Day 10: Bathroom Remodel

Money, money, money, money.  Somehow Rick must have bumped and cut his wallet while doing the remodeling because suddenly it is bleeding money at an alarming rate.  I hope it does not die before we complete the rebuild on this bathroom.

The bear was back in our bedroom last night, so from 2:30 onward I was back on the couch.  I hope that when the bathroom is finished, the bear isn't quite so loud.  I need my beauty sleep! Yes, I realize that a good night's sleep will not do much for my overall appearance, but it will keep me from having a very, very ugly mood.

The second layer of drywall brings the wall flush
with the door jambs.

We started the day doing some simple drywall installation in the bathroom.  Rick put the second layer on the south wall, and we discovered that the closet door wall only needed one layer.  We will have to do some creative work with the door molding, but in the end we will be happy with the results.

The closet wall is a funky wall because the original
wall was crooked.  The side needs only one
layer of tile while the top really could use two.

The west vanity wall is complete.  The hardest
part was cutting out holes for the electrical
and plumbing components.

We stayed around the house this morning waiting for Nathan from the flooring company to come at 9:30.  Nathan arrived and told us what we should get ground down and refinished before we add the tub and other fixtures back into the bathroom.

The floor next to the closet shows where the
original tile rounded the corner to the tub.

Although the tub will cover most of the line
left by the original edge, we will have it cleaned
a bit to blend with the rest of the floor.

The wall around the base of the room needs grinding to blend
the area since the original walls were thicker than the new walls
will be.

Once everything is complete and the dust is gone, they will come back an repolish the high traffic areas of the house.  He said that the floors were in really good condition, but we have a few spots that could use attention.  As with everything else, a little care and maintenance goes a long way in avoiding costly repairs. Nathan's estimate came in reasonably priced although redoing floors was not part of our original budget.

Once Nathan left, we headed out to the plumbers to pick up our estimate on the cast iron tub, the chrome drain, and the installation costs.  Granted, we knew that this estimate would blow the budget because we originally had planned on the afore-mentioned acrylic tub and surround that we finally rejected.  So our $800 budget for the tub bloomed into an approximately $1200 estimate. And that cost includes switching from a $100 Kohler drain to a $50 Gerber drain.  Since the bathtub only will be used a few times each year, I am sure that the drain will be fine.  Sigh.  No remodeling ever stays within budget, but we both feel that the cast iron tub and the solid surface walls will be more to our liking in the end.

We still have to choose the wall treatment.  Our two options right now are the Swanstone that we have in our shower in Wisconsin or a new Kohler solid surface product called Choreograph.  We know that the Swanstone works well, cleans easily, and is fairly easy to install.  We both have to research the Kohler product yet.  They seem to be almost identical in price, so our decision will come down to quality, availability, and ease of installation.

Our final remodeling stop was our seemingly-daily-trip to Home Depot.  When I was contemplating the ways of the world at 2:30 this morning while trying to fall asleep, I accepted Rick's argument that the Kohler sink we purchased was too large for our vanity.  The sink itself will fit nicely, but the base of the faucet spigot and handles are larger than we expected, and I completely forgot about space being taken up with a backsplash.  By the time we add all of that to the perimeter of the sink, the granite people will run out of space to cut holes!  And since the sink is an under-mount sink, they need room to attach it to the granite countertop.  So back we went to Home Depot to return the sink.  We will order the same sink, but in its slightly smaller size so the poor granite people will have room to work.

A quick stop for groceries brought us back home so I could do some Friday cleaning (and DUSTING!) to somewhat get this house back to a habitable abode.

The floors, tub, and tub surround all will cost us more money than we had anticipated, but in the end we will have a main bathroom that will match the style and era of the rest of the house, and Gladys will be whole again.