Big project today — the bathroom sink on the first floor of the stone house has been freezing in cold weather since the bathroom was installed in the 1980s. That room was the kitchen when I was a kid, but before that it was a porch. It’s outside the foundation and there’s nothing under it but about 18 inches of air and then dirt. You’d think I would have done something last year when the room was ripped up and before a gorgeous ceramic tile floor was installed in that room, but no, of course not.
So today is the day — gonna open up the base of the sink cabinet, cut into the subfloor which is half inch solid oak boards and probably the old porch deck under that, reach down in there and install heat tapes, wrap them with fiberglass and then rebuild the cabinet floor with plywood.
At least, that’s the plan. Success with this project involves many firsts, including the first time I’ll use some new power tools.
Thankfully I was farsighted enough to have the electrician install an outlet under that sink when the bathroom was rewired last year. Wish I were an electrician, I’d put in a toe-kick heater at the base of that cabinet while I was at it. The uninsulated crawl space also makes the tile floor cold. A little heater would be cozy on the feet after a shower.
One thing at a time.

OK, so I put a saw blade on my new Rockwell oscillating multi tool and made a few trial cuts in a scrap board. It’s a gradual, precision cut and I feel a lot more confident now about that part of the job. It’s just gonna take awhile to get through everything.
Now it seems like getting down in the hole and doing the wrapping will be the hard part.
Take the dog for a walk first, then start.

Just occured to me it would be a good idea to cut the power to that outlet under the sink, since I don’t know where the wire goes. Would be bad if I cut it with the saw — and even if I didn’t get hurt, I owe the electrician money so I can’t call him.
So I’m heading for the basement first to flip the breaker. Lifting that massive cellar door gets harder every time. One of these times I’m not gonna be able to.