Fall Bathroom Reno Days 4 and 5: How to Unclog Tub Drain and Dry Fit Bathtub

On days 1-3 we made so much progress in a short amount of time, but day 4 ended up being somewhat of a bust.

On day 3, once the new studs were in, Jake was ready to install the new bathtub, but the drain was not draining. We were just about to prepare to install the new bathtub, but he thought we should check the drain, just in case. This was so smart! He used my old faithful coral bucket to pour water down the drain, but it wasn't moving.

We had regular drain cleaner on hand, and tried that first with no results. Then, he tried snaking it, but he couldn't get the snake to even feed into the drain. We decided to call it quits that night, because it was already pretty late. On day 4, he tried all of these methods again, along with a heavy duty drain cleaner I bought. Nothing. We went ahead and called a plumber at this point, because it did not seem like we would be able to DIY this one. Thankfully, they said they were able to come the next day, even though it was a Sunday, at no extra cost of a weekend rate. We went to bed, and the next morning we were woken up by the phone ringing. It was the plumber, and they asked if we were on a septic system. Jake said we are, and they said that they don't work on plumbing with septic systems. Being a Sunday, we couldn't reach any other plumbers. Jake, determined as always, went back to work on it. He used a handful of methods, including the heavy duty drain cleaner, the shop-vac, snaking it, and a lot of hard work, and he was able to clear the clog! I was running and dancing laps around the house singing a made-up song about how he fixed the drain. Haha. I was so excited and so amazed that he was able to fix it. Truly, he has fixed every single problem (and there has been a lot of them) that have come our way.

We carried the new tub in and tried to place it, only to notice 1) it was chipped and 2) it wouldn't fit. The measurements were accurate, but it wouldn't go in no matter what. Jake realized that there was one piece of the wall that stuck out further than the others that would need to be removed in order to install the tub. He sent me back to the store to exchange the chipped tub, while he went to work on the wall. I got it exchanged just fine, and by the time I returned he had that piece of the wall removed.

We took the new tub out of the box and placed it on the floor to measure the sides. On this style of tub you have to secure a 2x4 on the back piece to rest the tub flange (lip) on. Jake went to cut and install another pressure treated 2x4 for this, and Charlie found a new place to explore.

At this point, I asked Jake to call his brother-in-law back to help place the new tub. The last time when Jake and I did it, I struggled with it so I knew it would go better all around if we had someone stronger to help out! Thankfully, he came right over (he is our neighbor, after all!) and helped Jake place the new tub.

Once this was in, we worked some on dry fitting the drain pipes, but I was so exhausted that I begged to call it quits for the night. This picture may not look like much yet, but to me it looked so promising. It was very exciting indeed to see this bright, new, shiny, white tub in my bathroom! All in all, I'm super happy to be where we are at. It's a new beginning!