Home Improvement

Haus

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First off, I second the move for using Sonic Ice. Although you can get a machine which makes that style of ice (referred to as pellet ice most places) the machines are expensive. Based on $1.49 a bag for Sonic Ice instead my wife and I figured out we'd have to use the machine for around 10 years to pay for it.

OTOH, started demo for my next project, which is redoing the shower/bathroom area attached to our master bedroom, this should be a party. I was going to contract out the work, but another repair came up I'm going to have to pay to have done (roof time, yay?) so this became a DIY cause.
 

Haus

<Silver Donator>
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What kind of pan you going with for the shower?
Right now it has a 3' by 3' cast iron tub, believe it or not. Apparently they were popular in the 60's and it actually looks good. But I will need to sand down and refinish it. Originally I was removing a line of tile to put in a simple accent row, but looking at the tile I saw some cracks and issues, then looking at the hardibacker behind it I saw evidence of water seepage and mildew/etc... so all of it comes out now. Also going to insert a niche shelf....

For size...
rrr_img_130233.jpg
 

Palum

what Suineg set it to
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I don't know if doable but I really want a rain shower. Extra plumbing and you really need a larger shower enclosure but I really like them. Much rather that then the stupid Jacuzzi tub we have now that never gets used.
 

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
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I'm not a fan of rain shower heads. I've stayed in hotels before that have them and I feel like it's more work to clean & rinse off than just getting a detachable shower head/hose combo that you can point exactly where you need it (ass & balls).

Not to mention the detachable heads make cleaning & rinsing the shower a hell of a lot easier.
 

Palum

what Suineg set it to
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I'm not a fan of rain shower heads. I've stayed in hotels before that have them and I feel like it's more work to clean & rinse off than just getting a detachable shower head/hose combo that you can point exactly where you need it (ass & balls).

Not to mention the detachable heads make cleaning & rinsing the shower a hell of a lot easier.
Yea I'm not sure which ones you've tried but the ones I've used had 3 - rain shower head, regular head and wand and a selector between them.
 

Big Phoenix

Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
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Any easy way to remove caulk? Going to take out the shower doors this weekend probably, things are old, dirty and annoying.
 

Ronaan

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I'm not a fan of rain shower heads. I've stayed in hotels before that have them and I feel like it's more work to clean & rinse off than just getting a detachable shower head/hose combo that you can point exactly where you need it (ass & balls).

Not to mention the detachable heads make cleaning & rinsing the shower a hell of a lot easier.
You know you can have both, I do. Rainshower head to feel amazing and a detachable hand set for the other stuff.
 

Uber Uberest

rdr^2
<Bronze Donator>
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Right now it has a 3' by 3' cast iron tub, believe it or not. Apparently they were popular in the 60's and it actually looks good. But I will need to sand down and refinish it. Originally I was removing a line of tile to put in a simple accent row, but looking at the tile I saw some cracks and issues, then looking at the hardibacker behind it I saw evidence of water seepage and mildew/etc... so all of it comes out now. Also going to insert a niche shelf....

For size...
rrr_img_130233.jpg
Oh, when I read your original post I saw you said "shower". I don't know man if you're getting in to gutting that bathroom I'd sledge the cast iron tub and go with a stand alone shower. Unless you or your wife still takes baths, there is no sense in saving it.
 

Sceleris_sl

shitlord
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1
That is cool, but what is that metal pipe-thing on the left, and why does the door look like an industrial door or from an interrogation room?
The metal pipes are for the central heating system. the heater is on the attic, and since we have solid brick or concrete walls, the pipes in houses from before 1980 will have the pipes in sight and not running through the walls. i am going to box the pipes in for more insulation. This is pretty normal for Dutch houses. Erronius is right, the vertical pipes run through the floors from the heater all the way down, with horizontal pipes for the radiators it's connected to.

The door is a normal inhouse door really, but with a window, it's not a solid wood door. The window is pretty much for extra light in the hall, since the hall has no windows and is in the middle of all the rooms it brings extra light from the bedroom windows into the hall. That way we don't have to turn on the lights in the hall during the day
 

Haus

<Silver Donator>
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Oh, when I read your original post I saw you said "shower". I don't know man if you're getting in to gutting that bathroom I'd sledge the cast iron tub and go with a stand alone shower. Unless you or your wife still takes baths, there is no sense in saving it.
Only real reason is aesthetics for the most part. Also, we had a drain issue once which caused a backup which would have been a mess with a standing shower, but no biggie with a small tub. Neither of us take baths in it, she has her own bathroom in the house for that. (Which in line with the other conversation has a rain bath shower head plus a handheld...) When I redid her bathroom a few years back I did sledge out the cast iron tub there and put a more modern tub in....

The other hassle would be redoing the plumbing and drain under it, upgrading the drain to a 2" for a standing shower rather than a 1.5" which the tub current has. To do a center drain (which most of the pre-fab pans seem to be build for) would require moving it (it's in the front left corner right now)

With my work travel schedule blowing up on me there's still a chance a subcontract this job out...
 

hodj

Vox Populi Jihadi
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I'm trying to double check some numbers for concrete needed to build a small concrete pad measured 120 inches by 48 inches by 4 inches.

Online estimators from quikrete and elsewhere say I'd need ~20-25 80 pound bags of concrete to provide enough to build this pad (overestimating by up to 5 bags just to make sure I have enough).

Does that sound right?

It seems like a lot because that ends up being well over a ton of concrete (2000 pounds at 25 bags to be precise) which feels....excessive.

Here's the calculator I'm using. 40 square feet (10 feet by 4 feet) comes out to 23 bags of the 80 pound variety.

Concrete Calculator - How Much Do I Need? | QUIKRETE®
 

Picasso3

Silver Baronet of the Realm
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Concrete weighs about 150 lbs per cubic ft.

Yes.

I like 4 inches thick.. he's prob not going to do any subgrade prep and we usually go to 5 for vehicular traffic.

Google sidewalk detail, you won't find anything 3"
 

hodj

Vox Populi Jihadi
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That sounds about right. Why go 4 inches thick? You going to park a car on it? 3 inches would be plenty thick.
It's going to be 3 inches thick actually but all the estimators online only do 4 or 6 inch thickness, and if I overestimate, that's fine, I can use excess for a couple of small projects like building a very small retaining wall of about two layers of bricks under a wooden fence along the back part of the driveway and shit.

I just wanted to make sure I wasn't off in some lala land when I only needed like 6-8 bags or some shit. I'd read some conflicting reports googling around.

Concrete weighs about 150 lbs per cubic ft.

Yes.

I like 4 inches thick.. he's prob not going to do any subgrade prep and we usually go to 5 for vehicular traffic.

Google sidewalk detail, you won't find anything 3"
I'm going to put 2 inches of gravel under it.

It isn't for driving on or really walking on or anything, just a platform for these shelves I'm building to hold a bunch of pots and plants and shit.
 

Picasso3

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Engineers always plan for worst case. What if you are on vacation and you have Tuco come water your plants?