Day 1 of Bathroom Demo

We started the bathroom. While I tagged this as a weekend project, I am a liar. It is proving to take more than a weekend. 

Things  I learned so far: 

There are only two kinds of people at Home Depot on Saturday morning at 8 AM: The pros and the folks who messed up and need more supplies STAT. 

There is a brick wall behind my shower wall! A brick wall! 

Brick behind the wall! 

I actually enjoy using a wet saw. 

My husband is a perfectionist. 

Wear the safety gear! 

First things first, we had to remove the glass shower doors. Holy mold. I can not begin to find words for the amount of mold we found under the glass shower doors. I couldn't even take a picture I was in such shock. Just one more reason to put up shower curtains! 

Removing the vanity was a breeze, it was mostly glued in place with the exception of one monster of a nail. Once the nail was out James pulled a "Hulk" and ripped it out of the wall. (go baby!)

Then we placed a heavy canvas drop cloth in the bottom of the tub to avoid any scratches that the tile could make. I put on the hard hat (kinda just for fun!)

We had about ten LARGE 6 mil contractor bags which were not nearly enough. I purchased twenty more and we use ten of them for the tile and dry wall demo. We used a hammer and pry bar to make the initial breaks in the tile. We were careful not to destroy the wall behind the dry wall (it was the kind typically used for plaster). 

Pulling out the tile! 

After that the wall tiles came down in sheets. This made a lot of dust which we ended up tracking all over the house. I thought placing a rug in the doorway of the bathroom would help but it really just got in the way. 

Wall behind the toilet, studs and metal brackets. 

After we ripped up all the walls we had to remove the tile and dry wall in the shower ceiling. And remove the beams that created the foot of wasted space above the shower. This was pretty fun. James let me use the hand saw to cut the beams. 

This is the space we cut down to
 add an extra foot to our shower! 

Right after this that beam fell on my head,
 I should have been wearing my hard hat!

We used a pry bar and a hammer to pull up the mosaic tiling on the floor. James showed me to wedge the pry bar under the tiling (between two tiles) and then hit the pry bar with the hammer a couple times. A few times I got two tiles up with one swing! I probably managed to get ten up total and was exhausted. Mo on the other hand was in beast mode and finished the remainder of the floor in record time. The floor was in okay shape underneath the tile so we didn't need to purchase wood or self-leveling cement which we would have if the sub-floor was uneven or broken.

The white is the sub-floor.

Dry wall was next. I forgot that Sheet Rock is big and heavy! We had to rent a Home Depot truck to get four sheets of it home. We spent the few extra dollars to get the ultra mold guard. Mold is not something I ever want to see again! The boys measured it at the bottom of our stairs and then only brought up what they need already measured. James was sure to mark where the studs were and then he used dry wall screws to screw each piece in place. He thinks dry wall nails are easier to use. File that for "next time we completely re-do a bathroom."

Then you wet some dry wall tape and smooth it over the seams. Get some dry wall goop and make it even. Let it dry. Sand. More goop. and Bam, perfect wall. Seriously, my husband is a rock star. 

Dry wall up

James and Mo dry walling the ceiling. 

At this point I went to sleep. The boys finished the dry wall. 

Saturday evening is always an eventful time in our part of the neighborhood. We saw a bouncer scream at a some man and then watched five cop cars and one ambulance pull up. James is pretty sure he saw a detective enter the bar. I have to check the police blotter to see what actually happened. A few hours later some lady was screaming about a car service. I can't wait until I finish the noise dampening curtains for our master! 

I wonder what will happen on Sunday!