If your residence is old enough for a washroom renovation, you may want to go ahead and completely gut it. I started my bathroom remodel last month with a complete demolition. If I had not, a variety of troubles would certainly have been inaccessible for fixing ... or perhaps obscure. Right here's what I found when I opened up the wall surfaces and also ceiling of my 1981 apartment right here in the Quad Cities.
Repair plumbing shocks
Below's another thing I found. I'm not a plumbing professional, yet I see an issue right here. Think of if that section of usual drainpipe line for our back-to-back sinks got obstructed. Currently visualize running a snake in there from one sink. Do you assume it would certainly make the turn? Possibly not. We transformed it out and also balance out both.
Repair termite damages
When I opened the exterior wall surface, I discovered termite damage in 2 locations: the king stud, jack stud, and paralyze on the bathtub side of the home window as well as the jack stud beyond of the window. The good news is that the damages was done long ago. As long as I've lived right here, the proprietors' association has actually kept up with termite therapy and tracking, but I comprehend there was a period when they didn't. Hence the damage I located.
Replace decomposed subflooring
In addition to the termite-damaged wall surface, I additionally found rotten subflooring near the bath tub. This was mostly from getting also wet, as well as I believed it since floor tiles had started appearing because area.
Make up for no or little insulation
I recognized we had insulation in our wall surfaces. I thought it was R-11 fiberglass batts since our upstairs neighbor's icemaker had a poor leakage a few years earlier, taking out half of our laundry room ceiling as well as part of the wall surface. The common wall surface had R-11 batts. I figured the remainder of the walls did, too. I understood they had insulation due to the fact that I have actually checked behind switch and receptacle plates.
I obtained a little surprise when I took the drywall off of that exterior restroom wall as well as saw this:
This is in fact a good idea, in such a way, because it implies I'll get more enhancement than I believed I was going to get.
Seal the air leaks
Yes, our 1981 condo is leaky. I understood about the huge tub holes as well as other plumbing penetrations because I have actually seen them from the cellar. I really did not recognize that the wall surfaces were covered with asphalt-impregnated fiberboard (Celotex) that offered lots of air read more leakage paths. Once more, viewing the silver lining, that implies I'll be able to make more renovation compared to I 'd thought.
I can't wait to do a blower door examination when it's all done. Regrettably, I won't be able to separate out the improvement due just to my shower room work. The proprietors' organization simply had the entire floor sealed with spray foam insulation. I'm presuming our overall air leakage will certainly be around half of exactly what it was.
Install an exhaust follower as well as fix ductwork
Did I state our condominium was integrated in the 80's? The master bathroom has a home window, so naturally, it really did not need an exhaust follower, right? Wrong. I have actually got over a year of data on temperature level and loved one humidity because shower room without an exhaust fan. Currently I'm placing one in and also will accumulate much more information. Keep tuned for the outcomes.
Yet even if your shower room already has a fan, I would certainly wager it does not move sufficient air. The typical bathroom follower moves about half its ranked air flow. If your bath follower isn't obtainable from the attic, opening the ceiling is the only way to obtain at the air duct as well as repair it. What you see because image below is common for bathroom fan ducts: sagging flex duct that makes way too many turns. (That's not my brand-new fan, incidentally.).
Address other potentially unknown repair needs.
A number of years ago we needed to do some plumbing work for the tub in the hall washroom. When the plumbing professionals had the wall opened up, I asked to place shutoffs in on the hot and cold water lines to ensure that if any person needed to deal with that plumbing in the future, they would not need to switch off the water to the entire building.
So they put in the valves. When I opened the wall surface, I saw them and also took this image:.
I 'd make use of that shower a couple of times throughout the years as well as always wondered why the stress was so reduced. Now I understand. The plumbers mounted the shutoffs however then really did not open them completely. Those red deals with should be straight in line with the pipelines. Good!
I also located that our ceiling had 2 layers of drywall. We have a smooth ceiling throughout our condo, yet the initial ceiling was stippled. Thankfully, it had not been a popcorn ceiling, which could have asbestos.
As well as I discovered the initial, ugly wallpaper.
If you're remodeling a washroom, there a lot of good needs to go all the way as well as gut it entirely. That's exactly what I'm doing. We're almost prepared to start closing it back in, so remain tuned for more tales from the restroom.