Demo is the easy part, at least that's what they say. I almost believed them! Right after I took the before pictures Matt began the demo. First off came the shower surround. We had anticipated there being mold underneath the surround, and there was!
Next up Matt removed the drywall which revealed some interesting studwork by the people who had previously remodeled the bathroom on New Years 1987-1988. Lots of different people had written their names and various remarks on the studs along with the date. The biggest surprise for me was just how much room there was between the wall of the bathroom and the wall of the kitchen (and the discovery that our kitchen cabinets are NOT mounted on studs-yikes!).
Next up, of course, is where things started going wrong. The bath did NOT want to come out. It was very heavy and incredibly difficult, and during the process Matt got a little bit swing happy with the hammer and smashed a hole in the one fixture that did not need replacing - the toilet. It looked like it was just superficial damage until we tried flushing it and water exploded all over the place. So we had to say goodbye to our lovely (and expensive) relatively new dual-flush toilet. I wasn't too happy about that one.
I helped Matt take the bath outside and then the girls and I ended up spending the afternoon at Shawna's house as we only have the one bathroom and a toilet is kind of a necessity. While we were away Matt ripped up some of the subfloor that was rotten and replaced it.
Then came the comedy of errors of trying to install the bath. To make a long story short, if you're going to do something, do it right the first time and it will save you a lot of time and hassle! After a few days (no exaggeration) it was finally installed properly and not leaking. I believe the biggest trouble there was that the kit Matt bought that was supposed to have all the pieces needed to hook up the bath, did not. Of course not!
With the initial bath installation finally over and done with, Matt installed the tile backing stuff and began tiling. The most difficult part was cutting the tiles that went around the bath/shower fixtures. I think about a dozen tiles were broken trying to do that, and again, that was a process that took a few days and a variety of different tools. But as the tiles were going up it became a little bit easier to visualise what we'd have at the end of the reno.
Now we are at the point where the bath/shower surround is complete and useable. I finally got to enjoy the new shower for the first time on the weekend and it was great! It felt a bit like being at a hotel, but it is nicer than the last hotel I stayed at!
There is still a ton of stuff left to do, the drywall above the bath and some patching beside it. The rest of the floor needs to be ripped up and the subfloor replaced, as well as taking out the current cabinet and sink. We are probably going to use self-leveling cement and then tile over it, and put in a pedastle sink. Then it is on to the more superficial things like new lighting fixtures and fresh paint!
There were dozens of things Matt had to do that I haven't mentioned, and so far we are at Day 18 of the Bathroom Reno. We have not been living without a toilet for all of this time, Matt bought and installed another (sadly cheaper) dual flush toilet, although not before someone had to make use of Desana's potty. That is all I am going to say about that.
We are really pleased with the new tub, our local Home Depot was out of stock of the model we decided on so we drove across the city to purchase it. It is both deeper and wider than our old tub, and there is the added bonus of it not being surrounded by mold. I'm also really pleased with the built in shelf Matt added to the wall to hold all the misc. shampoo bottles. We installed a curved curtain rod after I saw the one at Shawna's house, and I am really pleased with it. It adds about an extra five inches of elbow room while showering, and getting touched by the shower curtain has always been a pet peeve of mine!
With three weeks left until I start back at work I am really hoping that the project will pick up steam and be finished well before then. You can probably anticipate at least one more 'during' post.
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