Basement, part three: A little bit of everything
Since our last posting I finished framing the stairs and the wall in the laundry room. I have two half walls to finish framing in the work room and the laundry room. However, I ran out of lumber and decided to take care of a few other items. With the wall framed in the laundry room, I was able to move the washer and dryer next to each other. Moving the appliances is the easy part. Getting the water, drain and electrical in place is the difficult part.
The first step was to move the hot and cold water lines to their new location. This was relatively easy because I had put them in place intending to move them when I did the plumbing of the house. Next was putting in a new drain for the sink and washer. I wanted to use PVC pipe, but all the big box retailers had was ABS for drainage. This concerned me because I needed PVC drainage pipe for the vacuum system, but I figured I could work that out later. Putting the pipe together is a lot like a complicated tinker toy set that you have to size yourself. After I put it together dry, I had to take it apart and glue it together. Once that was done I moved the sink and washer into place.
Next was the electrical. The weekend before this project, I planned out the entire basement wiring project. I went to the big box retailer and bought most of what I needed. I pulled 10/3 cable for the dryer and a dedicated circuit for the washer and connected the outlets. Then I pulled the plug on the dryer and discovered that I had a new grounded outlet and the plug on the dryer was the old styled ungrounded outlet. Off to the big box retailer for a new dryer cord.
December 25, 2006
Christmas Eve I purchased wire shelving for your usual narrator’s long awaited “shelves in the closet”. (Editor’s note: The Gimlet’s Christmas presents may be practical, but he’s handy and he knows his Jane Austen movies!) I spent Christmas afternoon converting a kitchen broom closet into a pantry. Unfortunately I ran out of supplies to finish the job and had to wait until Boxing Day to buy the last two brackets.
December 26, 2006
After the new pantry was done, the next project was to put in our new central vacuum system. I was able to find PVC drainage bends at a local plumbing shop. Everything the big box retailer did not carry I was able to find. Vacuum plumbing is very similar to drainage plumbing, except you don’t have to worry so much about slope. I did learn that a ten foot PVC pipe only sticks out the back of a Saab by about one foot. I put up the pipe and made the connections. I then had to put the outlets into the upstairs wall, the downstairs location and the car port. The cutting and sawing was rather noisy and dusty, but once I was done I attached the low voltage wire for the switches and tested out the vacuum. This was about 1:00 in the morning. I had to use an extension cord for the test because I had not put in the electrical outlet yet and was ready to quit. It worked!
December 27, 2006
I put in the circuit for the vacuum. The job was done! I then pulled out the old dryer circuit and did some other clearing out of old electrical cords that had been replaced.
December 28, 2006
Time to install the subpanel. I installed a 50 amp subpanel. This required using 6/3 wire and running it to a new GE circuit panel from the old ITE circuit panel. I made the attachments and now I look forward to more electrical work and one final plumbing project: the wet bar.
