Bathroom Remodel Fun Fun Fun

[TerryBPP]

Trying to wrap the bathroom remodel that the wife had to have. Started in January and hasn't gone far.

The Concept:


Barren:


One of 2 vanity sinks:


The piping that needs to be expanded for 2 sinks:


This weekend I'm doing all the piping and drywall.

The copper water pipe does not look like it was soldered. What could they have used to seal it? Looks like an adhesive. If its held up for 10 years it I dont mind using it. Sure beat soldering the whole thing.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Terry, I'd say the copper is soldered, but well very done. Someone was very neat, and probably wiped the joints with a wet rag while they were still hot. Some plumbers really take pride in their work. Only in the last few years have copper "glues" started getting popular.

I feel your pain, I have a 1/2 bath with no toilet, stripped wallpaper walls, and a plywood floor. If I get really motivated this weekend, I need to skim coat the walls, lay underlayment and tile, and set the new toilet. New Onyx countertop should be in next week, fortunately the Oak vanity was very nice and will be re-used with new hardware.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Man, your timing for this thread couldn't be better. I started a gut-it-to-the-studs bathroom remodel about a month ago and then?.... a relative threw a party and just had their bathroom done by a local, works-alone contractor friend that is more craftsman than I've maybe ever seen (BIG exception to Milt, if you haven't seen his work...well, its beautiful. Pelican OT'ers, tip your hat to Milt's talent!). This contractor was at the party and I ended up chatting him up for like an hour about it.

Anyway, it froze me up realizing i wanted THAT level of work even though my house is small. I called the guy. Long story short, after waiting for his availability, we're re-starting on about November 1st. I will finish the demo, including blowing out the THICK 6" full floor mortar bed and Sawzalling out the floor joists and he will start our remodel. I wil post pix to this thread if Terry doesn't mind the semi-hijack. At least its a fully related hijack. I can post pix of my partial to-the-studs demo later. Not sure I have them here at work.

[911Rob]

Been there, done that, tooooooo many times!

Good job though, cabinets look good.

My wife custom designed our ensuite, it's actually a small space... she designed the vanity, not my cup 'o tea; but she likes it.

I just snapped these; I think cleaning day is Sat though; so mind the mess.
House is 30 years old and we're doing renos each Spring Break and Summer; work in progress, but we like it. Kitchen is next I think?




Before:

We've done 4 bathrooms in total in this home; here's the main floor powder:

Before:

I've done every kind of reno you can think of; one of the nicest bathrooms I ever did was in another older home, we took out the ensuite mini-bathroom and combined with main floor to make a huge bathroom with a central claw-foot soaker tub and huge 3x4 w/i european shower. Tile and Granite; it was very nice!

Cheers

[Dan in Pasadena]

Found some pix. The demo on the floor slab you see below is now about 3x as large. Too damned hard with concrete saw and chisel. Gonna buy/rent an electric jackhammer but afraid it'll crack plaster, etc in adjacent rooms. Anyone with experience? All the plumbing will be replaced with copper. Reconfiguring the toilet and vanity locations. Bathtub getting removed and replaced with larger shower with heads in all the rude places!

[911Rob]

OMG!
4" of plaster flooring; I've done a couple plaster demo jobs and they're yukky.
Unbelievable amount of work that they use to put into building a house in the good 'ol day!
That's a project alright.
Careful with the jackhammer, you don't want to damage the structure.
Good luck,

[911Rob]

Edit: I added some B4 pics to above post. Makes it more fun to see the changes.

[trekkor]

I've never seen a floor with mortar that thick! Insane...

I feel your pain.

Bosch makes a nice demo hammer. try it.


KT

[TerryBPP]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Terry, I'd say the copper is soldered, but well very done. Someone was very neat, and probably wiped the joints with a wet rag while they were still hot. Some plumbers really take pride in their work. Only in the last few years have copper "glues" started getting popular.

I feel your pain, I have a 1/2 bath with no toilet, stripped wallpaper walls, and a plywood floor. If I get really motivated this weekend, I need to skim coat the walls, lay underlayment and tile, and set the new toilet. New Onyx countertop should be in next week, fortunately the Oak vanity was very nice and will be re-used with new hardware.

definitely not solder. notice in the last pic there is some brownish glue on the 90deg bend.

Glad im inspiring some people to finish their projects.

[Dan in Pasadena]

4"? Its SIX inches! 4 inches is between the floor joists over black paper supported by true
1 x 6's which are laying on - NOT nailed to - true 2x2's which are nailed to the inside of the joists! I couldn't believe they never nailed the 1x's down! Then they made a second pour of about 1-1/2" on top spanning over the joists.

Get this - they beveled the tops of the joists into points for some damn reason. I think maybe to minimize the width of the 1-1/2" pour? At any rate, because of those bevel cuts, we're cutting out the floor framing and re-framing...or possibly just sistering in new 2x joist adjacent to the old beveled ones.

I'm not sure the electric jackhammer is a good idea because of possible damage to the other rooms but I've been using a concrete blade on my skil saw making large cuts then using a masonry cold chisel and hammer. Just about deafens me even with ear plugs, not to mention my hands go numb. There's gotta be a better way to get this stuff out!

[trekkor]

Dan, what's under the floor? living space, crawl space?

KT

[TimT]

That looks like a soldered elbow to me.. the brown goo could be rosin from rosin cored solder.

[trekkor]

Yep. I agree. You can clearly see the solder.

The brown "goo" looks like flux/acid to me.


KT

[Brian 162]

That looks like a properly soldered joint to me.

[Icemaster]

Robert,

What's the make/model of the corner tub? I'm currently designing an addition for the house, that looks like it might solve some problems...

[911Rob]

The tub was purchased through "EMCO Corp" with a Product No. C0809831; flagged mini soaker lh w/tile fl & neo angle skirt. $1665 CDN before discount.

Hope that'll help you out; I know it did us.

EMCO Corporation
PO Box 2107
Salmon Arm, BC, Canada
V1E 4R1
Ph (250) 832-7053
Fx (250) 832-8629

[Icemaster]

Many thanks!

Terry, best of luck. BTDT a few times.

[futuresoptions]

Hey Dan, I think I would add some joist, lay 5/8 tongue and groove over it and then a sheet of concrete board, maybe some insulation between the joist.... Hard to tell from just the pics....

[911Rob]

Icemaster,
My wife dug through the file and thinks it was a "Kohler K821 - Mayflower"??
Couple additional pics of tub only:

[TerryBPP]

Whhhhew, rough night. 1am last night and an hour this morning getting it all wrapped up. Previous to this I had only soldered a dishwasher pipe. Trial and error worked out and she is done. Biggest pain was heating the pipe without burning the drywall. Glad I have metal studs.






The PVC sewer pipe took 10 mins. Now to drywall and lay down some 12" tile.