Basement Renovation: Plumbing and Concrete

This weeks project started with running the plumbing in the new holes we dug last week. We went to Lowes and bought all of the PVC, glue and primer that we would need to get started. You have to make sure that your not flushing any toilets, running the dishwasher or laundry while you do this. We cut into the existing pipe and from there added pipes to run all the way to where we needed them. 

Plumbing run to the bathroom.

The large pipe at the end is the existing pipe that we "tapped" into.

All the bathroom plumping

After the plumbing was ran and the glue had dried, it was time to fill the holes back up! All the purple stuff you see on the pipes is the primer that allows the glue to stick so that the pipes glue together. 

Chad filling in the holes with gravel/dirt.

Obviously I'm no photographer! Filling in the holes!

 After Chad filled in the holes it was time to pour the concrete. First we had to buy plastic to cover the dirt. I'm assuming this is so the new concrete wouldn't seep under the old concrete. It was my job to cut and lay the plastic and I'm not going to lie, I was pretty awesome at it. I know it's not that hard but I'll take a win where I can get it! Then after I was done with the plastic, we mixed the concrete!

We ended up using seventeen 80 lb bags of concrete for this job.

We used an old wheelbarrow to mix the concrete. 

On a side note, we had some really cold wintry weather is week and left our hose outside. Therefore, it froze and we couldn't use it as the water for mixing the concrete. This meant that we had to run up and down the stairs and fill a bucket with water for each bag we mixed! So don't let your hose freeze, is the moral of that story!

Mixing the concrete was easier than I thought it would be. Chad was really good at getting it to the right consistency. We filled the holes and used a board and a concrete-lever-thingy (I'm pretty sure that's what it's called) to level off the concrete. Here's the finished product!

I am SUPER bummed that Chad and I forgot to put our hand prints and initials in the concrete! I totally meant to but we just forgot! Oh well, it will be covered with carpet anyways! 

This was a fairly painless and quick weekend. Overall we probably only spent about 7 hours total, over 3 days, doing the plumbing and concrete. The HVAC guy still has not come out to run some air returns and move the A/C line, so hopefully he will be able to do that this week sometime. After that the next step is framing! This will be a BIG job I'm sure. I've never framed anything before and neither has Chad (that I know of) so luckily we have my dad to teach us. We had the lumber delivered this weekend so our job this week is to clean the basement and bring all the lumber downstairs to prepare for the framing.  

This Weeks Costs

PVC Pipes - $74

PVC glue and Primer - $23

17 Bags of Concrete - $57

Free Things that were we already had

Wheelbarrow

Hoe (for mixing concrete)

Shovel (for pouring concrete)

Concrete-leveler-thingy

Some of the PVC pipes 

Plastic

Labor

This weeks total - $154

Project total - $154

My amateur advice for this week - Don't let your hose freeze outside in the snow. Then you won't have to run up and down the stairs to get the water to mix the concrete. Make sure you position the pipes correctly. We put the toilet pipe on backwards and had to cut it off and do it again. Like I mentioned before, make sure you aren't using your washing machine, sink, toilet...etc while you have the existing pipe cut or else water will go everywhere. 

PS. I'm still cleaning concrete dust off my stuff upstairs from last week! WHEN WILL IT END!

I am not a professional and all my advice and tips are purely from my own experiences.