A Very Productive Day

I had a very rare, very productive day yesterday but I'm left with excruciating spinal pain from my lumbar spine all the way up through my thoracic and cervical spine (I have significant injuries in all three areas).  The pain was so extreme last night that it was taking my breath away!  My extensive spinal injuries are still inflamed even today but down to moderately tolerable levels.  

Today I plan to do a bit of plumbing work if my body cooperates.

I managed to get the entire shower and dressing area enclosed which made for a really good day.  I even made a door and hung it!  

The day involved a lot of cutting, ripping and making rabbits on every piece of wood.  All of these piece fit together nicely.  

The hot and cold spigots are installed.  Today's job is to connect these spigots to the house water supply.  I already have the wall inside the house that adjoins with this back wall of the house completely opened and holes drilled through studs to run the hot and cold lines.  These two lines pop out of the wall right next to the dressing area of this outdoor shower.

Here is another angle below.  You can see the two spigots mounted on the wall of the house right next to this new structure.  You can also see the door I built in this photo.  I had originally planned to make a simple rectangular door but decided curve the top of the door to match the curve of the wood in the shower wall.  This little detail required a lot of extra time but I think it was worth it.

You step into the dressing area when you enter the shower.  There will be a bench along the wall of the house...  hooks on the wall to our left...  and, there will be more appropriate smooth gravel added between the patio pavers.  

This next photo is looking toward the shower from the door to the dressing area.  I haven't assembled the shower fixture yet but I have all the parts on hand already.  I need to stain everything before I install the shower fixture so I have some time before assembling all those parts.

This wall, below, is where the shower fixture will be mounted.  

This photo, below, shows the shower enclosure from the backyard by the garden railroad.  

Today's task is to connect the new hot and cold spigots to the house water supply.  This type of thing always makes me nervous.  Once I cut open the water supply I need to make sure I get it back up and running with no leaks.  Plus, it is tight working around the water heater where these connections are going to be made.  I'm going to work from the spigots back to the water heater closet.  The last thing I'll do is add the tee on each hot and cold line.  There will also be a valve in each line so I can shut off the water in winter and drain all outdoor plumbing.  

I still need to stain all the wood...  then add the corrugated roofing panels...  then add the smoother gravel between the pavers.  I really need a handle on the door too...  install hooks for hanging clothes and towels...  and I still haven't decided whether to add a sliding bolt on the door or simply purchase a magnetic cabinet catch to hold the door closed.  

Oh yeah...  I also need to finish leveling off the stone pathway here.  I have extra bags of gravel and top soil for this task.  

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Later in the Day:  I finished plumbing both the hot and cold lines out to the spigots next to the outdoor shower...  let it cure for two hours (CPVC pipes and fittings)...  and just charged the lines...  no leaks!  

That is good news because I ran into some problems with this little task.  My cutter crushed both pipes (hot and cold) where I was going to install a Tee to branch off to the outdoor shower.  I had to sharpen my cutter and then try again.  After sharpening my cutter, it cut far more cleanly.  

While the CPVC cement was curing for two hours, I did some staining outside.  That whole structure needs to be stained.  I had purchased one gallon of stain but after a couple of hours of staining, I'm thinking one gallon might not be enough.  We'll see...