Upstairs Bathroom: Demo & Pre-Tile

The week after we moved into the house, I was taking a shower upstairs while Katie was straightening her hair in the bathroom directly under me.  All of a sudden, water started to drip out of the ceiling above her.  Neat.

It turns out that the previous owners cracked the bathtub in the upstairs bathroom, and instead of patching it or replacing it like a sane, non-shady person, they just smeared some caulk on it so it would hold water during inspections.  Once we started to use the bathtub, the caulk broke free of the plastic tub, and so water was free to roam the space between the first and second floors.

So, we decided that a new bathtub was in order.  Because of the way that the tile laid over the edges of the tub, we’d probably have to replace some of the tile, too.  And hey, since we were replacing some of the tile, why not go ahead and replace all of the tile and add some around the rest of the room?  And if we’re doing that, why not change out the vanity, toilet, and lights too?  With all of those questions bouncing around in our minds, we decided to take the bathroom down to the studs (mostly – I was able to save myself a little drywall work) and see what happened.  Behold!

Here’s a quick taste of what the bathroom looked like before we got started and while I destroyed it.  It was completely inoffensive and probably would have stayed this way for a while, but the tub got frisky and so it had to go.

This little bit of wizardry was responsible for the tub draining water. There are probably better ways of plumbing metal pipe to ABS, but “smear a bunch of glue on it” is apparently fairly successful.
This image is titled “Matthew Forgot that the New Bathtub Is a Different Width Than the Old One.” Luckily, I had some elbows in the garage and so a crisis was avoided. Check out my sweet PVC drain action going on, too.
Test fitting the new, crack-free bathtub.
Built out a his- and hers- cubby for shampoo, body wash, soap, etc. We fancy.
Cement board everywhere! This stuff is heavy and goes through carbide knives like nobody's business.
All mortared up and ready for waterproofing.
This area got a little extra love because of all of the angles.
After the first coat of waterproofing. I thought the green looked cool, but Katie insisted that we tile and paint.

Once the room was waterproofed, we were ready for tile.  How long does it take to tile a 60 square foot room?  The answer may surprise you!

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