WAUNA TILE & STONEWORKS
HILLCREST
This bathroom remodel was quite extensive espically after I started to uncover what the previous homeowners contractor did and didnt do. Upon first look at the bathroom, it appeared to be okay, a little closed in but in good shape, This couldn't be further from the truth. At first strike of a hammer , I knew that I was going to unveil issue with the substrate and installation methods. The first hammer revealed that the floor tile was installed directly to the subfloor plywood without any suitable substrate for tile, no backerboard, waterproof membrane, uncoupling membrane , decoupling membrane, nothing and the bond of tile to subfloor was relatively non existant with the use of mastic, a product that should not be used on floors, in wet areas or anytime as far as im concerned. The removal of shower wall tile showed that the tile was once a brick red color that was cheaply painted over, grout joints and all. Once the major elements were removed from the bathroom and I was able to open up the walls I discovered 3 dead birds and a dead squirel inside of the dividing wall between the bathtub and the shower,(I'll spare tyou of seeing he pictures of that). On top (or below) of the mess that is supposed to be the beautiful final wall and floor coverings, a tanglement of vent and drain and valve supply line await. uUpon pulling up the subfloor, I discovered that floor joists were hacked in half, one of the joists had a complete section removed. I also discovered that it was apparent that waterr had been leaking from the shower area for quite some time as the exterior wall studs had dry rotted. After seeing how "mickey moused" this bathroom was put together it became very clear that the work was either done by a contractor that should not be able to step foot in another persons house for repairs or a homeowner that should be locked out of any construction supply store, big or small, any lumber yards and be on a banned list from being able to purchase any tools, anywhere. If that only exsisted. Moving forward....
After getting the dividing wall and subfloor removed to a point where I could start moving in the right direction of rebuilding and bringing back structural integrity to this corner of the house, I started with erraticating the exterior walls dryrot, "sistered" in new lumber secured to solid areas of the studs with tie plates, applied wood hardener to the effected areas, treated and cleaned the area with concrobium and painted with kilz primer. Next came the floor joist issue, because I was dropping the subfloor for a curbless entry shower, this just took some extra blocking and "sistering" in some new lumber to reconnect cut joists and bridge together others over the huge notches that were cut out. Dimensional 2"x6", joist hangers and 3"" coated deck screws got the area properly safe and sound to hold the weight of the tile installation and have plenty of structural integrity so there will be no future movement causing any kind of drain or corner grout failure resulting in water damage. With the joists taken care of and drop blocking installed, I was able to turn my attention over to getting the vent, drain and supply lines properly ran and installed to where they needed to be . A new 3 way push button shower system was installed with a rainhead, handheld and 4 body sprayers which can all be used simultansiouly.
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With the side of the dividing wall that previously held the plumbing removed and the plumbing rerouted to where I needed it, I focused on the other side of the dividing wall which held a pocket door, I removed the door and associated materials, I removed the pocket framing and rebuilt a "pony" wall in its place. I did the framing so that I could incorporate an inset shelf. The pony wall got drywall and textured then I installed the same wall tile on the top ledge and in the inset shelf both with a Schluter rondec metal edge trim detail. Since the homeowners wanted the doorway into the bathroom moved to be in the master bedroom instead of in the long hallway leading to the bedroom, the door was removed and the opening framed in to incorporate 2 inset shelves to coinceide with that of the pony wall. I then knocked out the drywall into the master bedroom where the bathtub previously was and added lumber for a header, incorporated drywall and blended the texture. I then installed a solid wood sliding barn door and hardware. Now that the framing of the pony wall and the entryway were taken care of, the floor joists fixed, the rough-in valve and drain securely installed and the shower area floor properly dropped, I installed a single slope center drain pan with a bonded drain flange. The walls got prepped for tile installation and the entire area got multiple coats of liquid wqaterproofing membrane. The main floor tile got installed, a 8"x8" porcelain. I did this one a little different and ledgered the wall tile and installed that before the pan tile. The wall tile, a 24"x48" porcelain with a heavy "veining" print got installed to match up from tile to tile, top,bottom and sides. Which takes a signifigant amount of time to make happen, This attention can and does involve cutting the top off one tile and the bottom of the next tile. Cuts have to be perfectly square with edges fabricated as if it was factory cut. One little chip in the tile or off cut by 1/32 and that tile can't be installed, then a tile of that exact same print, so it will match with the already installed tiles, has to be recut. With the wall tile layout established, I cut out a hole for an inset niche. Precisely cut to line up tat the best place in accordance with grout joints, the inset got prepped for tile and waterproofing was bonded to surrounding wall waterproofing membrane. I made the "veining" of the tile flow intp the niche on the sides and top and bottom, I fabricated a shelf , tiled it and installed it offset from center. the backwall got tiled with the hex of the shower floor to tie everything together. Now that the wall tile was installed, I decided that the best look would be to also tile the drop down that ran through the bathroom holding ventilation for heating and cooling. I then installed the pan tile, a 2" porcelain hex including a tileable drain grate. All the tile got grouted and all corners and edges got grout color match caulked. With the bathroom now well more than halfway finished, the toilet got re-installed with a new bidet seat, touch up paint in the bathroom was done and the drywall in the hallway where the previous entryway was got textured to blend with the surrounding area and painted. I installed a 3/8" frameless glass shower enclosure with sliding door by Dreamline. Alot of time and energy went into this bathroom remodel along with some creative thinking and innovation, to which I thank the homeowners for allowing me the freedom to make certain decisions and the understanding of what it took to completely transform this master bathroom into what it is today : a moden, open concept master bathroom with a large multiple fauceted shower.
