Remodeling Bathroom, where should I start?

[12vMan]

Re: Remodeling Bathroom, where should I start?

I guess I do have one question. When replacing the wall for the shower do I put green board then cement board over that or do I just use cement board?

Hey hostage

There are many ways of preparing the walls for tile - Cement backer board like Hardie Board, floating the wall with hot mud or there are systems which cost more because they come as a kit form, like Kerdi. In either case, you won't use green board drywall as a backer behind it.

The most important thing is to create a moisture barrier between the tile and the wall framing. Cement backer will fill with moisture, but it won't swell and pop tile, where the wood framing will.

I recommend having a company come in and hot mop the shower pan as well. It's the most bullet-proof way to ensure a waterproof shower floor. Costs for this vary, but an average 4 x 4 shower pan shouldn't cost more than $300 at the most.

Again, there are many helpful sites that offer step by step instructions for shower prep, and I strongly suggest doing the homework on that before you become very familiar with tile demo and re-installation

 

[skargo]

Re: Remodeling Bathroom, where should I start?

Doing one on a 100 year old rental right now. It was tiny, 6.5'x4.5'!

And from underneath,

 

[marauder11]

Re: Remodeling Bathroom, where should I start?

I am a plumber
Hey me too! if you need any help just post your questions on here although i dont know your local codes i have heard it said that illinois has some of the strictist codes in the us. There is only two things you need to know about plumbing 1. Stink goes up 2. Poo goes down. BAM your halfway to being a plmber!!! but seriously if you have any questions just post ill try to help.

Couple more pay day is Friday, do not chew your finger nails

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: Remodeling Bathroom, where should I start?

Wow...Thanks for all the great advise and by all means keep it coming. Was surprised to login today and find all this wealth of information. Currently it is one of the smallest bathrooms I have ever seen. I did measure out the floor plan, I think it was about ~34ft square. On the other side of the bathroom is a closet which is about the same size and mirrored to it. The bathroom and closet are like two "L's" locking into each other. It has a smaller stall shower and we want to enlarge the shower using some of the closet space. We also want to make the closet a little larger. We do have room to spare in our master bedroom, so we don't mind using some square footage for expanding the closet.

I have been watching a lot of DIY shows and I want to fabricate a drain pan for the stall shower and tile it. I will keep the toilet where it is and I will replace the vanity with a different style. I am thinking of getting the shower drain where it is and moving the water lines for the shower and maybe adding another shower head.

When we went to Home Depot and Lowes, we got a lot of caution saying that water is something not to play with, etc. I have installed fans in all the rooms, including mounting and wiring, though don't have much experience with water.

I did see a video on youtube from the TileShop that has some drain pain grade kit and it looks easy when you brake it down.

The main reason why I am redoing the bath is that water from the shower got inbetween grout joints where water from the shower steam hits the wall. I know got into the backer board, I just hope there is no mold. We do have a spare bathroom that we are using after I noticed the issue.

So I guess what I am looking at doing:
1) Expanding shower into closet area
2) Expand Closet into Master Bedroom
3) Do plumbing, replace greenboard and cement board.

I guess I do have one question. When replacing the wall for the shower do I put green board then cement board over that or do I just use cement board?

Thanks again,

I will post some photos

Ok man, guess I will chime in since it looks as if you really want to do this yourself.

Be aware that even when doing your own project, you are required to pull building permits to do the construction. The plumbing, electrical and hvac more than likely will be seperate permits and they will require inspections during the process of the build. If you plan to move a wall or open one up this would also require a framing inspection.

More than likely, if you do go ther legal route, the city will require a licensed plumber and electrician to do the portion of the work.

If you decide to do it on your own, all it takes is a nieghbor reporting you to the permit department to have work stopped and then you may be fined more than a contractor would have cost you in the first place.

Now, all that being said, as far as the shower goes, this is what you will need. From what I can tell, your going to want to gutt the bathroom and open up the closet wall adjacent to the bathroom. The walls should be checked to insure they are not baring walls before you remove any studs. If they are baring walls, they will need to be properly supported with a built up beam with support legs/ jacks.

Once you have your bathroom framed in and start the shower plumbing, you will want to make sure your drain is centered if possible. This is not always possible because it will depend on where your floor joist are and in what direction they run. This will require you probably to have to open up all the flooring in the bathroom so plumbing can be run and pitched correctly. Do not knotch any floor joists!!!!!!! If you can get it centered, it will make your life much easier when laying in rubber membrain and floor mud. Also, make sure you get an adjustable drain so that it can be adjusted up and down to allow proper drainage layout.

Once the drain is installed and all plumbing is roughed in, build you a curb using 3 stacked 2x4s to outline shower pan structure. This will give you enough height to be able to get a good pitch to the drain. Install rubber membrain, make sure all corners are folded in, not cut and make sure they are flat as to let tile be easier to set once concrete/thinset is poured. Once rubber is installed for shower pan, install 4 mil plastic to surrounding walls for moisture barrier then install hardi-backer to curb and surrounding walls. After hardibacker is installed, tape all joints with fiberglass mesh tape and applie properly mixed thinset to joints.

Once all that is accomplished, pour your shower pan using full flex thin set (somewhat dry mix). You want the surface to be a little rough and pitched to the drain. In order to do that, you will need to draw a perfectly level line around the surrounding walls and up on the curb. Then adjust the drain so the floor pan has positive draining from your drawn line to the drain itself. Don't forget to leave enough thickness for thinset material and tile material. The amount of height of thinset will depend on what knotch trowel you use and this depends on what size tile you are using. Should be a 1/4 knotch trowel for 2x2 or 1x1 tile mats, These are what you will need for the floor of the shower. These allow you to pitch the floor but are a pain to install.

