The Plumbing Phase

I knew from the beginning that the plumbing work would be the most difficult.  That is why I had been reluctant to reconfigure the layout of the bathroom as Paul had advocated, even though that would be the best solution since it would provide me with a large shower rather than the tiny modular shower that I had been using for over 40  years.  I relented at the last moment when I found Brad, who would take care of the tile work, and felt confident that Paul would find the time to lead the way on the rest of the work.

Paul with wet saw cutting concrete

Night Work

Toilet drain to main sewer pipe at right

On Monday 31 August I purchased a Roca "The Gap" rimless toilet from Reece Plumbing in Midland.  "Rimless" as a new design where the flush water enters from the back and flows along open ridges near the top of the bowl, overflowing the ridges and down the sides. This is considered to be much more hygienic that the standard design with its impossible to see and difficult to clean area under the rim. I chose Roca because it is of standard height.  The toilet was made in Spain and is a very well known brand in Europe.  The cost was $788.

In Tuesday I went back to Midland in search of a bathroom vanity and found everything I needed at The Sink Warehouse, 2 doors from Reece plumbing.  Fortunately a 20% off sale had been extended by a week, which saved me over $250.  There I purchased the vanity taps, and the shower plumbing for $1,334.  Two days later I went back for the mixer, which cost another $100.

We were now ready for the plumbing and Paul arrived at 9AM on Saturday morning and we finished for the day at 7PM working under lights.  We lifted a section of bricks from the path leading up to the house and started digging to open up the area from what had been the shower drain to the plastic sewer line.  We then planned the plumbing and spent time at Bunnings selecting plastic pieces for the drainage and copper for the water supply.  Paul the used a wet saw to cut  out a section of the concrete floor to accommodate the new position of the toilet (where the shower had been) and we did managed to complete most of the plumbing for the toilet and a new floor drain next to the toilet.  One of the problems had been how to cut into the 100 mm plastic sewer line and fit the new toilet drain pipe.  We found a plastic fitting that snaps over the sewer pipe.  Paul did his measurements, marked the sewer line, then drilled using a hole cutter that we had purchased for the purpose.  We then glued the surfaces and snapped the new piece into position.

New toilet connection at right, new floor drain at left

Paul braising copper

Then yesterday, Sunday, Paul was back on site at 8 AM for what we expected to be a couple of hours of work.  Our aim was to complete enough of the plumbing so that I would be able to fill the large gaps in the bathroom floor that contained the new plumbing with concrete and fill with soil the open areas between the house and the sewer line.  I did a run to Bunnings and returned with more plumbing fittings and 6 bags of concrete mix.  At mid afternoon Paul concluded that we had to remove the old toilet in order to convert its sewer line to a drain pipe for the new shower.  This was sooner than I had expected but it had to be done.  We wound up digging a channel under the wall to the rubber boot joining the original clay pipe to the plastic section that had been set up when the house septic system had been totally redesigned during my circumnavigation.  We had tried to remove the old toilet intact so that I could possible use it with a loose connection to the sewer line but it was asking too much and we cracked the base. So now I would have no toilet for several days.  I would rely on visits to the community hall at the top of the road, visits to the shopping center, or a shovel in the back yard if it came to that.  Again we finished working under lights but were satisfied that instead of trying to use the old sewer line for the shower drain we had completely the section of clay pipe under the house (containing a large mat of vegetation roots) and removed any mysteries of what was down there. 

This is 6 AM Monday and Paul will return at 8 AM for another session of work. He'll bring some heavy cabling so that I can set up two more power points on the wall.  I've got plenty of lighter cable to enable me to move the light switch to the other side of the door.  Unfortunately I will not be able to do any serious work until I return from an 11 AM dental appointment.

It hasn't been easy.  I've gotten used to bucket bathing and saving in the laundry.  Now that I set up the old shower as a barrier between me and the school I can bathe and rinse in privacy during daylight if I have to.  But the bathroom floor has a lot of sticky clay from the digging and keeping  the floors of the main house clean is a problem.  Now there is the toilet problem. 

This is the nadir of the project but on the bright side Paul is here, leading the way with his considerable building skills and mercifully we have not had any serious rain during this phase of the work.