# Bathroom remodel



## DavesWS6 (Jan 25, 2012)

We recently decided to do a full remodel of our first floor (and main) bathroom. We had another half bath in the basement but this is our only full, so it was a fun project to completely work on ourselves and figure out as we went along. The longest part was when we had the shower ripped apart and we were making extra trips to our gym to utilize their showers. 

We ripped out tile floors, tiled walls, tiled shower, plaster walls, and lots of trim. We installed some new plumbing, a new vent pipe for the septic outlet, insulated, drywalled, concrete boarded the shower, primed, painted, and sanded. Tiled the shower, tiled the floor, installed new sink, toilet, and decorations. Man, it seems a lot easier to just type it all up than the project actually took… We still have to stain the wood trim for the window, door, storage area, and base board. 


And of course, enjoy some pictures!


Before




















Starting to dismantle




















Demo begins









Surprise broken pipe!










Unexpected project done, vent pipe fixed. 










Old galvanized shower plumbing










New shiny copper shower plumbing


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## DavesWS6 (Jan 25, 2012)

Full demo finally done




















Time to reconstruct!

Drywall 




















Tile work begins. My dad got me started as it has been years since I did any tile work. He did the first few rows and I took over and did all of the rest. I am pretty happy with and proud of how the accent tiles came out.



















































Floor installed.


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## DavesWS6 (Jan 25, 2012)

Grouted, primed, painted. Installed the toilet and sink. Installed some finishing touches.










Finished! (kind of) 






























We are so very happy with how everything turned out. It was a great experience for my wife and I as new homeowners; first major project: success!


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## DocSki (Jan 8, 2015)

Hey that looks great!! I am new to DIYChatroom and I was looking at the project showcase and came across this thread. My wife and I love the color of the new bathroom and we're wondering if you happen to remember the paint color?


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## DavesWS6 (Jan 25, 2012)

It's a Behr Premium paint we got at Home Depot, the color is called "Soft Denim". It's a light blue/grey and is a great shade. We still love it as much today as when we first picked it out.


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## TheEplumber (Jul 20, 2010)

How did I miss this thread?
Dave, im impressed. Thats a lot of work for such a small room....
Looks very nice :thumbsup:


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## PD_Lape (Nov 19, 2014)

What a makeover! I am impressed on the color matching. The paint and the tiles look well together and the reduction of bright lighting creates a relaxing atmosphere. It's definitely somewhere you can enjoy a good bath. With some good music I can definitely lie on the tub for hours LOL.


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## concrete_joe (Oct 6, 2014)

that's what they call transformation from dated 1970's to up-to-date. nice work.

you made sure that tub was 100% secured before tiling (i assume so). how did you finish the bottom tile gap to the tub, silicone ?


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## DavesWS6 (Jan 25, 2012)

Thanks everyone.

Believe it or not, we actually pulled the color theme from the photograph of Scott's Pond (a picture my father took) that you can see in one of the finished pics. We wanted to pull a relaxing combination of blue, grey, and brown with black accent/contrast; the tile was an absolutely perfect match for what we wanted and we knew it was right the second we saw it in the store. I feel like we nailed it. 

The tub is very secured. It's the original cast iron tub and we considered removing it and putting a new one in, but after we had it inspected we were told it would be more cost effective to leave it in place and simply re-glaze it. We haven't gotten around to reglazing yet but the finish is not in that bad of shape. I do really like the character added by the curves on the front of the tub. It's also a really nice and deep soaker tub, so it's perfect for baths!

We finished the tile/tub gap with a small amount of grout to give it a uniform look with the other grout lines and then sealed it up with clear silicone. I also sealed around the window with clear silicone after staining the trim and putting a good coat of polyurethane to protect from the shower water. We also wipe down the window and trim after every shower.


Since these pics were taken we stained the window trim, as I said above, and also stained an installed baseboards and small crown moulding which really gives a fantastic finishing touch to the room. I'll try to remember to snap a couple pictures with the crown up and post.


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## concrete_joe (Oct 6, 2014)

so, i think what you'll find over time is the grout between tub and bottom tile will eventually fall out. i always silicone that gap. i keep that space between 1/16 and 1/8"max (1/16 preferred). the simple expansion and contraction of the cast iron plus the small movements of the tub will cause that grout to fall out.

but, see how it goes, if a problem occurs then go the silicone route. i use silicone color that would hide it the most (tub color, or bottom face edge of tile color, etc).


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## ProGreen (Oct 2, 2014)

That looks really great. You must be so proud and happy. Were the tiles embedded in concrete mud? What did you use to take them off? Thanks.


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## DavesWS6 (Jan 25, 2012)

concrete_joe said:


> so, i think what you'll find over time is the grout between tub and bottom tile will eventually fall out. i always silicone that gap. i keep that space between 1/16 and 1/8"max (1/16 preferred). the simple expansion and contraction of the cast iron plus the small movements of the tub will cause that grout to fall out.
> 
> but, see how it goes, if a problem occurs then go the silicone route. i use silicone color that would hide it the most (tub color, or bottom face edge of tile color, etc).


Thanks for the feedback/heads up, i'll definitely keep an eye on it. I put a thin layer of silicone over the dried grout between the tub and tile, so even if it cracks it shouldn't fall out but it's something to watch for. 




ProGreen said:


> That looks really great. You must be so proud and happy. Were the tiles embedded in concrete mud? What did you use to take them off? Thanks.


Thanks. We are really happy with the outcome. I'm not exactly sure how the old tiles were attached but it was a giant pain in the butt to demo that room. The walls were tiled to plaster walls, held together by wire mesh, all on top of drywall. Removal was tough but simple... we hammered it out and ripped it out using a variety of hammers, pry bars, and cats paws. The tile floor was attached directly to a thin concrete slab laying on the subfloor. We broke the tiles with a hammer and then pried them off and pounded down extra pieces of mortar/concrete from the tile adhesion. We did crack the concrete slab in a few places, but I patched that up with mortar and allowed it to dry prior to putting the new tile down. I'm sure that wasn't the proper way to do the floor, but it seemed like our best, cost-effective option and we haven't had a problem with it yet.


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## landman650 (Nov 10, 2014)

Nice remodel!


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## gma2rjc (Nov 21, 2008)

You did a great job on this bathroom! I'm glad to see that you kept the original bathtub too.


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## Jim F (Mar 4, 2010)

The original tub does add character.


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## die4irish (Nov 10, 2014)

looks great but why no waterproofing in the shower?


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## PD_Lape (Nov 19, 2014)

die4irish said:


> looks great but why no waterproofing in the shower?


Most people "remodel" for aesthetics purposes. They probably did not know what waterproofing is. Well to be fair, most people don't. Besides, it's a two year old post. OP probably remodeled it again.

-Paul


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