House of Horrors

[voicey]

I started work today on what promises to be an epic refurbishment project of my new (to me) house. Stripped out most of the kitchen today to discover a few horrors lurking behind the facade.

Oven junction box loose in the plaster:

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• voicey
• 30 Mar 2013
• 1

Dodgy wiring for the under counter lights:

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• voicey
• 30 Mar 2013
• 1

What's this behind some tape?

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• voicey
• 30 Mar 2013
• 1

Half way up a party wall and directly above the sink? Best put the telephone connection here!

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• voicey
• 30 Mar 2013
• 1

This was my favorite though. The drainage for the shower tray actually passes through the ceiling in the kitchen and then through the wall with the garage!

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• voicey
• 30 Mar 2013
• 1

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• voicey
• 30 Mar 2013
• 1

There a gaping hole between the kitchen and garage - no wonder it is cold in here!

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• voicey
• 30 Mar 2013
• 1

Once in the garage it then joins the soil stack:

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• voicey
• 30 Mar 2013
• 1

I'm not sure how I'm going to solve this last issue as the joists are very close together and there's not much space to bury the waste pipe between the ceiling and the floor. Any tips much appreciated!

 

[blondini]

As a serial bodger I might consider using a different trap, maybe a P trap, and run the waste straight through the centre of that joist. Then If the hole size was larger than allowed for joist depth or hole position, I would tie the joist to the wall to lend support. Just ideas...

 

[Pigeon85]

As a serial bodger I might consider using a different trap, maybe a P trap, and run the waste straight through the centre of that joist. Then If the hole size was larger than allowed for joist depth or hole position, I would tie the joist to the wall to lend support. Just ideas...

looks like that's what is already on there, a shower trap is what you need

 

[Pigeon85]

As a serial bodger I might consider using a different trap, maybe a P trap, and run the waste straight through the centre of that joist. Then If the hole size was larger than allowed for joist depth or hole position, I would tie the joist to the wall to lend support. Just ideas...

looks like that's what is already on there, a shower trap is what you need

sorry correct myself that would be an s trap on there but a shower trap is what to replace it with then if possible go through the joist, hole can be up to 0.25 the size of joist on the centre line. Is the toilet in the same room and does it go to the same stack

 

[voicey]

Thanks for the responses. Yes, the toilet is in the same room but the soil pipe runs far too high for the shower waster to join it.

My problem is that the two joists either side of the trap are only 160mm apart - so I can't get a drill in there. In the garage the joists are just over 13" apart so I have room.

The plan will be to fit a low profile shower trap, go through the joist above the kitchen, then the breeze block wall and finally the joist in the garage. I will then come down through the garage ceiling to join the soil pipe in there.

I just need to find a drill bit that will cut through two joists and a breeze block...

 

[blondini]

I use a right angled drill adapter for tight spaces. Got one from Machine Mart but the gears were made from cheese. Got another from Screwfix which has given good service...

 

[voicey]

I use a right angled drill adapter for tight spaces. Got one from Machine Mart but the gears were made from cheese. Got another from Screwfix which has given good service...

Thanks, I looked at a 90 degree attachment for the drill but the smallest I could find (the screwfix one) was 110mm wide which only left me 50mm for the drill bit.

If I go from the other side I have enough space for my cordless drill plus 80mm for the bit. It should allow me to get something meaty enough to go through the joist and wall!

 

[voicey]

More horrors....

The kitchen opens out into a sitting area so that's also going to get sorted. The ceiling is going to have to come down anyway so I thought I'd put a few exploratory holes in.

Part of the ceiling is directly under a first floor terrace - it has always been cold in the room so I wanted to see if there was any insulation up there. At first look it seemed like all was well - some type of foam insulation was stuffed between the joists:

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• voicey
• 1 Apr 2013
• 1

However, after opening the hole up somewhat it appears the builders forgot to insulate the other half of the void! The board you can see in the pic below is the underside of the terrace - no wonder it got cold in there. Since the insulation that was in place wasn't tight up against the plasterboard the missing insulation rendered it completely useless.

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• voicey
• 1 Apr 2013
• 1

I plan to put 125mm of PIR insulation up there before boarding it back up....

 

[voicey]

In terms of getting the new hole in place - I was thinking of one of these to put the hole in the first joist:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/holesaw-44mm/18279

And then switching to this for the breeze block and final joist:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/pro-fit-multipurpose-holesaw-44mm/79327

 

[voicey]

More problems with the foundations....

//www.diynot.com/forums/building/strange-footings.360664/

 

[dhutch]

I'll have to start one of these, Ive found that much in my house in one day.