Old Sink Single Faucet Conversion

March 31, 2016 by Evan Hart

In a previous post I was writing about remodeling the back bathroom which had what I believe to be the original '20s sink and toilet in the '40s bath. The toilet used a lot of water and had to be replaced but the '20s sink fit the space well - it just needed new plumbing.

Around the '40s I would guess, faucets switched from being hot and cold separate faucets to being single "mixer" faucets. I saw an old sink somewhere that had a single mixer faucet in one hole and a soap dish in the other faucet hole and I decided to replicate this old school single faucet conversion with the '20s sink.

The first step was to find a faucet that would put the water into the middle of the sink where you would wash your hands. After looking around, a spout faucet seemed like it would be the ticket as it projects water from the spout and the specs said it would be about 8 or 9 inches which is what I wanted

This Delta Victorian faucet was $220 but seemed like it would be exactly what I needed

I needed two different length supply hoses

Here's the faucet in place

It was recommend that the hoses be flushed which is a good idea as I had used rusty galvanized nipples for the paint phase and some crap came out.

You can't really see the hoses but it's nice to have approximately the right lengths. The nipples were replaced with brass and the escutcheons added. I usually do finish plumbing after paint.

The soap dish for the vintage single faucet conversion was hard to find but I was able to get one at The Sink Factory in Berkeley which is a vintage plumbing store. It was a reproduction that is larger than the old style and fits a Dove beauty bar which is an ideal size. The guy at the sink factory said the smaller true vintage one would cost a lot more

So glad to find this hard to find little piece for $30

It all worked out! I reused my old sink and modernized it. It now works better than it did originally. Cost is $250 for the parts on top plus some hoses etc. for underneath. I'm really pleased with how this turned out considering this was the first time I've done it.

Cheap Good LED Bulbs - Welcome to the Future

March 13, 2016 by Evan Hart in electrical, lighting

The house was well designed for its time with more than average windows for the '20s. However, lighting is minimal and the redwood ceilings are dark so we need to leave lights on most of the time.

LED lights use about 15% of their incandescent counterparts for the same amount of light. This is due to LEDs producing very little heat, which is where most of the energy goes in an incandescent.

I have been replacing a lot of the light bulbs with LEDs and have added some LED track lights and recessed cans as well. This helps me feel good about having lots of light in the house, which I have noticed has a substantial effect on my mood.

The only problem is when LED bulbs first came out the color was harsh and they cost about $20 for a 60w replacement LED. All of those prices have gone way way down, especially the generic 60w bulb.

When I saw that Home Depot had a mountain of these at the checkout stand at 4 for $10, I had to get a couple packs. $2.50 a bulb is so cheap and they'll pay for themselves in no time. Are they decent?

They totally rule!

They look just like regular bulbs.

8.5W LED on the left with 43W incandescent on the right.

I'm very impressed with these, especially at the price. There is no reason to get regular incandescent 60w bulbs anymore. They're even making LED Edison bulbs so there will be no reason at all to get anything but LED in the future. Looks like the LED bulb has finally become the true replacement for all residental bulbs.

Even the LED Edison bulbs are good!

Below 4W LED (60W replacement) on the left compared to 100W incandescent:

A small series of Tributaries

March 13, 2016 by Evan Hart in outdoor

It has been raining pretty hard from El Niño 2016 and that has made the water flow down the hillside and around and under our house pretty apparent. Water flow and hydrostatic pressure are what cause foundations to sink and crack and retaining walls to fail.

Our house has water flowing under the back 2/1 addition which is the topmost point of the hillside and it seems to be meandering around under the house.

Then there are little rivers that are winding around walkways going down the hillside.

I also figured out the patio next to the kitchen seems like it was supposed to guide water away from the laundry door. I think this patio was added in '33 because it has the same fish scale pattern as the garage which I think was '33.

Maybeck houses are designed to be built with the hillside. The ideology is to be nestled among trees and compatible with nature. But it is also practical in terms of building because you don't need to make large retaining walls anywhere since minimal hardscapimg needs to be done to make the hillside conform to your design.

However, this means the crawlspace is 2' and under in many places making plumbing and heating work is difficult and the floor framing is close to the dirt.

With the floor framing close to the dirt, you don't want the dirt to be wet because moisture causes rot and mold. Therefore it is bad to have streams running around and under a house that is nestled into the hillside.

The remedy is a French drain. A French drain is a typically 4" pipe with holes in it that is sitting in a trench around the top back edge and sides of the perimeter of the house that is intended to collect water and keep the foundation and under house areas mostly dry.

Our house needs a few hundred feet of French drain which is a big project but could really help to stop the foundation from sinking and cracking. This will have to wait for sunny weather. Until then I will just have to listen to the now disquieting sound of trickling water.

Redoing back bath - in progress

March 11, 2016 by Evan Hart in diy, construction

I have been doing tons of research on the house and it is very clear that the 2 bed 1 bath addition at the very back of the house has nothing to do with the historic details of the house that we are trying to preserve. For that reason, it will be remodeled in a neutral style in mostly white since it isn't really possible to try and make it match the awesome design and woodwork of the rest of the house.

In general, when doing whole house remodels, it's a good idea to repeat design themes throughout. In this case, some elements from work I've done to the house will be repeated - mainly the 6x6 white tiles in running bond pattern and white track lighting that doesn't make a statement but simply illuminates. I used the white tiles in the kitchen above the red 6x6 pattern so that I could add a vent fan in the kitchen which was much needed. I also added white 6x6 tiles above the old clay tiles in the bathroom to raise the shower head. These white tile surfaces provide a functional surface while blending into the wall and not distracting from the old tile work which is probably from the '20s on the bath floor and the '30s on the wall in the bath and kitchen.

The back bath shower was originally 1/8" Masonite which is pretty odd since it is not an effective moisture barrier. If you know the stuff, it seems about as strong as really good cardboard.

The obvious choice was to do the shower in white 6x6 to continue the theme to unify the design throughout as much as reasonably possible.

The white track light I added has LED bulbs and was also used in the kitchen. It's a flexible system that simply adds light where it's needed.

The downstairs bath also has unobtrusive white LED lighting in the form of recessed 4" cans.

One thing that's odd is the bath has '20s plumbing fixtures. I'm still trying to figure out what has happened to this house over the years but the fixtures may be from an earlier upstairs half bath that was removed when the master dressing room was converted to master bath.

The wall sink fits well there so I'll simply shine it up. The '20s wall tank toilet is a 5 gallon flush and will need to be replaced with a modern toilet. Unfortunately, the closet flange (floor drain) will need to be moved back from 16" to 12".

Above you can also see the floor was done in a style to mimic the downstairs bath and will be left for now.

The ceiling is definitely not large timber redwood like the rest of the house and so will simply be painted fresh white as will the rest of the back addition with this ceiling.

Update:

Back t the toilet... The vent for the toilet is wrong and I have to move back the toilet flange to accommodate a modern toilet so I'm redoing a large section.

Getting there...

Clockwise from top center: 4" toilet drain, 2" toilet vent, 2" shower drain

The 2" vent is now correctly out of the path of water from the toilet flush going down the 4" pipe. The vent is just for displaced air which is why it can have hard bends. The foreground 2" pipe is the shower drain.

It's pretty funny to see the tiny 1 gallon toilet tank next to the old 3-5 gallon wall tank toilet.

Got the toilet in...