If your residence is old enough for a shower room renovation, you could want to proceed as well as entirely gut it. I started my washroom remodel last month with a complete demolition. If I hadn't, a number of troubles would certainly have been unavailable for repair service ... or perhaps obscure. Here's exactly what I located when I opened up the walls and ceiling of my 1981 condominium below in the Quad Cities.
Take care of plumbing surprises
Right here's one more thing I discovered. I'm not a plumbing expert, however I see an issue here. Visualize if that area of usual drainpipe line for our back-to-back sinks obtained obstructed. Currently envision running a snake in there from one sink. Do you assume it would certainly make the turn? Most likely not. We altered it out as well as offset both.
Repair termite damages
When I opened the exterior wall, I found termite damages in 2 locations: the king stud, jack stud, as well as cripple on the bathtub side of the home window and also the jack stud on the other side of the window. The good news is that the damages was done long ago. As long as I've lived here, the proprietors' organization has stayed on par with termite therapy as well as monitoring, yet I comprehend there was a period when they really did not. For this reason the damage I found.
Change decayed subflooring
Along with the termite-damaged wall surface, I also located rotten subflooring near the bathtub. This was primarily from getting too damp, and I presumed it because floor tiles had begun appearing because area.
Offset no or little insulation
I knew we had insulation in our wall surfaces. I thought it was R-11 fiberglass batts since our upstairs neighbor's icemaker had a poor leakage a few years back, taking out fifty percent of our utility room ceiling as well as part of the wall surface. The common wall surface had R-11 batts. I figured the remainder of the walls did, as well. I recognized they had insulation since I have actually examined behind switch as well as receptacle plates.
I got a little shock when I took the drywall off of that exterior washroom wall as well as saw this:
This is in fact a good idea, in such a way, because it suggests I'll get more enhancement compared to I assumed I was going to get.
Seal the air leaks
Yes, our 1981 condominium is dripping. I learnt about the huge bath tub holes and other pipes penetrations due to the fact that I have actually seen them from the basement. I didn't understand that the walls were encased with asphalt-impregnated fiber board (Celotex) that supplied lots of air leakage pathways. Once again, searching the bright side, that indicates I'll have the ability to make even more enhancement compared to I 'd believed.
I cannot wait to do a blower door test when it's all done. Sadly, I will not be able to separate out the improvement due only to my restroom work. The owners' association simply had the whole flooring secured with spray foam insulation. I'm thinking our total air leak will be around half of just what it was.
Set up an exhaust fan and solution ductwork
Did I mention our condo was built in the 80's? The master bathroom has a window, so normally, it didn't require an exhaust fan, right? Wrong. I've got over read more a year of data on temperature level as well as family member humidity in that washroom without an exhaust follower. Now I'm placing one in as well as will accumulate a lot more data. Keep tuned for the results.
But even if your washroom already has a follower, I would certainly bet it doesn't relocate sufficient air. The regular bathroom fan stirs half its rated air circulation. If your bath follower isn't available from the attic room, opening the ceiling is the only way to get at the air duct and also repair it. What you see because photo listed below is common for bathroom fan ducts: drooping flex duct that makes way too many turns. (That's not my new follower, by the way.).
Fix other potentially unidentified repair needs.
A number of years ago we needed to do some plumbing help the bathtub in the hall restroom. When the plumbings had the wall surface opened, I asked them to place shutoffs in on the hot and cold water lines so that if any person needed to work with that pipes in the future, they would not need to turn off the water to the entire structure.
So they put in the valves. When I opened the wall surface, I saw them and took this image:.
I would certainly use that shower a few times over the years and constantly asked yourself why the pressure was so low. Now I understand. The plumbers mounted the valves however after that didn't open them fully. Those red manages need to be straight in accordance with the pipelines. Good!
I also located that our ceiling had 2 layers of drywall. We have a smooth ceiling throughout our condominium, but the initial ceiling was stippled. Luckily, it wasn't a popcorn ceiling, which might consist of asbestos.
And also I found the original, gruesome wallpaper.
If you're remodeling a restroom, there a lot of excellent needs to copulate as well as intestine it totally. That's just what I'm doing. We're nearly ready to begin closing it back in, so remain tuned for more tales from the restroom.