Inside again

While we still need to paint the new siding and the old brick, we've moved back indoors for a bit and taken over some of the work ourselves again.  We're installing PEX plumbing again, having had a good experience in our last house, although we've opted for a slightly different layout this time.  Instead of using a second manifold on the second floor (along with the main manifold in the basement), we're installing one manifold in the basement with some mini-manifolds on the first floor to supply the master bathroom.  Everything else will run from the basement.  This layout means that we have some longer runs from the basement to the second floor but, because of how the house is configured, we'll have shorter, more efficient runs overall (with three bathrooms and a laundry room on the second floor, there are basically pipes everywhere).  So we (by which to say, Brian, since my role in plumbing largely consists of handing him tools) have been busy with that install.  We've also been tackling some smaller but essential projects, like setting the shower pan for the large master bath shower.  This two-person master bath shower is roughly the same size as our last one and will similarly have both regular and rain shower head fixtures but we went with a quicker and easier (we hope!) install option this time.  Last time, Brian poured a mud base over a rubber liner in order to create the slope and then we tiled on top of that.  This time, we opted to purchase a custom-made shower pan from KBRS that is pre-sloped, pre-formed, and perfectly square.  It cost a little bit more but probably saved us at least a few days worth of hard work.  So we've now set that pan and are one (small) step closer to having a nice bathroom again.  We're also starting to pick out finishes, which is probably my favorite part of any renovation.  We're likely to go with a similar color scheme as the last house, but possibly with darker wood floors this time.  In the meantime, the work continues!

Getting the main manifold set up

Starting to run some initial lines

Copper mini-manifolds in place

Initial view of the shower space (the black plastic over the windows and on the walls is to protect the PEX piping from direct UV rays)

Here's the floor area, already prepped with self-leveler

Mortar to hold the pan in place

And the pan is in, weighted down with whatever we had handy to help it set

Starting to put together finishes - we're leaning towards the darker flooring (though the light oak keeps appealing to me as well), with white kitchen cabinets for the walls, espresso cabinets for the island, carrara marble countertops, and our all-time favorite paint color, Worldly Gray by Sherwin-Williams, on the walls