New House Blog: Episode XXXXVII - Ant-Induced Piping

Welcome back to our second action-packed Episode of the year, though it's going to be hard to match the sheer excitement, drama, terror, and action of Episode XXXXVI.  You may recall that in the previous Episode I mentioned that, "The tub ant war led to a new repair project that will be described in a future Episode..."  That future is now.  We will be discussing the ant-induced replacement of the  shower valve, shower handle, shower head, tub spout, and all related piping and plumbing in the downstairs bathroom.  I say it was ant-induced because the only way we could be sure we had truly defeated the bathroom ants was to open up the wall and have a look-see, and we figured that while we had the wall open we might as well install the replacement shower valve we had purchased some months ago before we knew how big a project it could be to replace a shower valve.  The shower valve kit also included the replacement shower head, shower handle, and tub spout.  But before we get into the main project, let's have a look-see at a brief 'hood update.

'Hood Update

One new feature of our 'hood is what seems to be a stray dog running around at random.  He has no collar, and he looks like an overgrown chihuahua.  So far he seems to be scared of me, and I am not aware of his doing any harm.

Do you remember our friendly BigCrow who sells auto insurance?  He's still out on the street corner every day, but lately he's been sporting a new sign and hat.  It seems that his insurance company also does tax returns.  Here are some recent photos of the Big Crow.

 Here's the front view.

And the back view.
















Ant-Induced Piping

We began this project by cutting open the wall in my office, which is on the other side of the wall from the downstairs bathroom.  We could not cut into the wall from the bathroom side because the tub/shower is a one-piece fiberglass insert, and we don't know how to repair/replace fiberglass inserts, but we've become quite comfortable with repairing drywall.  Sadly, cutting into the wall also meant cutting into the unique painting in my office.

 This is how the wall looked before the project began.

This is how the wall looked after cutting into it.  Note the handy plastic sheeting that has been set up.

On first inspection it appeared that all of the ants were dead.  Indeed, we did not see any live ants at all, and during the entire project we only saw one lonely live ant crawling down a water pipe.  It was quickly dispatched.

We noticed right away a lack of shutoff valves, but that did not surprise us.  We also noticed that the hot and cold water pipes that service the downstairs shower are the same pipes that service the upstairs shower.

Here is a picture of the old crusty shower valve and associated piping.

The first order of business, of course, was to install some shutoff valves, as we had done upstairs.  To do this we had to shut off the water, cut the old hot and cold water pipes, install new lengths of pipe and install the shutoff valves.  This went fairly smoothly, except for the cutting of the old pipes; the hot water pipe was right up against the stud, and this made it quite tricky (and time-consuming) to get my pipe cutter (even the compact pipe cutter) enough clearance to cut through the pipe.

Here is what our new shutoff valves look like with their PEX connectors installed.  Please note that the valves are in the off position.

The next step was to reconnect the hot and cold water pipes so that we could use the upstairs shower.  After installing some pipe couplers and PEX connectors to the upper pipes we installed the PEX.  As I mentioned in this Episode, PEX is wonderful stuff.  For this project we chose to use the red and blue PEX because Home Depot had it in stock in convenient 5' lengths.  As usual, one of our other house residents wanted to help us out with this project.

Looks good so far.

That's some good-looking PEX.

What's down there?

With water flow restored to the upstairs shower, despite Satchmo's "help," we moved on to the next part of the project - removing the old shower valve and shower and tub spout pipes.  These all came out fairly easily.  Here is a closer look at our PEX with the old shower valve and pipes removed.  Please note the pesky bit of romex that was often in the way.  Please also note that the foamy-looking stuff in the big hole is dried spray foam.  We used this as a temporary measure to seal up the hole and keep the ants out during the tub ant war.  The foam was removed prior to installing the new shower valve.  Please also also note that the shutoff valves are in the on position.

Next came the installation of the new shower and tub spout pipes, and the new shower valve.  As with the removal of the old, the installation of the new went fairly smoothly.  Here is a look at the shiny new shower pipe (and shiny new pipe clamp thingys).

Here we can see the new shower valve completely connected and leak-free.  On to the drywall repair.
















There's not much to say about the drywall repair.  We've done it before, we've talked about it in past Episodes, so we're going to let the pictures do most of the talking.  The access panel you see in the pictures below was originally purchased for use upstairs, but it did not fit upstairs so we held onto it with the hope that we could use it for a future project.

Drywall

This is the drywall nailed and bracketed in place.  Please note that we were able to reuse one piece of the original drywall.  Can you guess which piece that is?

Drywall + Tape

Drywall + Tape + Joint Compound

After the second coat of joint compound, and the second sanding, we installed the access panel.  It is a large metal door in a metal frame, and it is securely screwed into the wall studs.

A closeup of the access pane.

This is my office wall after repainting.  Yes, I painted over the access panel.  If you compare this picture to the first picture of my office in this episode you may notice some subtle differences in the paint pattern.

And this concludes the ant-induced piping project, but it leads to the start of another project.







Somewhat-Related Electrical Project

After completing the ant-induced plumbing project it seemed like a good idea to replace the electrical outlet that is in the same part of the wall, and which sits just below the brand new access panel.  We've replaced numerous outlets already, so I won't bore you with details.  It went smoothly, and I've included some pictures.

This is the new outlet going in.  The red wire indicates that this outlet is connected to the light switch in my office.  The use of the flashlight to illuminate the scene indicates that my work light's bulb burned out and we have no spare bulbs for it.

This is the new outlet, installed and faceplated.


















Bonus Pictures

Here are some bonus pictures of the new shower head, shower handle, and tub spout in the downstairs bathroom.  They are properly caulked, unlike the old setup.

Please note that the discoloration in the tub is due to us using this tub to wash out our paint brushes and rollers when we were painting the house.














2013 is off to a great start, and we look forward to whatever new adventures await us in our New House in the new year.

Keep those cards and letters
       bIsh