Finally it looks like we are making some progress: this weekend we hung the drywall on the guest room wall, studded in a small closet, installed the door and added moldings…and got the first coat of drywall mudd on the seams.
During the week, Jeff and Lars pulled out all the old plumbing and wires, and removed the smaller wall near the dryer. Two interesting facts came to light: someone had “patched” the copper plumbing with a piece of iron pipe – no wonder the downstairs bathroom water always had that annoying iron taste in it. Every DYI 101 show explains that those two metals should NOT be mixed. They also found a wire above the ceiling which was wrapped around a rafter near the outside wall. Jeff used his electric tester, and it turned out that this wire is connected to the “mystery switch” by the kitchen door. We think that at one time, there was an additional outside light by the far corner of the house, controlled by that switch. We are considering bringing that light back, or else installing a lamppost by the herb garden. Possibilities…
They also chiseled out all the broken tiles on the bathroom floor (using an air hammer, which supposedly worked amazing), and cut out the wood floor, which had been part of the closet. Now the floor is bare, except where we are keeping existing tiles, and the foundation 2×4 has been installed where the new wall will be placed. Coming up for this week: installing the new water lines, which have to run through this new wall into the crawl space and connect to the sink and new bathtub. Hopefully running the electric lines as well, so the wall can be built.