Plumbing to Add A Washer & Dryer

For our apartment conversion project we wanted to add a stacked washer/dryer inside the master bath closet. In addition to making the closet a little deeper, we also needed to do all the plumbing.

I'm not a plumber. With that said, I've done a lot of plumbing. Your system may be quite different, but many parts will be the same. Let's go through the main steps to adding the laundry connections.

1. Install the connection box. This plastic box sells for around $20 and it has the hot/cold valves where you connect the washing machine. The center knock-out is where we'll connect the 2" drain pipe. It's supposed to be installed higher than the washing machine, not less than around 34" high. Mine ended up around 38" off the floor.

2. For our situation, the washer dryer would be adjacent to the shower, so I wanted to make my hot/cold water supply connections there. To save time, I like to use PEX tubing with Shark-Bite fittings. It's super-easy to work with and can be used with both PEX and copper pipes, making the transitions with one fitting.

You can see in the picture where I added a "T" fitting to add a branch water line to the washer/dryer. I was also installing new shower hardware so this was the time to do that as well.

Typically, you'll be joining your supply lines to existing pipes somewhere under the house. You might consider adding some valves when you do this. Valves are always quite handy, especially in older homes where there are none to be found!

PEX is flexible, so I could bend it around and easily make the connections to the underside of the washer/dryer box which required a Shark-Bite fitting from 1/2" PEX to 1/2" pipe thread.

TIP: Take out a Sharpie-type marker and label your PEX "hot" or "cold" with arrows so that you (and others) will know what's going through each pipe. It may be extremely helpful later.

3. The drain may be trickier to install depending on where you have to connect to. If you're unsure, always call a plumber because this isn't something you want to guess about or you'll have a pond to deal with. Thankfully, my connections were just behind the block wall where the washer/dryer were located so I didn't have far to go. Usually, your drain pipe will just go straight down and join with a P-trap that is just under the floor before going on to connect with the system.

Laundry drains are supposed to be 2" PVC to handle the amount of water that will be used. You also have to include a P-Trap in your design to keep the sewer gases out of your home. The picture shows my connections and you can also see my PEX supply lines.

The original drains were all cast iron. These can be a pain to deal with, but it can be done. First, make sure you go get the appropriate saw blade for your reciprocal saw to cut cast iron. With that in hand, you can make clean cuts through the heavy pipe and make your connections using some sort of rubber sleeve. You can see mine in the picture. I actually made two cuts to fit the flexible "T" in place. It was a little messy, but actually went pretty quick.

Well, those are the basics to get you started or maybe show you that it's more than you should try on your own... :)

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Camera Phone is Handy When Wiring

This week I was reinstalling a ceiling fan for a client after repairing some drywall. When I took the fan down I noticed that there were several electrical connections and I didn't want to forget how to hook it up.

Then I remembered that I was armed with a camera phone.

For years, I never really used my phone to take pictures, but lately I've discovered how handy it is to always have a camera around. I took a quick picture of the wires before disconnecting them and stored it in my phone for later. When it was time to remount it I could reference that photo to remember how it was done.

Thankfully, it worked the first time.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Check Out the IKEA Kitchen Designer.

We're adding a kitchen as part of our apartment conversion project. We're not going high-end with the finishes, but I did want a way to visualize how the kitchen would look when we're finished and figure out what size of cabinets we need to buy. The IKEA Home Planner application is great for this.


To use their planning software you have to first download it from their website here. Once you have it on your computer, you can start a new design by inputting the dimensions of the room. Then, you can start filling the room with nearly any of IKEA's kitchen products.

Of course, the drawback is that it will only use items that are sold by IKEA, but I was able to use stock sizes to put together a quick rendering of what our kitchen will look like. After you've selected the items in the 2D "Furnish" view which gives you an overhead look at the room, you can hit "3D View" to see the image of how your kitchen will look.

The photo above is about what it will look like when we're finished. Pretty simple, right? -And, it's all free.

-Peter

BTW- I just noticed that they also have planning software for other rooms, which means all of your free time just disappeared...

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Making an Easy Notch When Framing

The other day when I was framing the wall for a client's back hall (see this post), I used this quick trick to make a notch in the 2x6.

First, if possible, hold your piece in place so you can mark how wide the notch needs to be. Otherwise, you can measure as well.

