As I said in my last post, PVC Guy showed up on Saturday and did what he was hired to do. Plumber guy showed up with him and then disappeared. On Monday, F asked him if he planned to show up that night. He said he would and he did. He changed the kitchen taps, reinstalled the macerating toilet and tested the shower. However, we're still not quite done. The shower is usable, but needs some stabilizing. Since there's only one 90 degree corner in that room and one wall of that has various things on and in front of it, the shower couldn't go in a corner. It has been installed with a bit of space between that wall and the side of the shower. One of the things on the wall is the shower controls themselves. This makes sense, since the shower used to be over an antique cast iron tub, so controls for the electric shower had to be on the wall. What it means now is that we can't access these controls from inside the shower, so have to turn it on and test the temperature before we get in. And of course, we have to get out before we can turn it off. This is all manageable. The issue we still have though is that the sides of the shower are a bit wobbly if any pressure is applied. Plumber Guy says he will create a bracket that he can put on to stabilize the structure. The shower is a decent sized square with two glass sides and a glass door in between. The back is the PVC covered wall. So I'm not sure what he has in mind, but the goal is to keep the sides stable. In any case, who knows when this will actually occur. In the meantime, it can be used and I was planning to try it out last night rather than yesterday morning. Because I knew it was going to be sunny and warm and we were going out, I also knew I'd be too hot and feeling grubby afterwards. I figured a nice shower at the end of the day would be quite refreshing, so in the morning, I did my usual washing up routine at the kitchen sink. The day progressed. I was just about to go upstairs and take that shower when the power went off. No power, no electric shower. After about an hour, the power was back before going out again 15 minutes later. So no shower last night. Today was the day though. I got up and I had a shower. I was very careful to not touch the sides at all. I moved slowly. It was nice. Today I go up and do a bit of clean-up, since Plumber Guy did not bother to clean up after himself like PVC Guy did. Then I can start putting stuff away in that room. We've done almost nothing upstairs because of this plumbing work waiting to be done. Now that it's finished, we can proceed. It's a cool, grey day with some heavy rain expected in a while, so it's a perfect day to do that kind of thing. But right now it's time for another cup of coffee.
10 comments:
Yikes, that sound like a mess. I always turn the water on before I get in because the space is small and you don't want to get in and be cold or get burned. It's not big enough to stand away from the water flow, but I do turn the water off while inside, and reach out for towel to dry off before getting out...except for my feet. Can't imagine not being able to turn off the water from the inside. Can you slide the door enough to reach the controls to turn it off from the inside? Good luck moving forward.
Nope, can't reach from inside. The door doesn't slide, it just opens out into the room like a regular door. I'm used to having those shower heads that you can take down and hold in the hand so I always just pointed it away from me when I turned on the water. With the electric showers, the water is heated as it flows through the box so there's a power switch and a temperature control dial on the box. The whole setup is kind of funky, which I like. It's a 150-year-old building, so no plumbing when it was built 🙂
It will be so nice to settle the upstairs after all this. But just be careful until it is stabilized. I'm envisioning broken glass as it (and you) tumble and crash land in the sink or against the wall. It sounds like an intriguing set-up. Perhaps photos?
Just took some and will post soon.🙂
Yes, I prefer the shower heads that you can take down and hold in the hand, but sometimes this is not possible!
Just take extra care (which I'm sure you will) until it's stabilised.
Hang on in there you're almost there (fingers crossed).
All the best Jan
There is a book in the offing here, Shari. Surely you can weave a web of intrigue around this drama. Bumping off the plumber would seem to be a good place to start!
That's progress. I bet the shower felt great after not having one for a while. It sounds like shower guy would only get an OK recommendation, at least on timeliness. I would also like photos to see what the situation is like.
We're being very careful, Jan. It's nice to have it (nearly) done.
Ooh, The Case of the Poisoned Plumber would be a good cozy mystery, David :-)
From what people tell me, this is pretty common behavior around here. I posted some photos in today's blog post, Erika--hope they give a better idea. It's a funky sort of setup, but I like funky, so it's all good :-)
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