This President’s Day/Valentine’s Day Weekend, Christy and I decided to tackle remodeling our decrepit bathroom. After years of putting the project off, we finally said enough was enough. With a limited budget and a short timeframe, we decided to forego the complete remodel and try to salvage what we could. The tub and toilet are still in good shape, but the floor, sink, lighting fixtures, cabinets, and towel racks had to go. Plus, the main reason we needed to redo the bathroom was the chronic mildew issue that required us to bleach the walls and ceiling every 2 weeks. Not a fun task.
We started tearing down on Thursday night and finished final trim work on Monday night. Christy spent 3 full days in the bathroom sanding, painting, and laying floor tiles. I only had Saturday and Sunday to work, so my tasks were limited to plumbing and electrical, plus installing the cabinets and lights.
The only hiccup we had was the closet flange which holds the toilet to the floor. Our old flange was rusted and the concrete floor around it was broken up and unstable. I tried to patch the floor with a concrete patch compound, but after two days, it failed to set as it was mainly meant to be used to fill cracks, not holes. I dug it up and used a quick-dry cement and was able to secure a new flange to a rock-solid floor in a couple of hours.
All in all, we are ecstatic about the new bathroom. We love the new sink and floors and the walls and ceiling are now coated with a mildew-resistant primer and paint by Zinsser (supposedly the best on the market). We are hoping to never have to bleach those walls again!
For more pictures from the project, click here.