After a full year of collecting sheetrock, shower pans and Sakrete, it is time to move to the construction phase of this project. My plans are finalized and I know what to do. Now it is time to dot it. I still need a few items, but at this point I will have to either buy them on the day I need them, or hope to still find them. Enough waiting... let's go!
The launch of the construction phase was initiated by the application for a building permit. I guess I should have done my homework. I thought a building permit for a 100 square foot bathroom would only cost $50 or so. But after applying for a plumbing permit, an electrical permit and a general permit, the final cost was $231. Oh well. Someone has to pay for the inspectors' salaries- and the conservative in me says it ought to be those using the services and not the general public taxpayers. And a building permit really connects me to some additional resources. For instance, when I applied for the permit, I asked the inspector if building code allows me to connect PVC pipe to ABS pipe. He was able to save me a lot of research time by giving me the official answer. (Which, if you are interested, is "yes, provided you use the proper fitting).
So, I must ask for an exception to the "free" part of this project. In this crazy endeavor to do a free bathroom, I cannot conceive of how I could ever obtain a building permit for free. And yes, for this project of this extent, and especially since I am broadcasting its progress to the world, a building permit is necessary. So, with your permission, I will not count the cost of the permit in consideration of the free-ness of the project. If that is not okay with you, you might want to then think of this as the $231 bathroom.
Step one of the project will be to cut the floor and connect a drain line from the shower to the current drain at the sink. My friend Brett has a large concrete saw and has volunteered to help! (That will be much easier than using a carbide blade on my circular saw). Anybody have an electric jackhammer that I might borrow to break up the concrete? (That would be much easier than using a sledge hammer)
So here we go....
