Framing - Master Bathroom Renovation Project

Master Bathroom Renovation Project - Framing

FRAMING AROUND THE SHOWER:

Fig 17. Glass block (Pittsburgh Corning Thinline).
These two blocks were damaged on arrival. Other 28 blocks
were OK.  I was able to get refunds for those two blocks
from Homedepot.

After the plumbing is complete, the walls and floors are to be ready for the tiles to be installed, which includes all the walls where tiles are going to be installed (including the tub and the shower curb.)  The dimension of the shower became 35-by-48 inches after backer board installation.  The wall against the tub had to be installed with extra caution because it has to be leveled as perfect as possible because the glass blocks will be installed on top of this wall.  The glass blocks I am going to use is Pittsburgh Corning's 8-by-8-by-3 inch thickness blocks. 4-by-7 of these blocks will be installed, which requires opening of 31-⅞ wide x 55-½ height.  

Fig 18. Shower curb is installed with three 2x4s.

SHOWER CURB: 

I stacked three 2x4s for the shower curb which will yield ~5-inch of height of the finished surface from outside of the shower and ~3 inch of height from inside of the shower.

SHOWER PAN:

I am very thankful for the deck-mud calculator in http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/showerfloormudcalc.cgi which is a great tool to estimate the amount of portland cement and sand for desired dimension and depth.  Without this tool, the procedure would have been much uglier.  As recommended by the deck-mud calculator, I mixed 58 lbs of Sand Topping Mix with 29 lbs of Play Sand in the medium size of mixing tub.  Also as recommendation of Johnbridge.com, minimum amount of water is used.  

Fig 19. The amount of sand and the Portland cement for my shower pan size.   http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/showerfloormudcalc.cgi

Fig 20. After installing tar paper on the subfloor.

Staple 30-mil tar paper (yes, 15-mil is fine, too) on the subfloor (Fig 20) and metal lath was cut and laid on top of the tar paper (Fig 21).  I have had a final check of the level of the drain.  Desired height was marked around the shower floor before dumping the deck mud on the pan.  The pre-slope was carefully laid using level and finish trowel.  

Fig 21. Metal lath on top of the tar paper.

Fig 22. After the pre-slope with deck-mud.
Sorry, I do not have pictures during the pre-slope installation.
I was too busy to take photos when the deck-mud was wet.

After drying ~48 hours (it is dry in 24  hours), the shower pan liner is installed.  The most important thing at this stage is to minimize cutting of the liner.  I have used Oatey shower pan liner 6x5 feet without cutting (Fig 23). It fits very well with enough heights around the walls and the curb. Corner should not be cut in order to maximize waterproof of the shower pan.  The center is carefully cut and the weep hole protector and the shower drain cover is tightly screwed (see Fig 24).

When the shower pan liner is completely installed, the insulation should be installed before putting up the backer board (Fig 24).

Fig 23. Laying down shower pan liner.

Fig 24. Shower pan liner is complete.
The pink insulation is installed before the backer board.

WALLS:

After the shower liner is installed, cement backer board was cut and ready to install.  I used Hardie backer board because it is lighter and easier to cut.  Wonderboard is a little bit inexpensive but the edges chip easily, which I did not like.  I have used table saw and circular saw to cut the board.  Boards were carefully cut  and used Hardie backer screws to secure them on  the stud.  I have used ones every 10-12 inches.

Fig 24. Backer board is installed after the shower
pan liner installation.

FINISHING SHOWER PAN:

We are not done yet for the shower pan prep - we still have to do the top layer. Again, top layer of deck mud is mixed as directed by the calculator.  The problem was that my mid-size mixing tub was way too small for 117 lbs of sand topping mix and 58 lbs of sand.  I mixed the powder without adding water then split to the bucket.  As you can imagine, bucket is not a good place to mix the deck mud, because of adding minimum water, it is very difficult to mix all the corners.  It is simply too heavy. When I pour the mixed mud to the shower pan, I found some unmixed powders so I had to mix them on the fly.  Again, that's why I do not have pictures while working on the deck-mud. Finished top layer is shown in Fig 25.

