Nearing the End of Bathroom Project

In an attempt to finish before spring planting begins, almost all projects have been put on hold to make time to finish our bathroom remodel. This has meant no maple syrup this season, or replacement of bees, or building of a new coop for ducks. I took the toilet and sink out in early March, and they have been living in the dining room and living room. Because the floor replacement involved tile, and since I needed a wet saw to cut said tile, I had to wait until it was warm enough to work outside and to turn the outside spigot back on.

Once the toilet and sink were removed, I ripped up the old linoleum floor. This was a messy job as it involved using a circular saw to score the flooring so I could take it up in pieces. Since this is the third room of linoleum I had to remove and had some early intel on condition, at least I know what to expect. In the fall, we had a plumber install a new tub and toilet, and he warned us the floor around the toilet felt 'soft'. Sure enough, it looks like there had been a slow leak at one time, which had caused some mold and rot to the subfloor.

Fortunately, it was mostly cosmetic except for a small area around the closet flange. I disinfected the area with bleach, cut the weak section out, reinforced the floor, and installed a new subfloor.

I then pre-cut cement backerboard to provide a stable base for the tile, and installed with thinset and screws.

The light color of the backerboard gave us a slight pause, as we began to second-guess the use of dark gray tile. We agreed that while light-colored tile would brighten the room, it is harder to keep clean in a bathroom, and so we forged ahead with the 3x3 tile we bought in December. It took two weekends to install the tile, as I wanted to tile the closest separately from the main room because of the number of cuts needed for the closet floor. Finally, a weekend of grouting, and the floor is done.

My hope is that one last weekend will finish the job. I pre-painted the trim over the winter, so I just need to cut and install trim, install the toilet, and install the sink.

I was thinking that this would be our last major house project, until I realized that several bedroom closets need updating. With things finally greening up, that sounds like a good winter project.