And Now The Hard Work Begins...Advice Requested.

Okay sooo, got the permits to start the work....cept I just seriously threw my back out and I'm not doing any kind of anything for a while....Actually I've got a full plate of 'computer stuff' to do right now so I'll be busy but still, I wanna get this work started!!!

Except I'm not entirely sure how exactly to go about doing the work.

Here's what we have to do for the bottom floor.

I've got to turn this illegal set-up

Sorry about the lack of detail on this existing drawing, doesn't show the existing electrical or kitchens.

Into this legal set-up.

But what does that mean exactly?
Windows:
I don't have to change out any of the windows, thank god.


Bathrooms:

The bathrooms are staying put as-is. Except that I will have to convince the inspector that they were installed correctly. This is probably going to entail cutting into the walls in various places so he can have a look around...I also have to redo the fan-light switch wiring because the fan and light has to be able to be switched separately. I am also adding an on the wall vanity light to both baths.

Electrical:
I'm going to have to add AFCI protected outlets to all the rooms as they only have one per now. Should I cut in new boxes and fish wire or just remove drywall?

Switched over head lights need to be added in most of the rooms and  hallways.

I need to add powered smoke and CO detectors to the ceilings as shown.

I'm moving the location of the units electrical panel to a different wall and probably adding several circuits to it.

Framing:
I'll need to add and remove some non-load bearing walls. Biggest thing I'm going to do is remove the wall in the kitchen to open it up to the family room to have a single 'great room'.

The PO also installed bamboo floor in the one bedroom apartment that I will have to pull up as its buckled, ugly and installed incorrectly.

Plumbing:
God, where to start.
The baths and kitchens are all plumbed already and I'm not anticipating having to do anything with the DWV stuff (lord I hope so as its all in concrete...).
But the water supply piping? Somehow, the hot water to these two basement kitchens and bathrooms is piped to the one, single lone water heater in the 3rd floor attic!!! I believe all the plumbing is in the ceiling of the basement. I wonder if I'm going to have to remove most of the drywall on the ceiling just to figure out the water supply piping?

I will have to run new gas lines to the new mechanical room for the new furnace and tankless water heater that will be servicing the unit.

I will install a tankless water heater in the mechanical room also.


HVAC:

Right now there is a single furnace that is ducted to heat this basement unit and the main floor of the house above. I'm going to have to untangle the ducts and separate the ducts for the two different units with two different furnaces. I've also got to fix the heating for the bottom unit which means adding registers and returns in many places..work I've never really done before.

So that's two new correctly sized furnaces and a tankless water heater all installed in the mechanical room. All of them are of the condensing type and all of them will be vented horizontally with PVC pipe through the North wall of the house. I'll also have to figure out what to do with the condensate.

Kitchens:
I'm going to have to 'un-build' these two kitchens

and then re-install the cabinets in the new single bigger kitchen.

Whats the best way to un-build a kitchen? Can I save the granite countertops to re-use them?
I'm going to have to add a ton of outlets to the new kitchen for the counter top, the frig, the dishwasher, range, MW, hood...at what point does it just make more sense to completely remove the drywall and start from a clean plate?

I Need A Plan:
I think I need to decide just how much drywall needs to be demo'd. All the drywall? Just the ceilings? The ceilings and the kitchen?? Would love some advice on that. Seems like all the ceilings are going to have to come down..between running new heating ducts in the ceiling, gas piping, the water piping, the smoke and CO detectors...

Here's my vague sketch of a plan.
Unbuild the kitchens myself. So they don't get F'd up.
Pay somone to come in and remove all the drywall that needs it and clean up after themselves.
Then I come in and do the expensive stuff to hire out. The wiring, plumbing.
Then pay someone else to drywall the place.
I hang the kitchen cabinets.
Then I paint and finish the floors. There is brand new carpet on the south side of the apartment. I would live to save it and keep it as is...does that make any sense? Can it be reasonably protected from the destruction-construction process?

How does that sound? Not sure about how much of a budget I'm going to have to hire any of this out after I pay for the materials...
Help!

And this is just the bottom unit work, still have the two units to deal with on the second floor!

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Bathroom Remodel Update

We Got Inspected...Twice!!!
Well, the first inspection was what I would call a preliminary inspection. I asked an inspector over so he could okay the no pressure treated wood walls and the waterproofing system I had already purchased to use for the shower stall. He was okay with both..such nice and friendly-helpful Alameda building inspectors...(obvious sucking up).

One thing he did have a problem with, was that he thought the drain lines for the shower were not sloped sufficiently...this scared me as if they were not sloped enough I would have to re-slope them and the level of the pipes above the floor would only increase.

