If your residence is old sufficient for a restroom restoration, you could intend to proceed and also completely gut it. I began my shower room remodel last month with a total demolition. If I hadn't, a variety of issues would have been unavailable for repair ... or perhaps undiscovered. Below's just what I discovered when I opened up the wall surfaces and ceiling of my 1981 condo below in the Quad Cities.
Take care of plumbing shocks
Here's an additional thing I discovered. I'm not a pipes specialist, but I see a trouble here. Envision if that section of typical drain line for our back-to-back sinks got obstructed. Now envision running a snake in there from one sink. Do you think it would make the turn? Possibly not. We changed it out as well as counter both.
Repair termite damage
When I opened up the exterior wall, I discovered termite damages in 2 places: the king stud, jack stud, and paralyze on the tub side of the home window and the jack stud beyond of the home window. The bright side is that the damages was done long ago. As long as I've lived here, the proprietors' organization has actually stayed on top of termite therapy as well as tracking, however I recognize there was a duration when they didn't. For this reason the damage I discovered.
Replace rotted subflooring
Along with the termite-damaged wall surface, I likewise discovered rotten subflooring near the bathtub. This was mostly from obtaining as well damp, and also I presumed it due to the fact that ceramic tiles had started appearing because location.
Offset no or little insulation
I knew we had insulation in our wall surfaces. I thought it was R-11 fiberglass batts due to the fact that our upstairs neighbor's icemaker had a bad leak a couple of years ago, obtaining half of our utility room ceiling and part of the wall surface. The usual wall surface had R-11 batts. I figured the rest of the wall surfaces did, also. I recognized they had insulation because I've examined behind button and receptacle plates.
I got a little surprise when I took the drywall off of that outside bathroom wall as well as saw this:
This is really a good idea, in a way, because it implies I'll obtain even more renovation compared to I assumed I was getting.
Seal up the air leaks
Yes, our 1981 condominium is leaking. I found out about the large bath tub openings as well as various other plumbing penetrations because I've seen them from the cellar. I really did not understand that the walls were sheathed with asphalt-impregnated fiberboard (Celotex) that provided lots of air leak paths. Again, looking on the silver lining, that indicates I'll be able to make even more renovation compared to I 'd thought.
I can not wait to do a blower door test when it's all done. Sadly, I won't have the ability to separate out the improvement due http://dunlapconstructioninc.com only to my restroom job. The owners' organization simply had the whole flooring sealed with spray foam insulation. I'm thinking our complete air leak will certainly be around half of what it was.
Set up an exhaust follower and repair ductwork
Did I discuss our condo was constructed in the 80's? The master bath has a home window, so normally, it didn't need an exhaust fan, right? Incorrect. I have actually got over a year of data on temperature as well as loved one moisture because bathroom without an exhaust fan. Now I'm putting one in and will collect much more data. Keep tuned for the outcomes.
Yet even if your bathroom currently has a follower, I would certainly wager it doesn't move sufficient air. The regular bathroom fan moves about half its ranked air circulation. If your bath fan isn't really available from the attic room, opening the ceiling is the only method to obtain at the air duct as well as fix it. Just what you see in that photo listed below is common for bathroom fan ducts: drooping flex duct that makes way too many turns. (That's not my new follower, by the way.).
Solve other potentially unknown repair needs.
Numerous years ago we had to do some pipes work for the bathtub in the hall restroom. When the plumbing professionals had the wall opened, I asked them to put shutoffs know the cold and hot water lines to ensure that if anyone had to service that pipes in the future, they would not have to turn off the water to the entire structure.
So they place in the valves. When I opened up the wall, I saw them as well as took this picture:.
I would certainly make use of that shower a few times over the years as well as constantly questioned why the stress was so low. Currently I understand. The plumbers mounted the valves yet after that really did not open them fully. Those red takes care of must be straight in line with the pipelines. Nice!
I likewise located that our ceiling had two layers of drywall. We have a smooth ceiling throughout our condominium, but the initial ceiling was stippled. Luckily, it had not been a popcorn ceiling, which can contain asbestos.
And also I found the initial, gruesome wallpaper.
If you're remodeling a shower room, there a great deal of excellent reasons to go all the way and gut it completely. That's exactly what I'm doing. We're nearly all set to begin closing it back in, so stay tuned for more stories from the bathroom.