Archives » January 7th, 2008

January 7, 2008

The Perpetual Remodel

Long-time readers will remember that I’ve been remodeling our bathrooms. Constantly. Since 2003. There was one glorious period there for a few months when both bathrooms were done and operational, but that was cut short when we discovered that I had screwed up the job and mold was growing inside the walls. So last year I started over from scratch, trying to do it right this time. With a four-year-old, a baby, a job, and myriad other excuses, both legitimate and illegitimate, I only work on the project one or two days out of every three months. Last week I filled my quota for Winter 2007-08. Check it out.

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This is where I left off last time. The tile mostly done on two walls, not done at all on the third

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You’ll see I’m using HardiBacker cement board instead of drywall. This is the only stuff you want to use anywhere there is going to be water, because of the moisture and mold protection it affords. Plus it’s better than drywall for adhering tile to. Double bonus.

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Tile work in progress. Seal up the gaps between the new backer and the old drywall, then glue on the tile.

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All done. For now. Those missing tiles are going to require special cuts to work around the pipes. I saved that for another day.

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Looking good in the corner. The windowsill, also, is waiting for another day.

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In the end, it’s starting to look like a real bathroom. You can see I also put plastic sheeting in between the backer board and the studs, just to give the wood some extra protection in case any water ever does leak in through the tile.

When this project will be all finished and we’ll be able to take showers in here is anybody’s guess. And once this bathroom is finished, the other one will need the exact same treatment. Some projects just never seem to get completed, you know