Hardie backer board is installed where the tiles will be installed. around the shower and the tub. The finished pictures are shown in Fig 26. The most important thing to remember at this stage is to level right. If you think you can adjust the level by the thickness of the thinset during the tile installation, yes, you can. But it is not a good idea. Believe me. It will be much easier and faster to fix it at this stage.

Do not even think of cutting the Hardie backer board using knife by scoring. Quarter inch board can be cut but still requires lots of labor. I simply used circular saw, table saw, and grinder. Beware, this work creates lots of dust. Use gloves, safety glasses, and high quality dust mask.

Once all the backer boards are installed, it is time to apply waterproof membrane on the joints and the holes where the water might possibly get in behind the backer board. I used RedGard 1 Gal. I only used about a half gallon. Use fiberglass tape at the big gaps and joints (Fig 27).

Fig 25. Completed top layer deck mud.

Fig 26. Backer board installation.

Fig 27. RedGard water proofing membrane was
applied at every joints and the nail holes. 

 ANOTHER FRAMING CHALLENGE:

Fig 28. Post installation using two 2x4's.

The biggest design change of this project is the shower back wall where the shower meets the tub.  As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I have decided to used the glass blocks.  To support them, the post should be installed at the corner of the glass blocks and the shower door to support both glass blocks and the frame-less shower door (Fig 28).  Since the thickness of the Thinline Glass Block is ~3 inch, I used 2 2x4s as a frame.  The actual thickness of 2x4 stud is 1.5 inches so It made 3 inches of thickness and the backer board will add 0.5 inches and the tile will add another ~0.5 inch each side.  The total width after the tile installation will be ~5 inches. The total height of the glass blocks will be 55 ½ inch and the shower back wall is about 20 inches from the top of the shower curb.  The height of the shower door is 76 inches so I had to be very careful to raise the bottom of the glass blocks to match the final height of the wall with the shower door (Fig 29).  Since the glass blocks cannot be cut, the height and the width of the opening has to be exactly measured and prepared.  One 2x3 is attached against the wall to allow appropriate openings for the glass blocks.  

Fig 29. Adding 2x4 to raise the wall to match the total height
of 76 inch (Shower door height).   See the gaps filled with
wood chips to achieve perfect level.

Framing is complete and ready for the tile installation. To be continued...

Plumbing - Master Bathroom Renovation Project

Master Bathroom Renovation Project - Plumbing

Fig 11(a) Drain must to be leveled.

DRAIN:

2” drain pipe had to be cut about 2 inches to level with the bottom of the subfloor to install the new drain I bought (KOHLER K-9136-G Square Design Tile-In Shower Drain, Brushed Chrome).  Cutting was not easy because I had to use the saw while pulling the drain trap upward.  After the cut, the edge was ground to be the right angle using 4-1/2-Inch Small-Angle Grinder.  Once you are happy, stop there.  Do not glue it now!  You will have to glue it after laying the tar paper and metal lath later.  

Fig 11(b) Drain fits after cutting the PVC pipe. 

In order to match the colors of the faucets, I bought a new set of tub faucets in oil-rubbed bronze color.  The valves also had to be replaced to match with the new faucets.  Faucet valves and diverters had to be completely installed before I put the tile backerboards.






List of plumbing valves and trims I bought:

Pfister R89-7MBY Marielle Single-Control Shower Only Trim Kit, Tuscan Bronze
Pfister 0X8-310A Single Control Pressure Balance Tub/Shower Valve, Unfinished
Pfister 016-200Y Wall-Mount Slide Bar Shower System, Tuscan Bronze
Pfister 016-DT1Y Shower Diverter Trim Kit with Handle, Tuscan Bronze
Pfister 015-IWDX Two Way Diverter Valve, Unfinished
Delta Foundations BT2796-OB Roman Tub Trim, Oil Bronze
Delta Faucet R2707 Flexible Roman Tub Rough

TUB:

I cut the copper pipe to the spout and then shut off the water of the house to started working on the water inlet pipes.  The cold and hot valves are located in the weird position because of the rubber tube around the Whirpool tub.  