Don't get out the jig saw to cut the notch out. That takes too long! Go to the chop saw and cut the edge of the board to the right depth. Usually, it doesn't have to be terribly accurate, as long as it fits.

After you've made these cuts, pull out your hammer and whack it! With a couple good hits, the notch should just break off along the grain and you're done. Once you've done it a couple times, you can do it very quickly- way faster than making a notch with a jig saw.

This only works if you are cutting across the grain so that the notch will split off. Also, don't try this with something that has to look pretty. It works with framing because it will be covered. It wouldn't work so well with door casing, for example... :)

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Apartment Conversion Has Begun

Today was the day to begin a new project. We're converting part of our house into a one bedroom apartment. It will be a fun project for me because it includes so many different aspects from framing to tile and I get to work at home where my kids love to swing a hammer once in awhile, too!

After finishing our East Nashville renovation about a year ago, we ended up in a 60's split-level -ranch home in the Gra-Mar area of Inglewood. We loved the acre lot and our kids do too. However, most of the home was stuck in the 60's when we got it. That was fine because it gives me a project to work on and it's different than the old house renovation I had just finished (even though my heart is still in an old house somewhere...).

The downstairs portion of the house is just a little more than 500 square feet and already had the basic layout for an apartment without any drastic changes. The project will mainly involve adding a kitchen in the den against that wall in the above picture and enlarging the bedroom closet to accommodate a washer & dryer combo unit.

We started this morning with demolition. To have enough room for a stove and still have counter space, we decided to remove the stairs leading the upstairs part of the house and make the apartment a completely separate living area. This is fine, because we'll also gain some space upstairs by doing this.

We were careful to take the stairs apart in an orderly fashion and label all the pieces, just in case somebody (like me) wants to put them back down the road. We stacked all the pieces under the remaining stairs to be stored safe and sound. They'll thank me for that, I'm sure.

In the pictures you can see the progress we made today. That big hole in the block wall was where the return duct was for the HVAC system. We'll be moving that to the closet where it won't be in the way of the kitchen cabinets.

The goal is to finish in two weeks, or at least get very close to finished and welcome some lucky person(s) into their brand new apartment!

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Drywall Lift Makes Ceilings a Cinch!

Hanging ceiling drywall used to be a real pain. Even with a helper, it can be difficult to hold the panels in place and fasten them using the ol' noggin or some homemade 2x4 "T-braces". Let me tell you a simpler way. It's called a drywall panel lift.

I forget where I first saw one of these, but several years ago I rented one from Home Depot to do some ceiling drywall and was amazed. It made the job go so much faster- not to mention, easier to accurately position the drywall in the right place. With the old fashioned way, it took a lot of adjustments to get those t-braces in just the right spot.

The panel lift is actually fairly simple to operate. Once you have it assembled just cut your piece and lay it on top. Crank up the stand and position it where you want it. Once it's in place, tighten it a little more and the fasten it with screws.

I can do ceiling drywall by myself now and it goes quickly. All for under $30 for a 4 hour rental, just a little more for 24 hours. That's money well spent when you think of all the headaches that you'll save.

(pun intended- hope you got it... :)

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Hide the Ugly Electrical Panel Part 2

It's taken a few days to mud the drywall, but today I got to finish up the project I started the other day where I was building a wall to hide some ugly electrical panels. After a couple days of intense roof repairs at another project, it was nice to be working with wood and nail guns again!

After sanding and clean up, I started laying baseboard. Old homes like this Inglewood house from the 1920's often just have simple wide boards as a base. The existing ones were 7" tall so I had to buy a 1x8 and rip it to the right width to match.

It was a little tricky to match the old baseboard and make the corners fit right even though the corners weren't all exactly 90 degrees. This is not an unusual issue, especially in older homes. The main thing is that the corner seam is tight with no gap if possible. To make the happen it's usually best to glue the corner with wood glue and nail it together with some brads before actually nailing it to the wall.

To give the homeowners access to the electrical panels I built a couple cabinet doors to cover the large hole. With doors the key is level and square. If your jambs are right, then the doors are much easier to fit. Since I built this wall from scratch I had to consider the doors from the beginning so that the opening that was left after adding door jambs and stops still provided adequate space to get to the electrical panel.

Most of the trim was ripped to 3 1/8" to match the casing around the back door. I know it's not standard, but it matches. (You could say it's custom, I suppose...)

