Friday, March 4, 2016

I'm back!

To tell you the truth, I forgot about this until now. I have been so busy and trying to find the time to put my thoughts down is not always easy. So much to do and going on in our lives right now. Where to begin?

Well back in the summer of 2015, I decided (my wife that is) to begin the renovations to our en-suite. The bathroom was dated and had some previous leaking issues so we had saved some money to buy and renovate. Let me tell you what is so much fun....demo! Nothing better than destroying something but in a controlled way and not breaking everything in sight. Since the tiles were crap and needed to go this was our starting point. At first it was a little difficult but found out this sheet rock was the issue. Not bad issue because we expected it to be there but tough to get the tiles off safely. What we found was that half of the shower/tub wall had sheet rock and everything else was just drywall. The tiles and drywall came off like nothing. Then the drywall came down from the walls. I forgot to add that the vanity had already came out and toilet was still there is use. Many trips down to the truck to fill it up for a run to the local dump.

We also took out the old vapor barrier and insulation for the better batten insulation and new vapor barrier. The tub came out and left out for the metal recycle people and anything else that was left to clean up. The mortar on the floor to hold the tiles was a bitch to get up. lucky for me I had an air compressor and a hammer chisel! What a job even with the air tools. ow this was taking place over a month or more. Doing things when I had free time since we have one full bathroom and a powder room on the main floor. Once we had the en-suite gutted we could begin to insulate with the batten. that was actually so easy and fun. Very quick to insulate and then to hang and tape vapor barrier. Next came the plumbing for the new shower we were putting in. We got rid of the tub and are putting in a shower only. My soldering ability had improved over this project but as we began to plumb, I decided that the best way would be to PEX the hot and cold water and then into the diverter for the hand wand or rain shower head. PEX is an awesome product. Very forgiving and easy to install and cut.

Once that was all done and tested for leaks, it was on to installing the shower base and walls. This was something that worried me. Knowing that the studs weren't perfect and the drain was a little off from the new base, there was some adjusting and tweaking to do. This was more of a head game than was expected. The drain was installed but found that it was too high and stuck out the shower drain. I had to adjust it and lower it so the drain assembly could fit. Also making sure the base was level and square so the walls would be as well. The shower surround seemed less work than sheet rock and tile but needed more precision. I was able to work through little obstacles and finally after a lot of small adjustments, had a square surround.

Next was installing drywall! I thought this wouldn't be horrible and it wasn't really Just made really sure my measurements were accurate and it went up without too much issue. My mudding and taping skills are okay but I'm really hesitant to put paint on a wall that I haven't made damn sure was smooth or had no issues.

So this is where we are at. I have to sand a couple spots and then we are painting the walls this weekend. Then the mortar and tiles right after. Once the tiles are in the vanity and toilet can be installed and ready for use. I am still trying to figure out how to crawl up in the attic and connect my exhaust fan. But we are quickly coming to the end of the project. I'm going to be so happy to get this one done. Proud of what my dad would think of it and happy to not go through it again!

We are planning a kitchen reno in 2 years but we are paying someone to do the work.....I'm good with that!