The End is Here -- post by Mark

After working non-stop, day and night, for a mere 20 months, the bathroom renovation project is finally done. It seems like just yesterday that I started demolition. What started off as a nice little project soon blossomed into nearly a whole-house renovation. In addition to the bathroom itself I completed several other small projects along the way: wiring our master bedroom ceiling fan to the switch on the wall, installing a second ceiling light and a new wall switch in our upstairs hallway, installing a vent fan in our downstairs bathroom, insulating our attic crawl space, installing a new window which required taking down half of our vinyl siding, running a second HVAC duct to the upstairs, painting our pantry and installing new wire shelves, replacing the drain pipes for our downstairs bathtub and now I’m replacing two walls in the finished portion of our basement. Ah, the joys of owning an old house…

I’m really pleased with the way the bathroom turned out. I did everything you see (and everything you don’t see) in the photos of the bathroom including: framing, drywall, mud and tape, subfloor, tiling, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, wainscoting, trim, painting and installation of the cabinets, shower door, hardware and toilet. Out of everything, I vow never to tile a shower again. Everything else was easy compared to that.

Now, for my next project….perhaps our garage should be a little larger…

p.s. If you want to see photos of the original bathroom, check out this post: March 2007

Almost Done - blog entry by Mark

Day 497: The project is nearing the end. It seems like just yesterday--er, yesteryear, that I started this project. Since my last blog entry I've completed all the tile, painted the walls and ceiling, installed the vanities, installed the faucets, hooked up the water supply (yes, we have running water now), installed the light fixtures and sealed the grout. I'm especially happy with the way the shower tiling turned out. I'm also pleased that the 36" wide vanities fit exactly in the alcoves. It's almost as if an engineer designed this bathroom -- oh wait....

tile shower with decorative accent and built-in shelves
16" tile on diagonal

maple vanities with solid surface countertop

The Saga Continues...

The young prince has made a lot of progress on his bathroom project since the last time we heard from him. He finished the framing, the plumbing rough-in, the electrical rough-in, the hanging of the drywall and tile backerboard and has even started mudding and taping. The next major step is tiling the shower. In addition to the main project at hand, the young prince added a hallway light upstairs with 3-way switches. No longer do the prince and princess stub their toes or run into walls as they walk from the top of the stairs to their bedroom at night. The incandescence of the flaming dragon eye now lights their way along this treacherous path. In addition, the young couple now lights their handy ceiling fan/light with the flip of a switch on the wall, rather than searching in complete darkness for the tiny little cord hanging from the fan. Alas, another modern convenience finds its way into the castle of the young couple.
Shower Taping & Mudding process

This was another blog installment written by Mark.

To see his other entries, click the Remodeling link to the right.

The tale of the never ending bathroom project continued

Alas, we finally rejoin our young prince in his struggle to finish the bathrooom project....
In a land far, far away (from Texas) the young prince has made tremendous advances in his never-ending bathroom project. With great delight he finished the first phase of the plumbing despite great obstacles thrown at him from the flaming and hissing dragon, which calls itself the propane torch. After many weeks of tortuous battles he finally was able to pressure test his copper creation. To his surprise the pipes didn't leak. Hallelujah, he thought! The last thing he wanted was to battle Poseidon in the ocean depths. With the plumbing and a few additional construction details complete, he was now ready to lay the plywood sub-floor. The young prince is now over half-way done with this epic struggle against evil. He is hopeful that unless a clan of roving trolls attacks, he will finish the bathroom..... (trolls just attacked)

This post was brought to you by the young prince (AKA Mark).

The tale of the never ending bathroom project

Once upon a time in a land far far away, there was a handsome young prince working hard on his upstairs bathroom. He slaved day and night on the never ending project while his young princess read books. While she was getting ready for book club he was busy sweating in the 90 degree heat. Once finished with the installation of the new window, he thought the worst was behind him. But alas, the plumbing stares him in the face, laughing at him “how dare you reroute the power of gravity and the force of the water supply.” Never before has such a simple task dealt such lethal blows to his morale. He would quickly learn to control mind over matter during his quest for providing a leak-free bathroom. The young prince thinks to himself, “this certainly must be the most difficult part of the project.” Next, however, is the electrical. Just ask the young princess about the power of electricity….

Preparing for the plumbing.

BWRP

As promised, here are a few photos from the window project. Mark worked very hard to get this window in. :)



I decided to try and scrapbook a few photos from our vacation. More to come as time permits.

This Old House

Our first major project has begun. The 2nd floor bathroom has officially been decommissioned.
Here are a few before pictures and a few that show Mark's demolition process. I believe he has one more layer of the floor to take out because there is water damage and then we'll have to figure out how to remove the old tub. Bob Villa always made everything look so easy...

(click photo to see larger)