If your house is old sufficient for a shower room improvement, you could intend to proceed and also entirely intestine it. I began my bathroom remodel last month with a complete demolition. If I had not, a variety of troubles would certainly have been inaccessible for repair service ... and even undiscovered. Right here's what I found when I opened the walls and also ceiling of my 1981 apartment right here in the Quad Cities.
Take care of plumbing surprises
Below's an additional thing I found. I'm not a pipes specialist, however I see an issue here. Picture if that section of usual drain line for our back-to-back sinks got obstructed. Currently think of running a snake in there from one sink. Do you think it would certainly make the turn? Most likely not. We changed it out and also balance out the two.
Repair termite damages
When I opened up the outside wall, I found termite damages in two areas: the king stud, jack stud, as well as cripple on the tub side of the window and also the jack stud on the other side of the home window. Fortunately is that the damages was done long ago. As long as I've lived below, the owners' organization has stayed up to date with termite therapy as well as surveillance, however I recognize there was a period when they really did not. Thus the damages I found.
Change rotted subflooring
Along with the termite-damaged wall, I additionally discovered rotten subflooring near the bath tub. This was mostly from getting also wet, as well as I suspected it since floor tiles had started turning up because area.
Make up for no or little insulation
I recognized we had insulation in our wall surfaces. I thought it was R-11 fiberglass batts since our upstairs next-door neighbor's icemaker had a bad leak a couple of years earlier, taking out half of our utility room ceiling and also part of the wall surface. The common wall had R-11 batts. I figured the remainder of the wall surfaces did, also. I knew they had insulation because I've inspected behind button and also receptacle plates.
I obtained a little shock when I took the drywall off of that exterior bathroom wall and saw this:
This is actually a good thing, in a manner, since it indicates I'll obtain even more renovation compared to I assumed I was getting.
Seal up the air leakages
Yes, our 1981 apartment is dripping. I found out about the large bath tub openings and also various other pipes infiltrations since I've seen them from the basement. I didn't recognize that the wall surfaces were encased with asphalt-impregnated fiber board (Celotex) that supplied lots of air leakage pathways. Again, looking on the silver lining, that suggests I'll have the ability to make even more enhancement than I would certainly assumed.
I cannot wait to do a blower door test when it's all done. Sadly, I won't have the ability to separate out the enhancement due only to my bathroom job. The proprietors' association simply had the entire floor sealed with spray foam insulation. I'm presuming our overall air leakage will certainly be around half of exactly what it was.
Install an exhaust follower as well as fix ductwork
Did I state our apartment was integrated in the 80's? The master bath has a home window, so naturally, it really did not need an exhaust follower, right? Wrong. I've overcome a year of data on temperature level as well as relative moisture in that restroom without an exhaust fan. Currently I'm putting one in as well as will gather much more information. Stay tuned for the outcomes.
But even if your washroom already has a follower, I 'd bet it does not move sufficient air. The common bathroom fan moves about half its rated air circulation. If your bathroom fan isn't easily accessible from the attic room, opening up the ceiling is the only method to obtain at the duct as well as repair it. What you see because image below prevails for bathroom fan ducts: drooping flex duct that makes a lot of turns. (That's not my brand-new follower, by the way.).
Fix other potentially unidentified repair needs.
Several years ago we had to do some pipes benefit the tub in the hall restroom. When the plumbings had the wall surface opened, I inquired to put valves in on the cold and hot water lines to make sure that if anyone had to service that pipes in the future, they would not need to turn off the water to the entire structure.
So they place in the shutoffs. When I opened the wall surface, I saw them as well as took this picture:.
I would certainly utilize that shower a few times for many years as well as always asked yourself why the stress was so low. Currently I comprehend. The plumbings installed the shutoffs however after that really did not open them fully. Those red takes care of ought to be straight in line with the pipelines. Great!
I also located that our ceiling had 2 layers of drywall. We have a smooth ceiling throughout our condo, yet the initial ceiling was stippled. Thankfully, it had not been a snacks ceiling, which could have asbestos.
As well as I found the original, gruesome wallpaper.
If you're renovating a restroom, there a great deal of great reasons to copulate and intestine it completely. That's just what I'm doing. We're practically ready Dunlap to begin shutting it back in, so stay tuned for even more stories from the washroom.