The Remodel 2004 Bathroom/Closet Remodel2 page
as
you can see I still have to clean wall/tiles and seal them.
Picture of bathroom wall just tiled. pictures are same wall.
10/12/2005
after
grout
grouted
floor,
window
tiled but not grouted yet
sink
area.
Sealed all grout with the best sealer you can get. Tripled sealed areas where most moisture is expected.
Sink
installed -working-no problems. Hooray!!!!
Toilet
is in place. Need new flushing gear, everything else toilet related is done.
window
tile as of 11/11/05. All tile in main bathroom is grouted and ready for sealing
11-16-05. Tomorrow after curing I will seal with grout seal and re-install
commode and pedestal sink. This grout stuff is very weird to your hands as they
begin to look like they aged 20 years from the effects of the grout/cement.
some
people thought this could happen before I would finish my bathroom remodel, I
might suggest you make sure your heater works because it seems like I am going
to finish this project very soon.
In the beginning:
What started out as a possible shower pan leak turned into a complete remodel of the existing bathroom & closet of the master bedroom. That is if you can call the main bedroom of this Garden Oaks bungalow a master bedroom. Following is a chronicle of the remodel. It is in no particular order as of yet. Gathering up a truckload of tools from jackhammers, screw guns, nail guns, compressor, sawz-all, miter saw, cut-off saw, skill saw, table saw, finish nail gun, hammer drill, heavy duty drill, brad nail gun, concrete working tools, tile cutter, various levels and a mess of hand tools I set out on this project. I would never finish, though, with out the guidance and help of my brother.
After removing the existing shower and pan I discovered that the shower pan was not the leaking culprit and that the leak was coming from the plumbing vent and hydrostatic water pressure from the outside during very heavy rains. Too late now and thus the remodel was underway. Following are pictures as the work progresses. The concept is to move the bathroom entrance for direct entry from bedroom and close off old hallway to incorporate it into a part of new closet. Use old bathroom pocket door as new entry to closet area. Enlarge shower area to about 4 times size of old shower, put in a bathroom exhaust vent, duct into bathroom a heat-a/c outlet (the old set-up had no a/c or heat). Install a new pedestal sink and upgrade all electrical to new with ground fault plugs. Finish the skylight in new closet area and put in three glass block windows (two in shower and one in bathroom). Tile the shower and tile wainscot of bathroom area. May also tile closet floor but haven't decided yet.
This is a picture of tile for shower floor and shower wall.
Plus the white is for rest of bathroom walls. Have decided to tile floor with a
darker more durable color of tile.
Active view of bathroom remodel
New
shower fixture: Single handle ceramic cartridge faucet and piping, a miracle that nothing leaked after installation. I
never want to do plumbing work again. As you can see there's a few too many
pieces installed as the pipes got closer to the faucet they were in wrong
locations and more elbows and pipes had to be installed to get them to fit.
I have since last photo above removed the spout in favor of just the showerhead. Below controller there will be a grab bar across width of wall. It will be a diameter of about 1 3/4".
controller without tub spout. Face plate installed to set depth from wall after
tile.
Getting the old vinyl floor is a bugger. I just heard that I should use an old
iron to preheat floor to aid scraping it up.
Finally put in my millionth screw and nail and am ready to float with
concrete/grout.
It's a little blurry (photo) but I am ready to tape and float walls then tile
them. I am just going to paint the ceiling.
infrared
photo of shower spraying water.
This set-up gives me a new huge shower, more space in bathroom and more space in closet. All from the same original outside dimensions of original 1950 remodel addition to this 1940 house. New windows will give a tremendous amount of natural light into bathroom and shower. The finishing of the skylight will light closet along with a 4-bulb florescent fixture in closet area. New entrance will be a 32 inch wide six panel pocket door that will keep needed floor space useable in bathroom.
Final
window is in place waiting to be sealed and grouted, that's why the board is
placed on inside to keep window from falling into room when we lift it into
place., just as a precaution. That makes 2 windows in shower and one in bathroom
area. Labor Day 2004.
The second
glass block window in shower area, time to reroute water supply lines and
install shower pan and floor.
The first
glass block is in place in the shower.
