Hey Guys,
Its been a while since I was here.. but I finally finished all the small details of the bathroom! 7 months and 19 days from the first hammer blow till now! Yay! at least its done before Halloween!
I forgot all the stuff we talked about but I'll try to give a quicky update.
Toilet - Went in Fine, I bought Tile Drill Bits and drilling the holes for the flange was fine.. just went nice and slow. The flange worked fine. I used an Oatey Wax Ring and the bolts that came with it. The AS wax ring just looked cheap as did their hardware. I couldn't find a bolt set with two nuts, I was going to add my own nuts, but I got it done without it. Also I realized how much adjustment I really had once the porcelain went on.. so I guess my original question how how to square it up was kind of wasted :-D. As far as the quality of the AS Champion 4, I guess I got lucky.. couldn't find any defects other than sticker residue?? (weird).. I cleaned that off with goo-gone. The floor was off level in that area.. so the toilet ended up leaning back a little rather than front.. but it's level side to side, used two of the plastic shims. I'm really impressed with the flush power so far.
Vanity and Sink - Went in pretty easy.. took a little bit of time to find the right mounting points.. I have one toggle bolt, a long deck screw into a stud, and a tapcon into the brick chimney behind it
Faucet is a $60 Moen from Home depot. It came out of the box with one bad cartridge.. Moen sent me a new one 2nd day air, but still shouldn't have been broken. I used 20" supply lines because the way I measured it, 16 would have just made it.. I didn't know if I had enough room to tighten the nuts. Too bad I couldn't find 18" and I didn't want to mess with the hard lines. They kind of flare out to the sides under there.. but they are out of the way.. so that shouldn't be a problem.
I put a new radiator in and put my heater back together (replaced leaky valves, and a back flow preventor and replumbed).. imagine that.. my fiancee and the dog NEEDED to be warm
. I have a full pound of solder now.. so that will take a few years to get through. I had about 12" left and it was 9pm, so I knew I had to make it over to Home depot before closing, or else that 12" would surely NOT be enough
So I also need to get a new torch. The "clicker" on mine doesn't always work. Is this new propane/butane mix stuff they have now worth it? I still have like 3 full tanks of propane it will take me years to go through.. Also.. should I invest in a jet-swet? All you pro-guys can recoil in disgust.. but I have been using shark bites in areas where the pipes have water in them.. I'm just no good in getting the water out before soldering.
After that.. I think everything else is pretty much just details.. but I threw in a picture of my window.. actually a bit proud of how that one came out.. at first I wanted to just picture frame it.. then when the decision about the height of the wainscoting came from the higher authority (my fiancee).. I had already put the sill in.. but in the end I think it probably looks better with the Sill and the bead board.. gives it kind of the older feel.. (what do i know.. she designs it.. I do it :-D ) ... slowly... :-D Hey.. quality work aint cheap or fast!