Nov 8 - son of a gun

Wow was I bitchy.  The deep sink that you have to bend over to reach the bottom; the small cabinet crowded with plumbing and electrical; the faucet that doesn't really fit behind the granite ... all these things ...

Oh yes, we do have granite.  The sink is so large though that it crowds the back and front of the counter, leaving little room for plumbing behind.  In fact, I had to drill out some of the back of the cabinet behind and below the faucet hole to even get the retaining washer in.

The basins are so deep that the Moen tool is too short to get at the faucet lock nut.  I had to improvise with two of them and a bolt-like affair between them and my 1/2" ratchet even to get at it but even so, it's not as tight as it should be because the washer doesn't sit flat on the granite, it's partly grabbing the sink and partly thin air..

I had to relocate the cold and hot water plumbing because the drains are close together in the center of the double sink unit and right at the back.  Even so, I had to hook up the plumbing after I installed the faucet.  What that means for faucet maintenance is that I will probably have to undo the supply plumbing, perhaps remove the disposer and hot water tank.  Thank goodness I did it with Shark Bites !

The drains are an entirely different matter.  The basin is so deep that the outflow from the food disposer is only 1/2" higher than the drain running into the wall.  Unlike Canadian drain plumbing with ABS, where you can basically craft your own setup, the poly stuff that they use here doesn't give you many options.  I ended up building an in-line trap with elbows.

The over-pressure relief valve for the hot water hasn't been connected to the drain yet.  I'm going to HD shortly to see if I can find some reasonable solution to that.


It was a very long process, quite a contrast to installing the island sink which is basically done except that I have to pick up some more plumbing and return some other plumbing.  I need an "S Trap" and I want to use straight shark bite valves; will return the angled ones.

We had pizza for dinner and then I went back at it, finishing up around 9pm.

This morning I also finished up the electrical work under both cabinets, securing the boxes etc.  That sounds easy, but it wasn't.  The 3/4" conduit under the main sink is incredibly stiff and there's no room for anything under there anyway !  The 1/2" conduit under the island sink was comparatively easy.

Ok, enough complaining.

The granite is beautiful.  As usual, Sandy did well.  The sink is very nice except for the depth and the size :).  The faucets ... hope nothing ever goes wrong with the main faucet !!!

Charlie was over doing some odds and ends.  We still don't have the glass doors; presumably those are being painted.  Since they're glass, we don't really miss them !

I did the baseboard in the living room and started the dining room while the granite installation was underway.  I've got a lot of caulking to do.  I wish that I was good at it !  I still have the elevator lobby (easy), the rest of the dining room (easy), have to leave the fireplace area clear until they do their work (scheduled for Tuesday), and, of course, the fiddly work in the kitchen.

It is coming together. 

Onward.