Salutations

[ZanneJ]

Hello, everyone.

I am not a professional builder or anything like that. My father did some of what he called "meatball carpentry" and learned how to do some things in the army. He was in federal law enforcement but he liked to build things (he made the cabinets in our house and a desk and some other stuff). We worked on projects together until he passed away suddenly in 2009. We were in the middle of a bathroom renovation (which is still incomplete). So now I'm flying solo on it.

I live in an area referred to as a "no man's land" in terms of services and contractors. People had to be sent in from out-of-state to work on my satellite (I'm out in the country in the woods so I don't have cable, dsl, paved roads, mail delivery, or trash pickup). All of the people we initially hired to do work have passed away (most from old age, but a few from cancer).

I hold no illusions about doing any complicated plumbing or construction all on my own, but I am trying to learn about what needs to be done to help plan things out. I've been burned in the past so I want to make sure things are done properly. Currently I'm focusing on plumbing since I am trying to figure out how to do some bathroom renovations. All of my sinks are S-trapped and AAVs are not allowed in my state (Louisiana).

I like to collect information and learn as much as I can about how things work-- I admit I like to watch things on DIY network and HGTV.

I'm an animal lover and I rescue cats and dogs. I'm down to 14 cats, 4 dogs, and 2 cows. I live with my disabled mother (she has diabetes and mobility issues) and brother (he has COPD). I'm currently unemployed but I'm taking care of my mother and the farm.

I also babble a lot.

Anyway, I am looking forward to learning more from the people here.

 

[fatboy]

Welcome aboard!

 

[Inspector 102]

Welcome. From your description, you already have your hands full with the place and family. Sometimes it is better off to reach out for help that tackle a project and get it all wrong. I would suggest an organization that might be able to provide someone to assist you such as Jaycees or similar and they might have some financial assistance also. I have been able to hook up some people with church organization that can provide help and I have even done inspections nights and weekends to help them out. No one wants hand outs, but you are taking care of a lot and sounds like you deserve a break. Otherwise, there are too many variables on each installation to provide advise on a site like this.

 

[ZanneJ]

Welcome. From your description, you already have your hands full with the place and family. Sometimes it is better off to reach out for help that tackle a project and get it all wrong. I would suggest an organization that might be able to provide someone to assist you such as Jaycees or similar and they might have some financial assistance also. I have been able to hook up some people with church organization that can provide help and I have even done inspections nights and weekends to help them out. No one wants hand outs, but you are taking care of a lot and sounds like you deserve a break. Otherwise, there are too many variables on each installation to provide advise on a site like this.

Thank you. My father had extra deductions in his pay to get better death benefits so we are not in dire straights financially. We just want to be economical on the spending. This was supposed to be our "forever home" but we will probably sell and move to another state within the next 10 years. In the meantime, we need to get the place fixed up enough to function for us and that will do ok when it is time to sell.

It wouldn't be so bad, but we had the tenants from hell when we were overseas and they did over $60k worth of damage to the place. My mother would never accept help from a charity. As it is, she is wary about our friends entering our home. She has grown rather antisocial in the past couple of years. I do have a friend who is an electrician and he can help with some of the work. I know I will need to hire a plumber. The only plumber I actually know is the son of my former plumber (who passed away from old age). I miss the old guy. He was a sweetheart. He was the plumber for this house for over 50 years (possibly 60) so he knew the history, who the former occupants were, and when certain changes were done to the plumbing. Apparently the original house here had burned down and been rebuilt and he did the plumbing on it back then-- I think it was back in the 1940s.

While there is a lot of work to do, we don't plan to change too much; we mostly just want to fix up what is already there. I'm trying to figure out the best way to fix the problem with the S-traps. Fortunately we don't have drywall- we just have wood paneling nailed to the studs. The biggest change would be swapping the laundry room with the adjacent guest bathroom. The bathroom is so tiny that the toilet is crammed in to a 23"W alcove next to the shower. I'm trying to figure out the DWV system so I can plan out where everything will go and if the walls need to be widened, the best way to hook everything up, etc. If I find the appropriate forum sections I'll post more details on that.

 

[chris kennedy]

Welcome.

You may want to try this DIY forum to get advice from actual plumbers.

Please feel free to come back here with any code related questions before you start.

Good luck!

 

[ZanneJ]

Welcome.You may want to try this DIY forum to get advice from actual plumbers.

Please feel free to come back here with any code related questions before you start.

Good luck!

Thank you. I'm also a member of plumbingforums.com and terrylove.com but wasn't getting the answers I needed for some of my code-related questions. I know I'll probably also need to look at building codes to figure out if I need to change anything involving the weight load of the joists for when/if I install a tub.