How I spent my summer vacation (pic heavy and long.....)

[NMDemDist2]

or something like that.......

anyway, for those who don't know me in 2006 we bought a 15 year old mobile home, with a ghastly master bath including the dreaded carpet sided octagon 'garden tub' and the ever popular vinyl wallpaper



so we hired some (I know now) idiots to remodel and install a stem wall and walk in shower, looked ok to start, but never drained correctly and with a mobile home in 70MPH winds you tend to get a bit of movement and tile grout pops out like crazy.



The tile floor that started out looking like this



after 4 years of seepage, grout falling out and trailer torque, we had something that looked like this



so we knew we had trouble, it was just a matter of "how bad?" we had hoped to knock down the stem wall and patch the wall, leaving the white tile in place and fully expecting to have to replace the floor, including the sub floor.

we had found a 'steam cabinet' online that was freestanding (allowing it to ride out the torque and had made a deal with the company to keep the steam generator (we didn't have a 220 circuit to spare anyway) but still function as a really cool shower, we ordered that and got it on it's way.

we started ripping out the stem wall and found trouble, so we kept going til we found this







Oh! Joy!

we were feeling a bit over our heads, but called on an old geezer with decades of experience to come take a look (he reminded us he couldn't do any work anymore but was glad to give us his expertise)

he talked it over with Mr. Ketchup and so we cleaned the mold, the wood was still sound although one floor joist needed a couple 2x4s on each side to bring it level again, we sealed the yuck with a couple heavy coats of varnish, relaid the subfloor with a vapor barrier and then new insulation and greenboard etc etc







Mr. K had to climb under the house, move both the drain and the water supply to have it ready to hook into the cabinet as well

then we laid the stone looking porcelain tile on both the floor (it was a 9x7 area) and decided to tile the old white formica counter on the vanity as well









then the counter looked so nice, I had to paint the nasty pressboard cabinet and I used the enamel i knew it needed for the heavy bathroom use.

whew! that was fun, now we have to build a 5 foot shower whose fit and finish left a bit to be desired, and of course one of the glass doors shattered in shipping and we had to wait for a replacement although we did hang a shower curtain for 3 weeks so at least we could move back into our shower (after just one catastrophic plumbing failure LOL)

I chose a warm, medium toned gray for the walls (to compliment the dark 'denim' in the master bedroom) and viola!! 6 weeks and about $5000 (including paying a galpal $700 to help us out) we have a new leak free master bath










anyway, so that's what I've been up to, how are you guys doing??

:hi:

[Hassin Bin Sober]

1. Was that original shower floor built with tile over plywood?

[NMDemDist2]

2. they laid cement board over the 3/4 inch plywood subfloor n/t

[Hassin Bin Sober]

3. Ahhh. That floor was doomed to failure.

Not rubbing salt in your wounds - (more to point out a common expensive mistake to other readers) - but tile and grout are NOT waterproof no matter how well the grout and/or caulking hold up.

It sucks that hired "professionals" don't always know that. Too bad you can't go after them.

A properly site-built shower floor MUST consist of a waterproof membrane - either surface-applied over a proper tile substrate or rubber/pvc under concrete/mortar. Some people are still doing fabricated copper (lead?) pans under concrete/mortar.


I don't think I've ever seen anywhere that cement board would be suitable as a substrate in a shower floor whether it was waterproofed or not.

I just watched another episode of Holmes on Homes where he tore out ANOTHER shower built with tile over plywood and drywall in a wet area. No membrane. The shower was only a year old and mold was starting to grow.

I think anyone considering tile work (especially in a wet area) - whether they are doing it themselves or hiring it out - should look at The John Bridge Tile forum www.johnbridge.com before they proceed. You can start a thread and run through you or your contractor's plan of attack to see if it's up to snuff.

If you want to really get disgusted, head over there to check out some of the bad tile job threads on jobs done by pros.

Anyway, didn't mean to thread-jack you. Your new upgrades look great! A buddy of mine is looking at one of those self-contained units with a steam generator so I will be helping out with the install.

[NMDemDist2]

4. buy several ton of silicone

or better yet the new Liquid Nails clear adhesive

when you build the cabinet it takes tons of silicone, but we really like ours now that it's sealed and level

[Stinky The Clown]

5. That's a hell of a tale, Girl!

Good to see a good outcome.

Great to see *you* back! :hi:

[NMDemDist2]

6. the only room left with vinyl wallpaper is the laundry room

and it's next :rofl:

[Warpy]

8. Yeah, you have to wonder what kind of weirdo

picks out the wallpaper for trailers. It took me forever to strip the nasty wallpaper off my old trailer, then tape and mud all the joints. I did textured wallboard in all 3 bedrooms but managed smooth walls in the kitchen, living area and hallway. I also took the opportunity to crowbar the built in hutch that took up a huge amount of room without offering decent storage out of the dining area, a place I know you went, too.

About the only inferior desecration I'd add to your bathroom (which is a huge improvement over the first redo, BTW) is gluing a white frame around that 80s mirror to make it look a little more finished. It's certainly not necessary, it's just me.

You're making me rethink the redo I'm going to do in my own tacky bathroom. I was going to do a slate floor in such a tiny space, but your tile looks like just what I want and would be cheaper.

[NMDemDist2]

9. we put a small "shoe" frame around it

it really did clean it up, hubby wanted to re
I've it but knowing the other bath's was glued, I knew this would be also and what we didn't need was more wall to fix LOL :hi:

[NMDemDist2]

10. forgot to mention the tile info

we got the on sale @ Lowes for about $2 a square foot, so it was VERY affordable and although it's porcelain it gives the look of stone without the heavy price tag

[Warpy]

13. My bathroom floor is 5'X7'

so cost won't be that much of an issue for me. Real slate would be well within the budget for so small an area.

I just wish your shower would fit. That is truly beautiful. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to put in a fibreglas prefab job just to get the damned thing over and done because it's the only damn bathroom in this place, one reason I've been putting it off so long.

[Mist]

7. I'm sorry you had to go thru so much grief w/your bathroom, but the results

are splendiferous! A beautiful master bath.

How's the old octagonal tub working out as a garden? I remember you posted some pics of it a while back in it's "repurposed" outdoor location.

[NMDemDist2]

11. I put it on the wrong side of the deck steps

I set it up on the west side and need to move it to the east side

being enclosed the dirt drys out too fast and the poor plants just wilted :(

[Mist]

12. I'm surprised the dirt would dry out so fast. Being enclosed, I'd think it

would retain moisture more. But I'm clueless about gardening in the southwest!