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How much of a PITA do you think it would have been to install that in-wall lav with access only on one side? I'm considering the same for our master bath remodel to shave a few inches, but it shares a wall with our closet and I really don't want to remove the closet system and cedar T&G.

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With access only from the front, no problem. Lag bolt locations are designed for this. They also make a drain adapter for 2x4 walls.

You would likely need to remove a stud and do a little framing work but that shouldn't be a dealbreaker. The instructions from Toto and their YouTube video spell it all out in simple terms.

Thanks, I've read the install manual but real life sometimes differs from their nice and neat instructions.

Luckily, the wall between the two is either already a 2x6 wall or some sort of offset 2x4 construction. I haven't opened it up to find out, but it's definitely more than 4 1/2" thick.

Things are still sort of moving along at home. Progress isn't as fast as I want it to be but that's what happens when you work 19 days on / 2 days off. This week I've been working mostly on drywall and completing all the plumbing, insulation, electrical work, bathroom venting and HVAC ducting that does on the other side of it. All studs were caulked first in order to try and cut down on sound transmission. Between that and the fact that the walls are insulated it seems to be working out pretty well. Also closing the giant holes in the ceiling made a huge difference in how hot it gets in the area.

At this point the closet has drywall hung, except for the corner to the left of the doorway where some electrical work is still going on. I really hate doing this stuff, if I have the closet sanded and good enough for paint by the weekend it'll be a huge success.

On the design end I think we have the half bath finally figured out. Something similar to this, but with the mirror extending lower since the water valves will not be wall mounted. Also I may go for some kind of white tile or wallpaper on the walls, not sure. Another thing I'm unsure about is how to actually make this sort of vanity. The top is probably 2x4s attached with lag bolts with plywood on top, but I'm not sure how they get the countertop material on the side to attach without falling. A call to the friendly granite/quartz place is probably in order.



I also have a helper. He doesn't do much yet though.

Don't feel so bad on progress. You get more done after work than I get in a full weekend.

Yesterday was the 3 month anniversary of when I gutted my laundry room.

And the skirt in that image is probably just glued on like the top. Same deal with a plywood subtop, glue and clamp and then clean up the miter joint when the glue cures.

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And the skirt in that image is probably just glued on like the top. Same deal with a plywood subtop, glue and clamp and then clean up the miter joint when the glue cures.

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Interesting - I might be able to go ahead and build that part pretty quickly then. Still can't do it before the new bathroom window is added though, and that will have to be installed by a window company. I'd like to run the countertop straight across but haven't checked to see whether that would leave too little space to the left of the toilet. There won't be any shelves like a vanity might have, but I could still use a little extra wood to build a hidden ledge to hide a roll or two of TP.

I'd probably be more enthusiastic about this project if I wasn't closing in on month 7.

Don't complain about month 7; you could be Aggiemike on year 5!

FWIW I came up with a pretty good way around getting a flawless finish on all this drywall in the master closet. Cabinets will now go to the ceiling. That should save a whole lot of time sanding everything and now I can focus on the areas where there won't be cabinets.

It's a lot harder doing drywall in this part of the world. Unlike TX, nobody textures walls so every little flaw shows. I'm still getting better at it - the doorway from the family room that I walled off is done and it looks like nothing was ever there now.

What do you mean when you said you "caulked the studs first"?

Oh, and I think you should check FB. I think I sent you something (I hope it was you...)

~egon

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What do you mean when you said you "caulked the studs first"?

Oh, and I think you should check FB. I think I sent you something (I hope it was you...)

~egon

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I haven't noticed anything on Facebook... my name is common and I'm very hard to find.

I put caulk on the studs before hanging drywall. I wanted to isolate as much sound as possible from the half bath and laundry area to the family room, and the master bedroom from everywhere else. Research led me here. I didn't add the metal channels they mention though since that would have changed the overall thickness of the wall and opened areas wouldn't have matched up with existing ones. However, the wall between the server closet and bedroom is made from two layers of drywall. Interior walls are fully insulated, drywall caulked to the studs and all doors are solid core (seals to come later) and already it's made a huge difference.

