Gina's journey

[Gina P]

You are a total trooper Gina! Fitting toilets is NOT a nice job I will have that to do when I get to my bathroom. As someone who used to fit bathrooms I vowed I would never fit another one......Hmm, that worked out well!

Stress and panic can trigger my migraines as can depression so there might be something in that theory. You need to give yourself a break by the sounds of things Gina. Might be time to go for a horse ride to clear the noggin!

I couldn't agree more. A nice trail ride would be a wonderful diversion. BUT,,,, carpets come on Monday and I still have a few things to get ready, as well as a Halloween party Saturday, that I'm helping out with. I feel like that Star wars movie, on the death star run... Almost there, almost there, >>>>>* 

  I took a migraine pill and several hours latter my foul mood went away with the headache. So now I have identified aurora's, dizziness, and foul moods as part of my migraines. Yikes!

House construction: Installed the thermostats yesterday. Vacuumed out the furnace. Trimmed the master bath and built the window frame, and trimmed it. Also put the remaining outlets back into the walls and put on the face plates. And of course, some painting. 

[Gina P]

  I volunteer at the community building. Tonight we are having a Halloween party. We have hundreds of pounds of donated candy and a large assortment of toys and gifts for the kids to win. We made up candy bags for the kids and it took 6 of us almost an hour to divide up the candy. This is West Virginia, right? We decorated the building from top to bottom. Lights, ghosts, posters, ghouls, spiders, body bags.... I took everyone hours to put up. I am running a game table and looking forward to the party. Now what box is my costume packed in?

[Gina P]

  Went to the Halloween party dressed as little red riding hood. I wore this outfit 3 years ago at a party. This year I filled it out nicely, no bra and no tummy slimer. Felt good. I noticed many of the men checking me out. Of course, I wondered if I looked good or was it because I'm trans? Had a good time just the same. We had 47 kids show up! I ran a bean bag toss game. They had many games the kids could win tickets at, then they could redeem them for prizes.

[Gina P]

I forgot, a quick update on the house construction. Finished the little bathroom. Here is a construction pic and now. Carpets come tomorrow. Things are winding down. I'm hoping to move furniture in 2 weeks! 

[tammy753]

WOW You are doing heavy construction. That bathroom looks roomy even being small. I love that shower you picked. those make the rooms feel bigger.

[Lori Dee ✅]

That is a cute outfit!

Great job on the bathroom, too. I love that floor. Well done.

[Finally Anna]

Nice bath, but what is that vent in the floor? Heating or A/C or what?

[Stottie Girl]

I like the bathroom but is that an electrical socket in a bathroom?!! and right next to a sink?!! Is that allowed over there?

You have a luxury amount of working space under that floor Gina. I used to have to work underfloors at half that height at least!

This really is some undertaking.

[Gina P]

Thanks for all the wonderful comments. I am very proud of the way things are turning out.

I like the bathroom but is that an electrical socket in a bathroom?!! and right next to a sink?!! Is that allowed over there?

You have a luxury amount of working space under that floor Gina. I used to have to work underfloors at half that height at least!

This really is some undertaking.

Yes that is an outlet. Common in the states to have one or more in the bathroom. Its a GFCI(ground fault circuit interrupter) outlet. They shut off if there is the least bit of a problem.
That space under the floor was not always there. Originally a foot or less, I dug most of it out before putting in the beams. Check out the before-before picture.

Nice bath, but what is that vent in the floor? Heating or A/C or what?

Yes the vent is for heat and HVAC. The house has a dual system. One unit does both, and its not a heat pump.

[Finally Anna]

Yes that is an outlet. Common in the states to have one or more in the bathroom. Its a GFCI(ground fault circuit interrupter) outlet. They shut off if there is the least bit of a problem.

Quite common also over here with the 240V AC. We have two outlets in the bathroom, though not adjacent to the sink (not that it really matters). GFCI 30 mA covers the whole house so the risk of getting zapped is extremely low, in practice it is zero.

[Finally Anna]

Yes the vent is for heat and HVAC. The house has a dual system. One unit does both, and its not a heat pump.

Thx, Gina!
I figured it was, from seeing the large space below the joists and subsequent flooring, in your previous picture. 😊

[Stottie Girl]

Quite common also over here with the 240V AC. We have two outlets in the bathroom, though not adjacent to the sink (not that it really matters). GFCI 30 mA covers the whole house so the risk of getting zapped is extremely low, in practice it is zero.

Really? I figured 240v AC was the reason the UK decided it was too dangerous. Not only can you not have sockets in a bathroom, you cannot have normal light switches either (pull cords or a switch outside the room is the rule) and no switches or sockets within 1m of a water source. The only exception is a 110v. shaver socket pretty much. Maybe it's just health and safety. Our plugs are far safer as well so the risk should be even less.

[Finally Anna]

The 240VAC does not make it dangerous. But improper installation will. I hope and assume that you have put in a GFCI in your renovated house, Sarah.

We have two switches, one dimmer and two sockets in our bathroom.

Come to think about it, I think that in the good old days it was 110V also here, in bathroom. But with modern installation the 240V is just fine.

[Devlyn ✅]

I remember back when I was a teenager (I know, right!) and GFCIs were coming out, there was a trade show on TV. The guy promoting the GFCIs was standing barefoot in a wading pool with a running hair dryer and dropped it in the water as his sales pitch. That's faith in your product.

[Charlotte Kitty ✅]

110v shaver sockets are fine as use an isolating transformer.  Removing the ground reference is the key. Almost everywhere uses RCBO now so all circuits have GFCI. But think the UK deems any shock unacceptable even if mitigated. Isolation prevents all but line to line shocks.

[Stottie Girl]

The 240VAC does not make it dangerous. But improper installation will. I hope and assume that you have put in a GFCI in your renovated house, Sarah.

We have two switches, one dimmer and two sockets in our bathroom.

Come to think about it, I think that in the good old days it was 110V also here, in bathroom. But with modern installation the 240V is just fine.

Well obviously not no, I had to look it up, never even heard of them! We do not have GFCI's in the UK at all. Instead of individual sockets being protected, all sockets are protected by whole circuit RCD protection in the consumer unit using 30mA RCDs alongside strict placement regulations which keep water and electrics safely separated. I also did not do my own re-wire as these need to be certified by an appropriately qualified electrician (Which I am not). I will happily do minor alterations but a full rewire will need the Building Control notification if I ever sell the place.

Edit Beat me to it Charlotte!

[Finally Anna]

Looking at it more closely, I guess what we have is RCBO. The english translation of what we call it here is, quite literally, "ground-fault breaker".

Anyway it triggers by the difference in current in the in-line vs the out-line, so it does not mitigate pure line-line shocks. That said, since a shock by definition includes a bit of current through the body it will trigger the protection when the diff in the in-vs-out line current is 30 mA or larger. So wearing isolating rubber soled shoes and doing a line-to-line circuit from one of your hands to the other, is not recommended. But that is perhaps a rare case in the bathroom.
😊

[Lori Dee ✅]

When I was looking to buy a house, I had an inspector do a thorough inspection. The electrical code requires GFCI protection for any outlet within 6 feet of a water source. He used a circuit tester that plugs into the outlet. GFCI outlets were present. Every one of them failed.

We opened the electrical panel. There were no ground wires, and no grounding rod was connected to the panel. The entire electrical system was grounded through the conduit in the walls. Having some form of ground-fault interruption is needed for safety. But it must be wired correctly to work.