After you have installed the floor tile, grout the floor and seal it. Then start on the wall tile. Make sure you cover the floor tile to protect it while laying the wall tile. You want all your tile to have tight corners and a centered layout. If you are thinking ahead, you will have layed out a couple of pockets in the framing to allow for shampoo bottles etc.

This all takes skill and time and if you want it done right the first time and save yourself alot of aggrivation, hire a contractor. If any of this sounds confusing or you don't get what I mean, I will try and explain in detail, but simply put, there is alot to this just in the tile phase. I only included here, some of the process you will be going through and it is not in detail. There are many steps you have to take to have it done properly and safely.

Hope you don't take any of this as negative. Just wanted you to know what you are really getting into. The simpliest tricks of the trade can make the difference between a project that is beautiful and layed out and finished well and one thats not. Good luck

 

[stackz]

Re: Remodeling Bathroom, where should I start?

I am looking at remodeling my bathroom. I heard of plumbing DIY can go wrong very easily. If I wanted to remodel my bathroom, where should I start? Should I just get a plumber to do most of the work? The bath places and big stores seem to want to charge a lot of money to redo a bathroom. I am wanting to not spend as much and don't mind doing some of the stuff myself. I know this is a boating forum, but there are a lot of smart people here. I am thinking of moving some non-load bearing walls to make the bathroom bigger, putting in tile in a stall shower, and new vanity.

-Hostage

are you good with plumbing and electrical? if not, first thing I'd do is get a book on each and start reading. sweating pipes isnt hard but if you've never done it. practice on some pieces first and then test them by capping it after you sweat them and put an adapter on the other end to tie into a garden hose so you can pressure test them. keep at it until you are confident.

Then locate your master water supply valve to the house. after that, first thing plumbing wise would be that once the room is torn down to the studs is figure a place you want to put both your hot/cold water shut off valves to the bathroom. once you sweat and test those valves via the master supply valve, you should be good to go with running the rest of the feeds. drains are super easy. cut the pipe, slop on the cement, twist, done. came out wrong? cut it off and rinse/repeat.

electrical just turn run all your lines the way you want and then turn off the main board and run the main feed from the board to the first line in the circuit and you're good.

then its a matter of new sheetrock/sanding/painting and then tossing in the tub, etc.

not that hard if you just read up first and look at it simply.

tear it down to the studs, move the walls where you want, then plumbing, then electrical, then sheetrock/painting/tile, then interior components, then enjoy.

 

[hostage]

Re: Remodeling Bathroom, where should I start?

I am bringing this back up from the dead. Though I decided to get some quotes on this and after the holidays, my fiance and I both being sick for a week, we got two quotes from the contractor. The price left me in sticker shock so bad, that keeping things more simple looks very appealing and doing it myself looks even more so.

 

[Alwhite00]

Re: Remodeling Bathroom, where should I start?

I am glad I can do all that stuff myself, I have saved TONS of $$$$ over the years.

LK

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: Remodeling Bathroom, where should I start?

How much were the quotes for and what did they include? Licensed and insured contractors? Did they include a warranty period?

 

[mickjetblue]

Re: Remodeling Bathroom, where should I start?

You have some great advice already, although it doesn't sound like you have done much remodeling before.

There are a MULTITUDE of problems that you might encounter in a bathroom redo, even worse than an old boat.

I'd scale back as you are thinking about. A new shower, vanity, toilet, and some painting, can make a world of difference.

Get a couple prices from "handyman" guys, and they should be more reasonable than a full contractor.
No heavy duty stuff involved, unless you have to pull out an old tub. Will still be several thou'.

Good luck.

My 2 cents.

 

[captmello]

Re: Remodeling Bathroom, where should I start?

I've remodeled over 100 bathrooms and do not find it easy. Especially for an inexperienced homeowner. You could get through this job, but I don't believe you will have professional looking results. If you do go ahead with the project, I hope you'll post pics and let us pros help you along.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Remodeling Bathroom, where should I start?

I am just finishing my master bath project, complete gut, then install new toilet, jacuzzi tub, complete tile shower as well as a marble vanity, hardwood floor, with a complete sanded and hand finish and rub, of course I moved everything and had to redo all of the plumbing, I chose copper with soldered fittings. The only advise I can give is on the next weekend, drop into the local Catholic church, take communion, spend at least 4 hours in the confessional, do your penitence then pray for the almighty to guide your hand!

 

[KDAVID1]

Re: Remodeling Bathroom, where should I start?

what oops said. Also last spring I replaced my entire kitchen--cabinets, floors, dishwasher, sink, plumbing-electrical (hired that)--you name it. I did about 3 or 4 months worth of reading, drawing, calculating, etc. Then I bought the components, demoed, then installed. Best thing is to do your homework fist, make your list while doing your homework, then have fun.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Remodeling Bathroom, where should I start?

Ya, I did the kitchen thing also a couple of years ago, I even made all of my own solid wood cabinets, it went pretty smooth and looks great now, but like others make drawings, take pictures plan, plan, and then plan again, as the old saying goes, measure twice cut once..

 

[KDAVID1]

Re: Remodeling Bathroom, where should I start?

ya, i did the kitchen thing also a couple of years ago, i even made all of my own solid wood cabinets, it went pretty smooth and looks great now, but like others make drawings, take pictures plan, plan, and then plan again, as the old saying goes, measure twice cut once..

ahmen

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Remodeling Bathroom, where should I start?

ahmen

On the positive side, you get a heck of allot of dry kindling if you don't!

 

[KDAVID1]

Re: Remodeling Bathroom, where should I start?

I am glad I can do all that stuff myself, I have saved TONS of $$$$ over the years.

LK

Ahmen to that--even with my small kitchen if I have had someone do it for me it would have cost about 10-15K. I did it myself for 6K and i know it was done right.