Why do the bathroom gods hate us? Setbacks & progress....
Some of you might remember the ridiculously bad luck we had with last year's master bathroom renovation. Well, it seems that whatever bathroom gods we've somehow angered are still mad at us. Either that, or we're just really inept and/or unlucky renovators!!!
We started demolition of my daughter's bathroom (also the main house/hall/guest bathroom) in October. The bathroom was atrocious, with a sadly unsalvageable old cast iron tub that had such wrecked enamel it was literally impossible to clean. it also had a very poor floor plan, where the door swing ate up most of the floor space, requiring a teeny vanity and making the space (5' x 8'3") seem really small and cramped.
This is a VERY low-budget, DIY reno. I have carefully sourced stuff from yard sales, eBay, etc. Total budget is Here is the old floor plan:
Here is the BEFORE bathroom:
So we redesigned the floor plan, moving the door around to the perpendicular wall which really opened up the space, and provided much bigger vanity (a necessity for a teenage girl's myriad bottles and jars and stuff!)
Demo: it sure was fun smashing up the cast iron tub and ripping the tile down :)
We discovered two leaks that had been hidden behind tiled walls, causing rot and mold. Rotten and damaged subfloor :(
We replaced most of the old subfloor, then laid radiant heat wires for a heated floor and poured self-levelling compound (post about that here: http://www.thathomesite.com/forums/load/bath/msg1116262914226.html):
We framed the new door, new blocking in the walls, framed niches, new drywall and cement board, then waterproofed with Hydroban (I LOVE that stuff!!!)
Nest we laid the floor tile and grouted with Laticrete epoxy grout. Aside from the unforeseen leaks and rot which necessitated more framing/subfloor repair than anticipated, things were going okay up to this point.............
Then, I started tiling the walls. It took me about 5 days. On the last day, with only one small area left to do, I came into the bathroom to take a look at the work I'd done the previous day. Oh. My. God. On one wall about 2/3 of the tile were THE WRONG TILE. Same size and shape, but a different color and texture. I shrieked, and ran into the hall to look at the boxes. Sure enough, out of 10 identical-looking boxes of tile, ONE had a slightly different part number. They were close enough that, when installing at night under work lights, I hadn't seen the difference. In daylight: ugh!!! I knew the thinset had cured, but tried popping one off just to be sure: yup, it pulled away the old 50's plaster behind the tile. Not only would the tile need to be removed and replaced, but the plaster wall behind it would need to be skim-coated and repaired first. I was in tears.
Here is the amazing thing... and I will never, ever, say a bad word about Lowes again. I am amazed at this: I had ordered a large order from Lowes including both in-stock and special-order items. They called me when it was ready and had it all on a cart at the front of the store, including these 10 boxes of American Olean Ice White tiles. I dutifully checked the ticket and the boxes to be sure it was the correct tile, but I didn't check each and every box, since they were all identical. So, technically, they could have said, "You signed for this, you accepted it as-is." But they didn't. They realized what had happened and are graciously sending a tile company to come and do the repair. Now THAT is fantastic customer service. Yay, Lowes, huh??? So, it could have been a lot worse. As it is, presumably the tile guys will go a good job and the worst of it is that it will hold up completion of the bathroom by a couple of weeks. Luckily, it's not in the shower area so we can still use the space before they are done.
Meanwhile, I continued grouting the rest of the bathroom. We installed the toilet on Saturday. DH was starting to install the shower valve trims when the second catastrophe occurred: he dropped a heavy part on the brand new tub (that was painstakingly set in a mud bed and waterproofed under the tile: that baby's not coming out!) and chipped a quarter-sized chunk out of the enamel! Never even used the tub yet! And throughout the reno I had been soooooo careful to keep it covered and warn anyone using tools in there how easy-to-chip Americast tubs are.... Argh :( Luckily, there's a chip-repair kit available, and DH has a friend who paints boats for a living who says he can come buff the final coat to try to blend it as well as possible. Still, sheesh. already chipped and the shower's not even commisioned yet!
Some pics of the progress so far, including the niches I made from leftover calacatta tile from the master bath reno last year:
Hopefully I'll have "finished bathroom" photos to post after the holidays....
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