Plumbing, Insulation, and Drywall

This will be a catch-up entry. Here we are towards the end of August not yet finished with the house. We’ve committed to sell the trailer the first week of September and so we’re going to move in, ready or not.

(7/21/11: Plumbing supply) Finished plumbing the house. It wasn’t a very big job, but the first challenge was whether to use a manifold or not. I intended to buy a commercial manifold and plumb home runs to each destination. But, after figuring the cost and the space needed, I decided it wasn’t really necessary. I did, however, build a manifold for the main water lines coming in and going out of the house (below). This allowed me to have control of the incoming water, and each of the lines going out, including hydrants to several areas in the yard and out to the water heater.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used 1” pex for all main lines and then went down to 3/4” to the water heater and finally to 1/2” to all in-house lines. You can see the stub for the kitchen, above. I forgot to take pictures after putting in the drains. Oops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Under the house doesn’t look very pretty, but it works. I installed branched lines to the laundry room, bathroom, and kitchen. Pretty simple. The shower was next. I tested all the lines and they held water, except the shower leaked a bit. But, after turning it on and flushing the line, it stopped leaking. We can’t wait to start using a normal-sized shower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(7/30/11: Plumbing drains) We’ve committed to grey water drains and no septic tank. So, I didn’t plumb to a central drain but to three different 1-1/2” lines running out of the house: Shower/bath sink, laundry/utility sink, and kitchen. These will drain into mulch basins (yet to be dug). Right now, I just stubbed them off outside the building line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In grey water drain systems, it’s best to use narrower pipe rather than 3 or 4”, as is standard. This is so any solids will flow more easily and not get stuck in the pipe. It’s also important that all water flows to dirt basins that are covered with mulch and not into daylight. I highly recommend the book “Create an Oasis with Grey Water” by Art Ludwig. We’re doing the simple approach and separating our drains to different destinations, rather than the normal approach of branched drains, required if you have all drains plumbed out through a single pipe, as is normal for septic tanks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above are the two drains leaving the back of the house (from the bathroom and the laundry room). Below is the kitchen drain going out the east side of the house. They key is preserve fall. That’s why I’m coming out above ground from the kitchen. The target area for the mulch basin is a new apple tree which is just a bit up hill from the drain, so I’ll fill in here to cover the drain and change grade to allow enough fall into the mulch basin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also note there is no vent. I’m using AAV’s (automatic air vents) at each P-trap. This eliminates having to run vent pipe up through the roof. At this point, I have no protrusions in the roof because we installed a ridge vent at the top.

(8/15/11: Insulation). I’m disappointed that I didn’t take any pictures of the insulation process. I was going to blow in cellulose, but at the last minute I didn’t think I could pull it off, getting the right density. We’d already installed the web material on the studs in the kitchen. I also miscalculated the cellulose materials it would have taken. So instead of requiring 40 bags at $10 a bag, it would have taken 122 bags. A really big error! At that point, the spray foam option seemed much more appealing and so that’s what we did. At $1.40 a square foot, it wasn’t the cheapest option, but it certainly have me a tight air seal and decent R value (about 3.5 per inch with about 6” of foam, or about R21. Not bad for around here.

The next decision was whether to foam the underside of the roof decking and gables or blow in over the ceiling. Of course, the foam company was trying to sell me on the foam option, but what stopped me was that they spray over the vents, completely covering the ridge vent. Their argument is that you DON”T need ventilation in the attic with spray foam. I couldn’t buy it and there’s just not enough experience with this approach in our area. So, I opted not to do that. Haven’t insulated the attic yet, but will soon and when we do, we’ll blow in cellulose.

Previously, we had sealed up the exterior doors with fiberglass insulation stuffed into the cracks between the door jamb and framing from the outside and then put up 3/4” rough sawn (green) oak, stained, around the doors. Then, we sprayed in some “Great Stuff” window/door foam into the cracks from the interior.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOFFITS: While we were waiting for the insulation to be installed, we started framing the soffits. Here are the “pork chops” on the south and north sides off the house. Still need to finish framing the north end and installing the 3/8” plywood. We’re doing it the old-fashioned way, rather than using aluminum soffit panels. Not only is using plywood with 8x16” vents cut into it cheaper, but it is the only system that provides enough air flow ventilation into the attic when using a closed soffit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, the drywall was hung. I hired a couple of friends to help me and it took us about 2-1/2 days to hang the house. Then, Saturday, I installed the corner beads. I’m going with bull-nose corners for all outside corners except for the tops of the windows, which are typical 90 degree corners.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, until we get the garage done, the living room is now my tool shed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Connie and I then started the first coat of mud in the laundry room. She’s doing the nails and I’m doing the rest. I’m not a professional, by any means, but with the help of a good book: “Drywall. Professional Techniques for Walls & Ceilings” by Myron R. Ferguson, I at least have a chance at getting reasonable results. As you can see, we just started and I haven’t done the corners yet.

That’s it for now. I’ll try and keep more current. We are planning to move out of the trailer within two weeks. The trailer is sold, after all. We’ll focus on getting the north end of the house done first (laundry, bath, and bedroom). If need be, we’ll finish the front half after we move in.