Spiffing up the utility bay
In order to have our black and gray dump valves replaced, the utility bay had to be disassembled. The ribbed black rubber matting that covered the floor and ran up the side (sort of like some kitchen floor linoleum goods) had to be removed from the vertical walls. I did myself that to reduce some of the technician's time at $110/hour.
As you can see from the first photo, by removing that rubber mat, I uncovered some gaps in the front bulkhead of the utility bay. Those gaps around the sewer pipe are wide enough to let in a parade of mice. I could not let that be. Mice getting into any part of the basement can do some serious damage. So I decided to make a cover from a roll of aluminum from Home Depot. First I made a paper template with a lot of trial and error cutting. A peanut butter jar turned out to yield the perfect cut out size for the sewer pipe. Because the aluminum if fairly thin and flexible I cut two pieces and bonded them with epoxy. (Note: I sanded all four sides of the aluminum so that epoxy and caulk would better adhere.)
Next I buttered the back of the cover plate with adhesive caulk and dropped it into place. I needed something to put some pressure on the cover plate to ensure a good bond to the bulkhead. After some thinking I hit upon the idea of putting sand in a couple of plastic grocery bags and propping them against the cover plate. That worked well.
The following day I caulked any open seams. Today I masked off everything I didn't want painted and then sprayed black Rustoleum bed liner below the white panel and on the floor. I did a total of 3 coats, following label directions.
The last photo shows our new storage place for disposable gloves. This tunnel used to hold our old style dump hose, but since the newer style of Valterra hose won't fit into the tunnel we now use it to store gloves. The tech who did the valve replacement had to remove the door to the sewer hose storage, so I had him cut the tunnel about a foot back from the door and put a cap on it. I did a much better job of securing the door to the partition than was done at the factory.
Topic: Spiffing up the utility bay