Day 26 9/17/2011

Today was a great day for plumbing.  The rain decided to show itself and so it was good to be inside.  I admit that I spent a lot of the time standing and thinking versus actually installing the plumbing today.  Just like my electrical work, I am not a plumber either.  I used pex plumbing with gator grip fittings on this project for several reasons and cost was not one of them.  It is very easy to use and required the purchase of very few tools.  The pex is suppose to perform very well in sub freezing conditions even though I plan to winterize most of the system during the winter.  The gator grip fittings are nice and easy to use and require no copper or soldering.  The are made of a lot of brass and I am sure that is why they are so expensive.

I am trying to make this system easy to winterize so I made the point of enter (outside spicket with a shut off valve) the lowest point of the system.  The cold water coming in slopes up toward the kitchen  where the water heater will also sit and the upward to the shower and toilet as well.

I went ahead and installed the under-the-counter valves for the sink and toilet so that I could seal the system and check for leaks.  There were no leaks on any of the gator grip fittings, but I did have to tight one of the under-the-counter valves for the sink.

Because the shower is not perfectly square, I was able to bend the pex around the back corner.  I am sure that is normal.

The toilet valve will pop out from the side of the toilet and underneath the tank. 

Before I actually put the shower into place, I did have to wrap up a few loose ends.  The Bathroom fan needed to be finished and the vent had to exit out the side wall and then the insulation needed to be installed.  Once the shower is in place, you won't be able to get back behind it.  Also wanted to make sure the pipes were well covered. 

And the last thing to do before putting the shower in place is drill for the shower valve and handle assembly.  I think I measured atleast 3 times as I didn't want to mess it up.

I still need to fishing the plumbing drain system, but the shower is installed in place and I did drill a large hole underneath for working on the drain.  Now that the shower is installed, I can built the pocket door and finish the remainder of the wall.  The only two remaining electrical switched (bathroom light and ceiling exhaust fan) are on the wall.   Unfortunately it will have to wait as I have a really busy work schedule this next week.

On my next post, I will try to get some better interior pics as the layout will start to show itself.  I worked a solid 8 today.  Of course the two trips to lowes didn't help with that.  (181 total hours worked to date.)