Plumbing issues

My surrogate son Mark was able to come out to the country house and help us for a week, that is when we learned of more plumbing issues than just the water heater being to small.  The master bath has a huge whirlpool tub in it, the surround for it is that fake tile particle board paneling stuff.  It is old and crumbling, we had been using a different bathroom that just has a standup shower in it, but after we had carpet we tried to use the master bath.  We had to make some repairs, so we could use it.  I scraped all of the old caulking off and there was a very large gap that ran the length of the long side of the tub.  This tub is four feet wide and six feet long!  Anyway, it took me two days to clean that bathroom, remove all the old caulk and reapply the caulk.  I had to put caulking on the shower walls too.  I figured it would be a temporary fix, but at least there would be more room.

Crew and Mark were working on installing the new water heater.  Because we live in a metal house with a low pitch roof and the water heater is in the attic...it had to fit in the attic space.  The water heater we purchased did not.  The solution was to put it in a room in the house or in the storage area off the back porch.  We ended up having Mark put it into the storage area, which was going to be my stained glass studio.  Well, I guess it could still be, but there isn't enough electricity out there.  Anyway, adding the water heater to the existing system required additional supplies, Crew and Mark made a trip to Texarkana to get all that was needed to re plumb everything and electrical things to hook it up. We have a True Value Hardware within 10 miles and a TriCo not too much further, but they couldn't get everything needed there.  Because of the size of the house, adding the 55 gallon water heater in with the 25 gallon water heater made since.  With the idea that if we had the family out all at once, there would be enough hot water for showers, laundry and washing dishes all at once.  Mark also put in a recirculating system so It wouldn't take as long to get hot water to the bathrooms and kitchen.

Mark also discovered that we had no shutoff valves, that none of the toilets are bolted down, that the kitchen sink and dish washer are tied into the same drain for the sink and shower in the bathroom next to it and that runs up hill...no wonder the shower fills with water sometimes when you run a lot of water in the kitchen sink, the dishwasher area is not plumbed correctly, the washing machine area was not plumbed properly besides the faucet being rusted...and that we have some irrigation pipes used instead of what should have been used.  Mark got the most important parts completed, so we could use things safely and take showers.  Crew hooked up the new dishwasher, but we mostly just hand wash the dishes.  Mark got one of the toilets attached right, the other two work fine, you just have to be careful sitting down on them and trying to do anything in the bathroom or they will move.  One of these days we will update the bathrooms, we have three...they work, and I did replace the faucet on one so far...I looked at True Value for a replacement for it and discovered that whomever built the house put the cheapest faucets they had at True Value in our house...most of it is chrome colored plastic, and I saw them for less than twenty dollars eight years after they were installed.  I decided on a better brass model with nickel plating and washer free...and the neck long enough that you can wash your hands without hitting your knuckles on the faucet to get to the water.

We decided we want to eventually put in a large standup shower in the Master bath, but in the mean time we will live with what we have, even if it is hideous.

The very large Master Bath Tub