Bathroom Remodel

OK, so it's a major undertaking, made no smaller by the fact that it's our only bathroom.  Undaunted, our fearless leader plunged into the task of remodelling the bathroom whle the girls were away for the summer.  The plan was to get through as much as possible while the girls were away (from July 1 - Aug 15).  The best laid plans...  (See: Kitchen Remodel)

Now, you have to realize where we started from.  The bathroom was a lovely pink and maroon, c. 1953.  "Ugly" would be kind.  It was a 4-piece setup: toilet, tub, sink, and a tiny shower.  Kath is fond of recalling that when she was pregnant, she couldn't pick anything up from the floor in the shower- it was that small.  

First things first- demolition.  I took out everything- back to bare studs.  The tile was tough going, since it was attached to "site built" backer board.  That means they nailed chicken wire up to the studs, then covered it with some sort of cement/mortar to create a substrate.  What a pain to remove.  

July 19

	When the walls were down, it revealed another problem.  That shower that was too small for my wife was apparently not too small for termites.  The studs were eaten/ water damage/ rotten from the mid-point down.  Ugh.  First step to move forward was to rebuild the studs.   This isn't a pretty picture, but then what did you expect?

July 22

Right about now I'm figuring out how hard this job is going to be, and I'm only a few work-days into it.  (Project start was delayed while the tenants didn't move out, and then I had to go away for a week).  What do you do when you're only 5 days in and 4 days behind?  You call in some help.  Ed came out for a week and helped by chiseling up the floor and roughing in some electrical.  I think that was partly to be nice to me, but also because the girls were already getting itchy on the east coast, and Ed knew they needed a home to return to.

August 7

Just a few days into this thing and the girls couldn't wait to come home.  They returned on August 6th, a full week ahead of schedule.  That meant there was no chance to get anything simple done - like installing the flooring and the toilet.  Hence, we had to make alternate arrangements...  

Still, having them around was great.  They really wanted to help out, and who was I to deny them?  They have helped put up drywall, installed floor tile, and especially installed some of the special feature tiles on the walls.  If you come to the house, you're almost certain to be treated to a special tour of the project, including commentary about what tiles they have each placed where.  Progress runs at a brisk 20% of normal with their help, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

The girls have had a blast throughout the project.

Click here to see more progress