Bathroom Remodel # 1

The  old "DAG" shower

        In our house there is a bathroom on the main floor.  This is the bathroom that we updated three years ago.    It is the bathroom that my wife uses 90% of the time.   It is the bathroom that the visitors who come to our house use 98.9% of the time.    It's nice.   In this bathroom things are always picked up.    The stool lid is always down (although I never really understood the necessity of that rule).    There are always nice little decorations sitting around and some of them contain little "pleasant" smelly things    Seashells seem to be the theme. 

         Down the steps and around the corner of the basement is another bathroom.     It is the bathroom that I use 90% of the time.   It is the bathroom that visitors seldom enter.     Most of the time things are picked up. (In my "picked up" version anyway.)   It is the room where currently the stool lid is broken from being raised and lowered so much.    There are some decorations but not really a theme.  Any "pleasant smells" tend to come from me leaving the underarm deodorant sticks open.

The old shower with the wall paneling removed

      This is the room where the cat and I tend to have our first conversations of the day.    Half the walls are lined with old barn board siding and the shower is a brick cubical that is 40 some years old.   In the 17 years that we have lived here I think we have painted the inside of that shower 6 times.     I have experimented with  different types of paint and different application modes only to see the paint peel off a few months later.

      Basically, this works for the cat and myself, but to the other member of our household it has become an eyesore and it has been suggested that it is time to upgrade the "Men's room". 

      I did blog about building a bathroom vanity back in December and the plan is that vanity will become a part of this project as we move forward.

Look at that pile of gold 

     First was the removal of the barn siding that covered the outside of the shower area.  Naturally wood is wood and I will confess that once all the nails and hardware were removed from that barn siding I saved every little piece.   (Who knows?   I could be the first woodworker to make wooden blocks out of barn siding).   The scrap pile that I have been working so hard to shrink the past two years once again just got bigger. 
   

Next it was the removal of the concrete shower stall 

   Next.   Out came the concrete block.   Piece by piece.   There were 72 blocks total.  Each weighing approximately 20 some pounds.   Each block had to be carried up 12 steps of stairs.   Each block was loaded in the back of the pickup and hauled to the rock yard.     (It was difficult, but my wife seemed to manage well.  I'm really proud of her. ) 

My carpenter buddy took over from here

   In the days of old I would have not had any fear about installing this shower myself.   At this phase of life I realize that history has shown me that sometimes it is better to have a little help from someone with a little construction experience to build things like this.   I mean, I do okay with building blocks, but when it comes to moving the old drain over four inches for the new shower or when I want to make sure the new shower shell fits in the space that has been created so it is solid and does not leak I felt I needed some help.   I went out and found a guy who is great at stuff like this.   I wrecked the ceiling pulling out ceiling tile.   I broke out the brick scratching the door as I carried them out.   I pulled out a lot of nails wondering where a couple of them flew off to.     I will be the first to admit that it pays to have someone around with a little experience when on a venture like this one.

There is water.  There is a drain.   No door.   

So this is where we are as of tonight.   The shower is installed and the next thing will be hooking up the water lines to the sink that will be mounted on the vanity that I built last December.   Next will be the addition of a new royal throne. 

   I'm afraid that the next few blogs are going to be about the progress of redoing this bathroom. 

   In the meantime.   I have been allowed to use the main floor bathroom.   It has been okay.   So long as I pick up my underwear, put the stool lid down, and wash my whisker stubble out of the sink each morning I think I will be fine.