If your home is old sufficient for a bathroom renovation, you may wish to go on and also completely gut it. I began my bathroom remodel last month with a complete demolition. If I had not, a variety of troubles would have been unavailable for repair service ... and even obscure. Here's what I discovered when I opened up the walls and also ceiling of my 1981 condominium here in the Quad Cities.
Fix pipes surprises
Here's another point I discovered. I'm not a pipes professional, but I see a trouble right here. Think of if that section of typical drainpipe line for our back-to-back sinks obtained blocked. Currently visualize running a snake in there from one sink. Do you believe it would certainly make the turn? Possibly not. We altered it out and balance out both.
Repair termite damage
When I opened the exterior wall, I discovered termite damages in 2 locations: the king stud, jack stud, as well as maim on the bath tub side of the window and the jack stud on the other side of the window. Fortunately is that the damage was done long ago. As long as I have actually lived here, the owners' association has stayed on top of termite treatment and tracking, however I recognize there was a period when they really did not. Hence the damage I found.
Change deteriorated subflooring
Along with the termite-damaged wall, I also found rotten subflooring near the bath tub. This was primarily from getting too damp, as well as I thought it due to the fact that floor tiles had begun appearing because area.
Make up for no or little insulation
I recognized we had insulation in our wall surfaces. I thought it was R-11 fiberglass batts since our upstairs next-door neighbor's icemaker had a poor leakage a few years earlier, obtaining fifty percent of our laundry room ceiling as well as part of the wall. The typical wall had R-11 batts. I figured the rest of the walls did, too. I understood they had insulation because I've examined behind switch and receptacle plates.
I got a little shock when I took the drywall off of that exterior washroom wall as well as saw this:
This is really an advantage, in a manner, since it implies I'll get even more renovation than I assumed I was going to get.
Seal up the air leakages
Yes, our 1981 condominium is leaky. I knew about the big tub openings and various other pipes penetrations because I have actually seen them from the cellar. I really did not recognize that the walls were covered with asphalt-impregnated fiberboard (Celotex) that supplied great deals of air leak pathways. Again, viewing the silver lining, that indicates I'll be able to make even more renovation than I would certainly believed.
I can not wait to do a blower door test when it's all done. Regrettably, I will not have the ability to separate out the improvement due only to my shower room job. The proprietors' association simply had the entire floor secured with spray foam insulation. I'm guessing our overall air leak will certainly be around half of what it was.
Set up an exhaust follower and also solution ductwork
Did I state our apartment was constructed in the 80's? The master bathroom has a window, so naturally, it really did not need an exhaust fan, right? Incorrect. I've overcome a year of information on temperature as well as family member moisture in that bathroom without an exhaust follower. click here Now I'm placing one in and will certainly gather more information. Remain tuned for the outcomes.
However even if your shower room already has a follower, I would certainly wager it does not move enough air. The typical bath follower moves about half its rated air circulation. If your bathroom follower isn't really accessible from the attic room, opening up the ceiling is the only way to get at the air duct and fix it. Just what you see in that image listed below prevails for bath fan air ducts: drooping flex duct that makes a lot of turns. (That's not my new follower, by the way.).
Resolve other potentially unknown repair needs.
Several years ago we needed to do some plumbing benefit the tub in the hall restroom. When the plumbing technicians had the wall opened, I asked them to place shutoffs in on the cold and hot water lines so that if any person had to work with that plumbing in the future, they wouldn't have to switch off the water to the whole structure.
So they place in the shutoffs. When I opened up the wall, I saw them and also took this image:.
I 'd make use of that shower a couple of times throughout the years and always questioned why the pressure was so reduced. Now I recognize. The plumbing technicians set up the shutoffs but after that didn't open them completely. Those red deals with need to be straight according to the pipelines. Good!
I likewise found that our ceiling had 2 layers of drywall. We have a smooth ceiling throughout our condo, however the initial ceiling was stippled. The good news is, it wasn't a popcorn ceiling, which could include asbestos.
And also I discovered the original, gruesome wallpaper.
If you're remodeling a shower room, there a great deal of good reasons to copulate as well as intestine it entirely. That's just what I'm doing. We're almost ready to start shutting it back in, so stay tuned for even more tales from the shower room.