Might be able to grab pictures later today... Habitat is picking up a bunch more fixtures that I removed so the place might not be completely embarrassing. Also have a meeting with an appraiser this afternoon about the house with the roofing accident so I can get more info for the sell vs. repair decision. I very much want to fix the place, but am not sure if it makes economic sense.

Did you use one of the Green Glue products or just an acoustical sealant?

I'm planning to experiment some with acoustic isolation when I re-rock the living room (entertainment wall shares a wall with our master bedroom) in preparation for some millwork finishes. Right now I'm planning on some roxul insulation and a layer of 1/4" and 1/2" gyp with green glue betwixt the two.

I cheaped out and went with regular 40 year silicone caulk since what I read suggests that the important property is that the stuff remains flexible and makes an airtight seal over time. I also used a lot of the stuff, not a skinny bead. Either way you won't regret it, between any kind of sealant + insulation it really makes a big difference.

The previous owners had a DLP TV hidey-hole where the server closet and one of the bedroom closets are now, and that's where they used the two layers of drywall. They were sloppy about sealing around wall boxes, it was all sort of half-assed in general. Since I walled that off and moved the TV and speakers to the family room side it only helps since everything that makes a lot of noise is 3' farther away. At this point the doorway being unsealed is the biggest issue.

So I nearly made the place ready for paint by the weekend. I'm not very fast at doing drywall but managed to learn a lot along the way. The biggest thing I picked up on was, get an inside corner drywall knife! You can do them with the regular kind but it'll take a lot longer. Also, wiping down the wall with a damp rag after sanding helps a lot to keep little dry specks from forming and making a mess out of everything. I used a large Pyrex bowl and hand mixer to put together batches of mud without any annoying lumps. The fiberglass mesh tape works a lot better than the regular paper kind and helps you move a lot faster.

The Porter Cable drywall sanding tool is also a huge plus, I'm really glad I bought it.

Tomorrow I start painting. There isn't really any point to painting behind where cabinets will go so this should go quickly. The ceiling of the half bath is also ready for paint so I'll do that too. Next up is the last of the electrical work in the bathroom to run the wire to the switches for the shower fan and heated towel rack, relocate the plumbing for the new vanity and find someone to add a window to the new half bath.

Why can't you put in the 1/2 bath window? You have done everything else!

Two reasons - I'm poor at masonry, and don't tend to trust myself when it comes to exterior waterproofing.

I just learned about the fibatape this go-round as well. Much easier than paper tape, but I still used the reinforced paper for the corners.

And I would still prime the rock where cabinets are going, mainly to seal the paper facing and compound and partially to satisfy my OCD.

The closet and laundry room is done now to the point that all it lacks is Ditra and flooring so I've moved on to other things. Today after the rain quits the drain for this area is going in under the house. No pics because it's basically dark with white PVC pipe down there.

Otherwise the plan is to get more drywall up in the bathroom and work on getting that ready for flooring too. That's the point where things should finally start getting interesting.

8 days later and it's been almost all utility work between then and now. Electrical work in the bathroom is complete and the heated towel bar is up. It's now complete everywhere except for the 1/2 bath. Otherwise it's been just a lot more plumbing. On the supply side it's complete except for the quick run up to the bathtub. Everything supply and drain had to be cut out and redone at the master bathroom vanity area since none of it was done right the first time which was about 2 evenings of work by itself.

The only work with drains left to do is tie in the shower area, master bathroom toilet and finish the run from the half bath sink. When they built the addition an alarming amount of the drain pipe wasn't even glued together. About what you'd expect for a plumber that vented directly into the crawlspace I guess.

On the design side we finally have stone picked out for the walls, still need to work on the floor though. It's looking like vein cut marble won out here and I'll probably install a quality porcelain instead of the real thing since we're going with 12x24 tiles. I really hate cutting marble lengthwise in pieces 18" or larger, it's just too fragile for that (or at least the 3/8" thick stuff I had was). The layout for the half bath vanity is also complete. I ended up using this high resolution picture and measuring things out on the laptop screen given a known dimension for the knobs and sink. Things can be a little hard when you don't have a template and have to figure it all out on your own, but now I have a cardboard layout that Mrs. Fife knows to absolutely not throw away until the project is done.

