It was a long weekend, and I’ve enjoyed relaxing a bit more this week! We worked hard on our unexpected bathroom remodel project. I’m excited about the changes taking place in this room!
Our demolition portion went mostly as planned. Except we took a slight detour.
Move the Wall?
We realized that if we moved the wall separating out bathroom and utility room just 26 inches, we’d be able to turn out bathtub and gain serious space in the bathroom.
We’d even be able to move the washer and dryer in there, like we’ve talked about doing many times before.
We thought it’d be the perfect time to move the wall. After all, the bathroom was currently being remodeled.
But, after we took down the sheetrock in the bathroom, we realized that there was no way we could stay on budget and on track time wise if we added that work. So, we decided just to put the bathtub back where it was.
At first I was disappointed. Moving the wall really seemed like a great solution.
But, looking back now I’m glad we didn’t do it. Moving another wall and having to clean out the utility room would have taxed our available energy. We would have slowed WAY down.
Back to the Bathroom Remodel
Once we decided not to move the wall, we jumped back into the current project full-steam ahead.
We couldn’t remove the tub from the room, as it wouldn’t fit through the door. We originally brought it in when the wall was torn down.
That meant we had to lay our linoleum on one half of the room first. Once we glued that side down and rolled it smooth, my step-dad helped Bryan lift the tub over the roll of flooring and onto the finished side.
Then, Bryan continued the flooring process.
We were able to:
- Replace the floor board with dry rot
- Place the new flooring
- Replumb the toilet, sink, and tub
- Install a Splash Guard on one side of the tub
We still need to:
- Sheetrock
- Sand/Tape
- Paint
We are making a trip to town for the sheetrock tomorrow night. We were planning on buying locally, but the green board (water resistant) is more than double the cost per sheet if we buy it here. That price makes the gas money worthwhile to take a trip to Spokane.
Bryan is hoping to get all the rock up on Friday night and give it a coat of mud.
Then, he can sand and remud on Saturady.
If all goes well, it’ll be ready for painting early next week. We’re going with purple again.
We’re also talking about installing a vinyl wainscoting around the lower half of the room to add further water protection. We don’t want to have to do another bathroom remodel anytime soon.
How’s the Budget Shaping Up?
Our goal was to keep remodeling expenses under $1000. We’ve currently spent $700, and should stay under budget even after buying sheetrock, mud, tape, paint, and wainscoting.
We were able to find a remnant of linoleum that fit the bathroom for only $86. That gave us some serious savings.
Because of that, we were able to invest in a new sink. We were planning on reusing the old one, but we opted to buy a larger one. It provides essential storage, and will allow us to get rid of some ugly plastic storage. I’m excited!
Here’s a pic of my husband installing our pretty new sink:
Otherwise, our expenses were:
- Lumber for the floor and wall by the shower we had to replace
- New tub plumbing since the old ones were broken
- All the piping and connections needed
- Flooring
- Wax seal for the toilet
- Glue for the flooring
- Nails and screws
- A drill bit
- Splash guard for the tub
- Caulking. Lots and lots of caulking.
And probably some other things I can’t think of. The small things really add up in a bathroom remodel!
It’s looking good though–I’m excited to see it finished this weekend! And thankfully, we were only without a working toilet for a couple of hours.
What do you think of our flooring? I like it!
Are you tackling any home improvement projects? I’d love to hear about it!
