Three months to finish a basement bathroom that should have taken two weeks

I started framing a basement bathroom in my Calgary bungalow back in January thinking I'd have it wrapped up in 14 days max. What a joke lol. First I found out the drain pipe was sitting at the wrong angle so I had to cut into the slab and re-pour concrete around a new fitting. Then the city inspector flagged my venting setup and made me rerun the whole stack. After that I spent three weekends just drywalling around the plumbing because nothing was square. Then the vanity I ordered showed up with a huge chip in the corner and the return took forever. Finally got the toilet and sink hooked up last week and it felt like winning a gold medal lol. Anyone else have a small project that ballooned into months of headaches?

3 comments

3 Comments

grace_hunt843d ago

Oh man the vanity chip thing hit close to home. I had a similar nightmare with a pedestal sink that arrived cracked after waiting six weeks for it. For anyone reading this who hasn't started yet, measure everything three times before you cut into concrete. And for the venting thing, I learned the hard way that you gotta call the city before you even think about framing. They'll tell you exactly what they want instead of you guessing and having to rip it all out. Also next time dont order anything fancy online unless you can pick it up yourself. Return shipping takes forever and they always fight you on damage claims.

perry.jessica3d ago

Wrapped my basement bathroom in about the same timeframe. What saved me was running everything past a retired plumber buddy before I even bought materials. He spotted my venting plan was wrong before I cut anything. Also switched to a local plumbing supply place instead of big box stores after the first fixture delivery got delayed twice. They actually had stock on site and let me inspect stuff before loading it. Ended up paying maybe 5% more but saved three weeks of waiting around.

olivia_wilson3d ago

Local supply houses are the way to go. That retired plumber buddy sounds like a lifesaver.