The picture came from here. She has a great site but needs to update it more often.



The goal this evening is to wrap up the supply side, cross my fingers and leak test it today and to finish the vanity drain work so I can leak test the W/D and all three sink drains. This will allow a lot more drywall to go back in.

Water is back on but not without a little fun. I always do this kind of thing with a helper just in case something unexpected happens. The lines going to the addition both have large 1/4 turn shutoffs installed. I slowly turn on the cold line and get a rush of water, but no sound of anything flowing. Mrs. Fife confirms that there are no geysers anywhere, so I move on to the hot.

With that one I hear all kinds of noises and on the phone Mrs. Fife alerts me to the fact that there's a lot of water coming from the vanity area. I come back from below the house to check things out and... yep. I forgot to put a crimp ring where the pipe connects to the copper stubout. Back under the house to have another go at it and I hear more flowing on the hot side but she can't see anything, so that means the leak is down with me somewhere. The spray marks point me back towards the source and on this one I put a ring on it, but forgot to crimp the connection. Turn the water back on and this time I hear nothing so it's time to leak test the washing machine drain.

I ended up running out of normal PVC cement while putting the drain and vent stack together and switched to PVC/ABS all purpose stuff for a little while that must have been getting a little old because there's a weep just before the trap that needs to be taken care of. Hopefully a bunch of regular PVC cement will stop it and that's the only one. This is why I don't like to insulate and put up drywall until things are proven not to leak.

Otherwise I'm back to my normal thing, closing areas up one by one with drywall. The plywood tub deck and rough for its hardware are next up.

This week started out pretty nonproductive but managed to turn around pretty well. Since the project has been so large and there have been 6 ares in work I've started writing on the wall behind where the hamper is going things that need to get done the next day and then mark them off one by one as they happen in order to stay focused on what matters the most.

Yesterday the drains behind the vanity were tested and passed, and I was able to stop the weeping in the washing machine drain. Insulation is back in and the areas are ready for drywall. 1/2 bath cube-shaped LED lights are ordered, bathtub surround drywall is in and the big piece of plywood for the tub deck is in. It only needs a little trim on one side. This area is really starting to take shape now.



I spent a long time aligning the bathtub, body sprays, lights in the ceiling and rain head but I think it paid off. The shadows and everything all look like they should.

Are you doing this during the day or taking time off work or what? And how is the little one dealing with air compressors?

Or are you totally "Ron Swansoning" it and just putting him in a swing next to you while you work (and mom gets a break)? Cuz if that's true, I'm jelly.

~egon

Looking great.

I see you've put in a Kerdi niche. I assume you plan on using the membrane everywhere else for your waterproofing? Are you making your own pan?

Looking good, Fife!

It used to be electrical work that bothered me, but now it's plumbing that scares me just because I'm always afraid there's going to be some little pinhole leak that develops behind the finished product. I left my laundry room walls open for about a month while using those lines just to make sure I hadn't screwed up my pex and sweat connections.

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Are you doing this during the day or taking time off work or what? And how is the little one dealing with air compressors?

Or are you totally "Ron Swansoning" it and just putting him in a swing next to you while you work (and mom gets a break)? Cuz if that's true, I'm jelly.

~egon

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After work I get about an hour long break, then get to work until it's time to take a shower and go to sleep. I'm at work at 5:30 and normally leave around 2 FWIW so I get started somewhere around 3:30 normally.

Ron Swansoning it, but he's mostly active before mid-afternoon. Yesterday while I was doing everything except for cutting the plywood for the tub deck he was asleep in his crib in our bedroom. Mom was hanging out watching stuff on Netflix, eating dinner and playing on Facebook. I cut the plywood outdoors around 8:15 and by then he was awake again and eating. He doesn't care about the compressor unless he's nearby when it starts, but it's getting ready to go back out to the garage after I frame the opening for the new 1/2 bath window and put the last of the trim in. The pop-pop of the framing and trim nailers are more of a problem but I just shut doors between him and me and he's ok.

