Monday, February 21, 2011

Bathroom Remodel, Old Project Gets New Life

I began a bathroom remodel October of 2009 where I gutted our upstairs guest bathroom. My Mom was in and out of the hospital so much I had to put it on hold and my back wasn’t exactly doing well so when my Mom died I closed the door on this room and haven’t touched it since. I received a tool this weekend that will help me finish removing the old subfloor (There are THOUSANDS OF STAPLES!!!) so I can begin laying down hardi-backer and then new a ceramic tile floor, something I have never done before, this should turn out interesting! Check out the pictures below, I’ll post pictures from this week if I have the energy to begin. The pictures are from Flickr and are re-sized so look a little jagged. Here is a link to our Flickr album so you can see the pictures better.

Here you can see I had to break apart the old tile wall that had swelled because the builder didn’t use green board or a water vapor barrier. My back loved this job sooo much.

      

The original fan was kaput so I cleaned out the box and installed a new fan, the new one didn’t want to fit so I convinced it. Disappointed smile

 

I forget the color, to me it looks almost gun metal gray, the wife loves it, me, not so much but we’ll see how it looks when the job is completed. My wife has excellent color taste so I’m sure she’ll end up being right (she usually is anyway, damn her!!) Smile with tongue out

       

This is what happens when you remove a HUGE wall mirror, you have all sorts of spots to fix and they love to bubble no matter what you use to fix them! See that little corner next to the tub? That’s what started the project, it started to get the sub floor soft, so time to rip it all out!

 

What happens when you cut out the old ceramic tile and the schematic shows the pipe 4 inches into the wall when in reality it’s about half an inch!?!? You fill the wall with water and the walls below the pipe with water as well! Wife watches husband fly down the stairs like a gazelle without killing himself all the way down 3 flights of stairs to the basement. Spend the rest of the day repairing the pipe and drying everything up, oh that day was so much fun! Disappointed smile

 

Here is the subfloor I need to finish tearing out and here is the light fixture the wife and I chose for the bathroom. I need to re-do where the wall meets the ceiling, I didn’t cut it in very well. We also bought a new sink cabinet, sink and I need to get all of that installed after I’m done with the floor.

  

20 comments:

Ronda said...

lol!! okay...I have to say, I've never seen my husband move down those stairs so fast. Just prior to the flight though, I heard yelling and words come out of his mouth that I'm not even sure exist! He ran to the basement, I ran to the bathroom. Water was flying across the room horizontally at a very strong, heavy stream. It settled in our ceiling light down in the foyer. I can't believe sparks didn't fly. Well, to be on the safe side, Erik shut off the water and power. Concerning the color...pictures don't do it justice. It's more of a dark sage. Very pretty. When all the stuff is back in place, it's going to be beautiful. ;-)

Rae said...

I agree with Ronda. I like the color. It will be worth all the work when it is all done. It is going to be very nice.

Merikay said...

We've got one thats worse. It has been gutted for ten years. I nag and nag, but not much gets done. There is always something more important!

I'm working very hard doing as much as I can. If that bathroom isn't restored by this time next year, I'm going solo!

Erik's RV Blog said...

Rae, not fair, you women always agree! :)~

Merikay, 10 years, wow I hope he gets it done soon!! The hardest part for me is going to be repairing the floor and putting down the ceramic tile.

Diana said...

You can't hear me sighing right now can you? Well I am and it's because my husband and I need to tear apart our whole teeny, tiny downstairs bathroom for much of the reasons that you are redoing yours!
Only problem is that he is only home four days a month. So we just keep putting it off.
I like what you've done so far Erik. The color is very nice and I really like the wall lamp.
Keep up the good work, I'm sure your wife will be so happy!!
BTW, your mom passed a month before mine. I'm sorry.
Love Di ♥

Erik's RV Blog said...

Diana,

I'm sorry to hear about your mother. Your husband's schedule makes mine seem completely open, wow, 4 days a month. Good luck!

Sue and Doug said...

