Day #11 Bath Redo

 

Well, we got ahead of ourselves

 and hung a piece of backerboard,

 and then realized

 that we hadn't insulated,

or hung the plastic vapor barrier yet.

 

We took it down,

and then decided we didn't like the product "Wonderboard",

so we took it all back and bought some "Hardiebacker",

which we are accustomed to using.

 

Then we worked on setting new 2 x 4's next to old 2 x 4's

so we'll have a place to screw in the backerboard.

 

This whole tub/shower was constructed with a 1 & 1/2 inch mortar bed,

so the original studs do not allow for screwing in modern day backer board.

 

 

This is quite a challenge,

but it is certainly nothing new.

 

This old house has been fighting us

every time we work on a remodeling project.

 

When we bought this house,

and I started this blog,

I named it Project New House

because the house was new to us.

 

Now the name means something different to me.

It means trying to make a new house.

 

It seems that we have all the 2 x 4's in place now,

and we are ready to insulate and hang plastic...

 

I think.

Day #10 Bath Redo

 

Terry was just too tired after work,

 to do anything in the bathroom today,

so we went out to Menard's,

 to see if they had anything different

 to offer in bathroom lighting.

 

Found the perfect light,

 and they also have the wood board

we're going to need for the walls.

But we'll pick that up another day.

 

Tomorrow's a new day...

 



Day #9 Bath Redo

 

This morning we ran some errands, and ended up at the Home Depot.

 

Bought some tile for the ceiling in the shower,

picked out a paint color, and...

 

bought a tub reglazing kit.

 

YES, we are going to attempt this ourselves.

 

It's either going to be really great,

or really bad.

 

Terry worked on electrical,

and I chopped at some grapevines.

 

There just isn't enough room

 for two workers in this tiny bathroom,

so we kind of take turns doing jobs in here.

 

He's trying to hook up the exhaust fan

 and reconfigure the lights and outlets,

all at the same time.

 

There's the vent for the exhaust fan

 coming out of the side of the house.

 

He's hard at work on this electrical,

so I went out and mowed the lawn.

 

 

This yard is really shaping up.

 

All of our hard work is really starting to pay off,

as the backyard is becoming a pleasant place,

full of beautiful flowers and trees.

 

And Terry's obsession with picking weeds

 is turning this weed farm into a real lawn.

 

It's amazing to think about

what this backyard looked like when we moved in,

 and how much work we've done.

 

It's late on Sunday night and the fan is in, and working.

 

Woo hoo !!!

 

And there is a working switch and outlet.

 

He is my hero.

Day #8 Bath Redo

 

The big challenge today was installing

 an exhaust fan in the shower ceiling.

 

He had to add support beams

 to facilitate hanging the fan unit.

 

There's Terry out in the rain and heavy winds,

cutting a 4 inch hole into the side of the house.

 

I'm going a little out of order here...

 

This morning we went out to the tile place again

 to buy a prefab niche

(The inset shelf in the shower that holds shampoo and stuff).

 

We also picked up a new marble threshhold.

 

The original one cracked in half

while we were breaking out the old tile floor.

 

Back to the exhaust fan...

 

Terry successfully drilled through the brick and

attached the flexible ductwork.

 

Installing the housing for the fan and attaching the ductwork. 

 

He ripped out all of the old plumbing fixtures...

 

and getting ready for some major electrical work.

 

We need to hook up the exhaust fan to the wall switch,

 move an outlet, and move the lights from where they are now.

 

There were two lightss on each side of the mirror,

and they will be removed

and one light will sit over the top of the mirror.

 

Terry's still in there working as I'm writing this...

Day #7 Bath Redo

 

Electrical wiring for the exhaust fan.

 

We can't go through the ceiling (two story house).

The wiring has to be run down the wall,

 under the tub, and into the basement.

 

The switch is on the opposite wall,

so back down through the basement.

It took a good chunk of our day

 to feed the wire up through the wall...

twice.

 

We're doing this...

 

But it's hard.

 

I am still working diligently on evening these walls

 to prepare for beadboard.

 

We were intent on retaining the mortar bed on these walls,

 but I am having some feelings of remorse as I

mix up bucket after bucket of mortar.

 

Too much repair work.

 

The walls are covered in cracked mortar bed,

slivers of old tile, and giant gaping holes.