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Looking great.

I see you've put in a Kerdi niche. I assume you plan on using the membrane everywhere else for your waterproofing? Are you making your own pan?

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Yes, I have *almost* enough. Need to order another roll but I'll use the rest in another bathroom anyway.

I'm making my own pan, since I'm doing a linear drain it shouldn't be complicated. For the price of their flooring I can go through a whole lot of deck mud if I screw up.

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Looking good, Fife!

It used to be electrical work that bothered me, but now it's plumbing that scares me just because I'm always afraid there's going to be some little pinhole leak that develops behind the finished product. I left my laundry room walls open for about a month while using those lines just to make sure I hadn't screwed up my pex and sweat connections.

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FWIW I've found that if it's going to leak on the supply side it'll show up immediately and be obvious, even if I didn't do something stupid like forget to crimp a connection or install a shutoff valve and leave it in the open position before turning the water back on. It'll still probably be open for a while since I don't have enough drywall and the truck needs radiator work before I can drive it anywhere.

I'm not a big fan of most of the plumbing for this project because it's stuff underneath the house and that means lots of trips back and forth to whatever corner of the crawlspace I'm working in. It's mostly clean down there, just a lot of crawling over and under pipes since a bunch of them are near the entrance. It gets old fast.

Great work as always Fife! It's nice to see modern taste on here! Good on you!

You may have already found out, but Amazon sells the membrane for about 25% less than HD/Lowes.

I love the look of the linear drain. I'd like to go that route on my remodel but I'm just using the existing drain given it's in a slab. I did bit the bullet on the Kerdi pan, but will need to extend it with dry pack mortar about 6" given that my drain isn't centered.

I didn't mention it earlier but one of the reasons for post whoring it up is so the project will actually keep moving forward. I'm massively sick of working on it but this isn't the sort of thing you stop in the middle of so there's no choice but to keep at it. So far the list of things to do written on the wall (hamper will cover it up) seems to be helping.

This weekend was spent mostly with the ugly design decisions that go into things - mainly choosing specific flooring, tile, wall coverings, what will be used where, and also where to buy it from. Including time spent getting accurate measurements for all surfaces minus door and window openings, that was 16 hours of work yesterday alone. There's also been the trouble of the vanity layout in the half bath, which is roughly 4 x 6 feet. I want the vanity to run the length of the room but that doesn't leave enough space for the person on the toilet, so I'll probably have it jog over around the middle to have a narrower width (I don't want to just have it end). Another option would have it not be parallel with the wall but that might look odd.

This is the overall color scheme we're going for, minus the giant windows to the shower that the neighbors would love.


Here's what the winners will probably be...

Floors, all areas:
Daltile Concrete porcelain field tile in steel structure (20 x 20)


All walls in master bathroom
White oak marble, silver cream (honed, 12x24)


W/C and Half bath walls (excluding colored mosaic approx. 24" wide from countertop to ceiling in 1/2 bath, color TBD)


Wallpaper for the master bedroom is also arriving soon so after work I'll probably get started priming the walls so we're ready to go once it gets here. That will let me completely close out the bedroom with no small details left to do since that's holding up the last of the baseboards.

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my guess is that the little one was hearing compressors and nail guns and saws so much while he was in the womb, he probably is already used to it

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The flooring nailer would make him jump (he was about 7.5 months along at that point) according to Mrs. Fife. She couldn't hang out in the same room as me. Those things are loud enough for me to want to wear earplugs anyway.

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I didn't mention it earlier but one of the reasons for post whoring it up is so the project will actually keep moving forward. I'm massively sick of working on it but this isn't the sort of thing you stop in the middle of so there's no choice but to keep at it. So far the list of things to do written on the wall (hamper will cover it up) seems to be helping.

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Why...cause that's not what Aggiemike96 would say?

Looks great