The doors were made from 1/2" higher-grade plywood that I built up with some pieces that I ripped so that the door ended up being around 3/4" thick. I needed them to be this thick so that I'd have a solid place to mount the hinges.

In the end, it all worked together beautifully. I got everything caulked and ready for the homeowners to paint. They were thrilled with the new wall and glad to have a finished back hallway.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Asphalt Roll Roofing for Your Flat Roof

It took all day and several trips to Home Depot, but I finished my flat roof project today. Melinda, from Illinois, asked a question about the best ways to approach a flat roof after I advised against using shingles for this purpose in yesterday's post. The answer is usually based on your budget...

This might be a good time to mention that I'm NOT a roofer. However, I sometimes do roof repairs. I'm hardly an expert on this subject. I found several places online that describe the four main types of flat roofing. The most economical and easy to install is the asphalt roll roofing. Because it was cheap and easy, this was the type of roofing I installed today.

After removing the shingles that had 'doomed this roof to leakiness', I ended up replacing all of the plywood sheathing across the bottom edge. It was all completely rotted and soft. With nearly 4 new sheets of 5/8" sheathing in place, I was ready to clean off the remaining nails and put down 15 lb underlayment. So far, this is the same as a typical shingle roof.

Now, instead of laying shingles, we use asphalt rolled roofing. Each roll covers around 100 square feet, or 1 square (in roofing lingo) and are heavy.

The installation is quite simple. First, I like to unroll a piece and cut it to the right length. Then, I get it in place and nail it along the top edge where the next piece will overlap by around 2-3 inches. The manufacturer suggests that your nails be 9" apart. Once I know it won't move on me, I gently lift up the bottom edge and spread about a 2" line of roofing mastic.

The roofing mastic I was using was Henry's 202. It's actually made for roll roofing so it should do the trick. I spread it with a cheap (disposable) paint brush. Watch out, because this stuff is extra sticky!

That's about it. When you get to the top you want to make sure to get the last roll roofing tucked all the way under the lowest course of shingles. Then nail the shingles like normal to hold the roll roofing there.

They say that this type of roll roofing should last 10 years. Even still, you'll want to keep an eye on any flat roof. They are notorious for good reason.

-Peter

I still say I'm NOT a roofer! :)

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Don't Shingle a Flat Roof

If you have a section of your home that is relatively flat, it needs special care and won't be protected with the usual 3-tab roofing shingles. Today, I was sent to repair a roof with this exact problem.

It is nearly flat and was covered with felt paper and then 2 layers of asphalt shingles. Even through all of these shingles, water was making its way through and beginning to damage the interior.

At this particular house, the shingles had started to form little valleys where water would be trapped. You can see them in the picture below. Instead of running down the roof, water was seeping into the shingles.

The homeowner was hoping to just fix the corner where the leak was happening. I started to peel off layers of shingles in this area and found lots of moisture beneath. The plywood sheathing was completely saturated with water, with the worst areas completely rotted.

After some discussion we decided to go ahead and re-roof the entire flat part which is over an addition of this East Nashville house. Without re-roofing, these problems are likely to continue to plague this section of the house.

Read about the exciting finish to this project here.

Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Hide the Ugly Electrical Panel Part 1

Today I started a job in Inglewood for a couple who have an incredible older Bungalow from the 1920's. It's a style that I love with all the goodies.

They have just renovated their kitchen with all sorts of upgrades, but still had a short hall by the back door that needed some help. This was where the electrical panels were located, but they didn't look very nice and certainly didn't match the rest of the home. My job was to build a wall to cover it all up and install some large doors so the panels can be accessed whenever needed.

I started by framing the ends of the wall and making sure they were level. Thankfully, the new wall was right under a ceiling joist so I secured the top plate to that with no trouble.

With the main wall studs in I went to work making the opening for the doors that I'll install. When finished it will be around 3' wide by 4' tall. I framed the opening with 2x4s making sure it was also level, which will be helpful to make sure the doors fit correctly when I get to that.

Next, I built a soffit for the ductwork that ran up to the second floor and hung the drywall. It was less than 16" wide so I could just place studs on either side and drywall over it.

With the drywall up and the first coat of joint compound finished, it's already 100% better. Just wait until I get those doors on!


-Peter


www.CarpentryGuy.com