The Long Bathroom Remodel (lots 'o pics)

[Robb]

Well, I wouldn't say I'm "finished," but I thought I'd share pictures of the bathroom I remodeled in my spare time these past many, many weeks.

The house was built in the 1960s, a tri-level with two bathrooms up and a half down. There were two problems with the master bath as it was:

First, it had no door. Now, I love Mrs. Robb, and she me, but there's something to be said for the midnight tinkles being silent endeavors. The octagonal thing was clearly part of a remodel, I'm gonna say in the 1980s, and while it let in a lot of light, it was still putting a toilet in the same room as the bed.
Second, there was no tub. Anywhere in the house. I likes me a tub.

So, prodded by Mrs. Robb one Sunday, I started pulling the old shower apart:

It was a drop-in plastic job, nothing wrong with it. And even an idiot can install it correctly; only one hole in the whole thing.

Turns out I was glad I tore it up:

...One hole and they still managed to get a leak. :eyes:

So the next few days were demolition. I re-acquainted myself with the sawzall, prybar, and deadblow hammer. Oh, joy. I forgot to take pictures because I was sweating like Meat Loaf in concert. :D

But, in a nutshell, I cut out most of the old shiplap plank floor, and replaced it with good thick plywood. And reinforced some joists, because while I was luckily going to have a sturdy outside wall roughly a third of the way under the tub-to-be, it was still going to be a big tub. Because why bother otherwise.

So, by the time this picture was taken, I'd torn down the old sheetrock, moved the toilet waste pipe, put down plywood in the main floor area and built reinforced "platforms" (or at least one of them) for the tub to spread its weight across, built one wall for the tub's new "box," turned an existing heating duct 90 degrees and out of the "box" of the tub, and started playing around with the way I wanted the drain to run. Oh, and pulled out all the old service line plumbing for the shower:


So it was about then I discovered a problem.

The fiberglass tub I bought was a floor model, heavily discounted, from a tub place that cleaned it up good as new for me. The problem was, the 1960s house had narrow doors and hallways. There was only one door I could even get the thing into the house through, and even then only tipped up on end and "wrapped" around the door. There was no way I was getting that tub down the hallway and into the master bedroom.

There was only one thing for it. Good old sawzall:

...That would be the living room down there.

And as seen from below, not a difficult lift to get the relatively light tub up there:


Voila!

...and that's about where it would eventually sit. You can see how it's designed for two people to sit in, facing each other. It's quite large, and the weight can be distributed down onto the supports on two sides. Hence the platforms for them.

I tucked it away at the other end of the bathroom so I could keep working. And replaced those vertical studs before the next snow landed on the roof. :D


It became a little tight to work in there, but I was glad to have the tub in the same room. I replaced some sheetrock with greenboard I had in the garage, and finished building the frame for the "box." I also decided to chop the closet in half, and put some new trim across the bottom of it to look at while I continued:

...note the level on the box: dead on. :D

Next up, mud, tape and texture. I'm not so good at this, and it took a couple passes to get it where I could live with it:


What's that honey? Orange? Ok!

...I painted that half of the room before I got close to putting the tub in, because I didn't want to stand in the tub and paint. And spatter.

Plumbing the overflow for the drain proved to be a self-made challenge. Mrs. Robb had picked out an expensive tub faucet, and I was going to set it centered on the far side of the tub, and plumb (more extra work) the handles on the near side, off to the left. So the first thing you would see would be the expensive faucet.

But I didn't want that to be taken away from by also seeing the waste overflow thingy. So, I plumbed it on the near side. It's also this clever deal that you crank to raise and lower the drain plug, controlled by a black cable.


This might make better sense seen from the top:


Anyhoo, that in, it was time to finish the box. I went against every instinct and agreed to Mrs. Robb's request for a wooden box, highly varnished, so the water wouldn't ruin it. At least not quickly. I found this lock-and-fold flooring in the clearance bin, and went for it:



...I can't remember how many coats of urethane I finally did on that thing. 30, maybe. I'm a little paranoid.

You can see I've got the handles sitting there on the left of the box. That needed to get plumbed, so I did a lot of measuring and did the pipe-sweating itself in the garage, where I was less likely to set fire to the house:


And it fit like a charm.


