Padilla's Garage Gut/Remodel

[John Weber]

Chris,

Good move taking a day to rest. You might want to consider leaving the ceiling as is and simply running the lights and new circuits in conduit. Or if you can get in the attic above, you can still run wires that way. It may save you some nasty drywall/insulation removal work, and since your wall are open you can still run wires that way. However that said, my ceiling is like a cobweb, my sub panel goes up and feeds a junction box in the attic that all the circuits connect through. Add ceiling outlets, lights, smoke detector, etc... and I've got a ton fo cable up there.

On the washer/dryer, are you for sure, sure. If there was any way, any how, I think it would be worth it. Our 4th bedroom has it's own shower/sink/toilet, as well as the washer and dryer. Because the house is so old, closet space stinks. So one of our next projects is to convert it into a formal closet/bath/laundry. A small folding area, hanging area, toilet/sink/shower, and hopefully the closet of my wife's dreams. If you happen to have an extra bedroom, or other unused space, a second floor laundry is the best thing since sliced cheese.

Keep your chin up.

John

[Chris Padilla]

I just chatted with the old man...I don't feel so sunk now. He confirmed the 5/8 fire-rated drywall in the garage but I'll still find someone to do it....

John, I will chat with the LOML about laundry moving elsewhere but I just can't see it to be honest. I would be happy to do it to gain the space and I have access to the walls to do it now that I've opened up everything. Darn you, John, you've greased the gears in my brain!! LOL! What special sort of things does one need to look out for in putting laundry on a second floor? I'm thinking of water issues, of course. If I were to do this, the w/d would literally just move right above where they were. Hmmm, would need to run gas line up there for the dryer...provide a vent. Hmmm.....

[John Weber]

Ours was done by a previous homeowner, thus nothing special was done. The only thing I've done since is change the rubber hoses to stainless hoses. We also have a shut off switch/lever, but I plan to add an electrical shutoff that senses the washer call for water and turns the valve on and off accordingly. When we remodeled the kitchen about 5 years ago, the pipes feeding the laundry started freezing, so I hope to rerun them in an interior wall soon (this year), just one of those freak things I guess, although the guy that install the water lines was stupid for running them in an outside wall. I have a interior chimey chase about 6' away, so I'll move them there. The dryer was electric, so no problems there, it simply vents straight out the wall. I've all seen pans for under the washer, but my guess is it would need to have a drain do be effective, and that is a big job (for my situation). I think with the electrical shutoff and stainless lines I should be ok. The old w/d was in the basement, moving upstairs is something we will look for in any house we ever buy (although we may never move again). The best parts are dirty laundry says close to the w/d, beding, towels, everything you use is close at hand. Plus it's simple to run a load when getting ready in the morning. Kim usually runs a load before I even get up, she never has to go to the garage/basement/1st floor, a big plus.

Go for it - John

[Chris Padilla]

No pictures but all the drywall gutting is officially finished!! Man, I'm pooped...I'm posting to y'all at 1 am Cali time!

Boy, I'll be using the leaf blow to really blow out the garage now...what a freakin' mess. But now I have a fresh start! Yip-ee!

[Dan Stuewe]

We want to move our washer and dryer straight up to my walk in closet and move my stuff to the regular closet in the master bedroom. It shouldn't be too bad since there should be working space under the stairs. We're kinda paranoid about major laundry room leaks (my in-laws have had a couple and a co-worker had an upstairs water heater mess up her condo for several months). Anyway, besides the shutoff we thought about tileing the floor and adding a drain - kinda like a big shower pan. Anyway, John's comments about quick loads in the morning or anytime is what we are looking forward to.

[Jim Becker]

Dan, it's normal to put a pan under a washer to drain leaks, use steel-reinforced hoses and provide a water cutoff that should be "off" when the unit is not in use. This makes for the best installation in living space. When I moved the laundry from the basement to the second floor in my previous home (builder refused to do it!), I did all that and was quite comfortable with having the washer and dryer in what was formerly the smallest bedroom (9' x 10') that backed up to the master bath.

[Jamie Buxton]

Dan, it's normal to put a pan under a washer to drain leaks, use steel-reinforced hoses and provide a water cutoff that should be "off" when the unit is not in use. This makes for the best installation in living space. When I moved the laundry from the basement to the second floor in my previous home (builder refused to do it!), I did all that and was quite comfortable with having the washer and dryer in what was formerly the smallest bedroom (9' x 10') that backed up to the master bath.

