REMODELING THE REMODEL JOB

Today I started tearing out the bathroom.  We knew that there would be some “issues” judging from the electric tape around the pipes, massive caulk beads around the baseboards and a general “bouncy” feeling as we walked across the floor.  As I started the demo I quickly realized the extent of the water damage- here are some pictures as I worked through the tear out;

The bright spot was that the demo wasn’t as bad as I expected.  The tile floor was sitting on about 2” of concrete spread over wire mesh so I could pull it out in sizable chunks.  After this layer was removed I easily peeled up the original linoleum which matched what is in the laundry room.  The shower wall came off even easier- they must have been installed relatively recently because the tile was glued to Wonderboard which has only been around for about the last 20 years.  In addition, the contractor only used about 6 nails per section so I was able to pry away the entire wall and cart it off almost intact.  After everything was stripped down I was happy to find that there was no damage to the tub surround area however the sections around the toilet and sink were completely destroyed.  While I could have easily run plywood over everything as a quick fix, I decided to correct everything by scabbing in new floor joists, replacing the rotted sections of 1x8 subfloor and covering the whole floor with ¾” T&G OSB.  I made it half way through the 1x8’s when I just ran out of gas and decided to resume work tomorrow.  Here are some end of day shots;

Tomorrow’s agenda will be to finish the subfloor and install the ¼” Hardi board which will be the surface for the eventual tile.  After this is completed I hope to pick up the tub and hardware so we can at least have a functioning shower by the end of the night! 

Also, as a sidenote, there was a chair rail installed at some point in the bathroom.  As I was ripping it out today I noticed that it must have been put up by a real carpenter- all of the joints were coped which means that the installer traced the profile of the adjoining piece and cut it to match by hand.  For those not familiar with trim work, this type of installation is an art!  Even with laser guides, fancy jigs and expensive tools, I still cannot properly cope a piece of trim without wasting a hundred feet of lumber.  This discovery made me think of my late grandfather who was a trim carpenter by trade- he could do these types of cuts in his sleep!  Here is what I am talking about- notice the piece on the left;

PS, before I forget, I got a couple emails asking what the finished bedroom floor looked like before we moved in furniture so here is a picture;