. This plumber was very helpful and informative, answered all of my questions without making me feel silly, but we still needed to get someone else in to see if that quote was reasonable. The 3rd plumber we brought in, also spent a long time with me going through the house looking at the pipes, answering questions, and his quote came in at $3500-4500 to do everything, and we would not have to tear out the ceilings as his plan included running a new stack straight down from the toilet. Nice- we found a plumber we really liked, a better option, and a cheaper price... but we found out he wasn't licensed in the city we live in. So after a little discussion we ran plumber #3's plan by plumber #2 and finally had our solution.
But before we could get started on any of the actually plumbing work we had to get the city in for an inspection. It was another week before we were cleared with our inspection and then a few days after that before the plumber could start. Finally, however, we were able to get him in and the first thing he did was cut open the wall to see what he was working with.
He tinkered around for awhile, bounced between the basement, first, and second floors. And then started drilling various other holes in the floors and ceilings. Once he had a master plan for where exactly the toilet would sit, and where exactly those pipes would run in the house- he removed the toilet from the closet. Unfortunately we were not able to reuse the toilet as the old one was a little too big- we are still hoping to either craigslist it or donate it, but right now it is just sitting under a tarp in our backyard. From this point I am not entirely sure what the plumber did, besides to describe it as "he laid all the pipes necessary to move the toilet and install a washing machine." Pretty much I came home one day and all the pipes were in place. After a little bit more tinkering to fix the shower (as long as the wall was open), boarding up a window, and then punching a hole in the roof to vent the toilet- the plumbing portion of this project was over.
Next, in comes Eric to take over the project. The first thing Eric did for us was to install the correct size toilet. As we didn't time everything perfectly we ended up having to go maybe 5 days without an upstairs toilet- which meant going out in the cold in the mornings to access the shower and toilet on the main floor. Meanwhile we had a vendor from work, who also happens to be a licensed electrician come in and run the wiring for the upstairs outlet (closets don't normally come with outlets). This took a few hours on 2 occasions, and didn't appear to be too strenuous as the plumber had already done the heavy lifting of cutting out the walls/ floors/ ceilings. When the walls were ready to be closed up Eric got to work on framing the walls, and then putting up the drywall, and then finally mudding. I'm not entirely sure how long that process took- however I can say that that stupid mud took forever to dry- which meant we had to wait longer than expected to sand and paint. Eric finished all the tiling, sanding, and trim work about two weeks ago, and then we did one last push, and within 24 hours we had the whole thing painted (walls, ceiling, and trim), the tiles on the floor replaced, and the washer and dryer stacked and installed.
So there you have it- 60 days to complete the bathroom/ laundry room switch. It took 5 people- the plumber, electrician, handyman Eric, David and me- to complete and approximately $4000 (although the final receipts are still being added). And of course it still isn't done. We still need to paint the entire bathroom, buy a few accessories for the laundry room (shelves, door, etc), and decorate, but it is usable- and that is what's important.
*** I have some more in-process pics I plan on adding to the post, but can't find them. Hopefully they will be up soon!
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