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Is this load bearing?

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Is this load bearing?

Tag Archives: demolition

“Master” Bathroom (Part I)

04 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by Donna in Master Bath

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Tags

bathroom, demolition, tile

Since I have posted most of our completed projects, that brings us to where we are today.  The master bath.  This one has taken longer than we anticipated.   We had it almost to the point of completion…and just stopped.  All we lack is for me to finish the doors to the base cabinets.  That’s it. 

But, here’s the deal:  I have never built cabinets before.  I knew exactly what I wanted this bathroom to look like:  white subway tile; Carrera marble counter tops;  classic white cabinets with inset doors (like I had seen and bookmarked numerous times on houzz.com).  The only problem was that we could not afford the marble counter AND the custom cabinets I wanted —  and I really did not want to set our pretty new counter top on contractor-grade base cabinets.  So, the only obvious choice was to build them myself…right?

I’ll go into more detail on the cabinets later, but let’s get started with the demolition.  Since this is the master bathroom we are about to gut, the first thing we did was move all of our furniture and clothes out of the bedroom and close off the vents.  We wanted to keep them as dust-free as possible.  Then we hung a zippered tarp between the bathroom and bedroom, and another one between the bedroom and the rest of the house.

Now, for the ‘before’ photos.  Guess what?  We actually took ‘before’ shots, but I can’t find them.  So, let me set the stage:  Brown and white tile that was dull and cracked with age; a porcelain tub, with no finish left; (no matter how hard we cleaned it, it never looked…clean), cabinets with french provincial-type trim…oh, why can’t I find my “before” pictures!   Anyway, don your dust masks and eye/hearing protection and break out the jack hammer.  Here is what it looked like after our first day of demolition:

 

 
 
 

See ya, floor!

We had one more day of demo in front of us, and very achy joints, but there was no turning back now!
 
 

Basement Bathroom Demo

26 Saturday Nov 2011

Posted by Donna in Basement Bathroom

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Tags

bathroom, demolition, home improvement, renovation, tile

Like I mentioned in my last post, this bathroom was a project we kept putting off.  We had just completed sheetrocking the entire basement, and it seemed like there was no end to the dust.  We were in no hurry to create more.  So, after taking a long break, we decided to break out the hammer drill and get to work.  After removing the tile and lath, which is the wire meshing that holds the mortar, we were left with a dark cinder-block room.  Norm wired up temporary lighting and this is what we were left with:

A blank canvas and a lot of debris to haul to the dump.  H-e-a-v-y debris.  What did we do before Rubbermaid bins? 

Shower stall

After the dust settled, it was time to wire and hang the sheetrock. Norm, who is a licensed electrician, wired a light fixture in the shower stall since it is such a dark space.

 
 
 
 Then it was time to tile!
 
 
 
 
 
 
Believe it or not, the tiling was the easiest part.  Here is what it looked like pre-grout:
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Next we had to tackle the floor, which had at least an inch of mortar that still needed to come up.  Oh, and an old toilet flange, but more on that in my next post.
 

Where to begin…

25 Friday Nov 2011

Posted by Donna in Basement Bathroom

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Tags

bathroom, demolition, home improvement, house, renovation, tile

I have to admit, I am late getting in on the blog game.  I have been a blog lurker for the past couple of years, getting tons of ideas and inspiration from many amazingly talented DIY’ers.  I finally decided to start my own, if for any reason, to keep a journal of our projects. (It might also be easier than emailing our pictures and updates to family and friends). 

I just wish I had started a long time ago, since we have completed so many projects — but who says you can’t blog about the past?   So, I think I will start with one room at a time and bring us up to where we are today.  I will apologize now for the photography in these posts, as most were probably taken with my cell phone.  I have since acquired a real camera (and Lightroom!) in the hopes of improving my photography skills.

Before I get started, let me state that we are the second owners of a 1960’s basement rancher that was in need of some TLC when we bought it a few years ago.  One of our first projects was to sheetrock the cinder block and panelled basement.   The basement bathroom was the final battle and one we kept putting off.  On January 1, 2009, we set a goal to have it done by January 31st (of the same year).  We didn’t meet that deadline, but we did finish before we rang in 2010.  Below are the before shots, (which we didn’t think to take until after we had torn the ceiling out–oh well…)

 BEFORE: 

That brown tile…
A phone jack?!

 
You get the idea.   A typical bathroom of its era. 
 
More on the demo tomorrow.
 
 
 
 
 
 

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