Renovation - Guest Bath - 99%

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It's taken me a while to get around to finishing up the guest bath. The main cause of the delay has been trying to understand the electrical wiring in my house. Being paranoid while working on electrical wiring has kept me from getting a few jolts. I keep a visual/audible current detector in my pocket at all time and have been known to test the wires multiple times without even leaving the room. This time I isolated and turned off the circuit that I was going to work on and started running wires. The room had both the vanity light and fan/light on the same switch. I wanted to separate these two to different switches and in the process remove the side lights and add one horizontal one over the mirror. The good news about this story is I was forced to venture into the attic and was pleasantly surprised with its clean layout and uber high head clearance (9' at ridge). This is a huge luxury compared to my previous house where I had to crawl down the center of the attic on my belly to not hit my head.

When it was time to connect the new wiring to the existing the sun was setting and I was losing natural light. I decided to see if the hallway light worked or not. I flipped the switch and the light came on. Being paranoid I tested the exposed wires once again but this time I magically had current. Well after days of tracking the wires through several rooms on multiple floors I determined I had a common neutral and located it. I couldn't find a way to separate the circuits without large quantities of demolition so I put it back the way I found it. This of course after I spoke with an electrical engineer and determined that with the minimal loads occurring on separate phases I'd be ok. I will be revising a circuit diagram for the breaker panel identifying this detail.



I was able to finish and seal most of the base cabinet. It turned out alright for it being boring old oak. I've already changed paint colors a couple times mixing some browns with the red to tone it down and blend with the vanity better. I added one "accent" wall behind the mirror to keep the red glow off of your face when you're at the sink. I'm still not sure the color is completely there... but its good enough for now.



The new setup is a vast improvement over the existing (see previous blogs). I'm sure I'll tweak things here and there until it clicks. The space got new wiring, separate switches, flooring, vanity, counter, sink, hardware, lights, paint, wainscot and chair rail and a new toilet seat!


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Renovation - Guest Bath - Vanity Drawers

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I have now built and installed the 8 drawers, 2 doors and a false panel on the vanity. I'm quite happy with how it turned out. Routing the edges of the boards really made it look finished. I've always been critical of oak and simple construction but after working with it for the first time I think I can tolerate a few oak projects. I've also decided to try staining it rather than throwing paint on it. It's not everyday I build something out of solid wood.





I have yet to install security brackets to keep the drawer from falling out but will do so after I stain and install the hardware.


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Renovation - Guest Bath - Wainscot

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The walls were a little beat up and had several holes in them. There was also this sweet double stacked plastic access panels that served the shower in the adjacent room. I decided to cover all of this with some new base trim, wainscot and chair rail. It is already so much better than that rubber base.



I still wanted access behind the shower so I created "secret" removable panel within the wainscot. Remove 2 screws, lift and gain full access to the plumbing.

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Renovation - Guest Bath - Vanity / Flooring

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Once I had the old vanity out I sat the new counter in place to make sure it fit. Once it was in I decided to leave it in and add the sink/plumbing back in since it would be a week before I could work more on the room.



Having installed sheet vinyl before I was able to get this down rather quickly. I like to do a dry fit first so I can cut out the more difficult details first... and if I screw up i can just shift the piece over a few inches and start again.



Once the flooring was in I started building my first vanity. I built the box in 2 hours but it took another 2 just to put it into place. I have always resisted building drawers before now and what better way than to do 8!


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Renovation - Guest Bath - Demo

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The guest bathroom has been the biggest eye sore since we moved in. At first glance you are immediately repulsed by the county plaid curtains but to look away means discovery of some other displeasing detail. The countertop is like the other bathroom vanities, a sweet 1970's laminate. This one happened to have a pattern of pink trees from above as drawn on a civil consultants drawing. The flooring is the cheapest floor tile available at the time and was installed in such a way that you could fit a penny sideways between two tiles. This atrocious white tiled shows dirt like no other. The mismatched rubber base trim was a nice touch as well. And if you could oversee these pieces, the chromed fixtures, 30 holes in the wall, (2) 30"x30" access panels you would eventually find the tiling in the shower.



After a year of living here I decided to get to work on it. A trip to Lowes put some special order sheet vinyl on order. We realized quite quickly that finding a vanity to fit our 47" wide opening (1" narrower than most cabinets) was going to be a challenge. The cabinets and tops on most pre-made units were not built in a way where I could shave off 1/2" from each side. And the option of trying to modify a wall was out of the question as well. Lowes offered to order a custom vanity for us (1" narrower) but it would cost 175% more!!! We improvised and looked at premium laminate tops with a nicer drop in sink. Integrated bowel will have to wait till next time. We placed our orders for these pieces and went home to tackle the next step... how to build a vanity myself.



