Pulp Bath Reno 2

Pulp Bath Reno 2

Best made plans. Yup, that would sum up last weekends Bath Reno improvement progress! The plan was simple, get drain connected for shower in Bath Reno 1 (from underneath in Bath Reno 2), then continue on with mortar, tile and grout for that shower base in Reno 1. New custom curtain rod has arrived, so finish that tile work, mount the curtain rod/curtain, install a couple towels rods/TP holder and we are done with that one. Probably more than one weekend’s work, but doable in two. Best made plans, right? Well………

Needed a couple PVC plumbing fittings, so off to Lowe’s, fittings picked up and ready to get busy. Needed a certain tool so ran down to the cellar work shop to grab it and then…..an unexplained puddle of water on the floor! Mind you, this is New England and old houses like this one are no strangers to getting rain seepage in the cellars (they like to call it sump pump season), however, this was certainly not in a place that normally sees water, nor had it rained heavily of late so WTH (what the hay)? Further investigation discovered a slightly wet floor board right next to a hot water feed pipe going through floor (turned out to be the feed to the one rest room we are not going to renovate on the 2nd floor). This particular feed also had a shut off valve just prior to it heading up so I closed it. Instantly water started dripping out of the surrounding floor board wood hole for pipe, what could it be? Opened the valve back up and just like that, water drip slowed down then ceased. The plot thickens!

Now, as it turns out, we’ve been doing some other work in the house and that hot water feed through the floor was pretty much exposed in a first floor closet. There was not a drop of water from above, around or in that exposed area of the in-wall piping (large vent in there as well). Again, what could it be? The only thing I could think of was that the hot water feed must have a pin-hole leak in it, and that leak must be spitting out sideways, creating the surrounding area dripping that was isolated to below the first floor. Logical, right? So, replaced a section of that pipe and things started to dry up, nailed it!

Not so much. Next morning, went down to cellar and guess what? More water, problem not resolved. Time to run all of the fixtures in that 2nd floor restroom and see if that makes it drip again. And it did! I started isolating each one (shower, toilet and two sinks) but now, could not reproduce the drip. WTH! The only next step was to check the new refrigerator and it’s water dispenser (which is above the same area but we had not seen anything leaking out of the fridge cubby area so had pretty much ruled that out). Turned on water dispenser and I instantly heard dripping. Pulled the fridge out and guess what? Water, on floor, however, instead of leaking out, this water was managing to go straight back to where the floor meets the wall and instantly seep right on down to the cellar. Pulled fridge out more, got behind it and had the water dispenser turned on…..water blast right to my face (looks to be a broken clamp off the little mini water dispenser pump). Anyway, a new fridge and still under warranty, made the call and service coming soon.

Now the funny thing. As it turns out, while trouble shooting the drip, every time we tried to isolate it to a particular line/fixture, someone was inadvertently and coincidentally, running the fridge water dispenser. And I mean, every time, which obviously made the isolation thing a bit of a challenge and added some time to getting this resolved. Best made plans indeed!

Last week’s progress pics adjacent and below, plus some pre-Reno 2 bath shots. See you next week!