I just finished a complete gut rehab on my bathroom. It’s small, but functional. I moved everything around except for the toliet location. Highlights:
– Gutted to the studs
– Three new vents, two new drains, replaced all piping with copper
– New Window
– Warmboard flooring on level floors
– Complete Kerdi shower system up to the ceiling
– Grohe thermostatic controls and shower fixtures
– Six shelves (including two niches) in shower
– Toto toliet
– New solid maple door with custom 6″ jamb
– LG solid surface vanity top
– 1/2″ glass shower door
– Four lighting circuits with dimmers
– 235 square feet of tile
If you want, I have pictures from start to finish (including old bathroom), for now, some pics I took today.
These are behind the wall so you can’t see them from the outside:
Edited 4/16/2007 5:17 pm by PaulWaterloo
Replies
Looks great!
Looks like a real nice job... congrats.PaulB
I like it, especially the shower. Only thing I'd change would be the swing of the shower door, but doesn't look like that is possible with the space constraints.
jt8
"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."
-- Mother Teresa
The shower door swings both way......when you get in, you swing it out, turn on the water....step in. When you are done with the shower you open it inwards and walk out.....it's no interference at all.
Dang, guess you did think of everything!
:)
[edit to add] Loved the sequence shots. You really thought out every step. Was there anything you wished you could have done but didn't? Or something you would have done differently?
jt8
"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."-- Mother Teresa
Edited 4/17/2007 11:43 am by JohnT8
that'll do.
Looks great!
What's the small glass looking shelf at the base of the shower slide? For some reason it doesn't look like a soap dish.
The shelf on the bottom of the shower is just that....something that comes on the Grohe kit.
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Paul,
Excellent work!. I like the double swing door. Is it spring loaded?
Chuck Slive, work, build, ...better with wood
Excellent work!. I like the double swing door. Is it spring loaded?
No, not spring loaded. It just sits where ever it is left. Took two guys two hours to install it. That is one of the few things I didn't do myself and would never do after seeing how long it took. It seals the water out PERFECTLY. Not a drop outside the shower.
In the end, I'm glad I have the design I do, if you leave the shower door closed after taking a shower, the shower won't dry out. It stays VERY humid in the shower even though the fan is left on a minimum of one hour.
If you leave it open and squeegee the glass, most everything is dried within an hour.
What tiles did you use?Dandelions in bloom, spring is here!! Well, if it would get above freezing at night, spring would be here. sigh
Paul, it's beautiful. Wonderful level of details and craftsmanship. I'm anxious to see some of the "before" shots. Also, can you show a floorplan? Looks like you squeezed a lot into a small space, and I'm curious about the dimensions and the relationship between the various features.
I struggled with some similar space issues recently, though on a much simpler level. Your final result is stunning! (With dial-up, it took about 15 minutes to load all your photos, but the wait was worth it).
Allen
Edited 4/16/2007 6:15 pm ET by WNYguy
I'm anxious to see some of the "before" shots. Also, can you show a floorplan?
Here is the initial design that I finalized:
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When I was laying out the shower, I decided to go with a 48" x 38" inside dimension of the shower which was about a 57" x 37" outside dimension which I have photoshopped in....
The pantry cabinet is 24" wide, in the end I had a 27" wide opening for it, which was perfect to mount a 2x4 on one side of the wall, slip the cabinet in and secure it to the 2x4 used for spacing.
Here are a few before and during, it use to have a 30" door that was LEFT HAND, a closet door behind that one, a tub date stamped 1928 or so and over 1.5" drop from the outside wall to the door in elevation.
Here is looking in the door, now this is the toliet and shower.....the sink use to be where the shower is now....
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View ImageYou can see the tub, and just behind the bathroom door was another closet door....only one could open at a time.
View ImageWith the door removed.....
View ImageWithout the door removed.....the closet was built when the tube was put in....which was the first revamp over the original 1915 construction....
View ImageAfter 25 minutes into a $1,000 facelift, I decided to gut it.....
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View ImageThe bottom of the tub.....date code 11-10-28
View ImageI took everything out including the floor:
View ImageNew window installation on the outside, doesn't look like this any more.....
View ImageI leveled the floor by sistering 2x4's....
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View ImageShower vent and drain going in....I have a friend who is a plumber, he did all the plumbing, I was his helper....
View ImageHere's where the vanity is going....
