Bathroom Renovation #8

Now with a fully functional bathroom, the pressure is a bit off but there is still more to be done. This starts with installing the remaining wainscoting, baseboards, and chair rail on the side opposite side of the bathroom. Then painting and caulking the results.

In order to complete the bathroom other than decorating and touch ups, the next big problem was that our functional bathroom had no privacy. In order to maximize our space in the bathroom, we installed a barn door on a raw steal track. The door is heavy so each of the four lag bolts must be place in a stud or header. The two above the door are on the header and the far right one is in a stud but the second to right one needed some effort to drop in some extra 2 by 4 material next to existing studs to have a proper mount. The door came unfinished and we went with a whitewash rather than a full white door to capture some of the natural wood feel in the door. All that remained on the door was cleaning up and painting the door frame and casing.

Decorating the inside of the bathroom to finish it off was a fun task. We have such crisp whites and grays in the room that we decided to add pops of color with our rug, towels and art not pictured. We also added a clean look of glass shelves over the toilet for some storage and decorations.

Bathroom Renovation #7

After the grout set and was sealed, the shower was basically ready for use. Except for the lack of shower hardware. This install should be rather simple in theory. I had to solder a copper tub spout to a threaded connector piece in order to screw this in to the valve. Note: I should have done this before the drywall and tile to make it much easier. For this I had to have a long piece of copper so that I could use a wrench to tighten in to place and then cut off the part damaged by the wrench. Finally I could slide the tub faucet on to the copper pipe (there are also twist on types of faucets). Unfortunately there was a leak and after another round of the same process, I discovered the hardware itself was damaged. Took a couple days to receive a new one which worked perfectly. Installing the other pieces of hardware was a snap.

Installing the vanity was one of the easier steps. The sink trap kit of pvc piping needed to be lined up and cut to make sure it all fit. It comes with gaskets and connectors for tight seals. The only part that was a little tricky was attaching the pipes to the sink with a good seal. Once everthing was lined up and the down pipe was attached to the sink, it could then be glued to the top of the vanity. Finally all of the connectors were tightened and the system was tested. This picture does not show the finished version with the faucets in place. 

Next I hung the medicine cabinet. Adding these items in provides a lot of storage but at first makes the bathroom feel smaller. This is just because it was days after having nothing, not even a tub and toilet, in the bathroom.

Bathroom Renovation #6

After a short break in the action and after mudding and sanding the rest of the drywall, it was finally time for the shower surround. This was easily the part of the project about which I was most worried. That is, up until I revealed the crazy subfloor situation and had to mess with joists. The key for me to keep a straight line on the tile was to go very slow. However this makes the hole thing take quite a while. The tile we used was 3" by 6" matte desert gray Daltile subway style tiles with 1/16" spacers.

The tile thin-set has to cure for 24+ hours before the grouting occurs. The grout for this type of tile is a sand-less white grout. The process is similar to sand grout, except the tool used has a soft edge for sliding the grout, which is more wet with out the sand.

Bathroom Renovation #5

After the tiles set for 36 hours I could grout the spaces. I used a gray sanded grout for this. Relatively simple process that becomes a little tedious in terms of keeping the tiles clean. If you don't keep them clean they get a light film on them. I also put the first layer of mud on the drywall seams.

Then after the grout dried and was cleaned again, I sealed the it before moving on with the project. At this point we desperately needed a functional bathroom to move home to, so I focused on the corner for the toilet. First I used my new nail gun to install the baseboard and then the wainscoting panels. This was necessary for accessibility before finally installing and hooking up the toilet.

Bathroom Renovation #4

Now we can finally start really building back up. The first thing is to put in the tub. Seems simple enough, but it is relatively challenging to cut the drain and overflow PVC pipes to fit perfectly. Apparently if you just wing it and glue the PVC pipes it will not fit and you will have to cut and start over. After some lessons learned we had a functioning tub in place.

Now for one of the more painful operations for a one man team with a wife helper. Hanging drywall. It is easy in principal but can be difficult in practice even with these crazy light new types of thin drywall. I only have a photo of the drywall up to the window, but you get the idea.

