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{precursor to the story here.....no outright belly-laughing while reading this!}
So, my husband and I decided we'd remodel our main bathroom. I took this entire week off to get it done with the intention of starting up over the weekend....jumping the gun a bit, he tore the bathroom down to the studs last tuesday. Needless to say, I've been without a full bathroom now for 8 days!!! Luckily we have a 1/2 bath off our bedroom and we've been showering at my in-laws (who live four houses down the street).
But here's where the fun begins. We got our tub set and went to bring in the shower tub surround....and we can't get it into the stupid bathroom! We knocked down another portion of the wall entering the bathroom and we still can't get the surround turned enough to sit onto the tub (our bath is literally 60 inches wide...the length of the tub). So we go to our local home improvement stores (we have 3 here) and cannot find another surround by the same manufacturer that comes in 2 or 3 (or more) pieces......(keep in mind, we've already drilled holes for our faucet into the one-piece surround, so it's not like we can return just the surround...and the tub itself it set on mortar). ~sigh~ So, in essence, we knocked down a wall we didn't need to!
We went and purchased a surround-like kit (not even close to the same manufacturer) and we're just going to put up greenboard and liquid-nail the darn thing up to the wall (not what I really wanted, but at this point, I just want a functional bathroom). In the meantime....we have an old toilet sitting out on our driveway (can you say "REDNECK"????), a new toilet sitting in our living room....other various bathroom parts/accessories strewn throughout the living room....all with 4 children running around!
I'm about to go insane....we still need to hand drywall (as well as the greenboard/shower walls), finish up the new glass block window that we put in (outside), re-wire (the house was built in 1959 and the wiring doesn't fit modern needs), set the toilet, set the new sink/cabinet, set the tiles, oh yeah, don't let me forget to tape and texture and paint the walls (oh...and build a whole other wall that we tore down for no reason!)
Has anyone else had such horrible luck remodeling a "simple" bathroom??? Any suggestions for making this "simple" project go a little better (and please don't be mean....we're doing the best we can here).
When I got agitated at the proposal costs for making a addition to my house I got about 100.00 in books read them and built it. I built a 32 x 40 addition. For almost a month. We had the "old bathroom in the middle of the addition. No walls but had bath,sink,toilet. It looked and felt real odd. Like going to the bathroom in a school gymnasium, with the hollow sound and everything. This was 32 inches lower than the new addition floor. So you had the immediate area around the bathroom as just dirt under the new floor. My wifey didn't stay long as she thought "something" might get her. I then built the new bathroom beside the old one, got it working then tore out the old one. I enjoyed this project and so did the city inspectors. They were great and gained insights in how some one not in the construction industry completed this. We lived in our old house part and had the electric line going through the new part until the last. I had the whole house rewired with new wireing and basically just took the input from the pole and stuck it in the new box. Then closed the hole of the old lead in wire put the rest of the addition together.
Oh, from digging the foundation, which I dug with a john deer rototiller and shovel and pick axe. To the metal roofing. We spent almost 9100.00. The addition was worth it. We gained new bathroom, living room,laundry room,storage room,one bedroom with walk in closet, all extra large with lotsa room.
Has anyone else had such horrible luck remodeling a "simple" bathroom??? Any suggestions for making this "simple" project go a little better
Oh yeah! I really don't think there is such a thing as a "simple" remodel job. My husband and I have gotten into some nightmare situations over the years in various homes.
When I built my 30'x50' studio I hired the work to be done while my husband was working. The boss man didn't think I needed all the windows, all the electric plugs, too large size of door, too much installation, etc. He thought "shop" - I thought "art studio". While giving an in-service I was complaining about the guy during lunch and one of the teachers looked at me and said "You forgot you were hiring someone elses husband!" Teachers are so smart.
I've been commissioned to make tile for several kitchens and bathrooms. I make sure the tile is ready but do not install. Many times I get a call about some change they were forced to make and want me to help solve some new design problem.
