Bath Renovation: Week 2
Day 8 (Monday, 18 March) Insulation and vapor barrier
Today Ralph put in new insulation in the walls, vapor barrier over the
walls and chase, and cement board in the tub and shower area (this
cement board is for the tiles).
New insulation in the ceiling, closing off the eave attic area.
New insulation in the wall, and vapor barrier over it, including the chase.
Cement board in the shower area.
Here is the inside wall, viewed from the kitchen, showing the framing
and pocket door.
By the way,
emptying the chemical toilet really sucks!
Day 9 (Tuesday, 19 March) Wallboard and plaster
Today Ralph brought in the plasterer, and did all the wallboard. The
result is very nice, it's starting to look like a real
honest-to-goddess room.
The interior wall (viewed from the kitchen)
Plaster feathered over the cement board in tub and shower area.
Ceiling fixture (light and ventilator) with window frame at
bottom of picture.
Low, medium, and high shots of the lavatory area, showing plumbing and
electrical services in the wall, and another view of ceiling fixture.
Day 10 (Wednesday, 20 March) Window installation and trim work
Ralph installed the window this morning (in just an hour or so,
surprisingly fast!) and built framing and trim for the window, the
door, and baseboards. He got a neat tool which places a tensioning
clip on the mitre joints (it pinches the joint from the outside) which
is perfect for gluing the mitres, but I didn't get a picture of it in
action ... maybe I will remember to ask him what this thing is called.
Also, my dad and I made a run to Home Depot and picked up the rest of
the finish fixtures, tile (including the mural that I like), and
shower rod and all that.
The new window in place, with nice new trim.
Door frame, viewed from kitchen. He didn't manage to get to
the baseboard on the outside of this wall, that will wait
til tomorrow.
Details of the door frame, showing the mitred corners and the pocket
door recess. The door frame includes guides for the pocket door, that
make it run smoothly in its track, very nice.
Day 11 (Thursday, 21 March) Priming and wall tiling
Today they primed all wood surfaces and walls, and tiled the tub and
shower area. This was all fairly uneventful, except for some artistic
decisions about the placement of the tile mural and the detail tiles.
The result is nice, I think, given that I'm no interior designer. No
pictures today, I will get some tomorrow.
Day 12 (Friday, 22 March) Painting and floor tiling
Today they painted everything that had been primed yesterday. Floor
tiles went in, which is a little nerve wracking because the mastic
sets quickly and they have to plan for working fast. This includes
having some tiles pre-cut for the edges and so on.
Also the electrician came in during the afternoon, and wired up the
lights and switches, and the GFI. He reinstalled the baseboard heater
as well, though he had to disassemble one of the other baseboards in
the house in order to figure out how to wire the 220V baseboard heater
with 110V supply wiring (another Herman special, thanks a lot dude!)
The tiled tub and shower, with the mural. I think the mural is cute,
and I sure hope that I don't get tired of it or regret the placement
or anything, because it sure ain't goin' anywhere now!
Electrical work complete, and vanity lights installed.
The floor tile, which is what they call "blue dot" and comes in
foot-square panels on mesh backing. (As an esoteric note, I saw this
tile first when my sister and her husband redid their bathroom in
Falmouth, and this floor includes some spare tiles from their job.
The new tiles are almost but not quite identical in size to the old,
see if you can spot the difference.)
Day 13 (Saturday, 23 March) Cabinets and fixtures
Ralph installed the medicine and utility cabinets, with only a
moderate amount of last minute hassles (medicine cabinet turned out to
be broken on one side, and had to be installed upside down). Also he
managed to get the plumber in today, and installed the lavatory and
toilet, woo hoo! Although we were hoping to get everything finished
today, we didn't quite manage it, there's still painting and finish
work to be done on Monday.
Low, medium, and high views of the installed fixtures and
cabinets. The low view shows the lavatory and toilet plumbing -- these
fixtures are nice, just the way I wanted them. The high view shows
the utility cabinets above the medicine cabinets, and the only thing I
didn't like about them was the handles, ugly white bracket things. So
we left the handles off, and I like this look just fine.
Finished shower head and valve. The only thing I'm not crazy about is
where the shower head ended up, sort of back against the wall. I had
marked out where I wanted it (in front of the valve, not behind it),
but Ralph said he thought it might interfere with the shower curtain
(?). I wish I had a chance to check in before he went ahead and
drilled the holes ... too late to change it now. Moral: be around for
close interaction on finish work like this.
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