The secret to a perfect bathroom
What's the secret to a perfect bathroom? Perfect plumbing, with no leaks and plenty of hot water.
A simple bathroom makeover can sometimes turn into an accidental full-scale remodelling, as my partner Mike and I found out the hard way some years ago.
When we first entered the contracting business, the two of us worked for a few different real estate agencies. Our job was to give houses on the market a quick makeover to help them sell faster. This usually involved minor things such as planning the occasional sticking door, or brushing on a badly needed coat of paint. One day we were sent to a house with what purported to be a simple problem: a clogged bathtub. The house had been vacant for some time, and was in awful condition all around. Whoever bought the house would inevitably be redoing the bathroom, the real estate agent thought, so there was no need trying to fix it all. Our job was just the tub.
Pumbling through our arsenal of plumbing tools, which amounted to a plumber's snake and a few wrenches we tried to rout out the drain to clear it. No dice and the water continued to sit there. Heading down into the basement, we found what is called a drum catch on the main drainpipe coming from the tub. This is sort of like a mini-grease trap you would find by the kitchen sink, only for the tub. Normally the process of cleaning out one of these things goes like this: You hold your breath, pull it open, clear it of any debris, close it back up, breathe a sigh of relief, and you're in business once again. Working with the wrench, I tried to pry the drum catch open, with no luck. I puffed up my chest and tried again and, finally, with one giant grunt, I went at it with all my might. This time, I succeeded in opening it up, all right, not the drum catch, that is, but the entire aged pipe. It literally busted open, and half a century's worth of gook and gray debris came spraying and slopping down on top of us. "Nice work," said Mike, ever the master of understatement.
As if this weren't bad enough, it turns out that we had literally opened Pandora's plumbing box. The problem was that the water pipes were made of galvanized iron pipe, common in older homes, which deteriorate over time. We touched one fitting to try to fix the leak we had created, and that one started to leak, too. Then we went back 3 feet to the next fitting to try that, only to have that one spring a leak, as well. On and on it went, until we felt like Mo and Curly from The Three Stooges. Within an hour it became clear that there was no way to fix what we had started, since every single pipe we touched, from the water supply pipes to the drainpipes, began to disintegrate. We had to replace everything, and over the course of a few days the house had brand-new plumbing in the basement. Eventually the real estate agent stopped by to see how things were coming with the tub, and wanted to know if we would be interested in doing a straightforward renovation of the bathroom. Since half the job was finished because we had already installed new plumbing, we eagerly agreed. Saved!
Bathroom renovations seem like one of those things that should be contained in a single area. Yet, as we discovered, much of the work goes on downstairs in the basement. That's where the main sections of the plumbing system lie, those vital connections that bring hot and cold water to the bathroom and then drain away waste. Plumbing is the essence of a great bathroom. You need it for hot water and cold water, and in plentiful supply. Who wants to stand naked in the shower only to have a few drips sprinkle out because there's no water pressure? Conversely, who wants to be scalded by hot water when someone flushes the toilet elsewhere in the house? You can have the most beautiful fixtures and tiling found anywhere, but if the plumbing isn't modern and ready to go, you're going to feel as if you're back in the nineteenth century, with one exception: An outhouse at least makes no pretense of comfort.
Let's work through the bathroom water and drain lines, beginning with an overview of what exactly plumbing is. This will help guide you in the choices you need to make, and help you understand why all those checks you'll be writing to the plumber are essential.