I wasn’t sure exactly what to call this one, because technically, it is not a complete bathroom reno, more so a bath tub and tile surround reno… however, I prefer the flow of Bathroom DIY. Our tub is the last thing to be updated in this bathroom (except for the mirror, but I am not sure if I will change it out or not) and it is a welcome change! Our old tub was original to our house, but what was worse is the disgusting mold which lived in the grout of the tile. The previous owner had used this house as a rental, so you can imagine the concern for cleanliness and upkeep. I CLR’d it, bleached it, scrubbed it- and while it helped, the dark stains always resurfaced when wet. The pattern didn’t help either. Please keep in mind, that I boycotted cleaning the tub, in anticipation of ripping it out, which took about a month and a half longer than expected. Its pretty gross…. be warned!
Our first step was to remove everything from the shower, and begin demolition. Simply for the satisfaction of smashing the wall with a hammer, I knocked out a few tiles. However, Matt used a small drywall saw, and cut out around the panels, removing the wall in big sections. This made the demo quite fast.
Once everything was torn out, it was difficult not to get excited. Lets change out the plumbing, throw in the tub, and get the boards up so we can tile! Bing, bang, boom! Right?
This was not quite accurate (I will say that I am the one who internally held those sentiments- not my husband, who has a more realistic grasp of the timeline of these things.)
I will also say, that the removal of old plumbing is nice and quick, however the updating can take some time. I could have sworn when there was a trickling leak, but didn’t. Matt was originally going to soder everything, however, he came across the “Shark Bite” and used that for mose of the joints. I will say, I am quite thankful for such a handy husband! He worked on the plumbing with his dad, while I kept the kids out of the way.
2 things I have realized. 1) Things go much faster when kids are out of the mix. 2) The hours after 8pm seem to be our most productive. Which is probably why Matt was up until 1am tiling last night, and is exhausted this morning.
Once the new drain was in place, and the plumbing was running properly (without leaks!) It was time to drop the tub. Our space is exactly big enough to fit this tub, and the bathroom itself is not very large, so, this took some figuring to get it in! But, we did 🙂
I can’t express how wonderful it is to have that tub in!! I will express how frustrating it was to get the thing level. This took much longer than *I* anticipated. Note to all who venture to redo their shower: There may be leaks that must be fixed (thank goodness the Shark Bite is adjustable) there may be tubs that do not level, or your tile of choice may be unavailable (more or less) however, I believe it is all worth it in the end! And hopefully within a day or 2, I will be soaking in my new tub. If we had a little more time, and didn’t have to complete this in evenings after Matt has worked a full day, and we’ve put the kids to bed- I think it would be realistic to complete in 2-3 days- with drying/setting time for tile etc.
Stay tuned for Part 2- which will have the “big reveal” 😉