View ImageYou've got to have warmboard, RIGHT???
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View ImageGet a Panasonic fan....super quiet.....and get a timer for it. Use it a lot.
View ImageWiring just about complete and vanity opening....
View ImageI cut an IKEA kitchen cabinet down to 22" depth from 24" depth for a custom vanity....biscuit joined it back together....
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View ImageOne of the two shower niches:
View ImageShower plumbing installed:
View ImageShower during drywall process....I used regular 5/8" drywall, not cement board or green board:
View ImagePaul installing Kerdi for the first time ever.....never even worked with cement products before....
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View ImageHardi backer thin setted to the floor followed by nailing it when it is wet....
View ImageCurb and floor and drain go in.....
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View ImageSelf leveling cement to get it perfect....
View ImageI laid the floor out in the bath, then marked it and moved it to the kitchen, then installed it.....
View ImageTwo colors of grout....many steps....
View ImageThe "better bench" and my home made "better shelves" TM....
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View ImageThe floor after grout:
View ImageLeveling the curb with self leveling compound:
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View ImageThe shower wall tile changed colors after I grouted it, see the rust stains on it on the right where there isn't any on the left?? In the end it worked out great.
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Edited 4/16/2007 7:45 pm by PaulWaterloo
Once again...
Nice work!!!
Got any pics of the Hottie in the shower??
:)
I don't Know what I am doing
But
I am VERY good at it!!
Looks like very nice and meticulous workmanship.
Please don't be offended...............those puck lights in the cabinet are a nice touch but I believe they may be a fire waiting to start.
What is on the floor? Can you give me a close up?
[email protected]
Please don't be offended...............those puck lights in the cabinet are a nice touch but I believe they may be a fire waiting to start.
I've been posting long enough on the internet not to get offended.... :-)
They are actually 10W each low voltage lights, that only come on when the door is open. Even if they were on continuous, they wouldn't start a fire.....but they are only one when the door is open.....
There is also a master cut off switch for them in the closet plus a dimmer (my grave will say "The man who loved dimmers"....). The little boxes you see in the cabinet house the low voltage transformers....so if they ever die, you have access to them.
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Genious!
When did you find time to work? ;~) Nice photos.[email protected]
Paul,
Very nice work! I have a question for you, in the picture that shows the Panasonic fan, it looks like you lowered the ceiling by adding a 2x4 to the existing rafter to allow more clearance for running the pipes, etc. I was looking to do something like this also. From the pictiure it does not appear that these 2x4's are sistered to the rafters. Can you explain how this was accomplished, i.e face nailed or screwed and what length of screw or hardware you used.
Thanks much.
88727.21 in reply to 88727.17
Paul,
Very nice work! I have a question for you, in the picture that shows the Panasonic fan, it looks like you lowered the ceiling by adding a 2x4 to the existing rafter to allow more clearance for running the pipes, etc. I was looking to do something like this also. From the pictiure it does not appear that these 2x4's are sistered to the rafters. Can you explain how this was accomplished, i.e face nailed or screwed and what length of screw or hardware you used.
That's exactly what I did because I had to run a new vent from the vanity through the ceiling and then across on the back side of the shower. I have an old bungalow that has 1x6's for the ceiling joists so I did not want to cut into them.
So I took 2x4's and cut them to length. I pre drilled a pilot hole for a screw, then a counter sink hole about half way through the 2 x 4, started screws that went at least 1.5" into the ceiling joist (I think I used 4" screws), then I put construction adhesive on the edge of the 2x4, held it up, and screwed it in place.
Here's a picture before the shower was framed in....you can see the screw holes that were counter sunk. I put them every 12" or so....I still have a 8' 7" ceiling in the bath, the shower is 8' tall.
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As others have said, that's some impressive work.Is the floor heat electric or hydronic?Thanks,Scott.Always remember those first immortal words that Adam said to Eve, “You’d better stand back, I don’t know how big this thing’s going to get.â€
It's hydronic.....PEX tubing in warmboard.
I second what Brian suggested, Paul. You should definitly submit this topic to the magazine for publication. I'd definitly give it the thumbs up.Justin Fink - FHB Editorial
Your Friendly Neighborhood Remodelerator
Parolee # 53804
Parolee # 53804
Rez-
Just curious, why would you save my hosted pictures and rehost them? They are already there.
