Thinking Outside the Box

If you have been following my story, you know that my new mantra is "Identify issues and find ways to address them". With this in mind, I decided that I would start with a small, simple job to kick off the bathroom renovation - I would install an additional receptacle.

We have one receptacle currently in the bathroom. A nightlight occupies the top outlet and the towel warmer occupies the bottom outlet. If someone wants to use a hair dryer or curling iron, one of those devices must be unplugged. Of course, that means remembering to plug in back in when you're done too, so you don't have to listen to some people (me) complain about cold towels. Also, since there are no outlets in the hallway (I plan to rectify that in the future), we use this outlet when we vacuum the bathroom, the hallway, and the stairs.

The outlet is installed near the sink about 5 feet from the floor. (pic) After consulting the map in the circuit box, it appeared that the bathroom outlet was the only thing installed on that circuit. I figured I would pull the old box and drop a length of 14 gauge Romex straight down to a point about 6 inches from the floor where the new box would be installed. Since the receptacle was the only thing on the circuit, there would be only one line coming into the box.

I turned off the power at the breaker panel and removed the face plate from the existing receptacle.

I measured straight down from the box to the point where I wanted to install the second receptacle, and marked the location for the new box. Using a drywall saw, I cut a hole for the new receptacle box.

At this point, I was ready to removed the line cable from the existing outlet, so that I could add a load branch for the downstream receptacle. When I removed the outlet from the box, I discovered that there was already a load wire leaving the box! Since my husband and I had mapped all the circuits in the house, and determined that this was the only device on the circuit, we were, needless to say, rather confused.

There were only two knockouts in the existing box. One was occupied by the line cable and one by by the mystery load cable. I sighed heavily (i.e., swore loudly), and determined that I would have to replace the existing box with one that had more knockouts, since I needed to add a second load branch. Of course, this was a "new work" box, which means it was nailed to the stub behind the drywall. Though I have since learned that you can use a reciprocating saw to cut through the nails and release the box, I didn't know that at the time, and set to work trying to carefully pry the box out. I was as careful as I could be, yet I still damaged the drywall below the box. However, once the box was out, I could at least examine the mystery cable.

The line cable dropped in from the attic and was connected to the outlet at the line terminal. The load terminal also had Romex connected which exited the box and traveled back up into the attic. After a couple of hours of trying to figure out where the wire went, and what it powered, we gave up. I decided just to splice the new branch to the line, along with a pigtail to the existing receptacle. The new branch would then continue on to the new outlet, and the old branch would continue to wherever it had been going before we started.

I ran a length of 14 gauge Romex from the opening of the old receptacle to the opening for the new receptacle (pic). I started pulling the three lengths of Romex into one of those blue "old work" boxes, and very quickly began to get frustrated. First of all, the tabs in the box were to tight and inflexible. I understand that these tabs are supposed to hold the cable in place, but instead they stripped the covering off the cable. Once I got the cables pulled into the box, I tried to install the box in the wall and found that, due to the drywall damage, the box would not stay in the wall securely. The lower ear did not extend down far enough to hold the box in place. Since I was working right next to a stud, I assumed that I just needed some sort of "old work" box that could be attached to the stud.

I started pulling the three lengths of Romex into one of those blue "old work" boxes, and very quickly began to get frustrated. First of all, the tabs in the box were to tight and inflexible. I understand that these tabs are supposed to hold the cable in place, but instead they stripped the covering off the cable. Once I got the cables pulled into the box, I tried to install the box in the wall and found that, due to the drywall damage, the box would not stay in the wall securely. The lower ear did not extend down far enough to hold the box in place. Since I was working right next to a stud, I assumed that I just needed some sort of "old work" box that could be attached to the stud.

After a trip to both Home Depot and Lowe's, I discovered that "old work" boxes that attached to the stud are not really a "thing". One of my friends recommended a small hardware store in town that caters to historic homes. We stopped by and were told by the 13-year-old sales clerk (okay, maybe he was 17), that nothing like that exists. He suggested we just drill some holes through the side of one of the blue plastic "old work" boxes and attach it with screws to the stud. I pointed out that having exposed metal screw heads inside the receptacle box violated all kinds of codes. He then looked me up and down, like I hadn't spoken, and asked me if I owned a drill. At that point, my husband dragged me out of the store.

For anyone who knows me, the surest way to light a fire under me is to tell me that something can't be done or does not exist. So I hit the internet, and guess what I found?

Allied Moulding Slider Box

(Arlington makes a similar model called One Box.) The screws can be loosened to slide the box forward or backward to adjust the installation depth, then tightened to anchor the box into the stud. The screws recess into the "slider" plate, so they will not abrade the wires within the box.

