In May Tornado Plumbing was busy doing complete plumbing renovation of the basement for client in Toronto Downtown. This project included the following:
- Complete basement demolition, which included removal of the following:
- Brick and drywall walls
- Subfloor
- Ceiling
- Old washroom
- Old concrete floor
- Removal of clay drains and replacing them with plastic (PVC) drains
- Installation of backwater valve
- Rough-ins installation for toilet, vanity and shower
- Installation of floor drains with primers
- Interior waterproofing of basement walls
- Basement concrete floor finish
- Removal of brick posts and installation of new adjustable metal posts
It took us almost 9 days to finish this project , which is 2 days sooner than original estimate we gave to our client.
Basement demolition
We started from removing of all the garbage in the basement and preparing the area for demolition of drywalls. After all the garbage and drywalls were removed, we took down one small brick wall which was separating the washroom from the rest of the basement. Then we removed the remaining part of old washroom and prepared for demolishing ceiling. Ceiling was removed in no time and we started working on subfloor and then concrete floor removal. This stage was the most labor intense part as it involved a lot of work with jackhammer and we had to clean the floor from the remains of the old concrete.
Clay drains replacement
When we removed the concrete floor, old clay drains where exposed and it was easy to replace them with new pvc pipes. It took us only a few hours to finish this part of the project.
Backwater valve installation
Backwater valve installation was next on our list. It’s extremely important to install it to prevent sewer backup. Moreover, city of Toronto gives a rebate of up to $1,250 for backwater valves installed by Tornado Plumbing. Our plumbers installed it and made sure that every single step and detail are aligned with city guidelines, so that our client received a rebate from Toronto.
Floor drains and primers
Now we started preparing basement for new drains that would be a substitute for old clay ones. That was easy to do since we prepared the area and now it was just a matter of placing pipes. Also, to prevent sewer gas from coming into the basement we have added a trap seal (a P shaped piece of pipe) and a priming line that ensures the water in the seal does not dry out. It is important to always have water there as it is the main barrier for sewer gas.
Waterproofing of basement walls
After drains were finished we moved to waterproofing of the walls in basement. In Ontario it is extremely important to prevent basement floods. As in winter moist that gets into the concrete of walls from outside freezes and expands, which results in cracks and when spring comes water leaks through those cracks into the basement. We used waterproofing membrane to cover the walls of basement and prevent water from coming in.
Concrete floor finish
When walls were ready, we covered the floor surface with gravel and prepared everything for pouring the concrete. It took us some time as we had to level the concrete to make sure the floor is flat. The process was long and involved a lot of man/hours, but we managed to make the new basement floor perfectly even and flat.
Substitution of brick posts with metal ones
Now when the floor was ready, we still had to demolish old brick posts and substitute them with new adjustable metal posts. This change was a huge improvement in terms of space usage and safety. We were demolishing and substituting brick posts with metal one by one, as we had to ensure that the weight of the house was evenly distributed. The results were stunning, we managed to release the amount of space that was around 15% of the total area of the basement.
