Master Bath D-Day 3

Now that the master bath has been cleared out, we proceeded to the flooring. You see, it was boring white square ceramic tiles with highlights of hideous shades of orange. I like orange, and have nothing against that color but what were the PO's (previous owners) thinking when they chose to put that in a room that received no sunlight with overhead fluorescent lighting?

And so out it went. For this job, make sure the toilet drain pipe is covered to protect it from debris falling in. Also put up plastic drop cloths to prevent dust and tile chunks from flying into any nearby rooms (we didn't have to do this as we just closed the bathroom door).

What you'll need:

• rubber mallet
• crow bar
  
• hammer or metal mallet (forget what this is technically called)
• grout removal tool
• metal putty knife
  
• floor scraper
• dust pan and broom
• dust mask (I know the bf isn't wearing one in the above pic but apparently he doesn't care about his lungs)
  

I also suggest ear plugs of some sort, this process gets loud.

Take the grout removal tool (which is basically a stack of utility blades with one handle) and run along the ground lines (it will make an awful sound. Like fingernails. Along a chalkboard. A very clean one. Times 10).

Then take the rubber mallet and lightly pound the tiles that you have used the grout removal tool along to loosen it up. Work in sections, like one entire row at a time.

Now take your crowbar and hammer (or metal mallet) and pry off the tiles. They should start to come off. Then use the floor scraper and the tiles should come off in whole pieces (which will make for less dust and way easier clean up).


And if a ton of grout was used, then you've just got to smash the hell out of the tiles. Clean up will suck. But at least you can unleash your aggression on the stupid ugly tiles.

By the end of this, you'll be deaf and your arms will want to fall off (if you are hauling loads of broken tile from the second floor, that is).

Any better tips to this type of demolition? Or tile hauling? Did you actually like the orange tiles? Are you the PO's that picked it out? Care to defend it?

Not the Best Medicine

Included in the removal of the vanities, sink, and toilet, I also removed something really minor:

I just unscrewed the 3 screws on the inside of the medicine cabinet:

Which left a nook with unprimed drywall and wood:

I actually really like this open nook much better. Remember when I did this with the kitchen ceiling?

Does your home have those side medicine cabinets? Are you with me on the open storage nook? Do you want my medicine cabinet? Ideas on what to do with it?

Master Bath D-Day 2

Master Bath D-Day 1 is here. Technically it occurred last year so maybe it was more like Day 0.5. But this post is about demolition, so we won't worry about the details ok?

First, we cleared out the bathroom:

Can you believe we stored all that stuff? Are we that high maintenance? I swear I'm not one to use products on my face or in my hair. I just buy things in bulk like toothbrushes and bars of soap.

Then we removed the drawers in the built in sink vanity:

Ready for one of the grossest things you'll ever see on this blog?

Yep, that's about half a decade's worth of hair. Someone ELSE's hair. [Insert shudder here. Repeat.]

Then we unscrewed the pseudo-built in vanity from the wall:

And removed it completely:

Next we removed the sink:

Here's a shot of the under side of the counter top (I think it's original to the house):

Here is after the sink vanity removal:

Then we drained the toilet and removed the tank and eventually the toilet as well (although I only got a shot of the tank removal):



What makes this worse than the kitchen demolition is that it is upstairs. Imagine carrying a toilet downstairs. And a sink with a counter top attached. And the vanity...

Hit a Wall

Remember this post from last year? Well since so many of you inquired, and I always give the people what they want, here's what we did:

Care to know what it looks like now, nearly 7 months later? Well not that different. Until recently... stay posted.

House Decency - part 3

One of the first items on our list to tackle, was the hole in the wall behind the doorknob. The previous owners patched the area up a couple times, and even added a plastic stop there, but we decided we could do better than that (IOW, the right way):

First, we cut out the patched up area completely. Then we kept cutting until we reached 2 studs.


Look at all the patch gunk we discovered!




Then we cut out a a piece of new drywall to insert into the hole. We screwed errr nailed* the new piece into the studs.

We then went over the seams with joint compound and sanded after it was dry.



Then primed, and 3 coats of paint, and problem solved!

