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.