Demo is usually a lot of fun but the tight quarters of the bathroom made it frustrating. I took out the toilet and ripped off the base trim easily enough.



Next I began to demo the built in vanity. My first roadblock, the copper extends from within the wall cavity and ties directly to the faucet. I had to kill the water to the house, cut the copper and try something new. The idea of compression fittings freaked me out but I wasn't about to learn how to sweat copper and wanted at the very least a quick fix so I could turn my water back on while moving forward with the demolition. It took a little work but surprisingly not even a smallest drip came from the connection. I was stoked. I proceeded to remove the vanity and knocked out all the nails, a practice I have found very beneficial even though it can take some time, putting them in a plastic container.



After about 4 hours of demo work I was beat and took a break before cleaning up. Stairing back at me in my weary state was a sign telling me to cheer up.




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Renovation - Half Bath

The half bath downstairs was in pretty good shape but like all rooms I end up having to make some changes. The main change was to replace the built in vanity, some 1970 monstrosity and replace the cracked toilet.



After demoing the built in my assumptions were confirmed, the engineered wood floor did not continue below. Luckily the previous owners kept some attic stock and allowed me to patch the floor.



The wainscot also did not pass behind the vanity so I had to bring in a new piece and put up some temporary chair rail. I was quite happy with how the wainscot went in. I try to install finishes so if I or the next owner decide to make modifications it makes it easier for them. Here I made minimum cuts to the wainscoting for the plumbing.

The drain for the sink "conveniently" passed through the side of the vanity, a detail I failed to see when I began this journey. A small hole saw through the side of the vanity and some chromed out escutcheon and it didn't look half bad.

I came back in later and replaced the chair rail with a two part system. I really like the relief in the wallpaper. It's just weird enough it works for me.



I relocated and joined the side light fixtures into one single fixture overhead. This added a lot more light while eliminating the awkward fixtures. It was easy to reroute the electrical but where I removed the lights was another challenge. How do you patch a wall with a textured wallpaper? The answer was to install a new mirror. Well that covered most of the opening but it needed something else. I ended up building a custom picture frame with some large crown moulding and installed it behind the mirror. It looks a little "heavy" but I think it turned out pretty sharp.

Renovation - Bathroom

before after

Here is a "quick" renovation project, the second bath. The second bath is located adjacent to the garage and is always a used for a quick washing up. It was functional but didn't look to hot. One of the first things to grab my attention when I moved in was the fact that every square foot of flooring was carpet. This included bathrooms and kitchens. Having refinished the kitchen floor I knew I would be in for some retro surprises. Sure enough the bathrooms carpet was hiding two layers of beautiful vinyl. A sweet little number from the 60's and another fake wood sheet from the 80's. I wanted to do this right so removing everything in the bath was necessary. The toilet had to disappear for a while. This was a treat. My first toilet removal / setting. The bolts were corroded and lost within decades of dirty wax that kept the floor dry. All plumbing was badly corroded and needed to be replaced. I opted for plastic replacements this round. Not to self. If I'm ever going to do bathroom renovations again, plan on replacing all pipes, drains and hoses. It will save a lot of trips to Lowes.



Layers of tasty wall paper were discovered. I removed an electric wall heater which ironically let in more cold air from the garage than heat it put out itself. For an already warped wall I did my best to patch and square it off. After days of patching, curing, sanding, patching, curing sanding... I decided I surrendered.



The project went fairly smooth. In three days the room went through demolition, patching, rewiring and received its first coat of paint on walls and ceiling. The wiring for the light had to be raised a couple feet for the new fixture. A GFI outlet also needed to be added since the last one was part of the cabinet. With some luck I put a hole in the wall where I wanted an outlet after checking for potential power hazards in the wall. Come to find out I drilled right into an empty gang box that was installed for a future phone. The receptacle fit and all I had to do was drop some power to feed it. I ordered some sheet vinyl, got some sv adhesive and all that was left was to throw up some new base trim and bring in the sink, vanity and toilet. The vanity is awesome. Since the base is pulled back from the front of the bowl and the entire thing sits on legs you can see much more of the floor. The result is a bathroom that feels much larger... I like it.