Bath Works

We started this bath remodel project waaaay back in June 2013. We originally wanted to do a kitchen remodel and in Fall of 2012 we were looking for a general contractor to remove the wall between the kitchen and dining room and getting quotes and also costs for cabinetry and a designer, etc.

Well what we found out was that it was going to cost a lot more $$$$ than we anticipated.  So we decided to not do the kitchen and tackle the bathroom instead.  But Kieran's 1st communion was in April and his birthday so it pushed it to May but we were going to Bahamas for Tresa's 50th so it got pushed to June.   So it seems like every Fun Fair Caravan at school I'm at home doing something with the house.

The year before was the basement.

This year Mel and I were gutting the bombproof bath.  It's not a big space.  It's a 7x7 room.  But it took the two us the entire day to get all the tiles down.  A month later I removed the floor and the tub. We weren't sure if we were keeping the floor or not, but I wanted in floor heating so the floor was out.  It was tough to crack, but surprisingly easy to get out.  Just heavy.  It's a mosaic marble floor tile on top of 1.5 to 2" of cement with mesh.  It wasn't going anywhere.  Except this day.  It was going outside.  

See that shirt. It's my reno shirt. Once the kitchen is done. Which will be our last major project. I'm tossing it.  Mostly cuz it has oil stains, drywall compound, paint, primer, probably some of my blood on there too.  It's not even good enough to be a rag. Yet I am wearing it still.

Spirit is Everything. You got that right. There's no way in hell I'm doing this for fun.  Itchy insulation, inhaling dust and debris, sweating to death in the attic and breaking my back and my elbow, cutting myself on nails sticking out or the mesh in the walls and getting frustrated by the people that work at Home Depot.

A few days later I removed the tub.  We weren't sure about keeping the tub or not.  But to get it refinished wasn't going to give us the expected result.  So out it went.  I still have the faucet and shower head.  I like it and didn't want it to end up in the land fill.  And this past year I made a base for it and hooked it up to the garden hose so the kids could play with it when it was hot out.  But we only had 1 day above 30degC. 

Then it was lighting and ventilation.  And squeezing into the space above the bathroom was 1 thing, finding some stuff I expect to be outside the house was another.  There was a bunch of dried twigs in the far corner of the house.  Like a nest.  I'd been up in the attic a bunch of times and this was unexpected and I had my crowbar with me in case there was something living or dead up there.  But I found nothing.  So I'm thinking this has been up there for a long time.  Because it was so dry.  It was a fire hazard, I figured, as well as being a little scary.

The roof slopes down on all four sides of the house.  So working in this area was tight.  About 20 inches at it's highest point above the bath.  I wasn't looking forward to having itchy arms and legs from the insulation.  But it's done now.  We have insulated light housings up there and an inline fan similar to the one we have in the basement.  Inline is the way to go.  It's so much quieter and more powerful. There is a sizing formula to this because you need to change the air 8x in an hour to calculate your CFM sizing for the fan.  Ours is double what we need.   So since I'm afraid of heights, I had the vent installed when I had the roof done.   No need for me to get on the roof.

I knew this wasn't going to be as quick as the "insulate the walls" project.  But I had no idea it would take this long.  There's so many decisions to be made.  From my side. There's 2x4's, drywall, cement board, ABS, copper, rigid insulation, LED lights, inline fan.  And that's it.  The cement board was toughest, since there's 1/4" for the floor and 1/2" for the wall.  And there's Wonderboard and Durock. Whatever, they're essentially the same thing.

But from the design side, there's colour, size, style, pattern, location, material type for tiles - marble, glass, ceramic. You name it. There's thousands of unique ones for each.  The selection is enormous.  And selecting them to make it what you envision. Well that's the challenge.  And it's not my decision.  I'm just the guy who makes it a reality.

In any case.  Time was ticking and we weren't done.  Well I was done I had 95% of what I needed to do done.  Only thing left was the trim and to put down the in floor heating wire (thinset it in). But I couldn't wait another year because the kitchen was already booked to be taken down.  This was our last project.  And I wanted to demolish everything and get all the big work done before we got neighbours.  I thought I'd have to rent a bin again, but I didn't.  The contractors gave me the name of a guy who would pick it up cheap.  And it was gonzo!

So while the bathroom sat in an almost finished state. The kitchen project began.  I was a little fearful, but Kieran asked me why I was scared?  He was right. No reason to fear. It was because it was a big change.

So on to the kitchen.

Our Bath re-construction





It's now close to the end of June 2015.  Two full years since my brother and I demolished the bathroom.  And it's finally getting completed.   We met with our old neighbour Joe to see when he can tile our bathroom.  And he said he can do it the week when I'm away in Denver. Figures!  Just hoping there's nothing for me to do. But it's now all on Teresa to get it done.


Today is July 20 2015.  Tiling is all done and it looks amazing.  There were some hiccups with the tiling, but they have been rectified and it's all good.  I got the controls, shower heads and supply shutoffs for the toilet and vanity installed middle of last week.  And this morning I got the Catalano toilet in.  It's an Italian toilet with German flush system.  I was surprised at how complicated it was to install.  I had to jump through some hoops to get this thing in.  One, the supply hose that was included with the shutoff was too short.  So I had to get one from HD, which I discovered after connecting it that it interfered with the supply connection hole in the back of the bowl.  So I had to trim the 3 larger ribs on the end of the hose that connects to the tank so the tank can sit correctly.  Thank God that worked.


I had it all connected nicely and turned on the supply.  Noticed that the tank wasn't filling to the fill line.  I looked at the instructions and then found a YouTube video on adjusting the fill level.  What a PITA. I had to drain the tank and remove it in order to adjust the friggin German Geberit Fill valve. But that could be more due to the slim design of the Italian tank. You can't do it inside the tank because the filler mechanism is right up against the left hand side wall of the tank so there's no room to rotate it to unlock. You have to physically remove it from the tank to adjust the level of the water filling in the tank, then reinstall it. It was humourous how complicated this was getting. So relieved I got it adjusted correctly on the first try.


But it's a beautiful toilet. Clean lines.  When we saw it, we both liked it.  One of the quicker decisions we'd made. If I had known what it took to install.  I would have liked it less. Actually the lady at the store told us it was not an easy toilet to install.   But it had been sitting in my office for a year.  Now that it's in and I've set it up and used it already.  I like it.

Next was the vanity.  This sink was the last one made that was still in Canada. When I was researching on how it needed to be installed, I determined it wasn't a 1 person job.  I needed some to help me ensure it was level and lined up and to spray water as I drilled through the tile.  Last I counted I needed 4 arms and hands for that.  I'm no octopus so I asked Mel to come over and help me install this thing.  It's German.  Most of the plumbing in this bath is German.  They make good stuff.   But I had to cut a hole in our bedroom wall to install blocking at the right location to secure the wall mounted sink.  It's not going anywhere.

It's ready for use. My use!

After 2 years +1 month.  Our bathroom is finally done.  No more going down 3 flights of stairs to use the toilet.
Everything is simple and clean and for a tiny bathroom, it actually feels a bit larger.  Even though the tub is wider.  The room is brighter (LED lights). Better storage. The floor is warmer (in floor heating is a must for a bath) and the walls are insulated.

I learned a lot.  There's some things that I would do differently.
But in the end it turned out fabulous.
So happy to have a bathroom again.  I feel pretty lucky that it's this nice.


Finished Bath