Why You Need To Totally Demo Your Bathroom When You Remodel



If your home is old enough for a restroom restoration, you may wish to proceed and also entirely digestive tract it. I started my washroom remodel last month with a full demolition. If I hadn't, a number of problems would certainly have been not available for repair work ... and even undiscovered. Right here's exactly what I discovered when I opened up the walls as well as ceiling of my 1981 condo right here in the Quad Cities.

Repair plumbing surprises
Below's another point I located. I'm not a plumbing specialist, but I see a problem below. Visualize if that area of common drain line for our back-to-back sinks got clogged. Currently envision running a snake in there from one sink. Do you assume it would certainly make the turn? Possibly not. We altered it out and also counter the two.

Repair termite damage
When I opened the exterior wall surface, I located termite damage in two areas: the king stud, jack stud, and also maim on the bath tub side of the home window and the jack stud on the other side of the home window. Fortunately is that the damages was done long ago. As long as I have actually lived here, the owners' association has actually stayed on top of termite therapy and also surveillance, yet I recognize there was a duration when they really did not. Therefore the damages I found.

Change decayed subflooring
In addition to the termite-damaged wall surface, I additionally discovered rotten subflooring near the tub. This was mostly from getting as well damp, and also I presumed it since ceramic tiles had actually started popping up because location.

Offset no or little insulation
I understood 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 leak a few years back, securing fifty percent of our utility room ceiling and part of the wall. The usual wall had R-11 batts. I figured the rest of the walls did, also. I knew they had insulation because I've inspected behind button as well as receptacle plates.
I obtained a little shock when I took the drywall off of that exterior washroom wall and also saw this:

This is in fact an advantage, in a manner, due to the fact that it means I'll get more renovation compared to I thought I was going to get.

Seal up the air leaks
Yes, our 1981 condo is leaky. I found out about the large bath tub openings and also various other pipes infiltrations because I've seen them from the basement. I really did not recognize that the walls were covered with asphalt-impregnated fiberboard (Celotex) that supplied great deals of air leakage pathways. Again, looking on the silver lining, that suggests I'll have the ability to make even more enhancement compared to I would certainly assumed.

I can not wait to do a blower door examination when it's all done. Sadly, I won't have the ability to separate out the enhancement due only to my shower room job. The proprietors' organization just had the entire flooring sealed with spray foam insulation. I'm guessing our complete air leakage will be around half of exactly what it was.

Set up an exhaust fan and repair ductwork
Did I mention our condominium was integrated in the 80's? The master bath has a home window, so normally, it really did not require an exhaust fan, right? Wrong. I have actually got click here over a year of information on temperature level and loved one moisture because restroom without an exhaust follower. Currently I'm putting one in and also will certainly gather extra information. Keep tuned for the outcomes.

But even if your bathroom currently has a follower, I 'd bet it doesn't relocate sufficient air. The regular bath fan stirs half its rated air flow. If your bath follower isn't obtainable from the attic, opening up the ceiling is the only way to obtain at the duct as well as repair it. What you see because picture below prevails for bath fan air ducts: drooping flex duct that makes a lot of turns. (That's not my new follower, incidentally.).

Resolve other potentially unidentified repair needs.
Numerous years ago we needed to do some pipes help the bathtub in the hall bathroom. When the plumbing professionals had the wall opened, I asked to put shutoffs in on the hot and cold water lines so that if any person needed to deal with that pipes in the future, they would not have to turn off the water to the whole building.
So they place in the shutoffs. When I opened up the wall surface, I saw them and took this picture:.



I would certainly use that shower a few times throughout the years and constantly questioned why the pressure was so reduced. Currently I recognize. The plumbing technicians mounted the valves but then didn't open them completely. Those red takes care of ought to be straight in accordance with the pipes. Wonderful!

I also found that our ceiling had two layers of drywall. We have a smooth ceiling throughout our condo, however the initial ceiling was stippled. Thankfully, it had not been a snacks ceiling, which could have asbestos.

And I uncovered the original, hideous wallpaper.

If you're remodeling a washroom, there a lot of good needs to go all the way and also gut it entirely. That's exactly what I'm doing. We're almost prepared to start shutting it back in, so remain tuned for more tales from the shower room.

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