A Van Full Of 2x4's

I am building my bathroom in a space that was rough finished for a half bath.  The walls are framed, and the plumbing is in the floor.  But only for a half bath.  That means I could drop in a toilet, attach a sink and be mostly done!  But that is not good enough for me.  Since our overnight guests usually stay in the basement, we really want to have a full bath for them.  And when our kids hit the first birthday that ends in "teen" it would be nice to have an additional full bathroom.  (Last one out of bed has to shower in the basement???)

But in order to change the bathroom formerly planned as "half" to a "full" I will have to do 2 things.  The first part is easy.  I will have to move one wall, then fill in the empty spaces.  Oh, and I will probably have to build a support for the ceiling under the heating ducts.  We call this framing.  I have a little experience.  But hey, that is what the internet is for, right?  I will also need some lumber- several 2X4's.  They are called studs.  And guess what?  I found some...on Craiglist.  A family in Greenwood finished their basement remodeling project, which included removing a few walls.  The leftover studs?  In my van!

 

The second big challenge in this half-to-full conversion will be to install a drain for the shower, and to tie it in to the existing drain line of the toilet and.  And all of that takes place under the concrete floor.  Yes, I am sure that will take a few posts to describe (and maybe a few weeks to complete) whenever I get into the execution phase of this project.  So why am I talking about it now?  Because at this house I also scored a couple of bags of concrete to help me patch up my holes I will have to bust out of the existing floor.

Not nearly as cool as a pickup, but the minivan will have to do.

Floor Plan - version 1

Now that I have collected sufficient materials and supplies, it is time to formalize the design of the bathroom.

"Wait a second," you might object, "shouldn't you have designed the bathroom before you started collecting the materials?"  Good point.  I imagine you might raise this objection based on previous experiences where friends jumped into some project without a plan only to give up due to poor planning.  In reality, I have had a plan all along.  Said plan resided mostly in my imagination, but I seem to be capable of including many details in my imagined plans.  So now it is time for formalize the plan.  Here it is.  Really nothing special, and just the basics, but it is the starting point for the rest of the plans.

The entry door is on the right side, and is designed to shield the stool, in case of accidental entry.  The sink is just to the right of the door.  The shower is on the other side.  The door on the lower left opens to what we will call a closet, but is the space beneath the stairway that connects the basement to the main floor.

Our next major decision is what to do with the space between the shower and the sink.  Presently there is about eight inches, which is too big to leave open, but too small to do anything significant.  Luckily, we have as much space as we need to put the left wall wherever we want it.  We may either move the left wall to the right, with nothing between the sink and the shower, or move it farther, creating enough space for a cozy linen closet/shelves.  Any thoughts??????

By the way, if you are wondering, I designed this floor plan very quickly with a great piece of software. SmartDraw visual processor software allows you to quickly create any kind of visual drawings, from flowcharts, to PowerPoint presentations, to building floor plans and landscape design.  After I created the floor plan, I opened a new file and created an elevation plan for the wall at the top of the floor plan that includes the sink and shower.  For designing floor plans, the software included several pre-designed shapes for all rooms of the house.  The floor plan only took about 30 minutes to create.

The software is available for a free download and seven day trial period.  And you know me- I like things that are free!  Unfortunately, you only get to print your designs 3 times in the trial version, and it includes a huge watermark  (I had to manipulate it to get the drawing above to show without the watermark covering the toilet).  In the end, the price of the full version is just too expensive for an occasional or single-project user, like I would be.  It costs $197 for basic use, and $297 for business use, which includes PowerPoint integration.  It is a great way to get an initial design!

I sold the 6 panel door

Sometimes this project seems very tedious.  But whenever I feel that way, I remember that a project like this will often feel tedious.  This is more than just a home remodeling project.  It is a challenge to see if I can really complete it at no cost.  But that comes at a price, too, although maybe not of  a monetary nature.  Sometimes I drive a few more miles that is realistic to get something not all that great, but needed for this project, nonetheless.

So here is an example of tediousness.  Remember that white 6 panel door that I drove way to far to get, only to be stood up?  Well, I eventually received it.  A few more doors later, and I now have at least two others that will match the rest of the doors in my house.  So I listed the six panel door on Craigslist.  But really,  not for much less than you could buy a new one.  And a month or so later.... a call from someone who wanted to buy it.

So, the door is out of my basement, and I have a little more cash to buy the few items I can't find for free.

We are getting there....slowly but surely.

Finally....A Shower!

What is the most expensive item in a bathroom?  The shower.  Even a cheap vinyl shower stall will cost hundreds.  Homeowners know this, so when they tear out their showers, they realize they can recover some of the costs of their do-it-yourself bathroom remodel by selling their used shower on Craigslist.  For hundreds of dollars!  In my ideal world, I hoped for a one-piece fiberglass shower stall.  I even found one in a nearby suburb for only $10!  But it was 48" wide and the seller told me that he was selling it because he couldn't get it into his basement, where he had intended to install it.  Since I have a tight corner at the bottom of my basement stairs, though which I cannot pass a Queen sized box spring, I realized I would not be able to wrangle a four foot shower stall through it either.

My next option?  A shower pan.  You know, the base of the shower, above which I could put tile on the walls.  Also a very common option.  But again, most homeowners were selling used shower pans for over $50.  Still a huge savings compared to a new one, but a lot more than my goal of free.

The final option?  Build a shower pan with a 2x4 frame, concrete to slope the floor, a rubberized membrane, steel mesh, and finally, a surface of fine concrete.  AKA- expensive and hard work!

With a bit more cleaning and conditioning it will be as good as new!