Paul
Sometimes I'll do that as a courtesy for the dialup and slow wifi users on the forum.
I shrank the KB size down a bit and the individual attachments can make it possible for isolated viewing of the photos.
Hosting the pics already open in a thread can take a long, long time to download the post or make it impossible to do so for them.
All is well tho, that is a great post and my compliments to the chef ;o)
Parolee # 53804
Thanks.....just curious.
My pictures were approximately 100K average in size and the finehomebuilding hosted pictures were approximately 50K average size.
But mine look better..... :-)
Sometimes when working out of state I'll get stuck using a dialup service and it is so slow I won't even try opening up one pic unless I visit a library with a cable/dsl line.
May I ask how much time went by on your bath from the beginning to finish?
Parolee # 53804
Edited 4/18/2007 10:21 pm ET by rez
May I ask how much time went by on your bath from the beginning to finish?
I started the demo work around October 15th, 20 minutes into it I decided to gut it....got a dumpster.
I worked pretty much every Saturday and some Sundays, a lot of nights and probably two 40 hour weeks over the holidays.
I took the first shower the first week of April, so it took about five months from start to finish. I did all the work myself except plumbing and drywall.
I figure about 400 hours of my labor in there, and it took me about 15 minutes per square foot of tile without grouting, which is 80 hours alone.
Hat tip to you for a quality job. View Image
Parolee # 53804
Wow - really, really beautiful job. Holy smokes, though, that's a lot of grout lines! The puck lights in the cabinet also caught my eye, but for a different reason. You seem more than capable of accepting some constructive criticism, so please let me offer some (and maybe a suggestion). While the rest of your bathroom is so well executed, down to every detail, the exposed black wires under the shelves and the thick surface mounted puck lights just seem really out of place. Consider buying a a duplicate of each shelf, and trim 3/4" off the back of each of the shelves (old and new). Then sandwich two trimmed shelf pieces together with several strips of 1/8" or 1/4" material in between to create a slim space to run wires. Then recess mount your lights in the "bottom" of the shelf sandwich, and apply a nice 1x2 piece of maple trim to the front of each shelf/wire sandwich to finish the front edge. You'll end up with a beefy looking shelf, and no exposed wires. You'll lose a teeny bit of shelf space too, but who's keeping track?
Cheers.
MNMike-
That's a great idea.....considering I'm using the shower and toliet daily, I think my work is complete. Whe I installed the lighting, I did see the exposed wires, but I felt there wasn't much I could do about it. Considering the doors are closed all the time, no big deal.
Did I mention how WONDERFUL the shower is? OMG, it's heaven.
Paul
those puck lights in the cabinet are a nice touch but I believe they may be a fire waiting to start.
Not if they're LED. jt8
"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."-- Mother Teresa
that was also my first thought, those halogen pucks are gonna ignite the first towel they get close to. man, get them out of there.
nice cabinets though and a pretty sharp tile job
Nice work Paul. And though this enriches Breaktime, I would encourage you and anyone else doing this quality work to submit it for publication in the magazine.
Submissions can be send to Fine Homebuilding, 63 South Main St., Newtown, CT 06470-5506
Here's some advice on how to submit:
We get a lot of submissions and we study every one of them. But some submissions are much easier to evaluate than others, and thereby gain an edge. Here’s what you can do to ensure that your entry gets the most editor eyeball time. If you’re sending multiple projects, do this for each one.
1. Put the materials in an 8-1/2-in. x 11-in. folder.
2. Include a typed cover letter that describes the project, and what our readers can learn from it that they can apply to their own situations.
3. Send a simple floor plan of the project, and label the parts that are most important to the story.
4. Make photos as large as possible. One big photo per page is best, and no more than two or three per page.
5. If you’re submitting a remodeled project and you’ve got "before" photos, include copies of them as well.
6. Please don't send photos by email or CD. They quickly clog the system.
7. If the project contains a particular material, structural or design detail that you think might be right for one of our Feedback or Great Idea features, please note them in your submission.
Following these guidelines doesn't guarantee getting into the next issue, but it will improve the odds. Thanks for taking the time to read this and for considering Fine Homebuilding as a worthy forum for presenting your work.
Paul - great job and great pictures. I'm a new subscriber to this site -- a homeowner getting ready to do some remodeling that includes updates to bathrooms and I already see one idea I hadn't thought of that I can use and that is the double towel rack above the toilet.