Once the dumpster was delivered and the house was all wrapped up in cling wrap- there was nothing left but the swinging of sledge hammers. Unfortunately, unlike our Downstairs Bath Remodel, where we could save some of the existing drywall, the pink, goopy texture on the walls could never be removed without completely tearing down the drywall, so off it went.
We also removed the pocket door that separates the sink from the toilet and shower. After a lot of consideration and feedback from you all, we've decided to keep a wall separating these two spaces. This bathroom will function as the primary bath for Ryder and his future brother(s) and/or sister(s) down the road, and after sharing a bath with my big bro growing up, I like the idea of one kid being able to close the door to use the shower while the other is still brushing their teeth or using the mirror. Less Fights = More Mom Sanity. We wanted a little upgrade from the pocket door look though, so the plan is to rebuild a half wall, and install a barn door over this opening. I'm crossing my fingers that this door is the interesting and cool element to this room.
Ooh- look at this little treat we found behind the toilet- the old 80's wall paper. Turns out those textured walls were plastered on top of not one, but two layers of wall paper, adding nearly 1/4" to the drywall. Thank heavens we just decided to pull all the drywall instead of trying to strip it. Bathroom- 0, Homeowners- 1.
Those of you that follow our blog know that the Hubs and I have distinct roles in our DIY projects. During the demo I'm definitely the plumbing and electrical girl, making sure everything is safely shut off and prepped, while Hubs is the "Stay out of my way- I'm swinging a sledge" guy. So after a few minutes of unsuccessfully trying to *carefully* remove our huge full wall mirror in one piece, the Hubs said to me, "I'm going to need you to leave the bathroom now, I have an idea." Although I attempted to derail the idea with a "Jay... this doesn't sound like a good idea..." eventually I caved and left the room, since demo is his department. Three second later I heard a huge crash that I swear when on for 10 seconds, and when I received the all clear to reenter the bathroom I found this:
Yikes. One toss of the sledge into the center of the mirror brought down this pile of deadly glass. Remember when he had practice with this technique once before?
The Hubs was more than a little proud of his "Bath Crashers technique."
By the way- are you witnessing that fantastic wall paper #2? It's white with red hearts all over it. I mean, why in the world would they have covered that up? :)
The floor demo wasn't nearly as fun as our mirror, since we were reintroduced to our arch nemesis the lath-and-concrete tile floor base.
Once again, as in our wood floor installs in the foyer, Living Room, Dining Room and Kitchen we had dangerous, sharp lath curling out of the floor. At least this time we only had to remove 45 square feet, instead of the 700 square feet we had to remove the first time.
Here's my hot husband swinging away at the tile with the sledge. He's moving so fast I couldn't even catch the hammer on the Sport-Action setting on my camera.
And finally it was time to pull down that fantastic tile from the shower. I'm sure not going to miss the gross & moldy grout and caulk lines.
At the end of the day, we had nearly filled an entire 6 yard dumpster, and the bathroom was empty down to the studs.
Yikes! I always have a little anxiety during this stage, as I just want to get those walls back up. It shouldn't take us too long though, and all we can do is take baby steps ahead.
Any one else love the demo process as much as the Hubs does? Literally at one point while he was smashing the vanity repeatedly with the sledge, he looked up at me and said, "This is one of my happiest moments... ever." And surprisingly he's not the only one, did anyone else hear about this "Anger Room" in Texas where people pay $75 for 25 minutes in a room with a sledgehammer and just get to break everything in it? I have to admit it's therapeutic.
Follow the Main Bath Remodel process:
I'm impressed and excited to read the barn door post!
ReplyDeleteI'm gutting one of our old bathrooms now, only I have a hammer, not a sledgehammer. Also, in a relatively small space we have no less than 5 separate runs of vents. Happily, I managed to avoid them all. Because we normally don't have *that* much trash, we're sticking the contractor bags in with our other garbage (and maybe leaving an extra 1-2 at the curb) but I can see how getting a dumpster would have been pretty handy.
ReplyDeleteI'm jealous of your trash collection. We get charged for each additional bag out on the street, so it would have taken us months to get rid of it all. (We filled a full 6 yard dumpster to the brim, and that's after picking out everything to donate and recycle.) In my humble opinion your should buy a sledgehammer- they are fun. :)
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