The usual cut-off valve is a pain: you have to open it every time you do a load of clothes, and close it when you're done. Someplace I've seen an electrically-operated one. You plug the washer into it. When you turn on the washer, the electronics senses the current and opens the water valve. (If you have a tool-triggered shop vac like Fein makes, the function is exactly the same.) The idea is that somebody will be right there if the hose bursts, instead of everybody being out of the house. (http://www.laundry-alternative.com/i...owitworks.html)

Chris, you mention that one wall is faced with plywood. Probably that's shear-walling. If you had a wall built with just vertical and horizontal lumber, it could collapse sideways very easily. The plywood prevents that. Particularly in big earthquake country, shear-walling is good to have. Present-day construction practice in coastal California is to sheath the entire house with plywood -- for exactly this reason.

[Chris Padilla]

Jamie,

I also have diagnol strapping in various locations throughout walls but certainly, it would help in that respect, too.

I'm going to pitch the 2nd floor laundry to the wife...absolutely it does make sense to have it on the floor where 90% of the dirty clothes are at.

[Terry Hatfield]

Chris,

Ahh...there you are. I was beginning to wonder if your remodel project had done you in!!

It's looking good..well, sort of.... well, you know!!! It's always got to look worse before looking better and this sort of thing always and I mean ALWAYS has the "one thing leads to another" syndrome, Atleast for me.

Keep at it. You'll get there soon and all this will be more than worth it I bet!!

Terry

[Jim Becker]

Ahh...there you are. I was beginning to wonder if your remodel project had done you in!!

Keep in mind that Chris is existing on fast-food and dirty cloths...

[Terry Hatfield]

Keep in mind that Chris is existing on fast-food and dirty cloths...

I thought that was what everybody did when their wives were gone even if they didn't tear up the garage!!

t

[Ron McNeil]

Chris, I'm sure the hard work will be worth it when the remodel is done. Looking forward to seeing completed pictures.

[Frank Pellow]

I'm going to pitch the 2nd floor laundry to the wife...absolutely it does make sense to have it on the floor where 90% of the dirty clothes are at.

Good!

I strongly, strongly recommend that you get the laundry room out of the garage. I created a laundry room by widening the hall on our main floor and it is probably the project that my wife has appreciated the most of all those that I have undertaken. And, if I had built the laundry room on the second story, Margaret probably would have liked it even better.

[Rich Konopka]

Dan, it's normal to put a pan under a washer to drain leaks, use steel-reinforced hoses and provide a water cutoff that should be "off" when the unit is not in use. This makes for the best installation in living space. When I moved the laundry from the basement to the second floor in my previous home (builder refused to do it!), I did all that and was quite comfortable with having the washer and dryer in what was formerly the smallest bedroom (9' x 10') that backed up to the master bath.

I also had a pan and shut off valve installed on my water heater. I had a big mess when the aqua-stat let go on the water heater and it spewed hot water into the basement. I lucked out that I had not finished framing in the basement. I only had two walls up.

The damage from the water heater was not from the water but from the humidity. Because my house is new and is air tight the basement ecame a sauna and I had rust buildup on my TS in the matter of hours.


Chris, as someone had indicated pay careful attention to the furnace and water heater. They do need air flow. If you can build a closet and a air vent to the outside you would be better off.

[Chris Padilla]

I spent today cleaning up the garage and using the leaf blower...YOWZER! Some folks walking by thought my garage was on fire with the "smoke" spewing out of it!

I pitched the move of the laundry to the wife...no dice! She really didn't discuss it much...just said, "nope!" and that was that.

When I informed my wife of looking forward to 10 days of fast food, she quickly cooked up a storm before she left and so no fast food for me although I only have 1 or 2 more days of food left. I treated myself to pizza tonight, however.

Tomorrow I am going to take a hard look at what to work on next. I think it will be doing some plumbing. The water softener needs to move for sure...just not sure exactly where. I'm going to clean up the washer/dryer area with a nice new shut-off valve.

The exterminator (Orkin) is coming between 11-1 (let's hope the infestation I found is old....) and I hope the HVAC guy will show up sometime tomorrow as well. I'm kinda anxious to tear out the old furnace/blower, pull out the water heater, and tear off that drywall. We'll see. Work, work, work....fun, fun, fun....