I can see why you kept the door closed for a while!.what a job!..good work so far!..love the paint colour..good choice!!

Erik's RV Blog said...

Thanks Sue, I'll post some more pictures this weekend!

Travels with Emma said...

Egad! What an awful job you've got. :(

Erik's RV Blog said...

Judy and Emma, not so bad, just have to make the time. I was enjoying it when I was working on it. :)

Carol E Wyer said...

I'm sighing along with Diana as we really need to modernise our home and have no enthusiasm to do it. We keep looking for a new house to buy then we won't have to tackle the problems here. I won't bore you with the details but suffice to say it actually needs completely gutting and an entire new heating system putting in which would mean a complete interior refit (pause while I groan) Don't suppose you feel like a holiday in the UK for a while and you can make sure that back gets an even more gruelling workout? :)
I've just been catching up on your posts. Good on you for tackling the whole health issue. It sounds as if you have some sound advice already and I can only agree with most of the comments. My husband has knocked out/down the alcohol and eats such small portions of food now that I'm frightened I'll crush him in a passionate embrace or he'll blow away in astiff breeze so don't get too fixated on cutting down and overdoing it. The last time Hubby wnt to the gym he put his back out for weeks. Still he's a lot healthier now and his heart isn't playing up as much as it was although the IBS gives him quite a lot of grief. Anyway I'll cheer lead for you when you need support 'Go Erik, go Erik, rah, rah, rah!' Sometimes it just helps knowing others are there for you.
Many thanks for your commments on my post. Ronda you really must write up about this man - I'm sure he'll provide plenty of entertaining stories. As for my own husband I just tell him what I've written but he never reads it (to my knowledge) He thinks it keeps me occupied and out of his hair so he's not too worried :)

Erik's RV Blog said...

Carol, I'd love to spend a few weeks in the UK!! My back on the other hand may disagree! It's going to take a long time before anything short of a tornado is capable of blowing me over. :)

I hope to begin some more removal of the sub-floor tonight. Buying a new house would be sooo much easier! Better yet, we'd buy a new Tiffin Allegro Bus and be done with it!

Teri said...

I'm sure it will be nice when done, but home remodeling jobs is something I am not going to miss when I move into an RV.

Erik's RV Blog said...

Teri,

I hear that! But then, our RV needs new carpet, it's fine as is but we would like a different color. :)

Dennis and Donna said...

I feel your pain at the construction. We have been in our house since 1975, and gradually gutted the entire house..Dennis and myself did most of it...I even helped strip the kitchen roof of shingles..Hang in there..it will be fabulous when done...Just for the record, I STILL have no woodwork in the kitchen...after 32 years...

Kathy said...

Yikes! Now that's one big job! Just think, once you're a full-timer you won't have those huge projects anymore...oh wait..sewer hose clog ups, leaking slides, frig on the blink...those MIGHT count as biggies!
Kathy

Erik's RV Blog said...

Kathy,

Unfortunately I also have RV projects! Thankfully I got most of them under my belt already. I'm going to blog about what projects I have left prior to our first outing on 3/30.

Thanks for stopping by and following! I love your blog!

Erik's RV Blog said...

Dennis and Donna,

1975! WOW! Let me see, I have lived in 9 houses in that time!! This includes roomates and stuff but in the last 15 years I have lived in 4! We have a lot of projects to complete this year, a tree got blown over in the last storm, my yard has been "modified" by our dog Loki and I need to fix it.

So much work to do but it will get done and we will somehow find the time to go RV'ing as well. :)

Tell hubby to get started on the kitchen! ;)

Erik

Big Matt said...

Reminds me of doing the bathroom remodel on the mom-in-laws place back in 2009. Found that nothing beats a saws-all with a drywall blade, a 5lb sledge and a 3' demolition crowbar for stripping out fiberglass bathtubs and dry wall with speed.

The fun part was getting the new cast iron bathtub into the bathroom and in place.

bathroom plumbing said...

I think its all worth the work and all the things to be replaced because it will turn out to be a very beautiful bathroom.