So I headed to a local electrical supply store called Harris Electric, which is a branch of Border States. They were able to order a half dozen of the Slider boxes for me. The boxes arrived within a couple of days and I was able to continue with the receptacle installation.

I stripped the outer sheath off the Romex, then stripped about an inch of the black and white wires. I pulled the old and new wires into the Slider Box. The tabs securely held the Romex but were flexible enough to allow it to be easily pulled into the box and manipulated as needed.

With the wiring and a replacement box in place, I wired a new GFCI receptacle into the first box. I then installed a second box in the new position, and wired a second GFCI receptacle. We selected very nice oil-rubbed bronze face plates to use throughout the bathroom. I installed one on the new receptacle. However, I have to repair some of the drywall around the old receptacle, so I temporarily installed a large face plate to cover the damage and protect the wall.

With two receptacles in place, we have doubled our "plugging in" ability in the bathroom. Now, we can plug the nightlight into the upper outlet, the towel warmer into the lower outlet, and there are two free outlets for anything that might be needed. Looking at the bathroom, it doesn't look much different, but we enjoy the improvement that has been made every time we plug in a curling iron or a vacuum cleaner.

"It Will Be So Simple", she said naively ...

With the bathroom now a cheerful shade of blue, we knew that we wanted to continue to improve it, but we were unsure just what we wanted to do. Flash forward a few years (yes, years) to a world with Pinterest and Houzz. These wonderful sites allowed me to spend way too much time at work ... I mean, on Saturday afternoon, browsing through tons of pictures, getting ideas. However, it quickly became overwhelming. So I made an executive decision - going forward we would use a new, organized, and purposeful approach - identify issues and then look for ways to address them. While this might seem painfully obvious to anyone reading this, for me it was a light-bulb moment. By defining the problem, it was easier to locate a solution!

Upon further consideration, the issues in our house seem fall into two categories: 1) those things that we would like to change for cosmetic or aesthetic reasons (paint color, light fixtures, etc.), which I call Improvements and Decor, and 2) those things that we would like to change to address a problem (repairs, lack of outlets in useful places, etc.), which I call Repairs, Renovations, and Enhancements. Some projects fall into both categories, such as my planned "Linen Closet Project", "Coat Closet Project", and "Built-in Bookcase Project", but more on those in later posts.

I installed an app on my iPhone called Weave and used it to start keeping track of all my ideas. The app allows you to create projects, and then create to-dos under each project. You can track the time and money spent on each todo. While not designed specifically for home improvement projects, Weave works pretty well for recording ideas and tracking progress.

So with iPhone in hand, I created a "Bathroom Upgrade" project and began to identify what issues need to be addressed. And there are many, even when you exclude the weird plumbing (more on than later too). Here are just a few:

• There is only one overhead light, and no lights around the mirror, so putting on make-up, shaving, or trying to get an eyelash out of your eye is next to impossible unless it's a sunny day outside.
• There is no ventilator, so when our daughter takes one of her 45 minute showers, the walls are dripping afterwards. We have set up a dehumidifier in the hallway outside the bathroom, but it is loud, takes up room, and partially blocks access to the third bedroom.
• There is only one outlet. We have a nightlight plugged into the top and a towel warmer plugged into the bottom. If someone wants to use a hairdryer, curling iron, vacuum, etc., they have to unplug something.
  
• Since we have a clawfoot bathtub, there is no good place to set things like shampoo and soap. We have a rack in the corner behind the tub, but reaching in and out during showers causes water to drip down the wall. This has ruined the baseboard below the tub.
• There is no place to store towels, and the temporary shelves to store toiletries and insufficient and starting to annoy me.

These are just a few of the issues - I could go on, but I won't. I decided to tackle the lights and additional outlet first. We knew that we wanted sconce lights rather than over-the-mirror lights, and had begun looking as soon as we had installed the new vanity several years ago. But we just couldn't find anything that we liked. The sconces that we found were too big, too boring, too flashy, didn't fit the period of the house, or were just plain unattractive. If we did find something, we would find that it had been discontinued and there was only one left (this actually happened twice).

Finally, this past Valentine's Day, we were strolling through Home Depot - my husband asked me what I wanted to do for Valentine's, and that is what I picked. Yes, really. - and we simultaneously spotted a sconce by Progress that we liked. I would have preferred oil-rubbed bronze, but the store didn't have it, and I wasn't willing to risk passing on the only sconce we had seen in five years that we liked. The sconces were antique nickel, which is very understated and attractive, can be installed either shade down, as shown, or shade up. We quickly popped two into the cart and headed for the register.

