Offgridburbia

My goal is to have the walls ready to be infilled with light clay straw by the end of September. To reach that end I have a whole list of things to get done including but probably not be limited to:

– Roughing-in plumbing drain, vent and supply lines
– Roughing-in electric lines and outlets
– Installing Bathroom and Kitchen exhaust fans compartments
– Roughing-in air conditioner lines
– Framing cavity for fold up desk
– Finish installing furring strips
– Rough-in exhaust vent for rocket mass heater

Check out those hair lines. Genetics is a cruel mistress indeed.

So long Austin Public Library and thanks for all the knowledge

I’ve been sub-consciously or perhaps consciously avoiding the plumbing and electrical aspects of this projects because they’re areas I’m not particularly familiar with and honestly not particularly interested in. For the past six months or so I’ve had a variety of DIY plumbing and electrical books on loan from the public library. I just haven’t read them up until a few weeks ago when I cracked the plumbing book.

The plumbing for the cabin is fairly simple. There’s one kitchen faucet, one full bath, and one half bath with the capacity for expanding it to a full bath. As we’re planning on using a composting toilet plumbing would be even simpler but I’m going to plumb it so that if we wanted to install a flush toilet that would be an option. Also, state and county rules specify that waste water from the shower is considering grey water where waste water from the kitchen sink and bathroom lavatory are considering black water and must go to a septic system. The grey water/black water thing is mostly beyond the scope of the plumbing rough-in but there are some considerations to be made with the drain/vent system.

The pier and beam foundation gives me a lot of freedom to finish the plumbing at a later date. I’m going to frame out access panels for the plumbing at all the fixtures so I can pull in the supply lines after the walls are infilled.

Here’s a time lapse of the plumbing rough-in:

And here are stills with more details:

I’ve found that to pique my Dad’s interest and coerce him into forced labor is to let him use his favorite tools. His heavily modified radial arm saw was not an option in this situation but the oscillating multi tool was perfect for notching out the lap board for the drain/vent pipe.

I’d been dreading the cut for a while but it turned out to not be that bad. I’m cutting a channel out the the tie beam to run the bathroom vent up to the roof.

Chiseling out the channel. If I’d really had my game together I could have done this when I was cutting the joinery.

Finishing out the channel in the tie beam.

Dry fitting the bathroom drain/vent before gluing the pieces together.

Securing the pipes to the framing.

Drilling holes for the water supply lines to the shower. The water lines will run underneath the house.

Plumbing the kitchen sink

Framing the access cabinet for the kitchen sink plumbing.

Finished cabinet framing

I’ve received some feedback that there have not been enough chickens featured on the blog lately. Hopefully, what follows will somewhat makes up for that shortcoming.

Installing sanitary tee under the kitchen sink. The kitchen sink drain will run to the middle of the house and then east along the center grade beam to tie in with the bathroom drain.

Check out our new rooster, Willy Nelson, center left.

Dry fitting plumbing

I’d tried to bring everything I needed under the house with me initially but I had to crawl out several times to get a few odds and ends. What a plumbing rookie.

These chickens were relentless inspecting my plumbing. “That doesn’t look like 1/4″ per foot slope… Ba-cock!!!”

Securing the strapping to hold the plumbing.

So, if you’re thinking that a vertigo inducing romp under the house being harassed by chickens doesn’t look like fun you’d be wrong. So wrong, in fact that when it’s time to run the water supply and electrical lines down here you should volunteer to do it.