Jim's downstairs bathroom project

Jim F

So the next progress was made on Nov. 21 and involved priming the last couple of areas of unfinished wall. The areas got painted after the primer but those pics will be posted in another group.

I used a plastic outside corner bead with bullnose tile and thin set on one side and light weight (blue lid) mud and paint other other surface. I think it was Bud in someone else's thread that said metal bead under thin set would rust. I wouldn't have known to use plastic otherwise. I sprayed 3m 70 adhesive on the plastic bead outside. That is hideous stuff to work with. I could feel it clinging to hair on my arms as I was spraying. I guess I should have been wearing long sleeves as well as the mask and goggles. I hemmed and hawed about how best to address that outside corner. In the end I decided I'd had enough of cutting tile for a while and mudded the other side.

I picked up a used Chicago Electric sliding miter saw real cheap. It does justice for my purposes and makes miter cuts go a lot quicker. The PVC moulding is glued with silicon and secured with brads.

I used paper tape and Durabond 90 for the joint above the door where the durrock meets the drywall. Then mudded over using blue lid. It blended pretty well. Overall my taping skills have improved considerably since the time I replaced sections of the kitchen ceiling. I've picked up a lot of great tips here.

Attached Thumbnails

       

Bootz

Is that a make shift shelf in there holding up duct tape? lol Awesome! Good to see it is coming along really well !

Jim F

That's actually my window sill holding a bunch of construction related junk. It is cleaned up and put back together now with the trim. New pics coming soon.

Jim F

The first two pictures are of a revision I had to do. I originally had two brass nipples 6" and 2" screwed together and screwed into the valve at the top and a 90 then out to the spout nipple. All this to avoid sweating copper. I have more confidence in sweating now fortunately. The brass setup did not allow the spout to sit flush to the tile and when I moved that back the valve sat crooked. It looked terrible. My wife wanted me to leave it alone so I could finish sooner. I said "no way" and replaced the brass with the copper you see. My theory was that copper would bend whereas brass would not. Luckily for me I did not end up having to bend anything. The new copper tube sits in there straight and the spout is flush. Already the access panel has been useful. I used a wad of fiberglass insulation in there to protect everything from the torch but have since learned on this site that that is not a good idea. I just wish those heat blankets were not so damn expensive.

The next is a cut I had to make with the jig saw to fit around those two pipes that supply the toe kick heater under the vanity. I hope to be able to get those marks made by the jigsaw base off with Mr. Clean magic eraser. That area will probably get covered anyway.

Still not quite sure what I want to do with that outside corner where the quarter round will eventually meet the base molding. Those pipes were originally boxed in with base molding- one piece nailed on top of an outside facing piece. I will likely do the same thing. I had wanted something covering those pipes that will also allow the heat to radiate off the pipes to supplement the toe kick heater. I had even bought a baseboard enclosure http://www.lowes.com/pd_62539-33978-...ic%2Bbaseboard but realized when I got it home that it was too tall and would not allow me to open the cabinet door. So It got returned.

Attached Thumbnails

       

Jim F

The walls are painted, the door and window trim is up and all the junk is cleaned off the window sill. The toilet and vanity are in. My wife put the curtains up. The MOen sink faucet was the closest match to the Delta faucet. I could no longer buy the matching delta faucet at Lowes.

Attached Thumbnails

         

 

Jim F

The tub floor trim is don on the door side but not the window side yet. That PVC quarter round is glued down with silicone and a few brads. The curved shower curtain rod is up. I bought that weeks ago when it was on sale at Lowes for 10 dollars off.

Attached Thumbnails

     

oh'mike

Looks real good,Jim.

Aren't those curved rod a pain to install? Look nice when they are up,though.

Your caulk job looks very good in the pictures---Mike---

gma2rjc

You did a great job Jim! It looks wonderful.

You'll like having the curved shower curtain rod. It gives you a lot of extra elbow room.

I really like that vanity cabinet.

Jim F

Thanks for the compliment on the caulk Mike. Of course I read every tip I could about caulking. I used my finger to smooth and shape it. Tried the wet finger trick but didn't find it to make much of a difference. The secret to my success involved a lot of wiping with the finger and a lot of waste. I kept a roll of toilet paper to wipe the caulk off my finger.

Speaking of caulk, I can't tell you how many commercial jobs I noticed where they grout the corners and yes, many of them are cracked. Went looking at apartments with my eldest daughter and the shower had grouted corners that cracked. The young lady showing us the apartment mentioned that she and her fiance were planning to renovate the house they just bought. I told her to make sure they use caulk, not grout in the corners.

I didn't find the curtain rod too difficult. Had my son help hold it up with the curtain on to figure out where best to place it. Plus I got a little info online. If you place them out to the outer edge of the tub it gives you maximum elbow room but bringing it in some gives better water protection on the inside. My rod ends lined up about halfway between the inner and outer tub edge. The Moen model has a hinged inner piece that screws into the wall then the outer decorative cover snaps on over it.

There is definitely an advantage to taking pictures of your walls before the drywall goes back up. I referred to my pictures for the placement of that shower curtain rod, the towel bar and the TP holder.

Jim F

Oops double post.

Jim F

I now have a towel rack and TP holder.

Attached Thumbnails

   

Bootz

In the words of a drill instructor... I am sure the Virgin Mary her self would be proud to take dump in that bathroom :D Great Job!

CoconutPete

Jim

Nice job!

I have a 1/2 bath downstairs that is the EXACT same layout except a tub or shower was never installed for some reason - there is just a big empty space. I'm trying to figure out if I have room to put in a tub like you have or if I need to steal room from the closet on the other side. Do you know how long that wall is?

Jim F

I've been off for a while so just now reading this. It is a 5x8 bathroom. The door meets the curved shower certain rod. If that rod were not curved it would meet the tub but opens wide enough either way. I had to shave off about 3/4" off the door trim to bring my tile out past the tub like I wanted to. Also had to fur out the back two walls somewhat to make the tub fit in square.

The window trim was shaved down previously to accommodate the shower that was there.

You definately want to fit the tub or shower in there before finishing any part of the walls if you do decide to put one in. I made a big newbie mistake of finishing the upper half of my walls assuming the tub would fit in there just right. Then had to tear out what I put in and start over.

Sandra20

Looks great. It's clean and fresh.