Hang in there and remember if you kill your husband then you have to spend time in jail! Although my girlfriends and I have discussed that a jury of women that have been married for more than eight years would probably let you go! JOKING!!
Sounds to me like everything is going along as "normally" as these projects go.
You're not the first ... or the last ... to get blindsided on the little details, like the one-piece surround that won't fit into your carefully measured room dimension.
As far as I'm concerned, you're doing a heck of a lot better job with much more to start with then we did in our 1880 farmhouse updating. The original house structure was only what is now a "root cellar" pantry off the kitchen, built from slip-formed concrete with 8"-10" diameter river rocks and cement. The house was added onto through the years as time and finances permitted by the homesteaders, with exterior 12"-18" thick walls slowly becoming interior walls as the house was enlarged. Some of those old walls were partially removed to open up new areas, some weren't. There were portions of old chimmneys (brick and mortar) that remained in the house as it was expanded.
Keep in mind that there was no such thing as indoor plumbing for many years, so the layout didn't include bathrooms. The kitchen finally got "running" water when they dug a new well up the hill behind the house and had a windmill pumping into a concrete cistern just above the kitchen grade level. The drainline was simply a 1 1/2" pipe that led into the adjacent feed-lot and dumped the water on the ground; I don't think it worked very well in the winter months.
An entry area was built along with a bathroom sometime around 1930. The house was "electrified" with a windmill driven generator and battery set to provide a lightbulb in the ceiling in each room. The rooms were sized to have built-in furniture, such as the eat-in kitchen dining area, all hand built cabinets, and a concrete double laundry sink for the kitchen sink. The roof was raised and a second story added in the late 1940's, along with a new bathroom built over the original one so the pipes were all in one place, and a correct septic system/leach field was built under the old feedlot ... but within 30' of the new domestic well when the ranch finally got REA electricity in the 1950's. They also installed a hot water heating system, but mis-sized the radiators so that the first floor has most of them and the second floor only had heat in one of the three bedrooms and in the hallway and bathroom, very inefficient to heat the house.
The kitchen floor had 5 layers of linoleum over a gorgeous oak floor (and oak subfloor), with the linoleum worn through to the bottom layer in areas by the sink and the stove. The entire first floor had "drop ceilings" which lowered the overhead by 15", and was a complete mouse nest. The 3 layers of carpeting/underlayment on the first level was at least 50 years old, and saturated with dried house pet urine and blown-in dirt; it weighed over 50 lbs per each square yard or so section that we cut it up so we could remove it.
The kitchen sinks would not drain in 30 hours; the little original galvanized drain pipe was rotted shut. When I removed it, it weighed about 50lbs per 4' section.
By the time we bought the place, it would have been easier to have bulldozed the structure and built a new house.
Foolishly, we took on the challenge of updating and restoring the place ... gutting the kitchen, bathrooms, living room, and bedrooms, as the main slip-formed concrete structure was very sound. Every window on the first floor in the house was broken, too ... glass was missing in huge chunks and covered over with newspaper and duct tape and plastic. The main floor level still only had one overhead light per room and one electrical outlet (oh, there were two in the kitchen!) ... still run from the cotton/rubber insulated wire installed when the house was electrified, and it was all mouse eaten to no electrical insulation is spots.
So, it turned into a major demolition project, and then a full plumbing, electrical, and remodeling project with new cabinetry, shower stalls, toilets, kitchen appliances, drop ceiling removal, wallpaper removal, etc. Think in terms of having to literally gut the house to the bare walls and start over, but limited in places by the 12" thick concrete walls. We still have two walls in the kitchen without electrical outlets, but have them along one countertop and an interior wall by the cabinets. We had to remove a lath/plaster wall to get access to the central area of the house to run wiring to the upstairs and the interior walls on the rooms on the first level. Other than surface run wiring, there are no outlets on the exterior walls because they're solid.
The project took us 2 1/2 years as time/finances allowed us to take on various phases. One bathroom at a time, and the first floor bathroom doubled as the kitchen sink for over 8 months while we did the kitchen. I cooked on our wood cookstove or a coleman stove for that time, or our outdoor bar-b-que.
