First of Two Bath Remodels (Kids Bathroom)

[awoodring]

Starting the first of two bathroom remodels tomorrow. Block construction Florida house built in 1998 (we purchased in August, 2010) with ugly, dated bathrooms and with a scary lack of caulking. Going down to the studs and concrete slab-- we'll see what we find soon!

So tomorrow I am starting demo in the Kids Bathroom. Tub, is in good shape so that stays, as does the sink and counter top. My plan is:

1. new shower walls and tile (simple 4" white tiles)
2. new 12" porcelean floor tiles
3. paint for the walls
4. stain for the sink cabinet
5. new lighting
6. trim it all out

Been reading posts here for days so feel very well prepared. I'll start posting some pictures this weekend and questions if I have any (I'm sure I will). Thanks in advance for the free help -- glad to find so many folks dedicated to helping others! Great stuff!!

[cx]

Welcome, Adam.

The most important part of that plan is the waterproofing of the shower walls over that tub. You have a plan for that, yes?

Second most important is to make it really nice in there on accounta you and Mrs. Adam will be using it extensively when you see what you find in tearing out the shower in the master bath.

Get thee prepared.

My opinion; worth price charged.

[awoodring]

Waterproofing sure seems to be a good idea! I'm either the 6mil poly under the CB or a liquid on top . . .waiting to see the stud before I make that call. If everything measures out pretty plumb and won't need shims, I'll probably go with the poly. Otherwise I'll shim, hang the concrete board and then the liquid.

The 2nd bath is actually the guest bath -- no tub, stand up shower. So you see I picked the easier one (because I'm sure the pan under the tiles is going to be junk).

Master bath?? Don't mention that one yet . . .the previous owner remodeled it and chose VERY nice tile, fixtures, etc. However, I don't think it is waterproof -- seeing some signs of leakage that make me nervous. Hate to tear down nice tile but I have a feeling that one is in my future too!

Thanks CX!

[cx]

Either method will work, Adam, and you can still use the poly if you hafta shim your studs. Just be sure the poly moisture barrier is on top of the shims, too.

Shower construction in Florida homes seems to be quite special, judging from what we see here on a regular basis.

[awoodring]

Hey guys . . starting some demo work -- pulled up carpet, commode, and floor tile (I know, bathroom with carpet? carpet in the sink area -- terrible concept)

I tried posting pics but couldn't get it to work, said this site wasn't available which was weird. I'll try again tonight.

Question . . .what is the best way to get the old thin set up? Should I buy one of those really wide razor scrapers?

[cx]

Adam, use the Manage Attachments feature below the Reply dialog box or the little paper-clip thingee just above that box to insert your photos stored on your computer.

Despite what it tells you, if you get your jpg photos down to about 2 megapixels in electronic size, the program will re-size them for you and they'll fit.

[awoodring]

Some of the pics I took of the before are too big to post -- I'll try to figure out how to make them smaller.

Questions so far:

1. under the commode I found a bunch of dirt that must have been carried there by ants -- should I spray foam around the drain pipe before re-tiling?

2. was surprised to find the AC lines running along the shower plumbing . . any reason to worry about this?

3. the thin set from the old floor tile is NOT coming up very easy. Bought a long handle scrapper and it is just grinding it away, not really coming up in junks like I hoped. Any other ideas how to speed that part up?

Thanks for your help. Next step is the water proofing -- think I'm going to go with the roofing felt. Seems like the easiest.

[awoodring]

Got the pic upload to work . . .turns out I couldn't do this with Google Chrome . . switch to MS Internet Explorer and it worked!

By the way, smartest thing I've done so far is cut a piece of plywood to sit over the tub. Saved my tube for sure (as tile rained down from the walls during demo!).

[Houston Remodeler]

Adam,

1- Foam will work if you can get the area nice and clean. Soot some boric acid down there first. Can't hurt.

2- Not unless they are rubbing against the other pipes. One is insulated right?

3- a chipping hammer is way fun to use. They can be rented. The alternative is a diamond cup grinder which will be dusty, but faster.

[awoodring]

Maybe I'll rent the chipper . . . anything would be better than this!

On the ac lines . . yes, some with insul, some without.

Thanks for the help!

[cx]

1. Good eye-dee.

2. Nope.

Can't tell what it is fastening the hot side hammer arrester to the stud, but looks like steel nails. If so, I'd wanna fix that.

3. If it's like the patch inna picher, angle grinder with cup wheel looks like the best approach to moi. Dusty as hell, that, so seal off the area and vent to outside.

My opinion; worth price charged.

[awoodring]

CX,

What looks like a fastener on the hot side is really a clamp for a grounding wire . . looks low voltage -- I assume it ties into the HVAC or maybe the security system . . no idea. Where the copper connects to the studs I see plastic clamps with an integraged nail.

Thanks for the help!

Adam

[cx]

I believe any electrical grounding wire should be connected to the cold side, technically. Presuming it's permitted to be connected to the plumbing system at all. Might look into that.

And so long as the clamp is plastic, I see no issue there at all. Just can't see it well enough inna picher. Which we unnerstan ain't necessarily a picher problem.

[awoodring]

Today I installed tar paper as a water proof agent -- started from bottom up, overlapping each row by about 12 inches . . .maybe overkill but what else am I going to do with a roll of tar paper??

Concrete board went up okay . . our house is block construction which means the long wall of the shower, an exterior wall, doesn't have 2x4 studs but, instead, has 1x6 pressure treated lumber -- and not much of it! So I had to make more cuts than I would have wanted in the backer board but it all turned out okay. Used a standard corded drill but did opt for the square drive vs. the phillips head screws. I believe that was a good idea!

Tomorrow is joint compound and texture (only taking the tile up 6 feet -- prior tile and resulting demo is more like 7.5 feet). Then we'll be ready to tile!

Slow, hard work but well worth it!

[awoodring]

taped and floated (not pretty but after I sand it tomorrow I think it'll be good enough. Tomorrow I am going to texture the section of the wall that will be painted later and I'm going to tile the shower. Then on to the floor on Friday . . .brand new bathroom before you know it.

Having NO fun getting the old thin set off of the concrete sub floor . . what a mess. The scrapper method didn't work well so I tried the chisel it off. After a few hours of that I now have one Popeye arm and a sore back. So I pulled out the angle grinder -- talk about a lot of dust!!

I still have issues getting pics to upload. Even sub 1mb files usually won't upload. I did get one to go through here so I'll keep trying.