I cannot believe that this week is already over, and we are now in the 6th week!
The One room challenge with apartment therapy has been FLYING by. I know I mentioned it last week, but it was made even more clear to both my husband and I over the last few days… there is no way we are going to finish this bathroom in the next 2 weeks.
The challenge goes over 8 weeks total time. We are in week 6, which means we have 2 weeks to drywall, tape, mud, texture, paint, tile, grout, build vanities, and on top of all of that DECORATE.
Unless my husband quits his full time job and that is all we did for the next two weeks… there is still no way. It would take a crew of people… and even then, some things just take time… Like drywall mud drying.
I will admit. I feel sad. I had hopes that I really could do this whole thing in 8 weeks.
BUT
Reality check. It was just tooooo big of a project to actually get done in 8 weeks. We are still working hard, and are going to keep chugging along. I am hopeful we will finish by the end of June ( especially since it would be really nice to get the bathroom space back and not be sharing a small half bath downstairs ) but we will see.
So there are a few things BESIDES just not being far enough along that helped us to know that we wouldn’t be done in time. I’ll list them out, and then expound on each number laters.
- 1. Our windows we ordered are not in yet. We need to replace them BEFORE we drywall to make the steps make sense, and they are another 3 weeks out. They are going to be amazing once we get them in. See #1 below.
- 2. SEVERAL of the things that we purchased have had to be returned. See #2 below for more on that.
- 3. The plumbing situation gave us a run for our money this week. We ended up having to cut a whole in the floor to access it. See #3 below.
- When we re-did the girls room last year we didn’t really start with much of a plan. We demoed, and ordered new windows. BUT we just kept going with whatever we could while we waited for the windows to come in. It was during COVID, and things were taking a LONG TIME. So we insulated, and drywalled the room… but still no windows. I painted, and re-did the floors while I waited. Then the windows finally came in. Here is where the problem happened. We were replacing wooden windows ( which is what the whole house has) but what we didn’t know is that they were poured into place with the cinderblock walls and cement. So when we removed them, chunks of the wall came with it. The cement was jagged, and the drywall was getting destroyed all over the edges. We ended up having to repair the opening for the windows before we could add in the new ones anyways. This also included changing the shape of the drywall opening too. We decided when we replace ANY windows in other rooms in the future, we would do it in the right order. We are ready for windows, and the turn around time is not NEARLY what it was during covid, but they are not here yet. We cannot move forward without them as far as drywall goes.
2. Every project has its set backs or funny things that happen that you don’t expect to. For this project, it has been named:
THE PROJECT OF RETURNS… haha.
We went into this project with a plan, which is a step up from the last project that we started. It helped us plan, budget, and do things with a ton more purpose. We live in a small Idaho town, and I ended up buying most of the stuff online throughHome Depot, Lowes, and Amazon. Luckily we don’t live THAT far from the big home improvement stores because we have returned at least one thing from every order I have placed.
We ordered a shower base to put in the bottom of the shower, replacing where the bathtub was. We went this route instead of tiling, because we have had SEVERAL leaks in the past through the ceiling, and wanted something easier, and leak proof. It was a ship to store, and I went to Home depot and Picked it up. It sat in our hallway for 2 weeks. We went to open it and install it, and it was broken. There was a huge crack all the way through the front of it, and a corner was broken off. It looked like it had been dropped. So we took it back. BUT when we returned it we were informed the base was discontinued, and we would have to order something else.
So we did. Im happy with what we chose, but it took another 2 weeks to come in unfortunately.
I also learned a ton of things since I was the one placing the orders online. I learned about new/ old construction parts, and that when it comes to electrical and lighting they are VERY different and VERY important. My husband already knew this, but it was news to me. haha. Luckily he knows what he is doing.
I also had to return several other items like grout, pocket door rails, and exhaust fans for similar reasons listed above. I just got the wrong things.
I learned….A bluetooth fan is not the same as one that connects to Alexa…. Some LED lights are not water proof rated, and need to be for wet spaces like bathrooms. Some grouts need to be sealed, and others do not. The shower head I bought didn’t have a thermostat regulator in it, and the part separate was $200. The list goes on and on.
Overall even though the returns have been BEYOND frustrating at times. I have learned a ton, and you better believe I won’t be making the same mistakes again.
3. That brings me to point 3. The plumbing. Old plumbing is just a whole different ballgame.
We found out that the toilet, sink, and shower in our bathroom were all connected to different drains, even when they could have been joined for the sink and shower easily.
We moved the sink from one side of the bathroom, to the opposite, so we are having to add plumbing over there to connect into the shower drain area. To access this older plumbing we removed some of the subfloor, which was expected. What wasn’t expected was the size of the pipes there was on the old stuff, and the proximity of those pipes to the existing crawl space.
After 15 of thread loosener oil, and REALLY wrenching on the old pipe threads, it still wasn’t coming apart. The only solution was to attack it form the bottom.
So this happened.
This is our living room ceiling under the bathroom downstairs.
We have had SEVERAL leaks in this very spot ( big surprise) and I have patched this ceiling TWICE since living here. The most recent path job was November. I re-did a whole section, re- textured and painted. So cutting this hole in the ceiling was admittedly a little painful. But we got the threads loose with the extra leverage we could do from the bottom, and we were finally able to move forward.
Plumbing includes so much physics and math that I really knew nothing about. I am so grateful that my husband has done this before, and has the patience to figure it out. It has been a little but of a nightmare.
BUT
We are moving forward. The progress hasn’t been nearly as fast as the demo, framing, and insulation progress so it is easy to feel like we are crawling this week. Some progress is better than none though right?
Our goals for week 6 are:
- Finish the plumbing for the sink, and shower.
- Connect the wiring to all outlets, fans, and lights.
- Build the arch over the pocket door entry
- Build in any additional shelves or nooks we planned
- Strip vent cover, and door plate of old paint
- Build a mirror
- Build drop down shower ceiling for recessed LED lights
- MAYBE start the vanity build.
Thanks for being here! Looking forward to more progress over the next week!
-Amanda