January 14, 2006
This Old House with Andy
Lynn's Christmas present was me installing a shower and tiling the bathroom. This project nealy killed me, but it also gives me life and focus. What I thought would take 4-5 days took 2 weeks, four of which were sleepless nights. Oh yeah, I had strep throat when I started the demolition. I think the result was worth it. What do you think? Overall cost was around $800-$1000 including tools and such. I haven't added up receipts yet becuse I still have stuff to return. I buy about 2x as much as I need while I'm at the hardware store so I don't have to return later and disrupt the day. After the project, I return the unused goods. But of course, I always end up making at least one trip a day.
Thanks to Terry Turner for the bulk of the tiles and marble. We just paid for the special stone border tiles. Bill Turner came up with the great staggered brick design. Matt Monahan generously let me borrow his wet saw and tools. Duffy helped me put up insulation and other miscellaneous stuff, Jeff and Katie stopped by with Krispy Kreme, and Cindy and Gerry (Lynn's parents) kept Lynn and the boys during the nasty demolition stage. My parents donated enough money to buy the special border tiles (not cheap). Our neighbors made me some awesome Brunswick stew when I was sick and they knew Lynn was out of town. Lynn has amazing patience to put up with the chaos a project like this causes. See our flickr account for more pictures. Thanks guys!
Before pictures.
After Pictures
Pictures of the construction process. < br>
Tearing down the plaster.
Framing the bench.
Shrinking the window. I didn't waht I was going to do with the exterior to make it match the rest of the house. By providence, a neighbor was removing asbestos shingles from their house and I scored a few whole tiles. These things are about $100 for a dozen to replace because nobody makes them. I was able to score a few extra to fix some cracked asbestos siding in other parts of the house. Made my day.
Framing the bench
My faithful helper Gideon loves to measure.
WOW, that looks amazing!! It is awesome that you can do that yourself (we are in the baby beginnings of learning about home repair and rennovation and I am totally amazed by a completed project like this).
Posted by: jlg at January 14, 2006 7:54 AMYou can do most anything. All it takes is a little confidence to get started, alot of reading on the internet and in Home Depot to figure out the best ways to do things, and great great measures of patience. Of course, it always helps if you have carpenter friends to bum advice off of.
I had never done any carpentry before buying our house. I've never laid wall tile before, this was the first glass block window I've ever made, and also my first experience with copper plumbing. The only thing I'm still wary of doing is new construction that involves framing and getting everything square.
good job bear! if we get our porch done this year (hopefully!) our bathroom will be next. I'll be calling, I'm sure.
Posted by: bobw at January 14, 2006 1:31 PMYou're the best by far, baby. Hands down. (Though that little measuring helper seems kinda cool to have around)
Posted by: lynnp at January 14, 2006 3:56 PMAndy, it looks amazing! It's very much like what I've been wanting to do in our bathroom. . .I have the tilein the garage thanks to Uncle Terry, so I'll be picking your brain for a while, I'm sure.
BTW. . .is that a roll of TP with fly paper attached in the one photo???
Posted by: willa at January 16, 2006 9:00 AM