My Weekend Project

[meegosh]

I finally got around to getting the shower replaced. Comments, suggestions welcome! It took about 3 days to complete with help from my dad, start to (almost) finish.

Before




Popped a few tiles off to see what we’re dealing with.




No turning back!




All the tile gone, glue residue left behind.



This should have been where we just demoed the entire wall to the studs and hung new drywall. Instead we spent hours scraping and sanding the glue off.



No more glue!




First coat of spackle




Had a little mold behind faucet so replaced that section




Rookie mistake, forgot to seal off work area, whole house looks like this.




Tada! New surround installed!




Spackle on top, ready for paint.




Curved shower rod really adds more room!



The next step for the bathroom is ripping the floor and subfloor out and replacing it all with a vinyl floor. I think we decided on this:

Elements flooring



After that I got some new lights, medicine cabinet and towel holders, etc to hang up.

Medicine cabinet, sconce lights, ceiling light, faucet, towel bar, hand towel bar, toilet paper holder.



Then the vanity will be installed along with a new toilet. Never ending projects!

 

[Alyxx]

Looks great! Now you just need to get an epic shower head to go with it. I love my 1 foot diameter rain style shower head.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Nice job. I really like those vinyl rectangles, they lay really nicely. Is the wall behind your shower drywall or concrete board?

 

[meegosh]

It is actually drywall covered with a coat of plaster. It is an older home and has plaster everywhere. Tried to keep the plaster intact as much as I could. It was pretty rough after all the scraping so had to hit it with a coat of spackle to smooth it out. I'm pretty pleased with the results and should be a lot easier to clean. I absolutely hated keeping the grout lines clean in the shower.

The vinyl is actually one piece. You can see some of the rolls behind. They sell it in 12' lenghts x whatever dimension you need. I need a 6x5' piece and I'll end up buying 12x6'.

Thanks for the compliments!

 

[Wy Renegade]

You got luck pulling all those tiles then. Had a buddy try that this summer, and they ended up going to the studs, as the plaster just busted out all over. Of course the studs behind were every size and shape you can imagine as well, so the weekend project turned into an all summer job. They did get an entire brand new bathroom (plumming included) out of the deal though. Sounds like your on a similar track.

 

[meegosh]

Looks great! Now you just need to get an epic shower head to go with it. I love my 1 foot diameter rain style shower head.

Actually added the Moen shower head when I bought the house. The water pressure was next to nothing when we bought the place. After adding that shower head it has been great. I may eventually switch over but for now it is perfect!

 

[mfdrookie516]

Looks a lot better! I feel for ya, I just got done laying more tile in the half bath today. We went through and replaced everything but the sink... which I'm halfway thinking I may end up doing anyways. Well worth the time and effort to have something that looks nice, and done yourself.

 

[meegosh]

I got the rest of the bathroom pretty far along this weekend. Really the only thing left is the crown molding and that will go on tonight.


Old toilet out:





Floor coming up:





Floor out:





New subfloor, went with 3/4" BC sanded plywood:





New paint:





New vinyl floor down:





Old sink out:





New toilet in and baseboards:





New vanity in, the big drawer needs to be shortened by 2 1/2" to get it to shut, right now it hits the supply lines:





New medicine cabinet:





It's amazing what $1,500 and two weekends will do to a bathroom!

 

[meegosh]

Looks a lot better! I feel for ya, I just got done laying more tile in the half bath today. We went through and replaced everything but the sink... which I'm halfway thinking I may end up doing anyways. Well worth the time and effort to have something that looks nice, and done yourself.

Laying tile?! I despise grout lines so I ripped every tile out of the house except for the bar top I built. Hardwood and vinyl for me! I really like the way your bathroom turned out, I shy away from bold colors because I don't know what I'm doing but it really paid off for you!

Borrowed my dad's air compressor and finishing nailer... boy did that make quick work of the baseboard. Going to use it to hang the crown tonight too.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Baseboard is the quick part lol. Crown moulding is a major PITA. I am just glad that our house has crown moulding up everywhere that needs it... even if it does look like it was put up by a 2 year old.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Personally, I despise both, as they look like dog poo when you don't get the angles right. About 90% of our house has not crown molding or baseboard for that very reason LOL.

 

[meegosh]

Personally, I despise both, as they look like dog poo when you don't get the angles right. About 90% of our house has not crown molding or baseboard for that very reason LOL.

Caulk is your best friend in that situation. The walls in my bathroom are plaster and not very square or plumb. A little bead of caulk made a huge difference.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Caulk is your best friend in that situation. The walls in my bathroom are plaster and not very square or plumb. A little bead of caulk made a huge difference.

Indeed you are correct, when it is painted. Alas, I'm a fan of hardwood; the little bit of trim I've put up has been either oak or Aromatic cedar that I've made myself using a shaper. I end up having to use filler, the last I used a made myself from saw dust and wood glue. It looks the best of those I've tried.

 

[mfdrookie516]

For stained wood, you can't beat using the same sawdust from the wood you're using with a little elmers wood glue. I used caulk in a couple places where I had a piece of base about 1" wide, and, valuing my fingers, chose to not re-cut 40 times to get it perfect.

Compound miter saws are pretty much a necessity IMO... especially when talking about crown. One of these days, I may pull mine down and re-do with some nicer crown, as what's up now is kind of blah.

I will say that you've got more drive to finish than I do. I've been working on my entry and bathroom for about a month and a half now lol.

 

[meegosh]

One of my favorite gifts was the sliding compound miter saw my dad got me last Christmas. The drive behind this was I'm now on 12 hour days, 6 days a week until end of January.

Speaking of close cuts, I'll have to show you how I finished the edges of the baseboard by the doorway. I miter the end of the baseboard and then miter a little sliver so it makes a square edge. The piece is less than half an inch wide. I had to re-cut the one piece twice, feeling the air blowing on your fingers from the blade is quite scary. LOL.

Not at home so can't take a picture but here's basically what it is: