At the end of 2020 we decided to remodel our hallway bathroom. We always wanted to do this, not only because it was ugly, but more importantly we were worried that the remodel completed by the
previous owners was poorly done. We hired a special company that specializes in bathroom remodels. The great thing was they took care of everything from beginning to end. They supplied us with a
designer, procured and stored all the materials, applied for all the permits, and set us up with a contractor. Due to the pandemic, however, things bogged down a little during the design phase. Other
than that (and a delay in getting our cabinet), the process was pretty smooth.
Drawing of bathroom layout.
Rendering.
Old Bathroom
Old bathroom (10/19/20).
Vanity and toilet (10/19/20).
Tub (10/19/20).
Towel rack. (10/19/20).
Door (10/19/20).
Ceiling. (10/19/20).
Floor (10/19/20).
Design started around mid-November 2020 and lasted through the third week of February 2021. There was a lot of back and forth with discussions regarding the vanity, wall tile, and cabinetry. We
truly believe this time would have been cut in half had we not been in the middle of COVID-19. When we signed off on the design, we had to wait for procurement of all the materials before they gave us
a start date. When just about everything was finally in hand they told us they could break ground in mid-April. This start date was problematic because by this time the kids would still be in school
finishing up the semester. With a timeline of 6 weeks to complete the project, there was an overlap with all their final exams, so we asked to postpone ground breaking until early June, after finals.
Demolition 6/7/21
Demo should only, probably, have taken a day, but the contractor had to take a break when all the materials arrived. Not only did he have to inventory everything, but he also had to find a place for
it all until he needed it. Despite the stoppage, he was able to get most of the demolition completed with only floor tile left to remove.
Removal of glass shower doors (6/7/21).
Removal of tile (6/7/21).
All tile gone (6/7/21).
Removal of tub (6/7/21).
Down to the studs (6/8/21).
Construction 6/9/21
Construction began immediately after removal of the old floor tile was complete. First, the GC worked on the framing for the new medicine cabinet above the sink. He also evaluated the wiring for
the new lights and exhaust fan. Following that was framing for a niche in the end wall over the tub. Saturday, new plumbing went in as well as the installation of the tub. On Monday, he started on
drywall for the city inspector to evaluate. There was only one concern since the tile in the tub area would not extend much farther beyond the new shower doors, the inspector wanted dense board (built
in water barrier) outside of the tub area instead of regular drywall. Tuesday and Wednesday was installation of the new window, installation of the underlayment for the floor, and completion of the
drywall and denseboard. On Thursday, the inspector came by to verify the denseboard was installed, and tile work on the floor began.
Things were going pretty well until it was time to install the tile. Our approved designs had large pieces of tile with very few grout lines. In order to accomplish this we had to pay extra for
30" x 60" tile. When the contractor started putting up the tile we discovered he was cutting them. We stopped installation and realized the construction docs he was given were wrong. This prompted many
emails and phone calls to the remodeling company. It appears the communication broke down somewhere between the designer and the architect. Not only was the tile wrong, but the niche at the end of the
tub was installed incorrectly as well. Renderings we were given for design approval also showed the tile reaching much higher on the walls such that the shower head would have been in the tile and not
above. The remodeling company went over the construction docs and have now come to the realization that the tile, despite their great size, will not give us the coverage we were shown in the design
renderings. Currently, we are at a crossroads as to how to proceed. The contractor, however, is moving forward with grouting the floor tile and installation of the vanity and toilet.
Tile (6/24/21).
Keep on going 6/26/21
While we hash things out with the remodeling company, our general contractor continues to move forward with the project. He's put wall tile installation on the back burner, but he continues to
finish up work on the floor tile, electrical, and plumbing. Once the grout on the floor tile cures he will then install the vanity and toilet. We anticipate having to wait for the wall tile issue to
be resolved, but at least we'll be able to use the sink and toilet while we wait.
It appears we've been able to come to a compromise with the bathroom remodeling company. They've agreed to reimburse us for the tile we paid for that got cut. We purchased identical replacement
tile online and are waiting for the vendor to send us an email that it's ready for pick up. The alternative is to wait for the remodeling company to reorder the tile and have it shipped here, but that
could take up to 3 weeks! Our contractor will be here Monday to hopefully finish the job by the end of next week. We'll see...
We ordered new replacement tile on Tuesday, June 29th. On Wednesday, June 30th we received notice that the tile will be available for pick up on Thursday, July 1st at 10:00am. So, first thing
Thursday morning Dad drove up to Pleasant Hill and picked up the tile. On Tuesday, July 5th the contractor was back taking down the old tile and removing the old adhesive.
After receiving new tile the contractor quickly got to work on installing the tile at the end of the previous week. Cutting such large pieces of tile proved to be quite the
challenge as they were 1/2" thick. Using a wet saw he would have to score the tile first and then repeat the same cut sometimes more than 4 times. Certain pieces took 6 hours due to the exact nature of
the cuts.
The third weekend in July we scheduled a long overdue vacation. Unable to go to Hawaii like we wanted (due to the pandemic) we opted for Disneyland to check out the new Avengers Campus at California
Adventure. Our contractor was very accommodating and allowed us the time we needed to get away, and he was back to work first thing in the morning on Wednesday, July 21st.
The final pieces to the bathroom were replacing the vanity light (that originally broke right after installation) and exchanging the diverter valve for a longer one. Once those two tasks were
completed the bathroom would be 95% done. The only thing left was hanging the cabinet above the toilet. We had to order a custom cabinet after the one we ordered was delayed numerous times and wasn't
expected to arrive until some time in September.
After returning from Fullerton to drop off Tyler, Ran picked up the cabinet from the cabinet maker, and our contractor was at the house a few days later to install it. Installation went pretty fast
and easy, but some of the touch up (nail pops and paint) took time to dry. In the end, we're so happy and relieved to have our new bathroom.
