If your home is old sufficient for a bathroom restoration, you could want to go ahead as well as entirely gut it. I started my shower room remodel last month with a full demolition. If I hadn't, a number of problems would have been not available for fixing ... or even undiscovered. Here's exactly what I discovered when I opened the wall surfaces as well as ceiling of my 1981 apartment below in the Quad Cities.
Deal with pipes shocks
Here's another thing I found. I'm not a plumbing expert, but I see a problem here. Visualize if that area of usual drainpipe line for our back-to-back sinks obtained obstructed. Currently envision running a snake in there from one sink. Do you believe it would make the turn? Most likely not. We changed it out and offset both.
Repair termite damages
When I opened the exterior wall, I located termite damages in two places: the king stud, jack stud, and maim on the bath tub side of the window and the jack stud on the other side of the window. The good news is that the damages was done long ago. As long as I have actually lived right here, the owners' organization has stayed on top of termite treatment and surveillance, however I understand there was a duration when they didn't. Hence the damages I discovered.
Replace decomposed subflooring
In addition to the termite-damaged wall surface, I likewise found rotten subflooring near the tub. This was mostly from obtaining as well damp, as well as I suspected it due to the fact that tiles had actually started turning up in that location.
Make up for no or little insulation
I understood we had insulation in our walls. I believed it was R-11 fiberglass batts because our upstairs next-door neighbor's icemaker had a bad leak a couple of years ago, obtaining half of our utility room ceiling and also part of the wall. The usual wall had R-11 batts. I figured the remainder of the wall surfaces did, too. I understood they had insulation due to the fact that I've inspected behind button and receptacle plates.
I obtained a little shock when I took the drywall off of that exterior restroom wall surface and saw this:
This is really an advantage, in such a way, because it indicates I'll obtain even more improvement than I believed I was getting.
Seal up the air leaks
Yes, our 1981 condo is leaking. I found out about the large bathtub holes as well as other pipes infiltrations due to the fact that I have actually seen them from the cellar. I didn't know that the walls were sheathed with asphalt-impregnated fiberboard (Celotex) that offered great deals of air leak paths. Once again, viewing on the silver lining, that suggests I'll have the ability to make even more renovation compared to I would certainly assumed.
I can not wait to do a blower door test when it's all done. Unfortunately, I won't be able to separate out the improvement due just to my washroom job. The proprietors' organization just had the whole floor secured with spray foam insulation. I'm thinking our overall air leakage will be around half of what it was.
Mount an exhaust follower as well as fix ductwork
Did I discuss our condo was built in the 80's? The master bath has a home window, so naturally, it didn't require an exhaust follower, right? Wrong. I have actually overcome a year of data on temperature and also loved one humidity in that washroom without an exhaust follower. Now I'm placing one in as well as will accumulate a lot more data. Keep tuned for the outcomes.
But even if your washroom currently has a fan, I would certainly wager it does not move sufficient air. The normal bath follower moves about half its ranked air flow. If your bath follower isn't available from the attic, opening the ceiling is the only method to obtain at the duct as well as repair it. What you see because picture below is common for bathroom fan ducts: drooping flex air duct that makes a lot of turns. (That's not my brand-new fan, incidentally.).
Solve other potentially unidentified repair needs.
Several years ago we had to do some pipes work for the bathtub in the hall bathroom. When the plumbing professionals had the wall opened, I inquired to put shutoffs know the hot and cold water lines to ensure that if any person had to deal with that pipes in the future, they would not have to shut off the water to the entire structure.
So they put in the valves. When I opened up the wall surface, I saw them and also took this photo:.
I would certainly utilize that shower a few times throughout the years as well as always wondered why the pressure was so reduced. Currently I comprehend. The plumbing technicians set up the valves but after that really did not open them completely. Those red deals with ought to Dunlap Construciton be straight in line with the pipelines. Wonderful!
I likewise found that our ceiling had two layers of drywall. We have a smooth ceiling throughout our apartment, however the original ceiling was stippled. Fortunately, it had not been a snacks ceiling, which could have asbestos.
And also I found the original, gruesome wallpaper.
If you're renovating a restroom, there a great deal of great needs to copulate as well as gut it totally. That's what I'm doing. We're virtually prepared to start shutting it back in, so stay tuned for even more stories from the washroom.