Time to finish closing up the front of the box with the lock-and-fold flooring. It turned out to be a little bit of a pain to do vertically, but nothing a lot of cursing wouldn't solve:



...note the dog gate holding the last piece in place, which is glued. :D

Next up, the backsplash. Mrs. Robb found these stainless steel-wrapped ceramic tiles, also in the bargain bin. I stuck them up with a polymer-modified thinset, and grouted with an unsanded poly grout:


Time to insulate the tub. Fiberglass is great, less weight than cast iron, but if you don't wrap the thing in insulation the heat escapes quickly, and you wind up with a cold bath.


Thankfully, there are no pictures of my father-in-law and I hoisting the tub into the box. It was an adventure, since there's not a lot of room on either side. But in it went, and I installed the faucet to try filling the thing:


There was a fair amount of creaking the first time, but it held water and the joists didn't deflect. Much.


Where the metal tile grout hit the wall sort of looked crappy, and I didn't know how I wanted to finish it. Ultimately I got lazy and just taped a straight line halfway down the outside edge, and painted it orange.


Time to start tiling. Again, not many pictures, but this was the reason I reinforced the rest of the floor and replaced the shiplap with good plywood. I didn't want my tiles to budge. Plus, I found (again in the bargain bin) enough travertine to do the little room. So down went the cement board, on top of a layer of thinset. Taped and thinsetted the joints as well.


Again, not many pictures because I was working too hard. I had the tile saw set up downstairs, and did a lot of running back and forth despite my conviction I had cut everything right ahead of time (I hadn't). Started out with 12x12 tiles, and cut them to make this pattern. It was a huge pain in the butt. But it looked like this:


I grouted with the same white unsanded poly grout. And, by this picture, put some trimboard in and the toilet flange got installed:


The toilet returns!

...I won't bore you with my five trips to the store to individually pick up each piece of rubber I replaced on the thing chasing a leak. I will simply offer this advice: when you move a toilet, just buy all new rubber and install it all at once.

The light in the room is nice.

...You can also see the craigslist old glass door I found. We wanted to wall the room back in but keep light, so a big half-glass door seemed the way to go. It's cool, and old, and does neat wavy things.

On the same "keep the light" tack, I put in some glass block. Neat looking, and lets the light through both ways without sacrificing privacy:


I glossed over a lot, but that's the basic idea. It's now functional, except for the sink faucet I'm still trying to find on sale.


The author, blissful and damp:

[NMDemDist2]

1. wow d00d

I take back all the 'dingbat' cracks

:yourock:

:patriot:

[Grateful for Hope]

2. I am in awe

That is all I can say.

Absolutely excellent job!

[amerikat]

3. Wow. That is some fine work you did there.

I'm inspired to redo my bath now.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

4. Very nice, I like map gas in the yellow bottle,

it burns hotter and and is a faster way to do those welds !Use niclke or silver solder. Nice work. I hate being stuck in bathrooms, and you know why.!

[Robb]

5. Thanks. I'm a cheapskate in all things

...so since I've usually got the time to get those brass valves up to heat with propane, I usually go that route. Heck, I still use the sparker my dad gave me 20 years ago. :D

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

6. You know !

I have probably done fifty bathrooms over the years if I have done one. But the only one I ever enjoyed the fruits of my labor in is my own. And, I never did really like the way it turned out !

You have inspired me! I am going to gut that bathroom and create something they will never have! But than I suppose she will want the other one done again too ! But so what.

Thanks !

[Mist]

7. Thanks for the slide show--you do amazing work! It turned out so well, and I love

the wood panelling on the tub! May you enjoy your tub for many years. This sort of thing is way beyond me, but I learn a lot from reading about others' experience and know-how.

[Robb]

8. Thanks!

Remember, though, nothing's beyond you, really. This was my first time tiling, for example, and I read a whole lot and took it slow and things worked out. :)

[Lucinda]

9. Great idea on the tub surround. It looks beautiful!

Nice work! :hi:

[Manifestor_of_Light]

10. Very impressive!!!

Ya done good!!! :D

[Stinky The Clown]

11. "The author, blissful and damp"

Perfect!

:)

[Neecy]

12. Wow. Just wow.

You must have a plumbing background, because I know very few people who could have done all of that plumbing work without a ticking timebomb in there somewhere :)

The tile is gorgeous - both wall and floor. Really nice job.