Except for our upstairs bathroom, our house had pretty much been fully renovated when we bought it in 2010. We’ve done quite a bit of cosmetic work, including installing trim, painting and changing out light fixtures. And, of course, there was the patio. However, that bathroom… It wasn’t awful, but it did not match the rest of the house. Also, we felt like the dimensions of the vanity and shower should be switched. There’s room for two sinks there, but barely room for one person to stand in the shower.
Before we could even get started, Dad and Tony worked on the downstairs bathroom to get the hot water working to the tub. Once we determined that we’d have a way to get clean in the evenings, we got to work demo’ing the upstairs. We didn’t find too many surprises, but there were a shocking number of floor layers under the top layer of linoleum. Also, we’ve determined that we will not be able to install a vent fan…no room up in the attic for its “plumbing.”
One layer of awesome flooring and the collateral damage to the room adjacent to the bathroom
Final plumbing work
Four days in, and we’ve torn out all the old, plumbed in the new, and are almost ready for floors and walls. Last night we put down concrete backer board over thinset, and tonight we got the backer board for the walls up and taped.
Current vs. normal scene at the top of the stairs:
New walls and floors
I’m not sure if it looks like much to you, but I feel pretty good. Things have moved slowly, as anticipated, but besides waiting on batteries to charge today (you should see all the tools that are battery-powered now…drills, jigsaws, circular saws, etc!), but they have moved consistently. We’ll be putting on the waterproof membrane tomorrow, and at least starting the tiling. Wish us luck 🙂 (By “us” and “we” in this post, I mostly mean “Dad,” who is totally my hero, and to whom I am incredibly grateful!) Oh, and in case I’m not back: Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, hopefully spent with people you love.
Adventures in Michigan's Up North 
Hi Ms. Heather, wow, you are doing a lot of remodeling lately, aren’t you? I wish you luck and am smiling at you calling your dad your “hero”. Oh and Tony is a hero, too, isn’t he? Isn’t he? lol! Happy Thanksgiving to you. We’re spending it alone, but I guess we love each other, so that’s OK, right?
We have been doing a lot of projects around here, but we bought the stuff for this bathroom over two years ago. Life got in the way and has kindly stepped back and let us work 🙂 And yes, they are both absolutely my heroes. And I am so lucky to have spent Thanksgiving with them both. We even had friends out for the holiday in the midst of laying tile. As long as you were happy for Thanksgiving, then I don’t see how it couldn’t be okay. Happy Thanksgiving, Kathy!
Once it’s done, you’ll feel like all the work was so worth it, I’m sure! The great thing about a project like this is that, unlike scrubbing and dusting, you can tell for a long time that you did something.
Shew, I hope so. We have been working so hard, but things are starting to pay off already. Unlike that scrubbing and dusting, that we have been doing multiple times daily to try to keep up with the mess.
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