Pages are divided up by project: Back to the main projects page. Main Bathroom Remodel. wiring, tile, ventilation, window, and sink. ~mike gradziel.
The original 1939 porcelain bathroom tile is a pleasant shade of pale yellow, the cast iron bathtub has been resurfaced and looks fine, and the whole room is done up in a thick wire reinforced mortar bed that seems to be indestructable. Taking it out and hanging cement board would result in an inferior wall, would produce a mountain of debris, and would be expensive; besides, it looks nice the way it is except for the tile trim which I will replace. Plus, we only have one bathroom here (maybe some day we will add a master bath off the bedroom, and a third bedroom with a laundry closet). We decided that the tile would stay. However, just about everything else would be upgraded: some tile came off for re-wiring, a new double-basin sink went in along with a ventilation fan and new lighting, and plans are in place for a new smaller and better insulated window, new mirrors, new shelves, new tile trim, and fresh paint once everything else is done.
First, as part of the air duct project I did some work in the bathroom closet which resulted in it being freshly painted and slightly smaller. Next, I began re-wiring. This quickly became a larger project. Most light switches in the house are 54 inches above the floor, to the top of the switch, which is 6 inches higher than is common these days. The switch just felt too high, and smaller children wouldn't be able to reach it, but to move it down I had to remove some tile. The tile backsplash was so tall that the wall outlets I planned to install behind the sink would be rather far from the countertop, but more importantly the mirror lower edge would be high, again to the disadvantage of small children. Off came the tile, a tedius job because I wanted to save as many tiles as possible to repair damaged tile elsewhere in the room.
The black granite sink installed around 2001 felt wrong for the color scheme, so we decided to put in a two-basin white porcelain sink. It is on a cheap particleboard base but it looks nice. The plumbing was a huge inconvenience to install, working with corroded iron drain pipe and a mismash of copper supply lines and fittings all packed tightly together behind the sink, but I used new material where possible, got it leaktight, and it works great!
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