Why You Need To Completely Demo Your Restroom When You Remodel



If your house is old sufficient for a bathroom restoration, you could want to go on as well as entirely gut it. I began my bathroom remodel last month with a total demolition. If I hadn't, a variety of troubles would have been not available for fixing ... or even undiscovered. Right here's exactly what I discovered when I opened the wall surfaces and also ceiling of my 1981 apartment below in the Quad Cities.

Fix plumbing surprises
Here's another thing I found. I'm not a plumbing expert, but I see a problem here. Think of if that section of typical drain line for our back-to-back sinks got clogged. Now imagine running a snake in there from one sink. Do you think it would certainly make the turn? Possibly not. We transformed it out and also balance out the two.

Repair termite damage
When I opened the outside wall surface, I discovered termite damage in two areas: the king stud, jack stud, and also paralyze on the bathtub side of the window as well as the jack stud beyond of the window. Fortunately is that the damage was done long ago. As long as I've lived below, the proprietors' association has stayed up to date with termite treatment and also tracking, but I understand there was a duration when they didn't. Hence the damages I discovered.

Change decomposed subflooring
In addition to the termite-damaged wall surface, I likewise found rotten subflooring near the bath tub. This was mostly from obtaining as well damp, as well as I suspected it due to the fact that ceramic tiles had actually started turning up in that location.

Make up for no or little insulation
I recognized we had insulation in our walls. I assumed it was R-11 fiberglass batts since our upstairs next-door neighbor's icemaker had a bad leakage a few years back, taking out half of our utility room ceiling and part of the wall surface. The common wall had R-11 batts. I figured the remainder of the walls did, as well. I recognized they had insulation since I have actually checked behind button as well as receptacle plates.
I obtained a little shock when I took the drywall off of that exterior shower room wall as well as saw this:

This is in fact a good idea, in a way, since it suggests I'll get more enhancement compared to I assumed I was going to get.

Seal the air leaks
Yes, our 1981 condominium is dripping. I knew about the big tub holes as well as various other pipes infiltrations because I've seen them from the basement. I didn't know that the walls were covered with asphalt-impregnated fiberboard (Celotex) that supplied great deals of air leak paths. Once more, viewing on the silver lining, that suggests I'll have the ability to make even more renovation compared to I would certainly assumed.

I can not wait to do a blower door examination when it's all done. Regrettably, I will not be able to separate out the enhancement due only to my restroom work. The owners' organization simply had the entire floor sealed with spray foam insulation. I'm guessing our complete air leak will certainly be around half of exactly what it was.

Install an exhaust follower and fix ductwork
Did I state our apartment was integrated in the 80's? The master bath has a window, so normally, it really did not need an exhaust fan, right? Incorrect. I've got over a year of information on temperature level as well as relative moisture in that restroom without an exhaust follower. Currently I'm putting one in and also will certainly collect extra information. Stay tuned for the outcomes.

However even if your bathroom currently has a fan, I would certainly bet it doesn't relocate enough air. The regular bath follower stirs half its rated air circulation. If your bath follower isn't obtainable from the attic, opening the ceiling is the only way to obtain at the duct and also fix it. Just what you see in that image below is common for bathroom fan air ducts: sagging flex air duct that makes too many turns. (That's not my new follower, by the way.).

Address other potentially unknown repair needs.
A number of years ago we needed to do some plumbing help the tub in the hall restroom. When the plumbings had the wall surface opened, I asked to place valves know the cold and hot water lines to ensure that if any person had to deal with that pipes in the future, they would not have to shut off the water to the entire structure.
So they put in the valves. When I opened the wall surface, I saw them and took this photo:.



I 'd use that shower a few times for many years and also constantly asked yourself why the stress was so low. Now I understand. The plumbers installed the shutoffs however then didn't open them fully. Those red takes care of need to be straight in accordance with the pipes. Dunlap Construciton Good!

I also located that our ceiling had 2 layers of drywall. We have a smooth ceiling throughout our condo, but the original ceiling was stippled. Luckily, it wasn't a snacks ceiling, which might include asbestos.

As well as I found the initial, gruesome wallpaper.

If you're remodeling a bathroom, there a great deal of great needs to copulate and intestine it completely. That's just what I'm doing. We're nearly ready to start shutting it back in, so stay tuned for even more stories from the washroom.

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