New
sink location
new cutoff
valve, I just realized that I don't know if this one is hot water or cold. Might
be too late to change so I will have to cross feeds into faucet if they are on
opposite sides. Also where the pipes are touching I will need to put a non
conductive spacer/shim to prevent possible corrosion between the metals.
New single
handle faucet with ceramic cartridge.
A really neat
super quiet high volume flow exhaust fan installed, wired and running. Time to
seal it up and put on face plate.
Area of sink and note wall where green board is trashed. It's because vent pipe
was built in a manner that protrudes into area needed by wall board. So it had
to be crushed and mud will be used to fill in that area to make it look normal.
When first built that bulge was under a counter and not seen.
New
entrance and old hallway entrance (blue wall) that will be closed off and pocket
door by toilet will be new closet access point.
New
shower enclosure (now 4'X5')
New
shower window space ready to cut out and drop in glass block window.
Right is new cold water line and air "pressure relief" extension which
prevents knocking and other weird noises from water line.
I really do not like doing plumbing lines
2nd spot for
new glass block window in shower.
. 3rd glass
block window location (exposed wood siding) will be next to new pedestal sink
(old window visible with tape on it)
Skylight
in new closet area will be above a huge full length mirror. Natural light during
day will help in choosing matching things like socks, etc. Hanging clothes are
to be located in back area where I will have 14 feet of useable closet rods.
After this area is closed off I will add another 3 feet of rod just inside
closet for my work clothes & chef coats.
Relocating
of drains.
new closet
light, located above where old closet door and frame were removed, it's as
bright as daylight.
Along with the skylight there will never be too little light in this area.
The color on walls in closet are pure white, even though the camera captured a green cast.
New mirror finally installed a 32" x 72"
Another look at new mirror thru reflection in 2nd wall mirror
Old
hallway with old closet entrance in back.
Old hallway
door is gone and ready for new large 4-way florescent lamp.
Preparing for
the new pocket door to bathroom and to sheetrock and close off old hallway
making a new closet space.
Old
sink and vanity (gone forever). New entrance is right in middle if this area,
and new closet access is pocket door on right.
One
of the new glass block windows for shower and bathroom.
New
electrical rocker switches for bathroom vent and shower light
August 16, 2004 picked up some more materials; green board (sheetrock), cement board, treated lath for spacing cement board out from studs to allow pan liner clearance up behind it, more electrical switches and some light weight sheetrock mud. Looked at lots of tile, but haven't seen exactly what I want yet. I am looking for something very light in color with all of the extra pieces like curved edges for the floor & walls so there are no crevices to collect dirt, shower scum, etc.
August 19, 2004 removed some more debris and prepared to close off gas line. Will do water cut-off and relocate some of the water lines to new shower today, too. I am chomping at the bit to get the closet finished and put my clothes in there. Doing construction and living in the same space is bad enough but having my clothes spread out all over the house is very aggravating to boot, however we are closing in on this phase of the project.
August 22,2004 Well when you try to shut off gas it is really necessary to call gas company, because for some reason the meter's valve will bend instead of turning off. Must be some sort of safety mechanism. The three new glass block windows are framed and ready for the actual cut of holes. Then its drop-in time and caulk, new vinyl trim outside. There is about 40 more hours of work left before finish. The new closet light is very bright, one almost needs sun glasses when it's turned on. I could never do this job without my brothers help. This project keeps eating 2x this and 2x that's. We are going to make our own pocket door from materials in the garage because the pocket door kits only contain one item we don't already have which is split studs lined with steel. Those are to keep installers from screwing long screws through the new door so it won't slide. Gas company is coming out on Thursday to fix their meter.
September 06, 2004 After gas company took 5 days and 3 visits to replace a faulty valve we have moved on to putting in the three glass block windows. They are in place and final one will be sealed to day. Tuesday I will clean up from this and seal grout if I feel it is dry enough. The ferns outside windows and the path to the windows got trampled down flat and need to be trimmed so they can re-grow. When Mr. Baker originally had the vinyl siding put on house the contractor charged him for one half inch insulation. The insulation I removed was only one quarter inch, So Mr. Contractor you are a fraud and a cheat I will post this information on the Garden Oaks GO web site to warn others of your cheating ways.
Well I have no days off from work until the 13th. so I will get little done until then. I hope to get the faucet and some pipes ready for installation during this time though.
More pictures to follow as work progresses.