Why You Need To Completely Demo Your Restroom When You Remodel



If your home is old enough for a bathroom remodelling, you might wish to proceed and also totally digestive tract it. I began my shower room remodel last month with a full demolition. If I had not, a number of issues would have been unavailable for repair work ... or even obscure. Below's just what I located when I opened the wall surfaces as well as ceiling of my 1981 condo here in the Quad Cities.

Fix pipes shocks
Right here's another point I discovered. I'm not a plumbing expert, yet I see a trouble right here. Envision if that area of common drainpipe line for our back-to-back sinks obtained clogged. Currently visualize running a snake in there from one sink. Do you believe it would certainly make the turn? Most likely not. We changed it out and also balance out the two.

Repair termite damages
When I opened up the outside wall, I found termite damages in two areas: the king stud, jack stud, as well as maim on the tub side of the window as well as the jack stud on the other side of the home window. Fortunately is that the damages was done long ago. As long as I've lived below, the owners' organization has stayed up to date with termite therapy as well as surveillance, however I recognize there was a period when they really did not. Thus the damages I found.

Replace deteriorated subflooring
In addition to the termite-damaged wall surface, I also discovered rotten subflooring near the bath tub. This was mainly from getting as well damp, and I suspected it since floor tiles had actually started popping up because location.

Make up for no or little insulation
I understood we had insulation in our wall surfaces. I thought it was R-11 fiberglass batts since our upstairs next-door neighbor's icemaker had a negative leak a couple of years ago, getting fifty percent of our utility room ceiling and part of the wall. The typical wall surface had R-11 batts. I figured the remainder of the wall surfaces did, too. I knew they had insulation since I have actually examined behind button and receptacle plates.
I got a little surprise when I took the drywall off of that exterior restroom wall surface as well as saw this:

This is in fact a good idea, in a way, because it implies I'll get more enhancement than I believed I was going to get.

Seal the air leaks
Yes, our 1981 condo is leaking. I knew about the large tub openings and also various other pipes infiltrations since I've seen them from the basement. I really did not know that the wall surfaces were encased with asphalt-impregnated fiber board (Celotex) that supplied great deals of air leak paths. Once more, searching the bright side, that means I'll be able to make more renovation compared to I would certainly thought.

I can't wait to do a blower door examination when it's all done. However, I will not have the ability to separate out the enhancement due only to my bathroom work. The proprietors' organization simply had the whole floor secured with spray foam insulation. I'm thinking our total air leak will certainly be around half of exactly what it was.

Install an exhaust fan as well as repair ductwork
Did I mention our apartment was integrated in the 80's? The master bathroom has a home window, so normally, it didn't need an exhaust fan, right? Incorrect. I've got over a year of information on temperature level and also family member humidity because restroom without an exhaust follower. Now I'm placing one in and also will gather much more information. Stay tuned for the outcomes.

Yet even if your washroom already has a fan, I would Dunlap Construciton certainly wager it does not move sufficient air. The common bathroom fan moves about half its ranked air circulation. If your bathroom follower isn't really easily accessible from the attic room, opening up the ceiling is the only means to get at the duct as well as fix it. What you see because photo listed below prevails for bath fan air ducts: drooping flex duct that makes a lot of turns. (That's not my brand-new fan, by the way.).

Address other potentially unknown repair needs.
A number of years ago we needed to do some pipes work for the tub in the hall washroom. When the plumbers had the wall opened, I inquired to place valves in on the hot and cold water lines to make sure that if anyone had to deal with that pipes in the future, they would not need to turn off the water to the whole building.
So they put in the valves. When I opened up the wall, I saw them as well as took this image:.



I would certainly utilize that shower a few times over the years as well as constantly questioned why the pressure was so low. Currently I recognize. The plumbing technicians set up the valves yet after that didn't open them fully. Those red handles need to be straight according to the pipes. Nice!

I additionally discovered that our ceiling had two layers of drywall. We have a smooth ceiling throughout our apartment, however the initial ceiling was stippled. The good news is, it had not been a popcorn ceiling, which could have asbestos.

As well as I discovered the initial, ugly wallpaper.

If you're remodeling a washroom, there a lot of excellent needs to go all the way as well as gut it entirely. That's what I'm doing. We're practically all set to start shutting it back in, so stay tuned for even more stories from the washroom.

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