Log #33 Day 36 March 30, 2026 Bath & Plumbing

One Plumber, Eight Hours, ₩800,000 — and Heating We Didn't Know Was Broken

원문: 한옥 셀프 리모델링 기록 #33 (화장실·욕실 상하수도 설비 공사 · 난방 분배기 수리 · 타일 시공 계획수립)

Day thirty-six. The day the specialists took over — and the day we learned our heating had been quietly failing for years.

Eight hours, whole house. One plumbing master, working start to finish, re-drew the water map: toilets, basins, and floor drains repositioned in both bathrooms to the new layout; new hot/cold pairs run for the shower and basin; supply and drainage installed for the relocated kitchen (fed through from the adjacent bathroom — the reason we’d dug that connecting channel); and every orphaned pipe from the old layout cut back and capped flush, so the coming wall plaster meets no bumps.

The new bath got its water too: a dedicated supply line in, and two 50 mm drains — one for the tub’s main outlet, one as an overflow. The overflow is the unglamorous line that someday prevents a flooded floor; it goes in now or never.

The manifold surprise. The find of the day: the heating distribution manifold in the annex bathroom — which we didn’t even know was malfunctioning — turned out to have a blocked port. One heating loop had been receiving almost no hot water. The master rebuilt the corroded elbow joints in brass (rust-proof, unlike the originals) and restored full flow. His assessment: the system had been on a path to outright failure. We’d been days from sealing that manifold’s symptoms under new flooring.

The bill: ₩800,000 — ₩400,000 labor, ₩400,000 materials. After watching him work, our honest accounting is that knowing this man’s phone number is itself a renovation asset.

His parting gifts were two habits we adopted on the spot: urethane-foam wrap on supply pipes near exterior walls (freeze protection in Seoul winters), and tape over every open drain stub until fixtures go in — construction debris in an open hub is a blockage you discover after the floor is finished.

Meanwhile, tile guidance came in from Cheolsu-hyung, our tiling expert, with quantities calculated ahead of his arrival. The bathrooms have water. Next they need walls.

What we'd tell you

Two tips from the master: foam-wrap any supply pipe running near an exterior wall (urethane foam doubles as freeze protection), and tape-seal every open drain stub during construction — one dropped screw in an open hub means a blocked line under your finished floor.

What we paid for	Cost
Plumbing labor (1 specialist, 8 hours)	₩400,000
Plumbing materials (PB pipe, valves, brass fittings)	₩400,000

One Plumber, Eight Hours, ₩800,000 — and Heating We Didn't Know Was Broken — photo 2

One Plumber, Eight Hours, ₩800,000 — and Heating We Didn't Know Was Broken — photo 3

One Plumber, Eight Hours, ₩800,000 — and Heating We Didn't Know Was Broken — photo 4

One Plumber, Eight Hours, ₩800,000 — and Heating We Didn't Know Was Broken — photo 5

One Plumber, Eight Hours, ₩800,000 — and Heating We Didn't Know Was Broken — photo 6

One Plumber, Eight Hours, ₩800,000 — and Heating We Didn't Know Was Broken — photo 7

One Plumber, Eight Hours, ₩800,000 — and Heating We Didn't Know Was Broken — photo 8

One Plumber, Eight Hours, ₩800,000 — and Heating We Didn't Know Was Broken — photo 9

One Plumber, Eight Hours, ₩800,000 — and Heating We Didn't Know Was Broken — photo 10

One Plumber, Eight Hours, ₩800,000 — and Heating We Didn't Know Was Broken — photo 11

Originally logged in Korean on March 30, 2026 — read the original. Translated and edited by the brothers who did the work.