And then it happened- My Craigslist auto-search program sent me an email describing a shower pan and matching shower doors in a nearby suburb!  FREE!  I quickly called the man, told him I could come that afternoon or evening, and sealed the deal.  Awesome!

So now I have the biggest items!  I am almost ready to start!

Going Crazy With Doors

I need two doors for this project.  An entry door to the bathroom, and a door to the closet that also serves as under-the-stairway storage.  Both are rough-trimmed for 36 inches.  So, I have been searching for a couple of free doors.

Early into this project, I found an almost-new door listed in a small town that was, well, a long ways away.  I drove there, but to no avail- she forgot to set it out before leaving for work.  I eventually received the door, though. You can read about it in the Sometimes You Hit Gold...Sometimes You Hit Your Finger post. It was 36 inches wide, and almost new, but it was a six panel door and the other doors in our house are stained, slab doors.

A few days later I found 3 doors at another giveaway.  They were stained brown, and also 36" wide!  (see the same post for this story)

I realized, though, that to hang the doors, I would need all the hardware, including knobs, latches, strikers, and hinges.  I would also need door jambs, or enough lumber to make them.  Finally, I would need casing trim!  And I wasn't finding much casing trim. 

But guess what popped up on Craigslist the other day?  2 stained slab doors, pre-hung, including the trim!  The door knobs are even polished brass, round handles, which means they will match every other interior door knob in the house! 

Unfortunately, they are only 32 inches wide.  So now I have a dilemma.  Do I use the smaller doors, or do I use the jambs, casing and hardware from the smaller doors, along with a couple of extra pieces of casing I did find somewhere, and make it all work?  (Hey, with wood filler and stain/paint, I can make it look nice and you would never notice!)  Decisions.....Decisions....

So until I decide, I guess I will have six doors sitting in my basement.  Oh yeah- the white six panel door?  I have it listed on Craigslist and a rehabber is interested.  I guess I will put that money towards some tile backer board.

Remember that weird sink? I sold it!

A few months ago, in a fit of worry, concerned that the Craigslist free page might never present a sink manufactured within the last four decades, I bought one at auction.  It was wide, with the sink on one end. I knew it was too wide for my bathroom project, but I thought I might cut it or otherwise make it work.  Then I picked it up and realized it was even bigger, and much heavier, than I had imagined!  Every time I saw it sitting on my garage floor I would mutter something in its direction.  No curse words.  Usually something like, "Why did I buy that stupid sink?"

I finally cleaned it up and listed it on the materials page on Craigslist.  I knew it was an odd item and might never sell.  But hey, one way to guarantee it won't sell is to never list it, right?

Then I received an email last week.  Someone was asking about it!  Basically they were asking if it could be used to replace a double sink.  I had never thought of it, but yes!  It would work great to remove the double sink featuring gold glitter from one's 1978 bathroom and put my sink in its place.  It would update the bathroom, as well as add some counter space!

I also listed in the ad that I would deliver the item, for free, to anywhere within 10 miles of my city.  I have found that putting "free delivery" in the listing line of a Craigslist ad is a great way to get your ad noticed.  Sinks are a great example.  There are probably 100 sinks listed every week.  Adding "free delivery" makes my listing stand out.







And lucky for me, it worked.  Someone called, bought the sink, and I delivered it to their grandmother's house about 1 mile away!  The sink is gone, and I have $20!

Back In the Black (and Invest in What You Know)

So I am no longer $23 in the red.  The free part of this project is back on track.  Remember the box of free plumbing supplies I picked up in nearby Peculiar, Missouri?  Well, it was included in a Craigslist free page ad that included baby clothes, a couple baby strollers, and a box of gas cans.  The seller really wanted someone to take it all.  I really just wanted the plumbing supplies, but in an effort to convince the seller to give the stuff to me, I offered to also take the strollers and the baby clothes.  After all, our church does a kids clothing sale twice per year, and can use all of the donated clothes we can get!  And I knew I could re-sell the strollers.  The gas cans? I passed.

On my way home, I dropped off the clothes at the church.  I later gave away the single stroller. (They are a dime a dozen).  The double stroller?  Gold mine!  For some reason, double strollers are a hot item, and very expensive.  Even a used one goes for a chunk of change.

A brand new Evenflo double stroller like this would cost you over $150.

I considered selling the double stroller at a kids clothes consignment sale.  I just didn't have enough other items ready and tagged to make it worth my time.  (By the way, consignment sales are a great way to offload your too-small kids clothes. Just search for "kids consignment sale" in your area, or search for a Just Between Friends franchise near you (www.jbfsale.com) You will earn much more than you could ever earn working a garage sale.  And you don't need to borrow folding tables from your church)

To make a long story short, I listed the double stroller on a Saturday morning on Craigslist, and sold it that afternoon for $40.  That puts me at $17 in the black!

Here is a lesson I have learned, that relates to this experience. I first heard about the book, The Millionaire Next Door from Dave Ramsey.  Then a business-owner friend recommended it to me.  So I read it. No, I am not the millionaire next door, but I trying to learn from them.  And one of the practices followed by many prodigious accumulators of wealth is to invest in what you know.  I learned this lesson the hard way when I bought several boxes of cheap cosmetics from a lady who claimed that I could resell it for hundreds of dollars on ebay.  It turns out, I couldn't.  Part of the problem was that I didn't know eyeliner mascara.  Who knew that there is a color named brown/black?  Two years later I still had boxes of this stuff.  Invest in what you know.

So through the last 6 years of this adventure called parenting, I have learned a few things.  I have seen intelligent people pay ridiculous amounts of money for novelty items that come with a promise to soothe their baby's crying.  And, for some reason, I have found that double strollers sell easily for good money!  Invest in what you know.