3/4 Bathroom On A Budget

When we bought our house there were a few projects that we knew we wanted to take on. One of them was our kitchen (check) another was converting our half bath to a 3/4 or full bath.  After adding a college student to our family it became a necessity. We also knew that it would add value to our home. He was to be gone over spring break and thought that would be an awesome surprise for when he returned.

 The 2 story house was built in 1962 and very little had been updated since then. It was functional, just practical. The 2nd floor has 4 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms, 1st floor consists of an office/bedroom, half bath, kitchen, formal living room and dining room. While the basement includes a family room, non conforming bedroom/playroom, and unfinished area that contains the laundry area.

The day I started tearing out the wall tile we found out our college student would not be leaving town after all. In fact he was having surgery! It was a bit of a shocker and a realization that we may have been to quick to start. Especially since we hit a snag with the plumbing.

If I haven't said it enough I LOVE my dad! My parents came down so my dad could help get the plumbing and electrical moved around. Below is my husband working on removing the sink.

Code requires 36" spacing which was perfect for our new layout. You can see our new estimated placing for the shower, toilet, and vanity.

Next step was to finish ripping out everything, the insulation was way overdue and the floor was rotten from a leak. Since we had already ripped out the kitchen down to the subfloor this was a piece of cake...except we were dealing with a MUCH smaller space.

The floor didn't take long to put back in...convincing our college student "K" it was safe was another story. I think it was mainly the medications talking but he was convinced it wasn't safe to walk on. So glad we saved our baby gates, they came in handy not only keeping our children out but also reminding K that he couldn't enter the bathroom at night.

After getting the floor in our next goal was to get a light installed, using a lamp was getting old fast.

With this being a bathroom and prone to heavy water usage we wanted to make sure we took every effort to make sure the walls and floor resisted mold. We used Green Board for the walls (and later the ceiling) and concrete board for the floors and shower walls.

 The heating vent was located under the window in the original bathroom but since the shower was going there we relocated it next to the sink near the ceiling.

We would have worked from the window and worked our way to the door but we needed to get the toilet and sink working so we focused on getting the floor first. We ended up going with Ivetta White floor tile. I only wish we would have gone with a darker grout, we thought it was darker but it lightened up quite a bit.

Next replacing the window and waterproofing the shower! Because it is an older house and not an easy way to install a vent fan we decided to keep the window. For privacy we special ordered an obscured tempered glass vinyl window with a full screen. Still very easy to clean and water won't ruin it.

 The waterproofing membrane rolled on a very light green but as it dried it became darker...

And Darker! We did do 2-3 coats to make sure everything was covered.

Shower walls coming together! Even though it has been a year since we completed this project I still get a bit giddy walking in and seeing the difference.

Mosaic tiles we found on clearance about 3 years before this being put to good use. We wrapped the window and used it as an accent in the shower niche.

Finished project! Ok so there is more to this story, after finishing the bathroom the only drywall we did not replace was the ceiling. What we didn't know is that the copper piping in the main bathroom on the 2nd floor had a defect and started leaking. Within 2 weeks of finishing the ceiling came crashing down, with a little help of us tearing in to see what the spots on the ceiling were. There were about 3 quarter sized holes in the copper drainage pipes. We replaced the plumbing with PVC and now have a new ceiling as well.

 

 

  

We still have a few more ideas for the bathroom but waiting until we redo our master bathroom to add the glass shower panel. Even with extra plumbing and drywall work we ended up coming in right under our budget.

Let me know what you think!