TheBside has been somewhat quiet lately, and for good reason. Alisa and I are still reeling from our recent splurge on bathroom renovations. Who knew that hiring contractors to do all the work would be so much … well … work?!
The renovation initially was simply replacing the old tile, changing out the hardware, etc. A typical renovation. However the two bathrooms in the house were going to be done at the same time, for cost saving reasons. So I came to know my work’s showers fairly well for 2 weeks. And yes, it took almost 2 weeks between the first demo day and our being able to shower. There’s the demo, there’s the mould discovery (yeah, that was fun), there’s the drywall/cement board hanging, then the mudding, the tiling, the grouting, the sealing, the painting. Man, if we could do all these things without drying time, it would have been half the time it was.
Oh yes, we found mould downstairs. We also discovered there was no vapour barrier between the old drywall and the cement foundation. Oh, and no insulation. Oh, and our previous contractors had installed a 220V power conduit mere inches away from copper tubing – perfectly illegal. And dangerous. Oh, and the copper tubing was leaking within the wall – had been for some time as it had rotted away the wall’s base lumber. Sheesh, nothing ever goes according to plan when it comes to renos in this house.
But the end results are great. We’re showering – though Marley seems to be too nervous in the newly deep tub to bath anymore, so she’s begun standing up and showering with the secondary nozzle you can see in the picture. She’s quite proud that she can shower now and Daddy doesn’t get wet at all. Oh, and check out the height of that shower nozzle – that was all for me.
So pictures, where are the pictures!?
Here are some before and afters of the upstairs. I haven’t taken pictures of the downstairs yet. Downstairs also ended up getting a new toilet (installed by yours truly), a sink and sink faucet, partial ceiling, paint all over, toilet roll holder, etc. Basically an entirely new bathroom down there. However the only difference in the tub area compared with the pictures below is that they don’t have the stripe of colour – pure white. Oh, and the shower head isn’t as cool.
So if anyone needs a toilet replaced, just let me know – I’m a real pro now.
Hey Kirk and Alisa,
I feel for you both. I have been doing a kitchen renovation for about two and a half months now. Why so long you ask? Well we decided to take on the project ourselves to save money. With the role of both the primary contractor and labourer comes loads of painful mistakes and a lot of back tracking. I did go to the pros on a few things: the granite counter-tops (which look awesome), the plumbing (attaching new faucets, sink and garborator) and hardwood flooring (next week I hope). It is very nearing completion so we are excited for that, but still trying to decide if it was all worth it.
The new tub and tiles look great; very new and shiny! I really like the hardware you chose too. I do have to say it is too bad you had to remove the blue tiles I really like that look (probably because I was a product of the 70’s and grew up with that look in some of my old homes).
Hope everything else is going well for you all!
Brian
Thanks Brian – maybe you ahve some pictures to share because it sounds like there’s a lot of work to be done.
You’d appreciate the shower height too – as high as possible for those of us who aren’t quite so vertically challenged as the normal person.