I have just had two terrible blows in building my first house. The plumber missed the note that the medicine cabinets were to be recessed and put the “vent?” for the sink and all the pipe lines in the wall right where the medicine cabinet was to be put in. How can I keep the now surface mounted medicine cabinets looking their best. They will stick out about 4 inches in two bathrooms. Am I doomed?
If that wasn’t bad enough, I just checked the sun porch foundation that they poured for the floor (this house is being built 140 miles away so I can’t be there everyday)and there is no drain. (Yes, I don’t think the plumber received any notes). The porch is enclosed but I did want to spray my flowers with a hose and not have to worry about the water sometimes overflowing the pot trays under the larger plants. It is a slab foundation so I assume my options at this point are severely limited. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Replies
With the med cabs you can replace them with a surface mount type or construct a case around them to convert them to surface mount. I would talk to the plumber & talk $s to correct these mistakes if indeed they are his. When I make mistakes off a plan, I half to eat them & somtimes they dont taste so great. Keep a cool head & work these problems out.
Lot a times, the plumber only gets copies of mechanical pages to work from, because el diablo doesn't want to waste a full set of drawings on him, so I have to race him to get to the bathrooms and frame them in. If he see's a hole for them he might work around them. If it's a dream bathroom, things will get changed anyway. Who cares about the kids bath.
Future warning: You can't just turn the average plumber(or other tradeperson) loose on a house and expect things to fall into place without being visible on the job to work with them,and answer questions that will arise. There might be duckwork that will take up a joist space, recessed light that have to go "here", etc..
Edited 4/26/2003 10:25:48 AM ET by panama red
I certainly know you need to be on site. I was just really surprised that so much was in the place that I have always considered the medicine cabinet space. I know one can live with surface mounted cabinets and that if the cabinets and no drain are my only two problems I am most fortunate, most fortunate, most fortunate
Who is the GC?
He is ultimately responsible to you. I do have to be on site to make sure every one works together. If you are your own GC to save money and not able to be there - tough turkey. GC is work that requires attendance.
If the plumber had drawings with notes, the change to make your cabinet recess is out of his pocket unless it is impssible to run the lines anywhere else to meet code.
Excellence is its own reward!
Do you have additional depth in that part of the bath where you can do an additional detail if moving the vents lines wind up being impossible? Just pop,out that area to a width of a 2X4.
I am so sorry, I have no idea what you are referring to when you say other detail area.
I have seen the place where the medicine cabinet should go and have to agree that there is no way all the lines and wires can be moved.
I guess I have to admit defeat on this item. There will be no recessed medicine cabinets in those bathrooms.
I am going to try my best to make sure I don't let anything else slip up - ok, if I had kept my plans handy and walked around with the plumber like I did everyone else this would not have happened. His schedule was just not possible for me, but Believe me I am going to try to NOT let it happen again.
BC, I think what Migraine is talkin' about is just building the wall out to make it deep enough for the recessed cabinet. In other words...build a wall right next to your existing wall. This might not be possible in a real small bath, or if it interferes with window trim, etc...
A few 2x4's is cheap at this point, especially if you haven't started rocking. Then again, it's one more detail to worry about and maybe it's just time to move on. As you said earlier, if these are the only problems you'll have...you're very fortunate.
Another possibility is perhaps the wall is 2x6 as opposed to 2x4. Sometimes plumbing walls are 2x6 due to the vent and waster stacks and the holes required in the plates. If the wall is 2x6 and the pipes are set back far enough, maybe you can use a recessed cabinet if only for a few inches, then have the finish carp do a molding detail around the rest of the exposed cabinet.
Just a thought.
I never met a tool I didn't like!
Another option. If this enclosed on one or both ends, then you can use a recessed, none mirrored cabinet in on or both of those walls and just a flat mirror on the back wall.