Framing

Progress continues. Spent some time at lunch and then after work getting the stud wall up along the brick wall. Came together pretty nicely. The only tricky part was figuring out how to frame the window, but after thinking about it for a little bit, we figured it out. Since we're adding 3.5 inches of thickness to that wall(room for electrical stuff), I had to figure out how I was going to add that thickness to the finished window. Basically, I've rough framed around it, and I'll come back later, after the drywall is in, and cover the inside surfaces with either finished stock or cabinet plywood.

The wall went up pretty quickly. It's now ready for the tub and drywall. After that, we turned our attention to the sink wall. It's a little tricky, because the drain waste vent stack is hidden in that wall. After the initial demolition, I discovered that they had originally attached 2x6 beams to the actual load-bearing stud walls, to push the wall out enough to clear the huge cast iron DWV pipe. This 6" wall is also where they'd framed around what I assume used to be a medicine cabinet. The 2x6's were in pretty bad shape so we spent the remainder of the night ripping that 2x6 wall out. This part took a little while, mainly due to how the 2x6s were attached to the roof. Was just a big pain to get them out without destroying the ceiling and the load-bearing studs to which they're attached. Got them out eventually. Then we just spent a little time cleaning up the mess.











I'll be doing basically the same thing, adding new 2x6s to the existing studs along the sink wall to clean the DWV pipe. This wall will also be framed to accept the mirror/cabinet that will be going in, and also a support surface for the pedestal sink. I'll probably start this tomorrow, and hopefully it shouldn't take very long. I just have one minor thing to deal with. The original 2x6s are actually 6 inches wide, whereas modern 2x6s are really only 5.5 inches wide. Unfortunately, they really did need all 6 inches to completely clear the largest "knuckle"(joint) in the DWV. I discovered that when I install my new 2x6s, and drywall on top of them, the drywall is not going to completely clear this joint. Luckily it's only interfering by about 1/8". We figured out a few options...1) Shim all the 2x6s along that wall to bring the drywall out just enough to clear it, 2) File down the fat part of the joint that's interfering, or 3) when installing the drywall, just carve out that back side of the drywall to create an unseen recess that will accomodate the pipe. I like #3 the best. If it doesn't work, it still won't be too late to try one of the other options. We'll see how it goes. Here's some detail of what i'm trying to describe. The topmost joint in the pic is the one interfering. It's about 1/8" wider than the edge of the 2x6s that will be nailed, on edge, to the 2x4s on either side of the pipe.



Oh, forgot to mention the other day. I decided, since I'm going to be doing a whole lot of nailing in confined spaces, that I'd break down and buy a framing nailer. They're rediculously expensive, but time is becoming a factor and I think that combined with the extra precision is worth it in the long run. It's not something I'll need a whole lot after the job, tho, so I probably won't be keeping it. And, unfortunately, I'm not "that guy" who buys a tool from HD, uses it for the weekend, and then returns it. I'd thought about renting one, but they're pretty pricey, and I'm not really going to be able to set everything up so I'll just need it for 1 or 2 days. I think I'll be needing it for a while, so renting just isn't an option. What I'll likely do is just use it for the job and then sell it when I'm finished, knocking some off the price. There should be someone looking for a good deal on one, and I can chalk the money I lose on it as a "rental" fee. I'll still come out much cheaper than if I actually rented it. So if anyone is going to be needing a nice framing nailer in a month or so, just let me know :P. That is, if I can bring myself to really sell it...it's a pretty sweet tool.



Up next: finish frmaing the sink wall. That should take no more than half a day. After that, I'll probably tackle the electricity. I'll probably try and diagram it out before I start so that I know where everything needs to go. I figure that will take me a full day to complete. After that, the tub goes in for rough fitting, which will tell me where the clost wall needs to be built. Then I can frame the closet wall and hang and plumb the tub. Then drywall! Once the dryall goes up, it'll really start to look like a room again. Only thing left after that will be to tile the floor, install the fixtures, and do the trim. We're getting there!