Fixing up the house

Hello everyone,

I’ve been busy again. We had some really heavy rain last week and we are still bailing out from it. Of course some of us didn’t have it bad but there are always those people that get stuck right in the thick of it.

I mean they get hit pretty hard with flooding, or the wind does some sort of nasty damage to their homes or property. I’m not going to grind this on to death because most of us know what I mean.

I have the pleasure of knowing many things about bailing a house out of a water scene. First thing is to get the water out of the house or from under the house and then the task of keeping it out. Water doesn’t give a hoot about what you want with it. If there is a low spot and a leak it’s going right in ruin everything in the way.

So let’s look at what I have done in the past few days. One of my customers has a multi unit apartment building and one of the units got water in it on the basement level. We got so much rain over night that the drain system couldn’t handle the flow and backed up right into this units front room. The carpet was a complete loss and had to be thrown out. The pad as well. (This is a really old building) It turns out there was a six inch floor drain right in the middle of the rooms floor covered up by carpet. They had no idea it was there. The whole rest of the downstairs stayed completely dry.

Now, there are ways to deal with this. The best way is to put a vinyl floor down and an area rug over it that will fill most of the room. That way if there is another heavy rain that causes the floor drain to back up the area rug can be cleaned and dried and returned with little disruption. The other way is to seal the drain and re carpet the room and hope there is never another source of water into the basement because if there is then the drain area will fill up and go nowhere. Then you will end up replacing the carpet yet again and possibly other furniture as well.

Another job had a minor flood under the house and it could have ruined the sale of the house. In this one the best and simplest solution is to install a sump pump in a shallow well at the lowest point under the house and plumb it to the sewer or out to a french drain in the yard. If there is a storm drain system then into that.

The main point is to get the water out of the living area and as fast as possible to avoid mold growth. If you do get mold growth then it is very important to kill it right away while you are drying the place out or it will get away from you. A very good solution is 1 cup bleach to 1 gallon of water and to keep any surface treated for mold wet with the solution for 10 to 15 minutes. You need to take precautions for your health when you clean up mold and there are plenty of web sites that will show you how top clean up mold.

Now I have another job that had water come into their basement from out of the ground due to so much rain in a short time that the ground water table rose up above the level of the basement floor and found a way into the house. So now the job will be to dig down below the floor level and install a sump pump in the path of the water to intercept it in case it happens again.

That’s all for now
Cheers
Glenn

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Now that the toilet has been loosened and you are ready to take it out you need to know that there is a wax ring at the bottom of it that makes the seal to the plumbing and it sticks down under the toilet. This will need to be covered with plastic (like one of those grocery bags) or paper or removed so it wont make a mess if you set it down on the floor. I don’t think you are going to want to clean the wax off the floor.

Maybe you should get some help carrying the toilet out of the house. They are very awkward to carry alone. Now plug the hole in the floor so you don’t have to smell the sewer gases while you take the vanity apart. You can stuff an old rag in the hole or there are plastic plugs you can get from the hardware store that are made just for the floor flange.

If you have an old house that has the lead toilet plumbing you will need to upgrade this. I have gone and purchased a new flange that will slip down into the lead and then sealed it between the flange and the lead with the wax ring and then screwed the new flange to the floor. Use a new wax ring for this. The one that is just wax with no plastic in it. This is a little messy but it makes a seal that will last as long as the plumbing will.

If you can get to the main drain from under the toilet without tearing out your ceiling then it is better to change the lead to ABS and glue it together. You can get rubber grommets that hook the ABS to the cast iron sewer pipe and make a very tight seal.

Now back to the vanity. You should have the water supply lines disconnected now but if not go ahead and remove them. (turn off the valves so you don’t get a shower under the sink. Usually a clockwise rotation to turn them off.)

Remove the drain P-trap. Now it is time to get the top off the vanity. You will have a few different possible ways to get the sink off. If it is a one piece top with molded sink then it will be glued somehow to the vanity so you will need a putty knife to wedge under the top between the vanity and top to get it cut loose. If the screws holding the vanity to the wall can be accessed when the top is in place and you can get them out then the top can just remain on the vanity and the screws removed and the vanity carried away complete.

The other way of getting the sink off is a drop in sink that is simply glued with adhesive caulk to the top. Once again the putty knife comes into play and you wedge it under the sink edge and cut it loose. (Caution here, if you are reusing the sink be careful and gentle when cutting it loose so you don’t chip the edge and make it ugly.)

Now the counter top pulled loose and the screws or nails that hold the vanity to the wall are removed and the vanity carried out.

Now you should be down to the bathtub on a simple bathroom.

You will have already made the decision on whether or not to keep the tub. If you are keeping it then maybe you want to cover it up to protect it. You can purchase a thin plastic tub liner-protector from the Home Depot or Lowes that will work great. They are cheap and worth it.

For a comprehensive guide to bathroom remodeling

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