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Sep. 30th, 2006 09:21 pmI am very proud of myself today.
I'm working on a back room of my mother-in-law's house. It used to be part of a garage, then it was divided into a room and a hallway. The last few weeks, I tore down the hallway wall, framed out a bedroom (or den) and a full bath, and raised the floor in the bath so I have room for the plumbing and sewer lines.
That was all pretty straightforward construction stuff -- it's actually surprising how fast framing comes together.
But, the proud moment is something else. The nearest hot water line is in the kitchen, which is quite a ways away from this corner of the house. I ran copper from what will be the shower, to what will be the vanity, through the back wall, up along the roof-line, down the side of the house, through the kitchen wall, up under the sink and tied it in by the dishwasher line. To anyone who has ever sweat copper, that is a long, long run, with a lot of twisty turns. I finished tonight, turned on the hot water -- and there were no leaks in my soldering. All those joins, all that copper, and leak free, baby :)
I'm an amateur plumber at best. I will win no awards for my clean joins. There are lumps of dripping solder down the pipes, the copper is discolored too much from my blowtorch, and where a plumber would have used a couple feet of solder for the whole task, I used most of a small spool. But, the pressure is good, and there are no leaks, so I am a happy guy!
There is a cold water line right through the corner of the room, so cold won't be nearly as bad. I ran most of that copper tonight while waiting (in vain! I say, in vain!) for the hot water joins to spontaneously dissolve after the water was turned back on.
Most work days, I spend about 10 hours straight sitting in front of a computer. Some weekends, it's close to the same. Construction is therapy to me. Nothing like swinging a hammer or wrestling copper -- physical activity mixed with equal parts engineering and planning -- to brush the cobwebs off the soul.
I'm working on a back room of my mother-in-law's house. It used to be part of a garage, then it was divided into a room and a hallway. The last few weeks, I tore down the hallway wall, framed out a bedroom (or den) and a full bath, and raised the floor in the bath so I have room for the plumbing and sewer lines.
That was all pretty straightforward construction stuff -- it's actually surprising how fast framing comes together.
But, the proud moment is something else. The nearest hot water line is in the kitchen, which is quite a ways away from this corner of the house. I ran copper from what will be the shower, to what will be the vanity, through the back wall, up along the roof-line, down the side of the house, through the kitchen wall, up under the sink and tied it in by the dishwasher line. To anyone who has ever sweat copper, that is a long, long run, with a lot of twisty turns. I finished tonight, turned on the hot water -- and there were no leaks in my soldering. All those joins, all that copper, and leak free, baby :)
I'm an amateur plumber at best. I will win no awards for my clean joins. There are lumps of dripping solder down the pipes, the copper is discolored too much from my blowtorch, and where a plumber would have used a couple feet of solder for the whole task, I used most of a small spool. But, the pressure is good, and there are no leaks, so I am a happy guy!
There is a cold water line right through the corner of the room, so cold won't be nearly as bad. I ran most of that copper tonight while waiting (in vain! I say, in vain!) for the hot water joins to spontaneously dissolve after the water was turned back on.
Most work days, I spend about 10 hours straight sitting in front of a computer. Some weekends, it's close to the same. Construction is therapy to me. Nothing like swinging a hammer or wrestling copper -- physical activity mixed with equal parts engineering and planning -- to brush the cobwebs off the soul.
