If your residence is old sufficient for a restroom renovation, you may want to proceed and also totally intestine it. I began my washroom remodel last month with a complete demolition. If I hadn't, a number of problems would certainly have been inaccessible for repair work ... and even undiscovered. Here's exactly what I found when I opened up the wall surfaces as well as ceiling of my 1981 condominium here in the Quad Cities.
Repair pipes shocks
Below's one more thing I located. I'm not a plumbing specialist, but I see a problem right here. Think of if that section of common drainpipe line for our back-to-back sinks obtained obstructed. Now visualize running a snake in there from one sink. Do you assume it would certainly make the turn? Possibly not. We altered it out and balance out both.
Repair termite damage
When I opened the outside wall surface, I found termite damage in 2 areas: the king stud, jack stud, as well as paralyze on the tub side of the home window and the jack stud beyond of the home window. The good news is that the damage was done long ago. As long as I've lived here, the owners' association has stayed up to date with termite treatment and also tracking, however I comprehend there was a duration when they didn't. For this reason the damages I discovered.
Replace decayed subflooring
In addition to the termite-damaged wall surface, I also found rotten subflooring near the bath tub. This was primarily from obtaining as well damp, as well as I thought it because tiles had actually started popping 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 due to the fact that our upstairs next-door neighbor's icemaker had a poor leak a couple of years ago, taking out half of our utility room ceiling as well as part of the wall. The typical wall surface had R-11 batts. I figured the rest of the wall surfaces did, too. I recognized they had insulation because I have actually checked behind switch and also receptacle plates.
I got a little surprise when I took the drywall off of that exterior bathroom wall surface and also saw this:
This is actually a good idea, in a way, since it suggests I'll obtain even more enhancement compared to I believed I was going to get.
Seal up the air leakages
Yes, our 1981 apartment is dripping. I understood about the large bath tub openings as well as other plumbing penetrations because I have actually seen them from the cellar. I really did not understand that the walls were sheathed with asphalt-impregnated fiber board (Celotex) that provided great deals of air leakage pathways. Once more, looking on the silver lining, that suggests I'll be able to make even more enhancement than I would certainly believed.
I can't wait to do a blower door examination when it's all done. Sadly, I will not be able to separate out the improvement due just to my restroom job. The owners' organization just had the whole flooring sealed with spray foam insulation. I'm thinking our total air leakage will certainly be around half of what it was.
Set up an exhaust follower and fix ductwork
Did I mention our condominium was constructed in the 80's? The master bath has a window, so normally, it really did not require an exhaust follower, right? Wrong. I've got over a year of data on temperature level and also relative humidity in that restroom without an exhaust follower. Currently I'm placing one in as well as will certainly accumulate more information. Stay tuned for the outcomes.
But even if your bathroom already has a follower, I would certainly bet it does not move enough air. The common bath follower stirs half its ranked air flow. If your bath follower isn't really obtainable from the attic room, opening up the ceiling is the only way to obtain at the duct and repair it. Just what you see because image listed below is common for bathroom fan ducts: drooping flex duct that makes way too many turns. (That's not my brand-new fan, incidentally.).
Resolve other potentially unidentified repair needs.
A number of years ago we had to do some plumbing work for the bathtub in the hall restroom. http://dunlapconstructioninc.com When the plumbers had the wall surface opened, I asked to place valves know the cold and hot water lines to ensure that if anyone had to work with that plumbing in the future, they wouldn't need to switch off the water to the whole structure.
So they put in the shutoffs. When I opened the wall surface, I saw them and took this picture:.
I 'd use that shower a couple of times for many years as well as always asked yourself why the pressure was so reduced. Now I recognize. The plumbing professionals set up the valves however then didn't open them fully. Those red handles need to be straight in accordance with the pipes. Wonderful!
I likewise located that our ceiling had two layers of drywall. We have a smooth ceiling throughout our condominium, yet the original ceiling was stippled. Luckily, it had not been a popcorn ceiling, which might have asbestos.
And I found the initial, hideous wallpaper.
If you're renovating a washroom, there a lot of great reasons to copulate and also intestine it completely. That's what I'm doing. We're practically prepared to start closing it back in, so stay tuned for more tales from the shower room.