Bathroom Remodel

[JCM 8,658]

Been putting this project off since 2009. My significant other decided to take a vacation far away for 7 days. This was her Birthday present when she returned home.I figured with the amount of dust etc it was an ideal time to get the hard part out of the way. For now using the 2nd floor bath. Decided to go with a walk in multi-piece fiberglass shower with seat and remove the 1980 Kohler 1 piece tub and shower unit. Still some work to go till the finish line.

[Pullstart 59,749]

All that copper work, your plumber must be expensive!  

[Bill D 1,606]

Beautiful work and no pro press fittings in sight.

[ebinmaine 63,216]

7 hours ago, Pullstart said:

All that copper work, your plumber must be expensive!  

 

He is. But he does great work. 

[ebinmaine 63,216]

Looks great so far Jim! 

 

Nice idea on the "setting" tub. 

[Pullstart 59,749]

1 hour ago, ebinmaine said:

Looks great so far Jim! 

 

Nice idea on the "setting" tub. 

That is a pretty standard procedure I believe.  Our tub is a 6’ garden jacuzzi and I required a 1” mortar bed, if I recall.  

[953 nut 51,789]

That should be a great welcome home gift for your wife.        

The standard rule was that you NEEDED a tub/shower in every bathroom, but as we get older we become wiser. You look at all the ads on TV for replacement units like you are doing and realize how much easier life can be without a tub.

[Tractorhead 8,611]

27 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

, but as we get older we become wiser. 

 

I be not sure about that statement.. 🤪😎😇

 

To all other i agree..👍

[lynnmor 6,796]

11 hours ago, Pullstart said:

All that copper work, your plumber must be expensive!  

I did my whole house in copper, I think it lasted about a week and a half with my acidic water.  Never Again!

[Pullstart 59,749]

14 minutes ago, lynnmor said:

I did my whole house in copper, I think it lasted about a week and a half with my acidic water.  Never Again!

That sounds more like a stray voltage, loose neutral, something crazy going on.  Did you have your water tested?  If it’s truly water bourne issues we’re talking about, I’d be doing some water treatment..,

[Handy Don 10,639]

Do you still have enough access to frame in attachment points for safety bars?

[JoeM 7,651]

29 minutes ago, lynnmor said:

I think it lasted about a week and a half with my acidic water.  Never Again!

yep a lot of folks here doing the same thing. Pex or plastic conversion.

 

[ri702bill 7,346]

19 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

Do you still have enough access to frame in attachment points for safety bars?

A valid point. Our walk-in tub came with two short stainless ones in the tub, we had the installer add two larger ones up on the wall..... love to read the Sunday newspaper in the tub with the water jets on.... that was 2016.

 

Back in 1985, I remodeled our only bathroom, ditched the old worn cast iron tub in favor of a 2 piece "Remodeler" like yours. I insulated the back and side walls AND the backside of the tub and enclosure - took a lot of that "oil canning" movement out....

[WHX?? 46,814]

1 hour ago, lynnmor said:

I did my whole house in copper, I think it lasted about a week and a half with my acidic water.  Never Again!

Well plastic wasn't my answer either. Wasn't a Plunger around that could figure out what is going on. Even odder is when I cut it out for a water heater replace no corrosion on the inside.

[JCM 8,658]

This unit does not require a mortar bed. Note in the instructions said no ''wet-set required to support the floor under an Oasis product due to the encapsulated Balsa wood construction. I still felt safer with a mortar bed as I have always done with Fiberglass units.   @Pullstart  This is also the first time I have installed this brand.

[JCM 8,658]

I have 2,  18'' stainless steel grab bars that will go on at the finish , one on each end screwed into the framing as you enter.  Thanks for your concern. @Handy Don

[JCM 8,658]

1 hour ago, JoeM said:

yep a lot of folks here doing the same thing. Pex or plastic conversion.

 

I have always given the customer a pex or type L copper choice. I prefer copper and never had any issues with it since the 70's. You just really can't give a professional looking job with pex IMHO. Pictures of some copper work. Thanks  @JoeM

[Handy Don 10,639]

1 hour ago, JCM said:

some copper work

Where the water chemistry permits, you have sufficient access for routing, and there is little risk of freezing, copper does rule.

As you know, Jim, there are plenty of situations where poly is the better way.

[squonk 38,967]

We had problems with 1 building on campus. The copper hot water recirc lines would corrode. No issues in any other building.

 

And if your water treatment guy says his Chlorine Dioxide machine won't harm your copper hot water lines, don't believe him!  Lines turned paper thin! 

Edited March 18 by squonk

[ri702bill 7,346]

Circulator City!! Done right, with a self cleaning ball valve above and below each unit - makes changeout a breeze. Gate valves are terrible for that application..... 

[Tractorhead 8,611]

Whow, i wonder if your water is really so high „saturated“ with clorides that it destroy‘s copperpipes?

 

Here also in the early 80‘s copper was non Standart and we had a extreme Calcareous water.

extreme old buildings - when i‘m a trainee - we built just with zinc galvanized steelpipes with withworth 

Thread we must cut by Hands.

the next step in the beginning 90 was Copper and i built the whole installation at my parents house as my Journeyman piece.

 

When my mother sold the house after my dad passes, it was all original and intact, just little calc in it after 25 years.

I never used plastic pipes i have no trust on them except in drainwater pipes.

 

Edit:

btw pretty nice Copperinstallation.👍

end Edit:

 

 

 

Edited March 18 by Tractorhead

[cleat 4,987]

1 hour ago, squonk said:

We had problems with 1 building on campus. The copper hot water recirc lines would corrode. No issues in any other building.

 

And if your water treatment guy says his Chlorine Dioxide machine won't harm your copper hot water lines, don't believe him!  Lines turned paper thin! 

 

When I worked at Dupont the 316 Stainless steel pipes even 3 or 4 inch schedule 80 would sometimes leak due to stress chloride cracking.

That was just water lines to the columns etc.

Chlorine is nasty stuff.

 

Edited March 18 by cleat

[JoeM 7,651]

From well water to substandard city water we have it all.

Just as an example. My sons city water, he is 10 miles from me on another system, is under a boil requirement about 75% of the time. 

Among other problems, some water is so hard the calcium clogs the copper pipes, more so then plastic. You can have the fanciest copper pipes in the world but it the water wont flow through them they just look good. 

Just a poor area of the state. It all comes down to money.

Oh they say...... we are going to pour money into infrastructure. They buy electric buses for the city and the rural folks drink $h*t!

 I'm done.

[lynnmor 6,796]

8 hours ago, Pullstart said:

That sounds more like a stray voltage, loose neutral, something crazy going on.  Did you have your water tested?  If it’s truly water bourne issues we’re talking about, I’d be doing some water treatment..,

I did have the water tested and it is good except for the low pH.  A good answer is an acid neutralizer combined with a water softener (a neutralizer makes water harder), I chose to not have all that maintenance and choose my plumbing carefully.  One example is to replace the brass faucet washer screw in outdoor hydrants with stainless steel.  Just so you know, all houses near me have the same issue with copper and brass plumbing, it ain't an electrical problem.  I laughed when the gubbermint installed low income housing and specified copper.  One of those houses was allowed to have a wet basement for years and should be condemned for extreme mold. One member here spoke of copper pipes clogging, not an issue here, the hole keeps getting larger.

[JCM 8,658]

One main reason copper tubing fails is after it is cut with a tubing cutter it needs to be reamed / deburr before sanding and applying flux, If not corrosion and pins holes may occur from turbulence..Also excess flux on the tube and fitting should be wiped clean after soldering.Type M tubing is more likely to corrode .  Most codes now require type L.