The Bathroom Floor

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Carpet in the bathroom...

I'm back with more as promised in the last post! This week has been a doozy with working overtime at my new job and trying to balance house renovations with an abnormal sleep schedule.  It's a lot and somehow, I have the energy to accomplish all of it.  Good thing I have lots of coffee (and something of a weekend to sleep) to keep me going!

One of the big tasks that needed special attention was the bathroom.  And oh my, carpet in the bathroom is something I've never seen before.  Never mind the fact that luan was underneath it - the poor carpet had been so worn and full of dirt by the time we pulled it up.  In terms of practicality, linoleum or tile is more conducive to the bathroom environment.  Because of the condition of the floor, as you'll see soon, it was better to create a new flooring level before laying down linoleum.

This update will be a lengthier post than the previous one, so fasten your seatbelts!


Up with the floor!


Interesting time getting this up, especially since the tub is cast iron and was placed directly on top of the carpet.  Oy!

More of that rubber-backed underlayment - due to it being there for years, it had partially turned to fine dust.  It's not fun to deal with

Old water stains stuck in the luan

More stains

Reconstruction...sort of...

I had wanted to tear up the newly uncovered layer, but as my dad found, the wood flooring around the toilet and sink weren't quite in optimal condition.  Whatever newer pipes had been installed needed a foam filler around them instead.  In a case like this, a full-blown remodel will take place later on down the road. 

Here's what we did in the meantime...

Paper, luan, and more paper!

Pop had to do a little reconfiguring by removing the old toilet and reinforcing the area.  The old plywood piece was pretty weak and needed to go

Layer one of moisture-resistant paper

Luan and paper layer 2!

Now, I got to do a little something fun.  Instead of letting Pop do all the work, I tag-teamed with him and had him teach me a few things about prepping the floor.  Learning how to properly measure and cut luan was so exciting - even better, I cut the pieces exactly to the measurements! Go me!

Once the new pieces were in, we finished the tedious task of laying the paper down and taping it.  
Yeah, putting in all that tape was boring!

But once it was done...

Linoleum!!

The most important thing I could do in this whole process was watch Pop very closely, as this was my first experience with linoleum.  This had to be handled with precision!  

Working with placement first


Positioning, folding, measuring

The easiest place to start was at the radiator.  Once we got past that, the rest of the flooring fell into place, and cutting around the tub, sink, and doorways went over smoothly!

Ahh, looking good!

Smoothening it out!


Finally...the toilet!!

At long last, we got to the heart of the entire project: the toilet! This was not an easy task to do by any means because by the time we got to the pipe, we had issues fitting the flange in.  One was too loose, the other was too tight.  The better route was to shave the bigger flange down and also get rid of the rust in the pipe below.  By this point, we had been working on this room for most of the day and past dinnertime.  Yikes!

Grinding, chipping, and all sorts of shenanigans!

Started making headway after what felt like an eternity of grinding rust and cleaning out the pipe - not to mention, clearing up waterflow - and got all the caulk in! 

Once we ensured the flange would sit securely, we set out to the garage to bring in the throne and set it in place! 

Yay!

What a difference!

It's only the beginning!

The work is far from over.  We're off to a good start already with bathroom renovations and I can't begin to tell you how much the texture of the linoleum grounded the tub and radiator.  From an artistic standpoint, the contrast of dark green against gray didn't make much sense.  Now, the cool colors blend nicely and feel like fresh air in natural lighting! The goal is to put up beadboard and paint that a nice coffee color.  As for the rest of the walls from that point, we're still tossing up ideas.  I wanted a relaxing sage green, but we're already painting other things like doors and my sister's room varying shades of green.  We'll need something different.  Not peach! Anything but peach!

Oh, on a final note...

Make sure all components of the toilet are installed before the test flush! 




I'll be back next time with the bathroom walls! 

~Gigi
  

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