It was an interesting "adventure" for us, and one that my wife swears we'll never do again. The "fun" went out of it after about 6 months ..... What totally mislead us about the poor condition of the place was that a family was living in the house up until a year before we bought the place.
Good luck to you on your project. Take it a day at a time and keep the vision of what you're seeking for a finished result in mind, but be flexible if stuff doesn't work out as planned with some minor glitches along the way. In the worst case, don't be shy about getting a professional in to look at the situation and possibly do some of the work that appears to be a little daunting to you, it may be money very well spent to accomplish your goal.
Sounds about like you're progressing on a normal schedule with normal issues to me.
The enclosure and door issue -- that's one that we've looked at very carefully in remodels. And we've decided that the fiberglass enclosures are targeted at contractors knocking out new houses, and that home remodelers can go pound sand.
Well, that's what we're deciding to do -- build bathrooms the old-fashioned way: with tile, grout and then use membranes or sheeting under the tile where necessary.
After talking to enough people and contractors who have done kitchen/bath remodels, I've decided that any cost and time estimates we make from what we can see are only 50% - ie, we make an estimate and then we double it.
build bathrooms the old-fashioned way: with tile, grout and then use membranes or sheeting under the tile where necessary
I totally agree with you. A good tile installer can cut the backer board and tile to fit into the odd sizes and shapes older homes settle into.
After talking to enough people and contractors who have done kitchen/bath remodels, I've decided that any cost and time estimates we make from what we can see are only 50% - ie, we make an estimate and then we double it.
I have heard this from other contractors and it is the only way to go. Nobody wants to hear it costs more but everyone likes to hear it is going to be lower. In fact, this issue is why I do not install the tile I make.
Nine years ago my wife decided she wanted (her) master bath remodeled. I figured we could just as well do the bath off my office at the same time, so we bought all the materials for both.
Shortly thereafter she took a week off to visit her daughter when the grandbaby was born, so I figured I'd just do both baths while she was gone -- starting with mine so I'd have some experience by the time I got to hers.
Well, I got mine done before she got back. Whew!
The material for hers was stored in a spare bedroom.
Then about 5 years later I moved it to the garage. It's still there.
The kitchen floor had 5 layers of linoleum over a gorgeous oak floor (and oak subfloor), with the linoleum worn through to the bottom layer in areas by the sink and the stove.
The project took us 2 1/2 years as time/finances allowed us to take on various phases.
It was an interesting "adventure" for us, and one that my wife swears we'll never do again. The "fun" went out of it after about 6 months .....
The very first thing I did when we moved in four years ago was pull up the 1970's green carpet....to original oak hardwood floors....so I got industrious and wanted to do the kitchen as well.....under 3 layers of linoleum is oak floors as well...unfortunately, I can't get to it because each layer is CONTACT CEMENTED to the previous layer (kind of like the wallpaper in the original bathroom was contact cemented to the wall!!) Needless to say....we still have half-torn-out floors in the kitchen (we plan to remodel that next summer)....
We also thought we'd finish out the basement.....ummm, it still has bare studs throughout (after 4 years).....
The ceiling fan my husband "started" to put up in our bedroom is half-way put together (on the dresser!)....and the original lights are hanging out of the ceiling from the wires!!! (that's been about 6 months!)
This project WILL get done by this weekend...come hell or high water!!!
It's nice to know I'm "on-track" as far as remodeling goes....never done it before....it's killing me!! (I enjoy it, it's just such a SS-LL-OO-WW process).
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Luckily we have a 1/2 bath off our bedroom and we've been showering at my in-laws (who live four houses down the street).
), a new toilet sitting in our living room....other various bathroom parts/accessories strewn throughout the living room....all with 4 children running around!
oh yeah, don't let me forget to tape and texture and paint the walls (oh...and build a whole other wall that we tore down for no reason!)
