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After 7 long years of waiting, it was finally time to take a sledgehammer to my hot mess of a bathroom! **cue the fireworks and marching band**
I’ve already shown you some pictures of what it looked like when we started, but lets throw a few more pics in here for a reminder of all the awful:
Weird soaking tub/shower combo (with no faucet to fill the tub??)
Toilet crammed between a wall and the tub.
Door that couldn’t open all the way because it hit the tub surround.
Terrible, flat paint that was rubbing right off the walls.
And there was also” ugly granite tile countertops, grout falling out, terrible windows, and everyone’s favorite Hollywood bar light. It all had to go!
We started our demo by taking apart the shower. This was probably the most “dangerous” part, since we both ended up covered in scrapes from flying tile. Still, it was So. Much. Fun! AND super satisfying!
It was no surprise when we found wood rot. The grout in the shower had been falling out for a while, and while we filled the gaps with caulk when we noticed them, I knew that there would be damage once we cracked things open. Whoever built the shower installed cement board, but that’s it. No secondary water barrier, like a plastic vapor barrier or roll-on water membrane, like Red Guard (which is what you’re supposed to do). We ended up needing to completely replace the framing under the windows because of it.
Half the drywall was put up with screws and the other half with nails (why??), so a lot of time was spent removing all of that stuff.
But after just a couple hours, we had the tub removed and shower area completely cleared out! Which is when we discovered super weird plumbing install (i.e. the pipes going around the studs instead of through them). Not a huge surprise considering all the other bizarre things done in that bathroom.
Once the shower was done, it was time to work on the wall separating the vanity area from the shower area.
We didn’t actually tear down the wall for a couple weeks, because it was gonna be a bit before we could move the light switches, and we didn’t want the wires just hanging in the middle of the room. Still, the instant result of drywall removal was glorious!
So much more light!
To be honest, my husband kinda side-eyed me a bit when I insisted that the wall needed to come down. Our initial discussion of the bathroom was just to replace the tub/shower with a walk-in shower and be done. But I figured that since we were already working in there, we might as well get a couple other wish list projects done.
Once the drywall was down though, immediately he was like, “Why did they put that wall there?? There’s so much more light and so much more space! The wall ruins what could have been a great bathroom!” I wanted to say, “Told ya so!” but I’m more mature than that 😉
And once we started tearing down drywall on the exterior wall, that’s when we noticed a hole from the outside into the wall behind the toilet. Which totally explains why we found a couple lizards in the wall. **face palm**
Needless to say, we filled that hole really quick! Spray foam to the rescue!
It was a hard day’s work, but the end result was totally worth all the sweat, blood, and drywall dust!
Now it’s time to put it all back together . . . but better! Wish us luck!