You'll also notice that we cut and placed our cement board for the tile in the previous photo. The tile is the next big step. These are pretty decent size porcelain tiles (12x24) which are hard to deal with on my small wet tile saw. Luckily there aren't that many cuts necessary with our 1/3-2/3 style design layout. The key here was planning ahead of time with measurements of the space. Made it much easier and I had zero mistake cuts. That means I have an extra box of tile if anyone needs 16 sqft of crazy cool tile. I used 3/8" spacers for these tiles.

Bathroom Renovation #3

Part of the reason for taking on this project was the design of the bathroom was old and didn't really match our style. Also, it had a pedestal sink and the door opened in, so space and storage was an issue. But the thing that brought it to a head was a leak. We sourced the leak to the tub spouts connection to the copper pipe in the wall. It only leaked when the plunger was pulled and the pressure forces water up in to the shower pipe.

So with the tub out and the drywall removed, I need to remove all the tile to have access to the subfloor. I don't have any pictures of this mayhem, but I will say it was difficult. I used an 18lb sledge hammer to break apart the tile and the 4+ inches of concrete underneath it. This revealed the subfloor below which was less than typical.

The water damage caused us to remove one row of floor boards to start. Then as we began to analyze this funky subfloor, we realized it all had to go. They had cut the joists to a point on the top and then attached small pieces of wood on the middle of the joists on top of which they placed the floor boards. We pull dup all these floor boards and all the extra support pieces they had added. Then in order to get a flat level surface to work with, we sistered 2x6 boards to the joists with the old glue and screw method for confidence.

From this point we were able to cut and lay subfloor in the more traditional way. We kept the subfloor that was under tub because it was in good shape. We also put in new insulation throughout the room to help with heat and sound. This whole tile and subfloor mess basically cost us a day or more to get back to a solid and level subfloor, but now we are in good shape.

Bathroom Renovation #2

Time for more of the same on the bottom half. Demo on all of the glass tile with some more injuries and then pulling off the drywall down to the tub. There was old, nasty insulation in some spots that I pulled out as well.

Removing the tub is surprisingly easy. It is only physically attached to the house bye the drain cap being screwed in to the PVC drain underneath and the overflow cap is screwed in to that PVC pipe. Otherwise it is just sitting there.

Based on various amounts of damage and some overzealousness, I decide to remove the rest of the drywall, only leaving the wall opposite the tub untouched.

Bathroom Renovation #1

The next big project is the bathroom. It's going to be a full gut and remodel. And it's going to take much longer than I plan. Most of the first days are filled with demolition. Removing the upper half the glass tile, which requires smashing the tile since it uses thick cement type mortar. This is difficult and causes lots of little cuts from the flying glass. Next we begin tear out the window and begin ripping off some of the drywall.

After removing more of the drywall down to the middle line we are able to really see the window rough opening. Once we by the appropriate size vinyl sliding window by Jeld-Wen, we have to alter the rough opening slightly to make it a tight fit. Then we use lots of caulk to seal the opening and make it water tight.

Flowerbeds

Finally got to work on the flowerbeds. We picked out some plants at the nursery and Kara did all the digging and planting and putting down mulch. It makes a big difference at the front of the house.

Solar Attic Fan

Our house gets so crazy hot in the summer and a big part of it is that the attic heats up during the day and remains hot in to the evening. In order to solve at the least one part of our problem. I installed a solar attic fan.

To start with I had to get all my gear up on the roof, which seemed like a simple step, but with a sawzall and the actual fan being pretty heavy, it took some doing. Next I mark the hole on the roof with sharpie. I start the cut by drilling a couple holes on the edge and then using the sawzall to cut out the hole.

 Next I pull up some of the singles so I can slide the unit up under. I finish by using heavy duty roofing adhesive to put back the lifted shingles over the flashing of the unit. Up in the attic I cut free the wire that senses temperature and kicks on when the attic gets warm enough and if there is direct sunlight.

It seems to be doing a pretty good job overall. The attic never gets particularly hot, but the house still gets hot just not quite as hot as before.