Fig 12. Old tub faucets
that is going to be replaced.

I did not want to solder near the rubber tube because it can melt things, so decided to use Shark-bites for the main water connections.  I soldered the copper pipes for all other locations.  I had to bend the output copper tubes from each faucet valve and connect to the T shape connector.  It was difficult to make them aligned with 90 degrees T connector.  I had to be very careful not to break the flexible copper pipe.  On the last elbow soldering, I was so excited about what I did.  I mistakenly turned on the water before the pipe was completely cooled down.  The solder at the last elbow cracked and started to leak!!!  WAIT UNTIL THE PIPES ARE AIR-COOLED. I had to remove the water in the pipe and re-solder again to fix it.  I should have waited longer until the pipe became cooler.

Fig 13(b) Side view of the tub valve.

Fig 13(a) New faucet valves after solder.  You can also see the Shark-bites behind the rubber pipe around the whirlpool tub.

Fig 14 Elbow at the spout.

Fig 15 New tub faucets after all.

SHOWER:

Fig 16(b) Time consuming job for the
diverter to hand-held shower spout.

Fig 16(a) Shower valve with diverter.

 The next day, I replaced the main shower water valve along with the diverter for the hand-held shower.  It was much difficult procedure than the tub, because I had to make sure the right depth of the valves from the finished wall.  I used Shark-bites on three of diverter valve connectors because I wanted to allow flexibility when installing the pipe to the main and the hand-held shower.  Due to the non-standard stud installation in my shower, I had to scrape the studs for the hand-held shower pipes.  It was very time consuming process.  I used various sizes of drill bits up to 5/8 inch bit as well as chisels. 

Fig 16(c) Completed shower valves.

The next step is to do the framing work including the water damage fixing.  I have a lot of things to cover so stay tuned.

To be continued...

Demolition - Master Bathroom Renovation Project

Master Bathroom Renovation Project - Demolition

DAY 1:

After the removal of the shower door, I just started break the tiles from the corner.  Then it decided to go wild to tear the whole walls down.  I tried to keep the site clean at the end of the day so I can start working the next day easily.

Fig 3. Shower booth after removing the shower door.

Fig 4. Beginning of the demolition.

Fig 5. Demolition of the back wall of the shower where water was leaking down to the kitchen downstairs.

At the end of the first day, I removed the whole back wall where the water leak was happening.  Right behind the wall was very clean - no sign of water damage.  But the right corner where the shower door was in showed a little bit of water damage. The only tools I used were a hammer and a pry bar.

DAY 2:

On the second day, I removed both the front and the side walls of the shower.  It was fairly easy once I got the access in the corner.  The builder did not use the cement backer board.  It was just the water resistant drywall.  In the front wall,  the water resistant drywall was installed on top of the regular drywall.  So the thickness of the front wall was 1-inch!  I don’t have no idea why they did that.  Maybe they had to fit the shower booth size to the plastic shower pan.

Fig 6. End of day 2.  Two walls are "gone".

DAY 3:

I removed the shower pan.  It was so heavy and it took me long time to figure out how to disassemble the drain from the pan. After removing the nails around the pan, I tried to pull up the pan but the drain was stuck on it so I had to find a way to remove the connection. I drilled around the rubber seal so I was able to grab the rubber and pull it out.  

Bingo! Underneath the corner of the shower pan, I found a water damaged subfloor which seemed to be very old leak.  The water damaged the subfloor about 12x10 inch area, and the middle had rotten down to almost punctuate the floor.  Then I started to break the floor tile.  The tiles were right on top of the plywood and the mortar sticked very hard.  I used a hammer and a chisel and it was really tough.  It was physically challenging.  So I decided to buy the first tool for the project: Air Hammer!

Fig 7. Subfloor water damage underneath the shower pan.

Fig 8. Air hammer that I bought (Husky medium stroke air hammer.
I paid $19.98 at the HomeDepot.

