If your residence is old sufficient for a restroom improvement, you may wish to go ahead as well as entirely intestine it. I started my restroom remodel last month with a total demolition. If I had not, a variety of problems would have been not available for repair service ... or perhaps obscure. Below's just what I found when I opened up the walls and ceiling of my 1981 condominium right here in the Quad Cities.
Take care of pipes shocks
Right here's one more point I found. I'm not a plumbing expert, but I see a problem here. Think of if that section of typical drain line for our back-to-back sinks got clogged. Currently imagine running a snake in there from one sink. Do you assume it would certainly make the turn? Possibly not. We altered it out as well as balance out the two.
Repair termite damages
When I opened the outside wall, I found termite damages in 2 locations: the king stud, jack stud, as well as cripple on the bath tub side of the home window as well as the jack stud on the other side of the window. The bright side is that the damages was done long ago. As long as I've lived here, the proprietors' association has stayed up to date with termite therapy and also tracking, but I recognize there was a period when they didn't. Therefore the damage I found.
Change decayed subflooring
In addition to the termite-damaged wall surface, I also located rotten subflooring near the tub. This was primarily from obtaining too damp, as well as I suspected it due to the fact that ceramic tiles had actually started turning up in that location.
Make up for no or little insulation
I recognized we had insulation in our walls. I assumed it was R-11 fiberglass batts because our upstairs next-door neighbor's icemaker had a bad leakage a couple of years earlier, securing fifty percent of our laundry room ceiling and also part of the wall. The typical wall surface had R-11 batts. I figured the rest of the wall surfaces did, too. I knew they had insulation since I have actually examined behind button and receptacle plates.
I got a little surprise when I took the drywall off of that exterior shower room wall surface and also saw this:
This is actually a good thing, 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 leakages
Yes, our 1981 apartment is leaky. I learnt about the huge bath tub openings and other plumbing penetrations because I've seen them from the basement. I didn't recognize that the walls were sheathed with asphalt-impregnated fiberboard (Celotex) that provided lots of air leakage pathways. Again, searching the bright side, that implies I'll be able to make more enhancement than I 'd thought.
I can't wait to do a blower door test when it's all done. Sadly, I won't be able to separate out the improvement due only to my bathroom job. The proprietors' organization just had the whole floor secured with spray foam insulation. I'm presuming our complete air leak will be around half of what it was.
Install an exhaust follower and also repair ductwork
Did I mention our condo was constructed in the 80's? The master bathroom has a window, so normally, it really did not require an exhaust follower, right? Incorrect. I've more info got over a year of information on temperature level as well as relative moisture because restroom without an exhaust fan. Currently I'm placing one in as well as will accumulate a lot more data. Keep tuned for the outcomes.
But even if your washroom currently has a fan, I 'd wager it doesn't relocate enough air. The regular bath follower moves about half its rated air circulation. If your bath follower isn't obtainable from the attic, opening the ceiling is the only method to obtain at the duct and also fix it. Just what you see in that image below prevails for bath follower air ducts: sagging flex air duct that makes too many turns. (That's not my brand-new follower, by the way.).
Address other potentially unknown repair needs.
Numerous years ago we had to do some plumbing benefit the tub in the hall shower room. When the plumbing technicians had the wall surface opened up, I asked to place valves in on the cold and hot water lines so that if any individual needed to work on that plumbing in the future, they would not need to turn off the water to the whole structure.
So they place in the valves. When I opened up the wall, I saw them and also took this image:.
I 'd utilize that shower a few times over the years and always wondered why the stress was so reduced. Currently I comprehend. The plumbings installed the valves yet after that didn't open them fully. Those red handles should be straight in accordance with the pipelines. Great!
I also found that our ceiling had 2 layers of drywall. We have a smooth ceiling throughout our condominium, but the initial ceiling was stippled. Fortunately, it had not been a popcorn ceiling, which might contain asbestos.
And also I found the original, hideous wallpaper.
If you're redesigning a shower room, there a lot of excellent reasons to go all the way and also intestine it entirely. That's what I'm doing. We're almost prepared to begin closing it back in, so remain tuned for more tales from the shower room.