 

After a quick trip to the Home Depot,

 we quit for the night and lit a fire,

 and planned out our weekend

and what we need to accomplish.

 

Carry on.

Day #5 and #6 Bath Redo

 

I've been working on filling holes with mortar,

and smoothing the walls...

 

 

while Terry works on electrical.

 

Tomorrow is Friday,

and hopefully we'll get a lot done this weekend.

 

Day #4 Bath Redo

 

Terry had to fix some cracked boards,

then it was off to Home Depot

 to pick up some plywood and cement board.

 

The plywood is down,

and that's all for today.

Day #3 Bath Redo

 

Finally caught a bird in the bath...

A big fat Robin.

 

When Terry came home from work, he got right to it.

He sledgehammered the floor out.

 

We were hoping to keep the mortar bed intact,

 but the tile and mortar were one, and also embedded in more steel mesh.

 

So it all came out, right down to the subfloor.

 

That was it for today.

It's tough when Terry has to work all day at his real job,

 and then come home and do hard labor...

 

 

Day #2 Bath Redo

 

Today there was another round of smashing tiles,

and bathtub was full of cement chunks that had to be carted away.

 

Once we cleaned that up,

it was time to remove the bathtub liner.

 

It looks like they put these things in with marshmallow cream,

but it is actually marshmallow mixed with super glue...

 

We were planning on a new tub,

but believe it or not,

I think this old tub can be saved.

 

I'm calling a reglazing company out tomorrow.

 

If we can save this original tub,

it will make me very happy,

because you just can't get a deep solid tub like this antmore. 

 

Terry fought with the super glue marshmallow cream for a long time...

 

Then Nick showed up with super-sized subs for his dad on Father's Day.

 

After all that, he was useless...

 

and we went shopping.

 

It took exactly a half hour to spend $500.

Ceiling fan and duct work, electrical wire,

 backer board for the tub surround, tile, screws, a soap dish,

and a few other assorted necessities. 

 

 

Here is the tile for the bathtub/shower walls.

 

Ceramic tile that looks like marble, perfect.

 

This is the floor tile, a textured matte, charcoal porcelain,

in 12 x 24 pieces.

 

We actually got this a few days ago.

Went out to the tile mecca of Sterling Heights to find the perfect tile.

 

Next on the agenda,

calling a bathtub reglazer,

smoothing out walls,

still need to bust out the floor,

and installing a ceiling fan.

 

We're doing this...

Day #1 Bathroom Reno

 

Here we go...

It's finally time to renovate the main floor bathroom.

 

We built a full bathroom in the basement

 and we renovated the half bath upstairs on the second story

so we have plenty of alternate bathrooms to use

 while the main bathroom of the house is out of order.

 

We started out carefully chipping away at tiles...

 

"How hard could it be?"

 

A couple hours later...

 

Oh my God !

 

Jackhammering and sledgehammering

 and buckets and buckets of cement

and tile and steel mesh.

 

This is getting ugly.

 

We're all in now...

 

The vanity and toilet are in the livingroom,

and the banging never stopped all day.

 

Took this picture after just one of the many clean ups.

 

On to the shower,

this is going to be a challenge.

 

Terry is a renovation warrior.

He went non stop, all day.

 

Tearing the coved ceiling out of the shower.

 

It was a false soffet and raising this up

 is going to give an appearance of more space.

 

We're also going to install a fan here, inside the shower. 

 

This is a nightmare.

The kids are miserable and the noise is unbearable.

 

Breaking the mortar bed away

 from this shower wall has posed a whole new problem,

 as Kevin's bedroom is on the other side of this wall, and we

found out later that everything fell off of Kevin's wall

 and we created a large crack all the way down his bedroom wall.

 

Ugh. 

 

Wow, buckets and buckets of cement,

 and tile, and steel mesh.

 

Then I went downstairs

and found that debris is fallimg down through the floor,

and the basement is a mess too.

 

Adding to the drama is a whole new pile of cement.

 

We just got rid of all the cement chunks from the back of this property,

 and voile'

another pile of cement for us to figure out how to get rid of.

 

Ugh.

 

Tomorrow, we have a little more shower wall to remove.

 and the floor.

 

One more noisy day.

 

Then, on to smoothing out the walls,

and preparing for what comes next.

 

How hard could it be?