Bathroom Remodel - Day 10

It's hard to take pictures in a bathroom, the space is just so small.

We've been finishing up the demo this last week. It's been a slow go. Mostly just because we are not in a rush, so we'd do a much as we wanted and then just quit for the day.

We did get the drywall all up though. Started mudding. I hate that part. Ugh. From the pictures you can see I still need to put up the corner beads.

You can also really see how big of a space we've gained. We're going to fill it full of cabinets.

We also got the tub out finally. I had to smash it to bits with a sledge-hammer. That was a mess. After inspecting the tub/shower plumbing we've decided to leave it be and just buy a new cover/handle for it. Two reasons: One, the work involved with changing the plumbing was going to be a lot because of how the house was built. Two, this is a lot cheaper. The set with bought for the bathroom wasn't terribly expensive, but it was overkill for the room.

So we have to finish the drywall, then it's tub time. We have to have the floor vent moved still too. That'll have to be done soon. We can't do the floors until that is complete.

Bathroom Remodel - The Before

Well tomorrow we officially begin. Or does buying the material count as beginning? Whatever. Tomorrow morning the materials will be arriving. The roll-off dumpster is already here. Tomorrow we'll lay down protective paper and masonite/hard board to protect the floors. We'll also put up some plastic to keep the dust down.

This demo is in two parts:

1) The Bathroom

2) The 'den' fireplace

The bathroom is the major goal, but the old fireplace is a must go as well, because we are hoping to reclaim some space that the old firebox needed.

Here are some "before" pictures:

We are going to see if we can resell the brick. Not so sure how well that'll go, but we think we should be able to get $30 or so for the mantle. It's good solid wood. The fireplace insert is garbage. Repairing the hole in the wall will be easy. Fixing the floor will be more difficult.

The bathroom floor is one of the reasons, though there are many, for the remodel. The tile are actually kind of cool but they are badly grouted (obvious repairs over the years), there are broken tiles and I fear the sub floor is damaged by the tub.

The toilet, while functional, is a old water waster. We are getting a nice efficient one with a dual-flush function. Since I use this bathroom during the day while working it just made good sense (and cents! ha!).

This picture of the tub illustrates some more issues. The tiles, or more specifically the grout, had not see maintenance for many years, allowing water to get behind, the tile causing mold, mildew and likely damaging the wall behind it. I'm sure the tiles were stuck directly onto dry-wall, now known to be a major no-no. We'll be using Schluter-KERDI to waterproof the tub surround before we tile. Under that we'll be using Hardie Board, instead of drywall.

This is in part because we are using ceramic tiles instead of porcelain tiles. Ceramic is water proof on the glazed side, but pretty porous on unglazed portions. This is why our current shower is falling apart. The grout has to be regularly sealed or it becomes porous too, allowing the ceramic to soak up the water like a sponge, allowing it to get to the also porous drywall.

With the precautions we are taking we should not have any mold growth even if water gets behind the tiles because there will be nothing for that mold can eat.

I'll post more pictures showing the progress as we go.