Last time we visited the upstairs bathroom, the rough plumbing had been installed and Mr. R started pulling down the dropped ceiling. Previously all the wallboard in the room had also been taken out.
Once we had decided on our theme, it allowed us to focus in on finding the materials we needed to execute the idea. Mr. R wanted the room to feel like the inside of a Little Grass Shack with a large window opening looking out onto a tropical scene. So we had to find a material for the walls that gave the illusion of being inside a LGS. In reality that would either be wood or platted palm fronds. Covering the walls with platted palm fronds didn’t get any votes (but that doesn’t mean we have heard the last of them). We thought about wood. We thought particularly about putting wood flooring on the walls. We also thought about tile. Given the moisture generated in a bathroom we thought tile was going to be the best choice but finding the right design was difficult. Finally after weeks of looking we found it.
It was at a tile shop called Morena Tile in San Juan Capistrano. We had been in there previously but this tile had either not been on display then or we had not noticed it. But notice it this time we did. And it was on sale for 89 cents. Yes 16” x 16” ceramic tile for 89 cents each. Hooray for the budget. Now I can understand it not being everyone’s cup of tea (obviously which is why it was so discounted) but for us it was perfect. And very cheap.
Part of this preamble was not only to keep you updated with the design side of the remodel but also to explain why we had removed all the wallboard in the bathroom. In case you didn’t know, you can’t just slap tile onto wallboard. Tile is usually put in areas where there is going to be moisture (around sinks, baths, and showers) and it needs to be installed onto a material with a good moisture barrier which regular wallboard doesn’t have. This kind of wallboard used to be called green board (it was green) it has now been replaced by purple board (it is purple). There is another choice, cement, either in the form of cement board or a cement wall. With cement wall chicken wire is attached to the studs and cement is plastered over the wire – we’ll go into this in more detail because that is what is going to happen in the bathroom downstairs. For upstairs, we were going with the cement board.
With the wall tile chosen (the floor tile hadn’t been finalized yet) Mr. Remodel could move onto building the soffit for the bathroom lighting.
Now there is not much that Mr. R likes more than buying wood and building something with it. Just in the time we’ve been married, Mr. R has built bookcases, fences, a desk, shelves galore, a workbench, a flat ledge for my drawing table, and numerous other items. I believe we can rival Lowes for the range of nails and screws we possess.
Here is part of the soffit. It is angled for reasons I chose to keep to myself for now. Check out the new vent. For non-US readers, bathrooms have to have a vent that takes out moisture (and smells) from bathrooms without a window.
Here is another shot, this time with the new insulation to replace the old and funky stuff that was there.
Here’s the other end. Not great pictures but you’ll get a better idea of how it looks when the wallboard goes on.
While we’re taking the tour here’s another view.
The black pipe is a vent for the sewer, while the larger, silver pipe is for the gas. The floor is plywood and because it is also going to be tiled will have to have cement board put over it. Finally to the left of the yellow level is a new electrical box for the pig (the unit that will power the claw foot bath’s air massage system).
More new electrical wiring courtesy of Mr. Sparky (another find through Mr. Fix-It).
Once the new vent, new electrical, and new plumbing is completed in the downstairs bathroom, we can call for our first inspections.
*In an earlier post I said that rough framing would be our first inspection but rough mechanical (heating and vents), rough electrical, and rough plumbing are actually listed on the permit inspection chart before framing.
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