I bought the least expensive model from Home Depot (less than $20) and a set of chisels for the hammer.

It made loud noise on top of the noise from the compressor but it reduced the amount of labor big time.  The mortar was sticking the tile to the bottom very firmly so the tiles wouldn't come out in big pieces.  Also I had to be very careful not to damage the plywood, because I will put Detra underlayment on top of the plywood.

DAY 4 - 11 (7 days):

Fig 9. Almost done!

I had to remove just the floor tile for entire 7 days.  The progress was so slow and I had to wear safety glasses and mask all the time.  I was only allowed to work at evening times (2-3 hours per day) except for one day.  On Saturday, I have worked 8 hours and I was totally exhausted.  Felt like the dust was sitting on my mouth and the sinus was filled with the pack of dust.  

I sealed the box with full of tile debris, and as soon as one got filled up, I delivered the box down to garage in order to keep the work site clean.  Every weekend, I packed up the trashes in the minivan and delivered to the solid waste trash center in the county.

DAY 12:

I started to remove the short walls around the tub.  Cement boards were used at the flat areas around the tub, which created lots of cement dust and debris.  Now I can access the Whirlpool faucet valves.  

Fig 10. Tile and wall removal around the tub.

DAY 13:

I decided to remove the whole shower front panel so I can have access to the shower head elbow. I’ll tile the whole front wall wall up to the joint with the ceiling.

Demolition took way more than I have planned. Firstly due to the unexpectedly difficult floor tile removal and secondly, the loudness of the air-hammer. I had to keep the noise down at night. 

To be continued...

Planning - Master Bathroom Renovation Project

Master Bathroom Renovation Project - Planning
As I mentioned in the previous post, I had planned this renovation for a long time. To begin with, I had a few requirements that I want to meet, and a few limitation under the given budget. Requirements: 1. Do not move or replace the tub. 2. Do not move or replace the cabinet. 3. I want the frameless shower door. 4. I want oil-rubbed bronze colors for the faucets to match with ones in the sink. 5. Water leak and the damages should be fixed. 6. Minimize structural changes. 7. Bathroom must look professionally upgraded. 8. I will not hire a contractor. 9. Make my wife and kids happy.Limitations: 1. Custom shower doors are too expensive. 2. I have no experience in plumbing and tiling. 3. I cannot plan the schedule accurately because of limitation #2. 4. Have to meet the budget (~ $3000).

Know your playground:

I started to measure the dimensions of the work area. I wanted to use some computer tools to keep them handy. Firstly, I tried Google Sketchup. There is a trial period so I wanted to learn and play but I finally gave it up for this project. But Google Sketchup is the one that I really want to use for my next project. I used Autodesk Homestyler. You cannot do real professional work with this software but it was good to visualyze the rough idea. The bathroom is roughly 9x10 feet, and the shower is 3x4 feet. The Whirlpool tub is the regular 5x5 feet.

Fig 2. Rough design of my bathroom using Autodesk Homestyler.

Budget:

My budget for this project is $3000 for the parts and $300 for the tools. I have started a Google Doc spreadsheet to log all the spending for this project as below.

Date

Product name

Price

Bought from

Item for

"Item for" section is to categorize the spending. I have sorted the spending into 8 different categories with color coding as,

DECORATION

DISCOUNT

FRAMING

PLUMBING

SHIPPING

TAX

TILE

TOOL

Later, this will be very useful to break down the spending for each category with the Pivot Table. I'll get back to this when the project is complete.

Duration:

As noted in the Limitation #3 above, I cannot give accurate duration because,

1. I have no experience in this kind of big DIY project, and

2. I only available to work on this project after I come back from my regular job. Type of the house (townhome) is another restriction. I can't work late night - I am not interested in hearing complains from my neighbors. I am probably available to work about 3 hours after work on weekdays and 6-7 hours during weekends. I still have to play with my kids. :-)

So, my "rough estimate+hope" to finish this project is 1 month.

Demolition of the pre-installed tiles: 1 week

Framing and shower pan prep: 2 weeks

Tiling and detail works: 1 week

To be continued...