If your house is old sufficient for a bathroom restoration, you could want to go on and also totally intestine it. I began my shower room remodel last month with a full demolition. If I had not, a variety of troubles would certainly have been unavailable for repair work ... and even undiscovered. Right here's just what I found when I opened up the walls as well as ceiling of my 1981 condo here in the Quad Cities.
Repair plumbing surprises
Right here's another thing I discovered. I'm not a pipes professional, however I see an issue here. Picture if that area of typical drain line for our back-to-back sinks got obstructed. Now envision running a snake in there from one sink. Do you believe it would make the turn? Possibly not. We changed it out and also counter both.
Repair termite damage
When I opened the exterior wall surface, I found termite damage in two areas: the king stud, jack stud, as well as cripple on the bath tub side of the window and also 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 right here, the proprietors' organization has actually stayed up to date with termite therapy and tracking, yet I understand there was a duration when they really did not. For this reason the damages I located.
Change decomposed subflooring
Along with the termite-damaged wall surface, I additionally discovered rotten subflooring near the bath tub. This was primarily from obtaining too damp, and I thought it due to the fact that floor tiles had actually started appearing in that area.
Offset no or little insulation
I recognized we had insulation in our wall surfaces. I believed it was R-11 fiberglass batts since our upstairs next-door neighbor's icemaker had a bad leakage a couple of years earlier, obtaining fifty percent of our utility room ceiling and part of the wall. The common wall surface had R-11 batts. I figured the rest of the wall surfaces did, too. I recognized they had insulation since I've checked behind button and also receptacle plates.
I obtained a little surprise when I took the drywall off of that exterior bathroom wall surface as well as saw this:
This is actually an advantage, in a way, due to the fact that it means I'll obtain more enhancement compared to I believed I was getting.
Seal up the air leaks
Yes, our 1981 condominium is dripping. I found out about the large bathtub holes and various other pipes penetrations since I have actually seen them from the cellar. I didn't know that the walls were sheathed with asphalt-impregnated fiber board (Celotex) that offered great deals of air leak pathways. Again, searching the silver lining, that means I'll be able to make more renovation compared to I would certainly thought.
I can not wait to do a blower door examination when it's all done. Unfortunately, I won't have the ability to separate out the improvement due just to my bathroom job. The owners' organization simply had the whole flooring secured with spray foam insulation. I'm presuming our overall air leakage will certainly be around half of exactly what it was.
Mount an exhaust follower as well as solution ductwork
Did I state our apartment was integrated in the 80's? The master bath has a home window, so naturally, it didn't need an exhaust fan, right? Wrong. I've overcome a year of data on temperature and also loved one humidity because shower room without an exhaust fan. Now I'm putting one in and also will certainly gather extra information. Remain tuned for the results.
But even if your shower room currently has a fan, I 'd bet it doesn't move enough air. The typical bath follower stirs half its rated air circulation. If your bath fan isn't really available from the attic, opening up the ceiling is the only way to get at the duct as well as fix it. Just what you see because image listed below is common for bath follower ducts: drooping flex air duct that makes a lot of turns. (That's not my brand-new follower, by the way.).
Solve other potentially unknown repair needs.
Numerous years ago we needed to do some plumbing work for the tub in the hall washroom. When the plumbing technicians had the wall surface opened, I asked to put valves in on the hot and cold water lines to ensure that if anybody had to service that pipes in the future, they wouldn't need to switch off the water to the entire structure.
So they place in the valves. When I opened the wall, I saw them and took this image:.
I would certainly make use of that read more shower a couple of times throughout the years and also constantly wondered why the stress was so reduced. Currently I recognize. The plumbings set up the valves yet after that really did not open them totally. Those red handles should be straight according to the pipes. Wonderful!
I additionally located that our ceiling had 2 layers of drywall. We have a smooth ceiling throughout our condominium, however the original ceiling was stippled. Luckily, it wasn't a popcorn ceiling, which can have asbestos.
And also I found the initial, hideous wallpaper.
If you're remodeling a bathroom, there a great deal of excellent reasons to copulate and gut it totally. That's what I'm doing. We're practically ready to start closing it back in, so remain tuned for more stories from the restroom.