When we moved to our house a little over a year ago, I knew that the downstairs guest bathroom would have to be majorly updated. Somehow, I failed to take a picture of the “grandma” pink and blue bathroom. It was a full size bathroom because our home originally was a ranch. It had a cast iron tub and shower, vanity dressing area, toilet, and sink.
We did actually try to use this bathroom but found that the sink leaked every time you used it. There was some major plumbing problems under the vanity that would flood the bathroom floor whenever the faucets where turned off extremely tight, therefor whenever the kids used the sink, there would eventually be a flood.
Below is the best before picture I can find of the vanity and toilet area. The bathroom measures 10-1/2 feet long by 6′ wide.
We tried to use the tub a couple times when our large dog come inside muddy. When we moved in, the yard was snow-covered. We had no idea that more than 1/2 acre of the yard was a complete muddy mess! They had filled in an old swimming pool and added a new septic system in the middle of winter, so no grass was planted. What a lovely Spring surprise we had! So, our dog got really muddy, really quickly to the point that he had to have extra baths. Just what I needed with unpacking with 2 small kids and starting the remodeling process. We seeded the yard ourselves over the course of last summer. Regardless, the tub was clogged every time we tried to use it. Ending in complete standing water. Yuck!
So, even though we had a downstairs bath, we haven’t used it since we moved in.
How to Demolish a Bathroom
Get a hammer and go at it! First, we removed the small privacy wall that separated the toilet and vanity area as seen above and removed the vanity counter. Next, my husband tour out the wall surrounding the shower.
Next, the fun part. Removing the heavy cast iron tub. Then, the toilet.
After we cleaned up the complete mess and removed the floor, we removed all the old plumbing. When I say “we”, I mean my husband and father-in-law. I have no idea what they had to do but it resulted in the water being turned on and off several times and a huge hole in the floor.
Don’t you love the improvements?! The hole was filled with a bunch of gravel – yes, we pushed the wheelbarrow in the house full of gravel! I bet not many people do that every day! It is all part of the joys and adventures of home remodeling. 🙂
Next, they filled it with cement, a lot of cement!
For some reason, the cement mixing, pouring, and smoothing became a party with my husband, father-in-law, and 80 year old neighbor. That’s a lot of people in one bathroom!
Another day, they worked on all new wiring for the new bathroom, while removing all the old. We are basically updating the wiring in the entire house, room by room. Who knew so much was involved in home remodeling?
We are so fortunate to have my father-in-law who is a professional and has done all of this for the past 30+ years! He and my husband framed out the new, much smaller guest bathroom next.
After the framing and electrical was done, they added the new plumbing for the sink. It was time for new drywall! We kept 2 sides of the old drywall and simply repaired them with joint compound.
Now it is my turn to have fun! I will first work on the joint compound sanding and touch ups that my father-in-law will leave for me. He usually gets it mostly done so I don’t screw it up and have to redo it but I actually enjoy applying the joint compound and sanding it. I’m a perfectionist and even though I’m not good at it and it takes me three times longer than him, I do like to try. 🙂 Then, we will prime and paint it. Add new baseboard and framing around the window. My mother-in-law will most likely help me with painting because I’m not so good at doing edges like around the ceiling, etc unless I use painter’s tape. She’s does an amazing job freehand, I’m super jealous.
I’m excited about our progress and the new bathroom that is coming.
