DIY Master Bathroom Renovation - Part IV - The Finale

Home.

This is post is part of a multi-part series on how we demolished our master bathroom and re-built it ourselves with quality materials and great design.

1. DIY Master Bathroom Renovation - The Demolition
2. DIY Master Bathroom Renovation - The Build Up
3. DIY Master Bathroom Renovation - The Finishing Touches
4. DIY Master Bathroom Renovation - The Final Product

Welcome to Part IV in our Master Bathroom Renovation series.  Part I covered the nasty parts (demolition), Part II got pretty technical about the underlying structure pieces and Part III spoke of the costs and finishing touches.  If you haven't seen the "before" photos, check them out in the links above!

Finally, Part IV is the final product.  Here you can see how everything fits together, from the tile choices for the floor, the baseboard tiles which are also used as an accent piece behind the shower panel.  Though to be honest, we did not have enough tile for the walls and were short one piece.  It could only be purchased in bulk, not individually so we needed to get creative.  Hence the leftover baseboard and floor tile behind the shower.  The shower panel and vanity cabinets can be seen with the dual sinks, faucets and mirrors.

A few other touches include the dimable LED shower lights, bamboo accessories (to flow with the bedroom floor) and bathrobe and towel hangers from Amazon.

You'll notice some of the photos are more professional looking than the others.  That's because a professional took them!  More on that in later posts.

The Final Product

Shower panel with rain shower head

Close up of rain shower head

Shower panel misters in action

Dual sink vanity and mirrors

It's not a very large master bathroom, but we made the space work.  By going with a shallow double sink vanity, it really gives the illusion and additional physical space that the room is larger than it actually is.  The vanity has a depth of just over 19".  That's very common in Europe, but not in the US.

All in all, this is definitely something we would do again.  For the cost of materials and time, ending up with an extremely modern and well-built bathroom was completely worth it.  We know quality materials and the proper techniques were used and are super happy with the results.

<3 mk and jeff

DIY Master Bathroom Renovation - Part III

Home.

This is post is part of a multi-part series on how we demolished our master bathroom and re-built it ourselves with quality materials and great design.

1. DIY Master Bathroom Renovation - The Demolition
2. DIY Master Bathroom Renovation - The Build Up
3. DIY Master Bathroom Renovation - The Finishing Touches
4. DIY Master Bathroom Renovation - The Final Product

Welcome to Part III in our Master Bathroom Renovation series.  In Part I of the series, we showed you some of the ugly demolition.  In Part II, we explained the key materials and boring/technical ideas, concepts and steps that one must undergo to build a quality and lasting bathroom.

Part III is the breakdown of major costs and materials required to undergo a project of this magnitude.  There will be numerous small purchases required - electric screwdrivers, screws, tape, caulking, a tile cutter, etc.. and while they will add up to a few hundred dollars, they are by far not the big ticket items.

Our vendors for the big ticket products included Cooltiles, Amazon and eBay.  Shipping was usually very affordable (or free) and the prices and selection could not be beat locally.

Shower panel
Make / Model: Pulse Showerspas Hana
Source: Amazon
Cost: $687 shipped

This thing is crazy.  It has a rain shower head, wand with numerous massage settings, a tub spout, shaving mirror and four misting jets.  The installation was super simple compared to even plumbing a normal shower / spigot combo.  Plus, it looks luxurious and amazing.

Frameless shower door
Make / Model: Kohler R702200-L-MX Fluence Frameless Bypass Shower Door with Crystal Glass
Source: Amazon
Cost: $351 shipped

Not only does this shower door look great, but like the shower panel, it was super easy to install.  It allows for installation in areas where the walls are not perfectly square and you only need a drill and a small hacksaw to install this.  Going slow, it only took a few hours to install.

Vanity with mirrors

Make / Model: Varies
Source: eBay
Cost: $1,184.00 shipped

Quite a bit of furniture these days is made in China.  There are numerous factories pumping low cost but quality furniture and there are plenty of Internet-only companies reselling the furniture under different names and wildly different prices.  It's very common to find the same piece of furniture at prices at two different stores that vary significantly.  The vanity set we purchased came with a dual sink, vanity, mirrors, and two faucets.  Unfortunately, the sink was damaged during delivery and we were unable to win the lengthy insurance claim battle.  Luckily, IKEA has an affordable dual sink that just happens to fit (with only a little modification) our vanity.





Dual-sink top
Make / Model: Braviken Sink, 2 bowls
Source: IKEA
Cost: $280 purchased in store

Way to go IKEA.  This dual sink fit the vanity almost perfectly.  We had to do a little cutting of the vanity, but nothing difficult.  It looks great and comes with all of the plumbing you need, including the p-trap!

Floor tile
Brand: Emil Ceramica in Grigio Pepe 6" x 13"
Source: Cootiles
Cost: 3 boxes at $123 each, $371 shipped

These tiles are porcelain, affordable and durable.  They are super easy to cut and work with and look fantastic.

Baseboard and Shower accent tile
Brand: Clear View Staggered Black and Grey Mix 10.5" x 9.5"
Source: Cootiles
Cost: 19 sheets at $312 shipped


These tiles served as a baseboard accent and an accent behind the shower panel.

Shower wall tile
Make / Model: Elida Ceramica Rain 12"x 24"
Source: Cootiles
Cost: 1 box at $420 shipped with 10% off coupon

We actually purchased this tile in 12"x24" pieces, not the 12"x12" shown below.  This was challenging to install as the thinset needs to be applied to the back of the tile uniformly as well as your walls needing to be very flat.  Like everything else, if you mess up, try it again.  Just pull it off the wall and adjust and affix it properly.