After the inspector left I tested the slope of the pipes. Using my laser level I shot a level horizontal line above the pipe and then measured from this line to the top of the pipe. Turns out the pipes are exactly correct with a slope of 1/4" per foot. Hurray!!! What I figured out is that the floor in the area of the shower drain line is not level! So, when looking at the drain line it appears to not be sloped correctly. I'll have to pour out a self leveling compound before I build the shower base.... Hurray more work for me caused by shoddy pros...

Here is the new model for the bathroom. After reading a good book about wiring a house I decided that I was cheaping out on wiring the bathroom. I've decided to put a wall sconce over the toilet and a combo fan-light over the shower. I also added two 20amp GFCI outlets near the vanity, each on their own circuit. That way, two teenage girls can be blow drying their hair at the same time and not blow a circuit.
This model also shows the steps needed to get into the shower and the vanity moved to the correct wall. I forgot to run the wires from the switch to the lights...

Here's how it looks transferred to the floor. We went with 12" deep steps to get into the shower as we thought any shallower would be uncomfortable to stand on. The top step will be at the same level as the shower floor so you only have to step over a 4" curb to get into the shower.
You can see that things are a bit tight. There is only 24" of clearance between the vanity and the shower step. The toilet has 40" total of clearance so while not feeling spacious it should not feel cramped. There is 38" between the steps and the door which opens outward.
You can also see that we should be able to get at least a 2' wide shower door in there.

I cut out the bottom plate in the doorway and you can just barely see the ghosting of moisture that was trapped under the membrane. I put these walls up pretty recently after the slab was poured so I'm hoping that that was why there is some moisture there. That plate was there for almost three years so I'm hoping this amount of moisture is negligible...this is sorta crucial to the whole, 'fix up the bottom floor as nice living space' thing.

The bottom of the cut out plate. No mold, and it didn't feel damp. Hopefully this is a good sign.

Here is a closeup of the side view of the plate. Looks like the water proof membrane is doing its job. I don't have a moisture meter but it sure didn't look or feel wet. Ya, I know, not exactly scientific.

One of the things that we were concerned with in one of the previous posts about the bath was, how high could we raise the vanity and not have it be 'weird'. We started off at 40" and I LOVED it. Bending over to wash my face in the sink was a soooooo much easier on my back. Unfortunately, it was too high for probably anybody else not 6' and above....We compromised and are going to set it at 38" which is shown here.
At 38" we can still get the water lines in from the back.

This is the combo fan-light unit we decided to go with. This thing should suck greatly and be super quiet. The cover can be painted to match the ceiling and hopefully it will be pretty invisible as it doesn't exactly look 'vintage'.
One thing they don't tell you about this crazy thing is, if you want to have the light, fan and separate night light on their own switches you need to run 14-4 to it.....which doesn't exist..so I had to run another 14-2 line to it.
I plan to wire the fan so that the fan runs when either the vanity lights are on or the fan light is on but not when only the night light is on. I think that I have figured that out...

We Got Our Electrical Rough Inspection

And passed with flying colors!! Hurray. My first inspection ever for electrical work and I didn't apparently F anything up! Or, at least the kindly-helpful-wise city of Alameda inspector didn't see anything glaringly bad...

Exciting shot of the switch box ready for inspection.

Vanity light box..

And fan.

The inspector was concerned here about the wiring hanging out but I thought you HAD to do that so they could take a look at your connections. That metal plate screws to the top of the fan and covers the wires after you cram them back inside.

That's it for now, have to hurry and get the water supply piping in and roughed...

Bath Project Problems....part 2 Vanity

Bonfire of the Vanities

Looking at how exactly I am going to install the bath vanity and have run into a couple of problems.

Here's the fabulous vanity we got from the Home Decorators Collection.

Notice the fancy sides and top edges. This thing can not be placed flush against a wall on its short sides.

And here is problem numero uno.. This is the stub-out for the sink drain...its only 4.5" from the wall....not sure how I managed to F this one up so much....because of the position of the stub-out the drain lines for the vanity can not come in through the openings in the back of the vanity. The only thing I can think off here is to cut a hole in the lower corner and bring the drain line in that way. I'll probably also have to shorten the drawers on that side as they look to slide all the way back to damn near the back of the cabinet.

Here's a shot of the back of the vanity showing the access holes for the drain and water supply lines.

Which brings me to issue #2. How to get the water supply lines in. If I have the vanity as shown in the previous post they would have to come in from the side which will be visible from the front.

One thought is, is that if I raise the vanity up enough I might be able to bring the lines down the wall and have them enter the cutout just above the sole plate of the wall. For this to work I need to raise the vanity up ~4".... I'm not sure what's the best way to do this.

