Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Bathroom Reno Dreaming

We have not abandoned household improvement; rather we have taken a hiatus to plot and scheme. As I believe I stated previously, most of my summer teaching money went to visiting the Mouse in Florida so we will be spending sporadically on the bathroom renovation. At this point I'm just trying to figure out the plan of attack. I know we can afford to buy the new toilet this month and we already have the floor tile. So this means removing the old toilet, taking up the old vinyl and subfloor, removing the old baseboards, installing new subfloor and cement backer board, tiling, and then installing the new toilet. However, here are some issues:

1) We will not be able to afford to buy the new vanity until September at least. So taking out the old one will be necessary for tiling the floor. I guess we just put the old one back in until we can replace it?

2) We are uncertain about what to do with the existing tile on the walls and in the shower. There is ceramic tile on two walls of the bathroom, serving as a kind of wainscoting. The shower is completely tiled, including the ceiling. Thom would like to have white subway tile, as would I, but I'm honestly just not motivated to remove all of this tile. I'm toying around with the idea of having Miracle Method resurface the tiles when they do the bathtub. We could always remove one row of them and replace them with some glass tile we have been eyeing. The existing tile and its grout are in very good shape too so it seems a waste to chuck it (and a waste of my sanity trying to remove it). However, we know we have some kind of issue with the hot water to the tub/shower. We don't, of course, have an access panel so removing tile would be helpful in diagnosing and fixing the problem. I would hate to have to mess it all up later.

So, that's where we stand. Any thoughts or opinions are always welcome.

1 comment:

Karen Anne said...

Just my two cents, I would look at the hot water problem before investing any energy or money in the surface which might have to be damaged later.

Periodically I look at my powder blue (sigh) tub and tile and think about Miracle Method or something similar. What's holding me up is I'm not sure it would be durable, especially on the tub.