The existing hallway, showing where there used to be a door that got boarded over years ago, by the previous owner, for reasons which are not clear to me. Needing to blow off some steam, I kicked a couple of holes in the wallboard ... boy did that feel good, I've been wanting to do that for years.
The existing closet space, showing the sloped ceiling which makes the floor layout so constrained. I also knocked a couple of holes in the interior wall, but these pictures don't show them.
The masking tape mockup of the fixtures, that represents my effort to visualize how the bathroom will look and feel when it's done. Starting from the original plan, we made the shower pan four inches narrower, eliminated the interior wall, pushed the east wall (behind the sink) back an inch, pushed the south wall (behind the toilet) back five inches, found a slightly wider and shallower sink, and a shorter toilet. Compared to the mockup of the original plan, this masking tape mockup feels much more livable (although it'll still be cosy).
Ralph (the contractor) and Brian (his helper) tore out the rest of the walls and ceiling. These views are from the hallway.
East wall, showing the bedroom closet door (from the inside).
West wall, showing some random wiring.
Hallway view from the stairs, showing the old studding.
You can see that they've laid the floorboards in the eave attic, which will make it much easier to crawl around in the "jeffries tube" space, when construction is done. The big cardboard box holds the shower floor pan, which they got early to enable building the frame to match it.
The ceiling with laths and insulation gone. This was one of the first really hot days of summer, and this south roof is in full sunlight ... with the insulation gone, it radiates an astonishing amount of heat, like a kiln or furnace.
As you see, they've remounted the closet light fixture above the closet door temporarily. Turns out this fixture is not to code (closet lights must be fluorescent to mitigate fire hazard), so it's going to have to be replaced later.
This picture shows where they've taken out a strip of insulation between two joists, in preparation for the drain that will go in tomorrow. It also shows the hot and cold water supply pipes, in black temporary insulation, sticking up from the downstairs bathroom (in front of the white Hafler box), which will supply this new bathroom.
Living room ceiling, ready for the drain plumbing. And yes, I have finally gotten rid of this cruddy old sofa.
The basic framing is roughed in. (That's Brian in the first picture.) You can see the shower pan in place, and the double thick wall that will allow for the pocket door and the shower supply plumbing right next to each other.
The plumber came in the evening and installed the drain pipe. These pictures show the living room ceiling with details of the pipe connections.
This picture shows the pocket door, framed and hung.
Here is the drain plumbing in the bathroom. You can see the new little fake vent stack above where the sink will go ... this is a compromise for the available space ... the plumber tells me he will put a check valve on it to ensure that there will be no outflow into the space between the walls ... that would be a Bad Thing.
Random details of the finished framing. The first picture shows details of the pocket door, including the space for the transom window (which will allow some natural light from the big roof window in the hallway). The second picture shows the buildout of the south wall, to fit the shower pan.
The soffit framing. Ralph says it's as small as they can make it, constrained by the support points and the size of the frame stock. Hopefully it will not be very obtrusive, once the wallboard is up and painted.
Ralph has mounted the vent box ... right where I said I didn't want it. The new roof window, if and when I get to build it, will have to go between the rafters, right below the existing roof window. This vent box, and the white wire hanging there, look like they're in the way. I will have to ask Ralph about this.
Random details of the south wall framing.
Random details of the drain plumbing.
More details of the pocket door.
Details of the supply plumbing for the sink. The second picture shows the one-way check valve that he put on the mini vent stack.
Details of the toilet supply plumbing (cold water only, natch).
The shower pan in place with its drain plumbing. I don't understand why the drain pipe doesn't appear to line up with the drain opening in the pan ... I suspect it's because the two Y joints would be too close together otherwise.
Details of the shower supply plumbing.
Another view of the shower supply plumbing, showing how the cold water upright jogs over to meet its supply line.
Views in the eave attic, showing the supply plumbing hookup to the vertical feeds from the downstairs bathroom, and how they run across to the new bathroom. The second picture shows the feeds that supply the shower. Nice soldering job.
I'm assuming that these guys have thought about how cold this eave attic will get in wintertime, and have a way to insulate or heat these pipes to prevent them from freezing. At least I hope they've thought about it, it would bum if I'm the first and there's no easy solution ...