Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Bathroom renovation: drywall and tub

We've been making decent progress on the bathroom. We took the rest of Christmas week off after my dad left and have been working together--as much as we can with two small children underfoot. They've been watching more movies than I'd usually allow...oh well.

While my dad was here, we got all the electricity done, except for the final hookups at the outlet boxes and light switches. The plumbing is all ready to hook up once the tiling is done. The drywall is hung, taped, mudded, and sanded. I've done a bit over half of the second (and hopefully final) coat.

We've having some strange moisture issues in some of the ceiling corners. Some of the corners have still not dried after 3-4 days. In fact, in a few places, they're literally dripping water! The ceiling is insulated with a total of R-60 fiberglass, but we suspect that in these corners there are small gaps letting cold air in near the drywall and causing moisture to condense. Eric's going to crawl up in the attic space, pull aside much of the insulation he just laid, and be sure that those corners are all sealed up.

The vent fan in the ceiling is also dripping water intermittently (more often at night, especially when we have a particularly cold night). It hasn't rained for a week and all the snow and ice melted about that long ago, so we suspect it is--once again--a condensation issue. Warm air from the room goes up the flexible duct and cold attic air causes moisture to condense and drip down into the fan. I bought insulated ducting, which should solve the problem.
This used to be a hallway. The shower (which you can just see on the left) bumps into our walk-in closet. 
The tub is installed.  It was a beast to move; 5 men using a heavy-duty furniture dolly barely got it in the house. We found two very small leaks, likely from moving the tub into the house. One of the leaks is accessible. The other is on the far side of the tub. No way we want to move the tub at this point, so our plan is to cut a hole in the floor from the basement crawl space and repair the leak from underneath. We tried a pool/spa leak stop product, but I don't think it did the trick (we used Leisure Time Leak Seal, same kind of product as Seal-a-Leak or Fix-a-Leak). So I've ordered Plast-Aid. If that doesn't work, I will scream.
View from the shower towards the tub. We raised the ceiling from 8 to 10 feet. 
You can see the hardibacker cement board on the shower and most of the floor.
We've had our share of frustrations and curses muttered under our breath. Oh, and I probably shouldn't mention the one time I fell off the ladder...or rather, the ladder went through a hole in the floor and I came tumbling down with it. Eric kind of caught me, but it was less elegant than it sounds. I fell over on top of him, he fell to the floor, and I caught myself on my hands and knees. No lasting harm done, thank goodness.

I might see if some of our friends can help watch the kids so I can work for a good several hours. We'll be laying the marble tile soon, and I'll need some uninterrupted work time for that.

3 comments:

  1. Wow...you guys are busy! What you've done looks amazing. Almost done...you can do it!

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  2. I am inspired by all you do! My bathroom is in need of some renovations. I don't know if I will be able to tackle doing a renovation, having a toddler and being pregnant. I know I will feel very accomplished if, I get it all done before Christmas. http://www.careymutterdrywall.ca/en/renovation_checklist.html

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  3. Did you replace the entire dry wall? I can't imagine how much garbage there was to clear out. When my neighbors restored a 2nd home they had bought, they needed a dumpster for all of the carpet and drywall. http://www.tcmdumpsters.com

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