Total: $2,918.00

We were able to "splurge" in the visible areas (vanity, shower panel, tile) as it was DIY.  We received contractor quotes from $3k to $10k to remodel the bathroom using the cheapest materials available.  Throwing in an extra $500 for all of the smaller materials and tool purchases, we'd like to think we came out ahead.  Stick around for Part IV of our DIY Master Bathroom Renovation and you can decide!

<3 mk and jeff

DIY Master Bathroom Renovation - Part II

Home. Part II.


This is post is part of a multi-part series on how we demolished our master bathroom and re-built it ourselves with quality materials and great design.

1. DIY Master Bathroom Renovation - The Demolition
2. DIY Master Bathroom Renovation - The Build Up
3. DIY Master Bathroom Renovation - The Finishing Touches
4. DIY Master Bathroom Renovation - The Final Product

When we last left you, we showed you pictures of the demo job in Part I.  Looking at those pictures make it really hard for one to imagine what the final product would look like, but we promise, it looks awesome!

Warning, it gets a little technical here.  This is all of the boring stuff that vitally important to have a great looking and durable bathroom.  Stick around, because the pictures in Part III will be worth it!

Note, do not be afraid of a project of this size.  It's entirely doable for a regular DIYer.  Take your time and if it looks bad, do it over!  We sure did - more than once.

Here’s a high level breakdown of the tasks for our renovation:

Demolition – Remove vanity, sink, mirrors, drywall, toilet, floor tile, subfloor (it was damaged).  This was by far the most difficult part.  We tried to salvage the subfloor, but the tile was fixed to the subfloor with an adhesive which made removal without subfloor damage nearly impossible.  Plus, some of the subfloor had minor water damage.  As Mike Holmes would say, "we're going to Make It Right."

Subfloor replacement – This required building additional reinforcement perpendicular to the joists in place.  The subfloor needed to be entirely removed, up to the perimeter of the bathroom and bathtub, but wasn’t cut evenly on a joist.  Hard to explain without pictures, but there were none taken at the time.  At this point, the room looked like a war zone.  We had to put down two layers of subfloor due to joist deflection.  Without it, the floor would flex just enough to cause problems for the tile in the future.

New double layer subfloor in place

Decoupling membrane – You may have seen a product called Schluter-Ditra by Schluter-Systems on the show Holmes on Homes.  It’s this waffle looking orange thing that is applied to subfloor.  In a nutshell, it helps prevent or eliminate grout line cracks and cracked tiled.  It does this by de-coupling the subfloor from the tile.

 Schluter-Ditra tile underlayment

Greenboard - We replaced all of the damaged drywall with mold resistant green board.  The most difficult part is taping and smoothing out the joints with sandpaper.  For a novice, that took the longest to get perfect.

Hardibacker Cement Board - This product was used for the walls in the shower area.  Most folks just apply tile right on top of this stuff, but it's not truly waterproof.  Using Hardibacker was not necessary in the shower since we were using the Schluter-KERDI described below.   Only the most anal people go this route.

Schluter-KERDI - This product is also by Schluter-Systems.  It's basically a waterproofing membrane that the tile adheres to.  It's applied to the walls using a layer of thinset (the tile mix stuff) and will make your walls 100% waterproof.  We put this on top of the cement board, and wasn't necessary.  You can apply it to drywall or greenboard and have waterproof walls.

If you stuck around through all of that, awesome!  Do not be afraid of this level of renovation.  In the next post we will detail the costs of the materials and show you what tile we picked out and where to buy it.  Stay tuned!

<3 mk and jeff

DIY Master Bathroom Renovation – Part 1

Home.

This is post is part of a multi-part series on how we demolished our master bathroom and re-built it with quality materials and great design.

1. DIY Master Bathroom Renovation - The Demolition
2. DIY Master Bathroom Renovation - The Build Up
3. DIY Master Bathroom Renovation - The Finishing Touches
4. DIY Master Bathroom Renovation - The Final Product

Undertaking any home renovation can be a daunting task.  Saving thousands to do a bathroom project yourself rather than hiring out the work is very alluring, but you have to have the ability to learn multiple trades, building codes, and most importantly, have the time to complete the project. 

Jeff and I started renovating the master bathroom in 2011.  Yes, we realize its 2013 right now, but as stated earlier, having sufficient time to dedicate to the project is really helpful.   The bathroom was original to the house and it needed a complete redo thanks to a leak misdiagnosis from several contractors.  Given the age and condition, we decided to "just" entirely renovate it. I am talking bare bones, joists exposed, new subfloor, drywall, tile, plumbing, vanity and sinks, all while leaving the cast iron bathtub in place!  While near total demolition was a mess, it provided a great opportunity.  Since we were doing the work ourselves, that left far more budget for tile and beautiful fixtures and sweet upgrades.

Before we get into the varying steps, here are a few pictures of the demolition process.  It's a shame we didn't document more of the "before".  There were no instagram filters added, it really was that dusty!

The subfloor under the tub was actually in good condition!  No damage to the joists either.  We cleaned up as much debris as possible in case we or the next owners ever needed to cut into the ceiling from below.

The saw works better than the hammer and chisel.  Don't fall through the ceiling!

It is hard to imagine the finished product when it looks like it did, but seeing it finished makes it all worth it. Stay tuned for more how-tos, helpful hints, and pictures to come. 

<3 mk and jeff