If your home is old enough for a washroom remodelling, you might intend to go ahead and totally intestine it. I began my bathroom remodel last month with a total demolition. If I hadn't, a variety of troubles would certainly have been unavailable for repair work ... and even undiscovered. Right here's exactly what I located when I opened the wall surfaces and also ceiling of my 1981 apartment below in the Quad Cities.
Fix plumbing surprises
Here's another thing I found. I'm not a plumbing expert, but I see a trouble below. Picture if that section of common drain line for our back-to-back sinks got obstructed. Currently visualize 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 the two.
Repair termite damages
When I opened the outside wall, I found termite damage in 2 locations: the king stud, jack stud, as well as cripple on the bathtub side of the home window as well as the jack stud on the other side of the window. The bright side is that the damage was done long ago. As long as I've lived here, the proprietors' association has actually 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 located.
Replace rotted subflooring
Along with the termite-damaged wall, I also discovered rotten subflooring near the bathtub. This was primarily from getting also wet, and I presumed it because floor tiles had begun popping up 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 earlier, getting fifty percent of our utility room ceiling and part of the wall surface. The common wall 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 obtained a little surprise when I took the drywall off of that exterior washroom wall as well as saw this:
This is in fact a good thing, in a manner, since 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 knew about the big tub openings and also various other pipes infiltrations because I've seen them from the basement. I didn't understand that the walls were covered with asphalt-impregnated fiber board (Celotex) that supplied great deals of air leak paths. Once more, viewing on the silver lining, that suggests I'll have the ability to make even more renovation compared to I would certainly assumed.
I can not wait to do a blower door examination when it's all done. Regrettably, I will not be able to separate out the enhancement due only to my restroom work. The owners' organization simply had the entire flooring sealed with spray foam insulation. I'm thinking our total air leakage will certainly be around half of just what it was.
Set up an exhaust fan and fix ductwork
Did I state our apartment was integrated in the 80's? The master bath has a window, so normally, it didn't need an exhaust follower, right? Incorrect. I've got over a year of information on temperature and loved one moisture in that bathroom without an exhaust follower. Now I'm putting one in and also will collect extra data. Keep tuned for the outcomes.
But even if your washroom currently has a fan, I would certainly wager it does not move sufficient air. The common bathroom fan stirs half its rated air circulation. If your bath follower www.dunlapconstruction.com isn't accessible from the attic room, opening up the ceiling is the only method to get at the duct and fix it. Just what you see in that image below prevails for bath fan air ducts: sagging flex air duct that makes too many turns. (That's not my brand-new follower, by the way.).
Fix other potentially unknown repair needs.
A number of years ago we needed 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 anybody needed to work on that plumbing in the future, they would not need to turn off the water to the whole building.
So they place in the shutoffs. When I opened the wall, I saw them as well as took this picture:.
I would certainly utilize that shower a few times throughout the years and always wondered why the stress was so reduced. Currently I comprehend. The plumbing technicians set up the valves yet after that really did not open them completely. Those red deals with should be straight in line with the pipelines. Great!
I likewise found that our ceiling had 2 layers of drywall. We have a smooth ceiling throughout our condominium, but the initial ceiling was stippled. The good news is, it had not been a popcorn ceiling, which can consist of asbestos.
As well as I discovered the initial, ugly wallpaper.
If you're remodeling a washroom, there a great deal of good needs to go all the way and digestive tract it completely. That's what I'm doing. We're practically ready to begin closing it back in, so remain tuned for more tales from the restroom.