Oh. My. God.
Let me add
'nasty'.
no picture of
the new PVC under the house as they did that and
replaced the subfloor while I was gone yesterday
Every bit of
plumbing in that bathroom has now been replaced...the toilet, the
vent pipe, the sink, the bathtub/shower. All of it. Well, not quite
all. The copper pipes in the wall for the shower remain. The bad
news? It added almost $1400 to the cost of this remodel. The good
news? We should never have plumbing problems in that bathroom ever
again.
I did go to
Lowe's after the watercolor class on Wednesday and looked at tile and
molded bathtub surrounds and light fixtures and faucets, took a lot
of pictures and decided on nothing. I did order the vanity and
already I'm worried the 'tobacco' stain on the wood will be too red
and wondering if that can be toned down (yes.
Thursday was
estate sale day and this one was no great shakes. Looked like the
house had been decorated by Hobby Lobby. Pam and I passed two
manufactured home businesses on our way and so on the way back we
stopped and looked at what they had to offer but this is a story for
another day.
Yesterday I
drove the 40 minutes to the nearest Floor and Decor and spent a
couple of hours there. As soon as I walked in a woman asked me if I
needed help to which I answered 'yes'. After I explained the
situation she showed me what they had to offer, what was new, what
the industry had moved toward (larger and larger sizes of tile) and
what they had left behind (square tile). I picked two possibilities
for the bath/shower walls and one for the flooring (vinyl floating
plank), then I wandered around on my own and picked some accent
pieces and one possibility of tile for the vanity wall. Some of the
stuff I picked I know I won't use because of the price but I brought
home the samples anyway.
Today I decided
to take out the two cabinets above the tub which I don't and never
will use because of the steam and moisture that rises up into them
and if I leave them I'll have to tile underneath them, so they're
going (Rocky's working a half day today so now they're gone).
Later today I'm
going to Bay City to look at vinyl roll flooring and then spend
tomorrow pushing numbers around and considering combinations and
hopefully make some decisions.
Isn't this always the way? What you think will be a simple (or at least not crazy impossible) project becomes completely overwhelming with more contingencies than you had ever dreamed?
ReplyDeleteBut just think how happy you'll be when it's all over and you won't have to worry about it ever again.
I should have expected as much...old house, old bathroom. and while the interior has been redone probably more than once by what we found under the formica, the underneath had not.
DeleteYou sure know how to have fun! I am sure your bathroom appreciates the face lift
ReplyDeleteoh yeah, a laugh riot. the bathroom may not appreciate it but we will whenever we got on the other side.
DeleteDiagonal sheathing on the outside walls and plywood over the inside walls--at least the one in the bathroom. These things suggest a house well-built.
ReplyDeleteAlong with steel drain pipes, it looks like you still have steel water pipes, which leads me to ask how old your house is.
built in the early 60s I think, maybe late 50s. bathroom now has all PVC and PEX to the sink, left the copper from the water lines to the shower handles and shower head. maybe steel water lines from the meter. don't know.
DeleteI would bet heavily on the lines from the street being galvanized. My house was built in 1955, and most everything is as it is in your house.
DeleteSmart to get rid of those cabinets above the tub. The tile samples are pretty, but not much more pretty than that nice, new PVC etc. that won't need replacing, either.
ReplyDeletethis place had/has so much storage. one wall of the bedroom was floor to ceiling cabinets (we took the doors off all but the bottom row and now it's just shelves), pantry, built-in floor to ceiling cabinet in the small bedroom for dresser I guess because with that there is no room for a dresser, the cabinets over the tub (right? what would even put in there?), lots of kitchen cabinets most of which I need a step stool in order to reach, the back bedroom had one short wall of floor to ceiling shelves (which I took out when we did that room after the flood)...none of which was original to the house.
DeleteMy bathroom in the old house had to be gutted like that. The good news was, the plumber fellows could just go down the basement, not crawl under the house. What we learn when we own a house.
ReplyDeletethe city house was even older and we never did redo the plumbing in it, just stop gap measures.
DeleteWe had the same problem when we did our bathroom. We now have PEX and PVC under the house. David and I decided on single sheet Acrylic that looks like marble siding in our shower. We didn't want to worry about cleaning grout all the time. The Acrylic siding looks like the real (marble) thing and then we had the vinyl floor taken up and reinforced the subfloor and put down marble. It looks so nice and it's easy to keep clean and it matched the Acrylic shower walls. You should look into this.
ReplyDeletethe porcelain tile I'm considering uses 1/16" spacers and the tiles are 12" x 24" so I'm hoping grout is minimal. I looked at the acrylic you suggested but I think I'll stick with the tile. not enough choices on the acrylic and I need a beige to go with the vanity top.
DeleteI know that feeling of "this will not have to be done again". It's good, considering what an upheaval it is. You'll be so happy when it's done.
ReplyDeleteeverytime something new horrible comes up...now it's re-venting the dryer which was venting under the house via the clothes hamper/water heater closet. seemed like a fire hazard to us. but yeah, will be happy when it's done. after working in the architectural business doing art glass I swore I would never remodel my house. the first time was forced on me by the flood but this time it was voluntary. sort of.
DeleteSo much work and expense. Hang in there. It will be over and you will be relieved. Who puts cabinets above a shower?
ReplyDeleteright? what a dumb idea. I wonder what the previous owners who I think did that stored up there.
DeleteBut now the choices, the choices! How to decide with so much to choose from.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to keep my choices to a minimum. I think I'm managing pretty well so far.
DeleteHugs.
ReplyDeletethanks!
DeleteI am so impressed by you ability to forge ahead with these home improvement projects. I am mired in inertia or more like concrete when it comes to the like.May it all turn out exactly as you imagine.
ReplyDeleteit would surely help if I had an image to imagine! but I think I'm getting there.
DeleteWhy is it that every home improvement project opens Pandora's box? I do like that aqua subway tile. I have to put tile in my never-ending (due to chronic procrastination) guest bathroom project. I have vowed to finish it this spring. I've been looking at that vinyl floating plank flooring for the master bathroom. I'm interested to know how you like it, if you decide to go that route.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's good that you replaced all those pipes. As you said, it should eliminate problems in the future. (How did I get so behind on your blog?!)
ReplyDelete