Smath Bath renovation

This home improvement job was pretty complicated for such a small space.

The Floor:

We removed the dog and mildew stained carpet, carpet tacs, and laminate tiles to find a solid slab but the concrete had cutback black mastif adhesive. After a lot of research, and fear of removing the cutback because of asbestos, I found that any modified thinset mortar will do the job and provide a long life for the tile. We discarded the toilet because of decaying guts and a chip near the back of the bowl. Because of the weird small space, and to minimize the amount of cuts needed for the tile, we chose to buy some small 1.5 inch square decorative tile to fill in the space under the doors, and around all but one side (side behind the toilet) of the perimeter. The 13 inch tile we purchased was from the discount rack at Home Depot, and the tile was left over from the bathroom renovation on the B side of our duplex. I was surprised that even the discount tile store prices didn't compete with the discount rack at Home Depot.


Our time-line went like this: One night we cut the tiles and laid them on the floor. The next day we grouted the tile. The following day we found out that the unsanded grout that the guy from Home Depot recommended was only supposed to be used if the space between the tile was less than 1/8 inch. Our width was 1/4 inch. The grout cracked on every space except the space between the smaller tiles. We used flat-head screw drivers to take out the unsanded grout. This was miserable and I really hate that guy from home depot now, I avoid him every time I go in. I had even picked up some sanded grout and had it in the basket when the guy suggested I use un-sanded grout. Most pro installer will say it is my own fault I guess, but in my experience most DIY project are learn as you go and someone working at Home Depot should put some disclaimers on their recommendations when a non-pro DIY customer comes in the door. Anyway, enough of the soap box. We grouted with sanded grout the next night. The following day I installed the toilet. We bought 2 toilets from the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store and bout was rings from the depot. After installing the toilet, I noticed the back-end did not cover up my tile cuts around the sewer flange. I guess the toilets were at the Re-Store because they had an unusually stubby back end. A little grout the next day covered up the tile issue.


The Walls:
We removed the wallpaper because of mold residue around the corners. It was surprisingly easy to remove, and the mold seemed to be contained to just the wallpaper. We used a shellac based primer for the walls. Zinsser BIN. I love this primer, but it was very expensive, and the guy at Breed and Co said it was due to the extinction of the beetle the company uses to produce the product. BIN 2 apparently is better. I'll do a post about the re-paint of the entire house later. All the cabinets and walls, excluding the inside of the standing shower were done in a shellac based primer.

Stay tuned...