Basement Plumbing

Andre the plumber has been hard at work in the basement on the plumbing for the conversion. Dean rented a Jack Hammer and we demoed some trenches in the floor, also digging out the sewer main so Andre could hook up to it in a couple of different places. Wherever the basement plumbing connects to the main, a back flow preventer is needed to keep the sewage out of the basement in case of a flood. We added 2 floor drains, one on the laundry room where the water heater is located and a second near the outside door where the other water heater is located. This should prevent any major catastrophe in the plumbing department. For the future expansion into the attic for a new master bath the waste pipe and the vent was run up the existing chimney. Previously the chimney was removed in the attic to accommodate this.

Additionally, Dean and I managed to remove an existing floor joist in the stairwell to accommodate the head room requirement code. In this process we managed to cut the cable TV to the first floor. Luckily a replacement fitting was located and we were back to the Olympics in no time.

Hidden Treasure

While installing new outlets in various locations around the house I made a discovery. The location is behind Lora's desk in the living room. I cut the hole for a new electrical outlet, went into the basement and fed the wires up through the floor. After feeling around in the new outlet hole for a minute I realized I was touching finished wood. Not the inside of a wall cavity studs that give you splinters. This was some type of trim or something but definitely not the inside of a wall. After Lora's 12 second inspection we determined a larger hole was in order, to be patched later. Was it a false wall constructed during the duplex conversion? Maybe the fireplace was located here. Then the finished panel in the wall moved a little when it was touched. It is was a hidden pocket door abandoned long ago. But why? Could we get it operational again? So I proceeded to remove the trim that would be blocking the operation of the pocket door around the door frame. The door pulled out a little bit. Not too far though because something was blocking it from pulling all the way out. I did manage it out a foot or so. Careful inspection of the hardware revealed the small amount of use this door received before it's untimely cocoon in the wall. The most remarkable part is the key to the door was left in it for future use. But why would you eliminate this door simply to hang a standard swinging door in it's place? The electrician in this house made a poor choice and drilled two holes through the door and ran 2 wires through the door to a switch. This made the door inoperable and therefore I assume the electrician provided a swinging door in it's place. This must have happened 100 years ago. We will be removing the door, hardware and track and using this great find in the future upstairs in the master bath. The door will remain in it's current location until I can remove it safely and reattach the wiring.