[quixy]

I am buying an older duplex and plan to remodel and live in one side of it while I go to school nearby. I'm on a relatively limited budget so I'm trying to do as much of it myself as I can, but I am willing to call in the experts if need be.

The bathroom is a good size, but I want to put the washer/dryer connections in there. Currently, the W/D hookups are in the kitchen, blocking half of the cabinets if you have a W/D in there. Just plain silly. I need to do side-by-side hookups because I am not leaving the appliances there for future renters -- they will supply their own -- and trying to make it convenient for the average person who does not have a stacking unit.

So that leaves me with moving the toilet and sink so I can put the W/D in the bathroom. Am I getting way in over my head? I attached a "before" and proposed "after" sketch (not to scale, BTW) if that helps at all.

Thanks!

[Milo Dolezal]

Yes, you are making this into larger project that you think. Also, you are not specifying if this is on the 1st floor or 2nd floor. Anyway...

1. If possible, try NOT to move toilet. Leave the existing set up the way it is. Just "insert" w/d. See if you can place W/D hook up in front of the tub ( the new location of toilet and sink ).
2. Figure out how you going to run gas for dryer. If you have elec. Unit, talk to your electrician. But it shouldn't be problem to extend your wires.
3. See where you will run the dryer vent.
4. Water should not be a problem since chance are that you will be cutting floors anyway to connect washer drain

[quixy]

I figured I was missing some info... this is a 1st floor project, over a crawl space (not slab, thankfully). I have to take up the floor anyway, currently nasty vinyl over original but in bad shape hardwoods, so I plan to cover it with cement board and ceramic tiles. So I'm not concerned about ripping in to it.

1. I thought about this option but it would make a less than ideal squeeze between the shower and w/d, plus not allow me to close in the w/d in a closet-type enclosure (there is a window next to where the "new" toilet would be). Any ideas what this would typically run me labor-wise if a plumber did it?

2. Was planning to just have electric dryer hook-ups, so that should be okay.

3. Thought I might be able to vent the dryer through the floor to the crawlspace because I'm working with a brick exterior and would like to avoid having to hack through that. Any reasons that this would be a bad idea will be listened to and heeded.

Thanks!

[Milo Dolezal]

You are lucky. Crawl space is exactly what you want.

As far as the cost goes: where are you located ?

[quixy]

You are lucky. Crawl space is exactly what you want.

As far as the cost goes: where are you located ?

Pittsburg, KS. SE corner, near NE OK & SW MO. Relatively rural. I've found that labor is hit or miss here. Some things I'm pleasantly surprised by -- professional 3M certified car tint installation: $160 for my whole car, hatchback & sunroof; some things I'm :eek: about -- installing ceramic tile: $4.50 per square foot, thus I'm doing the 244 total sq ft myself. :D

[Milo Dolezal]

I am in So.California. Our prices are higher that in other parts of the country. If you got scared with the $4.50 a foot for tile installation, then you would probably get heart attack to learn what would this plumbing work cost you by our pricing method... :D

Anyways: The rough-in should take about 1 day to install. Try to hire old local plumber. He can do it for Time + Materials.

Realistically, you should expect to spend around $700.00 for parts.( ABS and Copper ). Labor is hard to estimate. It depends who you run into. Retired plumber may charge you daily fee. His fee will be lot lower that if you ask licensed, insured, bonded plumber to do the work.

You can do fixture installation yourself. We can lead you through the installation process here, on line...

Get on the phone. Call several plumbing companies in Yellow Pages. Explain to them what you want to do. They can give you "per fixture" price over the phone. Many plumbing companies will come over and give you free estimate.

[quixy]

Re: floors, I guess that seems high to me when it's going to be such an easy installation -- we are ripping out everything so it's going to be lots of wide open space with no cutting around cabinets and such. So it seems like a silly amount to pay for something I can do myself. Not to mention the fact that I got the ceramic tile for a steal... 69 cents a sq ft.

But I digress... I guess I will get some quotes before I decide whether to proceed with this. Closing tomorrow (finally!) so I'll be able to get in there with contractors whenever I want and finalize my measurements and plans.

Thanks!

[Milo Dolezal]

Quixy: that's the best way of finding out the true cost of your project. Maybe price will not be so high after all and you will sub it out. Or, perhaps, you will confirm your worries, do it yourself - and then - feel very good about what you just accomplished.

[quixy]

I'm back (took longer to close than we anticipated). And have a change of layout plans, after I found most plumbers here want about $1,000 - $1,500 to move the toilet & sink. Pardon my French, but screw that.

So, I came up with a brilliant solution, if I do say so myself. Instead of moving the toilet, we are moving the door. Now the W/D will go in the corner between the sink and the current door (see bad illustration above).

The dryer is going to have to be gas because the current panel won't support an electric dryer. Well, as luck would have it, the gas venting for the old (now removed) floor furnace in the living room runs up through that wall that will be behind the W/D, and we'll also pull the gas line to go there as well. And there's electrical in that wall to power them.

Now my question is: how do I install my own hot/cold water pipes and drain off the sink plumbing (if that's allowed)?

[speedball1]

Now the W/D will go in the corner between the sink and the current door.

This means that the none of the fixtures will have to be moved and repiped, correct?

how do I install my own hot/cold water pipes and drain off the sink plumbing

If I understand the question You plan on draining the W/D into the lavatory via a indirect waste? Correct? In other words you aren't going to install a washer trap and standpipe. Have I got it correct so far? So that leaves supplying your W/D with hot and cold water. You're going to be right next to the lavatory. I would tee off the lavatory hot and cold stub outs. If you wished to hide the pipes I would open up the wall and run to the W/D and stub out of the wall with a couple of hose bibs. The easy way would be to remove the lavatory angle stops and tee over to the W/D position on the outside of the wall and terminate with drop eared ells and boiler drains. (see images). You may paint the pipes to match the walls if you wish. Your choice. Good luck, Tom

[quixy]

Well, we already have the walls in the bathroom tore out, so that makes this much easier.

After looking at things under the house more closely, I decided to convert all the galvanized to PEX.

Or rather, I should say, I decided to get my dad & brother to convert all the galvanized to PEX. ;) They are happy to have a new project with fun things they haven't done in their homes & I am happy to have free labor.

"We" decided to leave the lavatory drain in place as-is and create a separate drain for the washer, that will connect to a PVC line we'll install coming from the kitchen to the outside drain.

I'll post pics of the W/D & lavatory hook-ups when we're done. Thanks!

[speedball1]

"We" decided to leave the lavatory drain in place as-is and create a separate drain for the washer, that will connect to a PVC line we'll install coming from the kitchen to the outside drain.

This will require a separate vent for the washer station. You may run this vent out the roof or revent back in the attic to a existing roof vent. Good luck, Tom