If your house is old enough for a shower room renovation, you could wish to go ahead and also entirely digestive tract it. I started my bathroom remodel last month with a full demolition. If I hadn't, a variety of issues would certainly have been unavailable for fixing ... or perhaps undiscovered. Below's exactly what I found when I opened the walls as well as ceiling of my 1981 condo right here in the Quad Cities.
Fix pipes shocks
Right here's another thing I located. I'm not a plumbing expert, yet I see a problem below. Visualize if that section of usual drain line for our back-to-back sinks obtained clogged. Currently think of running a snake in there from one sink. Do you think it would make the turn? Most likely not. We changed it out as well as counter both.
Repair termite damage
When I opened up the outside wall surface, I found termite damage in 2 areas: the king stud, jack stud, and paralyze on the bath tub side of the home window and 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 right here, the owners' organization has actually stayed on top of termite therapy and also monitoring, but I comprehend there was a duration when they really did not. Therefore the damages I located.
Change decayed subflooring
In addition to the termite-damaged wall, I likewise discovered rotten subflooring near the tub. This was mainly from obtaining as well damp, as well as I believed it due to the fact that tiles had actually begun appearing in that location.
Offset no or little insulation
I recognized we had insulation in our wall surfaces. I assumed it was R-11 fiberglass batts due to the fact that our upstairs next-door neighbor's icemaker had a negative leak a couple of years ago, obtaining half of our utility room ceiling and also part of the wall surface. The usual wall surface had R-11 batts. I figured the remainder of the walls did, as well. I recognized they had insulation since I've examined behind button and also receptacle plates.
I obtained a little shock when I took the drywall off of that outside bathroom wall and also saw this:
This is really an advantage, in such a way, due to the fact that it indicates I'll get even more renovation compared to I thought I was going to get.
Seal up the air leaks
Yes, our 1981 apartment is leaky. I understood about the big tub openings as well as various other plumbing infiltrations because I've seen them from the basement. I here didn't understand that the walls were encased with asphalt-impregnated fiber board (Celotex) that provided great deals of air leakage pathways. Once more, looking on the bright side, that implies I'll be able to make more improvement compared to I 'd assumed.
I cannot wait to do a blower door test when it's all done. However, I will not be able to separate out the renovation due just to my washroom work. The owners' association just had the whole flooring secured with spray foam insulation. I'm guessing our total air leakage will certainly be around half of exactly what it was.
Mount an exhaust fan as well as fix ductwork
Did I discuss our apartment was integrated in the 80's? The master bath has a window, so normally, it didn't require an exhaust follower, right? Wrong. I have actually got over a year of information on temperature and loved one humidity in that washroom without an exhaust fan. Currently I'm placing one in and will accumulate a lot more data. Remain tuned for the results.
But even if your bathroom already has a fan, I would certainly wager it doesn't move enough air. The normal bathroom fan stirs half its ranked air circulation. If your bathroom follower isn't obtainable from the attic, opening up the ceiling is the only means to obtain at the air duct and repair it. Just what you see because picture below prevails for bath fan air ducts: drooping flex duct that makes a lot of turns. (That's not my brand-new follower, by the way.).
Resolve other potentially unknown repair needs.
A number of years ago we had to do some plumbing help the tub in the hall washroom. When the plumbers had the wall surface opened up, I inquired to put valves know the cold and hot water lines so that if anyone needed to work with that pipes in the future, they would not need to turn off the water to the entire building.
So they put in the valves. When I opened the wall surface, I saw them and took this photo:.
I would certainly use that shower a couple of times over the years and constantly asked yourself why the stress was so low. Currently I understand. The plumbers mounted the shutoffs however after that really did not open them totally. Those red deals with must be straight in accordance with the pipelines. Good!
I additionally found that our ceiling had two 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 contain asbestos.
And I found the initial, hideous wallpaper.
If you're remodeling a restroom, there a great deal of great needs to copulate as well as gut it entirely. That's exactly what I'm doing. We're almost prepared to begin shutting it back in, so remain tuned for more tales from the bathroom.