Here's a shot of the legs that came with the vanity. They measure ~7.5". Could it be just as easy as buying some legs that are 4" taller? With the stock legs the vanity top is at 36" which I feel is a bit low for me and for elderly folks. I think 40" feels a lot better and with the taller legs it'll be easier to clean under it?

Vanity Questions:
1. What to do about getting the drain line into the cabinet when the stub out is unfortunately placed.
2. What's the best way to raise the vanity cabinet up ~4" so I can get the water lines into it easier?

Any useful advice would be greatly appreciated.

Bath Project Getting Started-Gots Problems....part 1 Shower

Yes it's been a looong while since we've posted on the house blog and boy do I have a back-up of posts....we've got Halloween posts, several knifecatching posts....lots of posts...if I can find the time. Right now I've got exactly a month before the permit runs out on this bath project and I'm going to attempt to get as much done as possible.
Bottom Floor Bath Project
needs help....cause we gots problems...of course.

I've spent a TON of money in the last couple of days ordering everything I think we'll need to get this project finished. I truly had no idea that shower plumbing stuff could be so expensive! It blows me away that you have to buy the fracking valves separately!!! Same thing with the dang vanity faucet!

Here is the plan view of what we are trying to do with the bottom floor bath.

Here's a total side view of everything. You can even see the ceiling mounted rain shower head and the ceiling fan and light.

Ignore the placement of the vanity in this shot it should be rotated 90deg and placed against the wall we're looking through here.

Of course before I can even start thinking about construction I've got to basically clean and organize the entire bottom floor of the house putting away all the seasonal stuff and fully recovering space from the Halloween crush...oh and I have to plug a tire on our truck too....isn't this what every remodeler has to do before starting work?

Ta-da one clean bathroom space!
Now, lets get to the problems....

I've decided to use the Kerdi system and have purchased the Kerdi Shower kit with the 32"by60" pan.
This should have everything I need to waterproof the shower floor and walls.

Problem #1...this is the drain pipe for the shower...notice how it is higher than the floor? Because of where our sewer main is, this is as low as this line can be and still drain properly....

The top of this line is ~5" above the floor! What in the heck can I do about this?
So far my only idea is to build some forms and pour some additional concrete in this area to raise the floor level up and cover this pipe. Then I could set the Kerdi shower base on this raised flat-level platform and continue as normal? I don't want the step into the shower to be any higher than required...anybody have any idea how little concrete above the pipe I can get away with?

Shower Questions
1. The rain shower will project down from the ceiling about 1' leaving it ~8' off the floor. How high up should the waterproofing-tile go and how high up should the glass enclosure go?

2. What to do about the drain line being 5" above the slab in shower area?
-Does it make sense to pour a base-footing for the shower to cover the pipe? If so should I use regular concrete? or what? Dry pack mortar?? The Kerdi shower curbs sit on the outside of the pan so I would need to size this base to be big enough for the curbs also?

3. Placing the drain- I'm pretty sure that the existing location of the drain stub-out is off by 6"...I'm worried about adjusting this as it looks like from reading the kerdi instructions that you have to have this placed EXACTLY in the right spot?

4. On the walls of the shower I would like to use plywood so that I can screw in anywhere for the grab rails and not have to worry about it. Whats the recommended thickness of plywood for this application? Can I adhere the kerdi straight to the plywood or would I have to screw in cement board to this? I'm kinda worried about the thickness of this wall 3/4" ply + 1/2" backer board + 1/2" tile...maybe I don't need to worry about it?

That's part one any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated. I want to pour the pad before the weekend if possible...

Bottom Floor Bath Project Illustrated

So I've been learning my new to me house designing program and tried to do up our bottom bath in appropriate style. I got pretty much everything spot on except for the dang glass enclosure for the shower...can not for the life of me figure out how to do that.....

Here's a plan view of the bath with fixtures and electrical symbols.

Crazy overhead rendered view....lots of tile happening in this bathroom! The counter top on the vanity is not tiled but I couldn't figure out how to make it a solid surface.

Here's a shot of the vanity end of the room. Not sure if we are going to do crown molding on this floor but I threw it in just for kicks.

Here's a total side view of everything. You can even see the ceiling mounted rain shower head and the ceiling fan and light. I like how the toilet paper holder is suspended in air in this shot.

That's it for now. I'm still figuring out the plumbing widgets that I need to order to redo all the plumbing in the house with PEX.

Didn't get a lot of helpful advice on how to remove the clapboard siding but I'm working on figuring out a way that won't kill me.