The Bathroom(s) Demolition is Nearing the End.

After two weeks of effort, I have removed all the cabinets, the shower enclosure, and one toilet. That leaves just chipping tile from the floor which I will have done by Floors Direct.  I learned from doing the kitchen that I don't want to do it again.

The very kind folks at Palm Beach Countertops agreed to help me out with this project and salvage the existing sink tops. This was an uncommon request for them and considering the size of the 98" master bath top of 30+ year old cultured marble, I can see why. I am happy to report both tops were successfully extracted. That's not to say they will survive reinstallation but I am aware of the risks. 

This would be a very good time to go over the planning and decisions I made on this bathroom renovation. I have now owned this project home three full years. The most I did on the bathrooms was to fix the plumbing so the toilets worked and the showers stopped leaking water into the walls. I had my hands full with the rest of the place which has come out beautifully.



If you arrived late to my blog, [click here] for the rest of the house and [click here] for the burst water pipe disaster. I had more or less moved in January of this year. That means I moved up a set of bedroom furniture and for the first time was not sleeping on a camping cot. Up till then all this work was done weekends and all the time I could spare. In July I retired and moved up the rest of my belongings. This made the bathrooms more of a priority.



I debated for a long time on what to keep and what to do away with. At minimum, replace the facets and patch the wall tile. A middle step may have been to reface the cabinets. I debated that for a very long time. At maximum (and by that I mean budget) take it to the walls and start over.

Paying for this entire renovation out of pocket required me to cut corners or wait to save the money. Right now my corner cutting is saving the two counter tops. If I don't like them later - they are the only thing I can change. But I can change them. I was debating on just refacing the cabinets. As one began to pull away from the wall, that thought went out the window. Leaking water turned the bottoms into oatmeal. Plus they smelled bad and the hardware was rusted. The facets are so pitted there was never any question they were going. The master toilet was a possibility but it chose this very day to leak onto the floor making that decision easy.



So after much contemplation, there was really only one right answer. Remove everything, start over. I still have 4 weeks before the shower and tub is replaced which will kick off the construction part of this project. I have a mirror to pull off the wall, fix, sand and paint the walls, new lighting, and remove a soffit over the shower. I'm holding that for last. I did the ones in the kitchen and it was not easy.



You may ask why I am so far ahead of the construction portion of this project. I may live here now but that does not mean I stay here all the time. I have plenty of other things on my retirement to do list. You know - all the stuff you want to do but a job gets in the way. If you don't know what I'm talking about.... you may want to keep working.

My first Thanksgiving in this house was stripping popcorn off the ceiling while roofers put on a new roof. This Thanksgiving will be a turkey in the oven and giving a tour of my new bathrooms.

For the photos on this project to date [click here]. I'll keep adding as I go.