With lights finally in hand, there was no longer any reason to procrastinate, so I began planning the required wiring. There are two circuits that feed our bathroom, one runs to the switch, the overhead light, and on into our daughter's room to power the lights and receptacles there. The other runs to the single outlet. According to code, the receptacles and lights in the bath have to be on separate circuits. Both circuits are 15 amp, so I calculated the load on each circuit to make sure they would not be overloaded by the changes that I wanted to make.

I decided to extend a circuit branch from the switch, drop straight down to the floor, run along the floor, then up to a new dual switch, up to the first sconce, then across behind the mirror to the second sconce. One switch of the dual switch would power the new lights, and the other would be in place once the ventilator is installed, hopefully, later this summer. This would keep me from having to cut and patch a lot of drywall. At the same time, I would extend the circuit of the single receptacle, which is about 5 feet from the floor, dropping straight down through the wall to power a new one along the floor. "It will be so simple," I enthused to my husband. "I'll be done in a weekend." Ah, the optimistic naivety of one who doesn't yet know the secrets that lie within 100 years old walls!

In the Beginning, There Was Darkness ...

Though I have not posted in a month, it doesn't mean that I haven't been busy! As will soon become apparent ...

After weighing the various outstanding projects, and taking into consideration the weather, which has not been that great (therefore prohibiting outside projects), I decided to tackle some bathroom upgrades.

Our home has one full bath on the second floor, and a half bath / laundry room on the first floor. The huge clawfoot bathtub in the main bath was one of the things that I loved about our house when we bought it.

However, the already tiny bath was painted dark blue, was lit by a single, rather anemic overhead light, and had a vanity that stole most of the space and didn't provide efficient storage. Furthermore, within a month of living in the house, all the towel racks had become dislocated from the wall due to improper anchoring (and a toddler). This photo is from the hallway, and you can see how tiny the bath is, and how the dark paint, poor lighting, and oversized vanity make it appear even smaller and darker. The single receptacle, while placed conveniently, was not enough. Note the dangling, and therefore unusable, towel rack in the foreground!

The window, which faces full west, was so shrunken that you could see daylight around the sashes. The vinyl shade was not only unattractive, but frequently fell on one's head when one would try to lower or raise it.

The overhead light was completely insufficient to light the room, especially when it had to compete with the dark blue paint. Towels had to be hung over the shower, due to the aforementioned towel rack issue.

The only towel rack that hadn't come loose was over the toilet tank - not the most convenient spot!

The vanity, while too large for the room, was not unattractive, but the storage area underneath was basically unusable. The inside was one large open area, and had at some point been damaged by water. Only the outside of the vanity was white - the inside was dark brown, making it impossible to see anything stored inside. The doors could not swing fully open, due to the size of the room.

One of the first things that we did was replace the window. Pella had windows the size and design that we wanted, with reproduction hardware, removable grills, and double-tilt sashes. However, since our house was built in 1918, the windows are quite large. One new window and screen cost close to $800. So we ordered one Pella window from Lowe's, and installed it ourselves, with the help of my engineer dad.

Next, I removed all the towel racks, patched the damaged drywall, and bought a free-standing towel warmer. I am not sure how I ever lived without a towel warmer! We replaced the weak overhead light with a nice dual bulb light from Lowe's. Of course, the matching sconces that would have been perfect for the bathroom had been discontinued! Around the same time, we replaced the tub filler, shower, and shower ring for the clawfoot bathtub.

Then, all in one long weekend, we removed the vanity and repainted the bathroom. However, when we demoed the old vanity, we found that there was vinyl tile installed underneath it. After scratching our heads over this discovery, we finally discerned that at some point the bath had vinyl tile installed over the hardwood floors, then the vanity was installed on top of that. When the house was cosmetically remodeled a few years before we bought it, the vinyl was removed except under the vanity. Consequently, there is a vanity-shaped area on the hardwood floor that will need to be refurbished.

We replaced the vanity with a free-standing cherry vanity with sink and matching mirror from Home Depot. Home Depot had just started carrying the free-standing vanities at that time, and we got a great deal on it. We also installed a new Pegsasus faucet on the sink. And we painted the whole room a very pretty robin's egg blue. With the vanity gone, we needed a place to put our "stuff", so we picked up a narrow shelf unit with little baskets on it to go next to the sink.

The light blue paint and new vanity made the room look completely different, and so much better! This is the new starting point for the work that I am planning going forward, which will include new lights for the vanity, a second receptacle, a bathroom ventilator, white beadboard and built-in shelves, and new trim and moulding throughout the room.