My House Renovation - Part 1 - Bathroom

[Snapper_Kev]

I will be the first one to say up front, I am no builder. I am definatly a weekend tragic. But I have a passion, all be it unskilled.. So, I'll share with you my journey of renovating my house through the eyes of an unskilled bloke.<O</O

I have no trade qulifications so to speak, but I do like mucking round with stuff.<O</O

<O</O

I will add right now, the planning for my renovations has taken many months, off which a great deal off advice, help and support has been given to me through this forum. Some I take as gospel, some with a grain of salt.<O</O

I suppose what I have learnt is that you can obtain all the information you want from sources like these, but really unless you get in there and learn how to do it yourself through trial and error you will never really know what the pro's are talking about.<O</O

<O</O<O</O

So, to start with my bathroom…I’ll show you my before pic’s.. It was very bad I have to say.. It had rotten floor boards, moldy tiles, out dated bath ware and just generally looked like crap. I descided to do all things my self, just because of cost.
<O</O

First stage was guttingthe rooms, and replacing the entire rotten floor., Shower room, toilet and laundry. Then applying a water proof couting to the wet areas.

[Snapper_Kev]

Making a HOB for the new bath (after deciding witch one to choose) was lots of fun.. NOT… Having never done that before I had a great deal of enjoyment speaking to plumbers and plumbing suppliers who laughed at my ignorance on such matters. Yes, I insulated my fibreglass bath with pink bats (just finished the roof so I had some left over) and bed the bath down in a mortar mix (Mental note - try to get three tradesman in room at the same time and get them all to agree on what a Mortar mix for a bath actually consists off?
No, my bath is not perfectly square. It does have a slight lean to the back corner.. I call it drainage – others would call it poor workman ship.. I can live with that.

[Snapper_Kev]

After the water proof coating was applied to wet areas (Superflex blue) and given the state of the original state of the plaster board I decided to tile the entire three rooms (shower, toilet and laundry).

I looked at buying the vanity until I saw the cost.. Stuff it, I can make that? How hard can it be??? Hahaha little did I know. OK.. I bought a lot of Merbau (Kwila) from a local recycled timber place.. Used to be a squash court at a high school some 50 years ago. Anyway, I figured I can make something out of that.. How hard can accurate tongue and groove really be? It’s only a vanity top.. Once again, ignorance is a great thing. With the bravado of John Wayne and the ignorance of Gomer Pyle I set out on make my Vanity top.. A trip to the auction house, bunnings super wood glue and a few clamps.. (Flood coat finish) my vanity top was complete…<O</O

[NewLou]

Well Done M8

Theres nothing more satisfying than a great DIY JOB!!..............TOP POST!!!

REgards Lou

[Snapper_Kev]

I picked up a new porcelain toilet for $100.00 and after tiling every thing else, I figured I best tile the laundry at the same time… So, the entire three rooms with all fittings and floor came in at about $4,000… I think about $2,000 of that was tiling, water proofing and the associated products… Anyway gents, that’s my story… Happy to answer any questions from people like me, but please can all you pro’s keep your criticism to a constructive nature… <O</O

Working on the kitchen now.. Soon to post the results… Cheers, Kev<O</O

[Snapper_Kev]

p.s. The last thing I bucked the trend with was the floor… Never did like tiles on a floor in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comVictoria</ST1</st1:State>, too damm cold.. Given that I had just laid new crappy pine floor boards, I decided to subject them to a liberal dose of a stain that matched the tiles and then 4 coats of that 7008 stuff.. (Not naming names off course)… Floor done<O</O

[elphingirl]

Well done! - I'm guessing you're pretty popular at the moment. I particularly like the cat door into the bathroom.
Cheers
Justine

[Snapper_Kev]

Well done! - I'm guessing you're pretty popular at the moment. I particularly like the cat door into the bathroom.
Cheers
Justine

Cracking up here Justine..... How did you spot that? I actually have three, one through each door going detween shower, laundry and then outside.. Dog and cat worked out how to use them withing a few days... Have a tempered glass back door so I couldn't put it there... Well spot..

[namtrak]

Great job. Keep the photos coming. Whats the next room to be done?

[ThePope]

but please can all you pro’s keep your criticism to a constructive nature…

You'll get none from me, looks like you did quite a good job there Kev.

I'd never go with a timber floor in a wet area, though it does look good. So the only advice I'd add is to keep it well maintained with lots of that 7008 (whatever that is)

[Trav]

NIce work snapper.

Trav

[Wild Dingo]

Well done snapper!

sigh its one of the "must do REALLY soon" jobs around here to although I have a serious case of "avoiditallcostsitis" as its gonna mean not only gutting the room removing the bath shower and vanity but also ripping up the rotten floorboards (meaning exit hole 2ft deep) and wall panels and the ceiling needs to go as well... sigh... but its all out there in the sea tainer just egging me on every time I wander down there new shower stall new dunny new vanity and all attachments just sittin there waitin for me and what with the jarrah in the humpyhoochy just waitin for me to make some of them into floorboards... sigh avoiditatallcostsitis" is a terrible thing sigh

Nothin more to say other than to repeat... Well done snapper! Cheers!!

[leeton]

Well done Snapper, good post and good job, sounds just like me...nothing us weekend renovators can't do...and the most important item I noticed in your pics...you had the tradies flannellette check shirt...it is like playing football...doesn't matter how you play...as long as you look the part...well done...looking forward to the kitchen next....are you gunna do what I did...and build all the bloody doors, the carcases, the leadlight...the whole dam thing...you can do it..

[Auld Bassoon]

Mate! Why is there a cat-flap into the bathroom? - must be a very well trained mog

[Snapper_Kev]

Mate! Why is there a cat-flap into the bathroom? - must be a very well trained mog

It does seem kinda silly I know. The reason is, we have a temperd glass back door from the kitchen that we couldn't install the animal flat into, so I installed them through the bathroom to laundry and out a second back door - it was the cheapest and easiest way at the time.

Kitchen is nearly finished so look out for the "My House renovation - Part 2 - Kitchen" thread.