*Our battery to the cordless drill is dead. This is making life around the house really difficult. We could use a sympathy drill...

Breaking the Seal

Our master bathroom was poorly constructed by the PO (previous owners). That will be our next mission, but for now we are enjoying not having any major projects (or major expenses that go along with it).

There are too many things wrong with that bathroom to list, but for starters the tub and shower doors were poorly installed and therefore has caused water damage. That fact alone worries me, but what worries me even more is not stopping it before it can be repaired, and I don't want to be contributing to the cause.

So I removed the old caulking along the tub, which was very much not serving its purpose (and collecting nasty black mold). It wasn't applied correctly, or evenly, or even in the areas that badly needed it. I've learned the hard way that caulking removal is NOT fun. I've come to the precise conclusion that removing any kind of adhesive is not easy.

Here it is after my hard scraping labor:

Here's the best way I've found to remove old caulking:

1. Caulking softener - Screw being green. Sometimes chemicals can be your friends.
2. Caulking remover - Because they make tools for everything. For good reason.
3. Elbow grease - lots of it.
   

After laboring through the removal process, I learned that I don't want to repeat it. Ever. So until we tackle repairing the entire bathroom, I put down a temporary (ie. easier) solution: tub and wall sealer trim:

I'm off to shower with water fully contained to the tub...

Kitchen in the Garage

Everyone says their garage is a mess, but we really mean it. Renting a dumpster for several hundred dollars doesn't sound appealing so I've taken it on as a challenge to slowly get rid of all our demolition mess through our weekly trash pick up. Easier said than done, because we have a mini trash can (it's cheaper, and prior to this kitchen project we didn't product much trash).

Ideally, the old cabinets would be in such great condition that we would repurpose them in the garage for extra storage and organization. But they didn't even have backers, you'd see the wall when you opened the cabinets. And some genius painted that white to trick you. So it's all rubbish. We even tried to burn some cabinet parts in our fire pit but it created a raging smelly smokey fire. There were no shortcuts, we had to hack it all into small pieces for the trash over the course of several weeks, maybe even months. My wrist took a beating and somehow my pinky as well. We've thought about sneaking it into neighbors' empty trash bins, and business dumpsters, and even at the dumpsters at our old apartment. I'm just so impatient, I want the non-choppable, oddly shaped, non-bendable old oven hood gone. Is that so wrong?

Kitchen Guts

I was so naive in my last post. We were so not close.

This weekend we completely gutted our kitchen down to the concrete foundation. This was an unexpected step, we didn't plan on removing the flooring. But while trying to remove our range, we realize it was caught on old linoleum flooring. We also realized that there was a smell under all that flooring. The smell of dampness and mold and all kinds of nasty bacteria.

And we discovered the source of it all, evidence of an old leak that had a clamp with screw... and scorch marks on the stud all around the copper pipe. That explains the horrible smell under the sink! Who fixes a hole with a clamp? Did I mention that all the plumbing was running through the old cabinets. That made for lots of holes through cabinets, unusable cabinet space, drainage noises, and unsightly drain pipes - I will not have that in my new beautiful cabinets. And I will not have smells under my floor.

We purchased some copper piping, learned how to weld, and created a new route for the drain pipes (through the half wall behind the sink). So in addition to being electricians, we are plumbers now.

And the fun doesn't end there. The next surprise was removing the adhesive from the linoleum flooring. That stuff is thick and bonds to bare concrete really well. It was instense labor. We tried all 'green' methods such as boiling water, wet towels, a blow torch, and old fashioned manual labor with a floor scraper. Finally, we resorted to chemicals. And when it comes to chemicals, this stuff was hardcore and highly effective.

On a side note: welding is fun, we encourage you to try it.

D-day (D as in Demo, Demo as in Demolition)

Today we unleashed all our angst and stress to destroy our kitchen. I thoroughly enjoyed this process. How many chances do you get to have a party with your power tools without any care in the world (aside from your own personal safety of course)? Power tools rock, especially when you don't care about what they are touching. The beauty of poorly constructed cabinets is that they are a breeze to demolish.

Once we remove the old cabinets, just a little clean up and painting and the new ones go in! We are so close!