I'm Tired

I got back from Home Depot at 5:30 with $750 of lumber, ductwork, and pipe fittings.  I filled three carts!  After unloading the van I had a couple of sandwiches for dinner and then got back down to work.  Since it was getting dark I decided to deal with ductwork and destroying the cast iron drains instead of continuing the subfloor.  I didn't want to cut outside after dark and disturb the peace.

It took about three hours to move the duct to the boys' bathroom.  It had to be moved because the laundry chute is going through its old location.  If you are trying to remember which one it was, it was the low one running diagonally across the laundry room.  It was so low that I regularly brushed my head on it while going to the washing machine.

Here is the old duct coming down:

Here is the new one part way up.  I will have to find a new location for the paintbrushes.

And here is the final result.  You can't even see it behind that return.  Just a little bit on the left as it goes up over the shelves and again on the right as it goes across the top storage shelf.  It it goes up and over that return.

Having done that I decided I was nasty enough that I might as well get the last really bad project out of the way.  Luckily for you I don't have too many pictures of my progress.  Here is the one I took:

Yes, those are bits of string and hair and biofilm hanging down.  It wasn't at nasty as it could of been.  Most of it was dry since I cut off the water to the bathroom three weeks ago.

Taking out cast iron is HARD WORK.  First you have to break it apart.  Mostly this involves shattering with with multiple hammer blows.  Sometimes you are lucky and you the pipe breaks through under 10 or 20 blows of the small sledge hammer.  In some places I needed over a hundred blows to get the break I needed, because I was breaking a stronger piece, working at a funny angle, or both.  I hard to take breaks to catch my break and to let my safety glasses unfog.  You definitely want safety glasses.  Pieces of metal go everywhere, often at high speed.

When you finally succeed in breaking the pipe you have a different problem: a very heavy section of pipe falling.  You have to plan ahead: What will the pipe be supported by when it breaks?  How heavy will the section be?  Will it have an awkward center of gravity because of the intact branches?  For the 4" pipes I aimed for sections 3-4 feet long because that was the most I was comfortable controlling and carrying out to the dumpster.  Oh, the dumpster:

It is still mostly empty because I can load it weeknights.  I need to save my weekends for the bigger inside projects.

I finished the cast iron workout about midnight and took a nice, long shower.  By taking out the cast iron I am ready to start the plumbing rough-in tomorrow.  Luckily I can't start that until after Home Depot opens in the morning.  I got most of the fittings today, but not any of the pipe.

It is fairly important that I get the DWV (Drain Waste Vent) system back together because right now the two vents through the roof have no waste line under them.  Sewer gases are still vended outside through the kitchen and a sideways access to the largest vent from our bathroom.  But I'd rather not have rain coming through the vents.