Spur Of The Moment Renovation!
A few people have asked on FB why I have suddenly decided to start renovating my bathroom... it all started with a noise.
Last week, John and I both noticed a strange noise in the one wall of the small "master" bathroom off our bedroom. The one we use every day. It's hard to describe the noise... sort of a very quiet, crunchy sound. Almost like small bubbles popping. My first thought was termites, but you can't hear them, apparently. My next thought was bees, but nothing was coming in and out of the house on the other side.
Not knowing what else to do, we rented a "See Snake" from Home Depot... a camera on a small flexible arm to shove in holes and see what's going on in there. The next step was to find a way to look in the wall... and after many other trials, we decided the only thing we really could do was drill a big hole in the wall (we needed like 3/4" diameter just to get the camera through). Besides, we can just remove the wallpaper, patch the hole, and paint, right? Piece of cake! Not. LOL!
As it turns out, nothing at all was in there. We think it's water, actually, which is no less troubling. But we have some ideas to try to remedy it... step one is to empty the gutter! Then I think we can put some caulk in the gutter itself, to keep it from leaking in that spot, and running down the side of the house. We also got some spray foam to stick in any visible holes on the side of the house (it's where the brick is, not siding).
So, now we have a hole in the wall... may as well spend Sunday stripping down wallpaper. What else is there to do? Other than, you know, the other small projects we'd already planned (one of those got done, too, so not a total loss, and now my kitchen sink drains better LOL).
The bathroom looks like it was last renovated in 1992... dark trim, dark green faux marble countertop, tiny corner shower, and the infamous fugly alien paisley pattern wallpaper on a khaki background,. I don't mind the trim, but the room needs a serious update. It's pretty busy for such a small room.
Note: we put the hole in the wall about two feet above the towel rack pictured.
John picked up some tools (wallpaper remover, scoring tool, scraper), and we got to work. Sort of. The first bottle of wallpaper remover not only ran out quickly, it was also a crappy gel (DIF Gel) that didn't work well at all. He went back and got two more bottles of a different product (WP CHOMP) that worked MUCH better. We soon realized that parts of the wall were not sized or primed, and getting the paper off was a complete BITCH. I hate wallpaper anyway.. now I LOATHE it. Think of Madeline Kahn in Clue "Flames... shooting from the side of my face..." Die wallpaper, DIE!
We got as far as we could until the TWO new bottles of spray ran out. We got pretty far, but the parts of the wall that were not sized/primed are a MESS. Gouged to shit. We also found mold and mildew in the bottom corner of the wall - that little weird spot between the shower and the wall pictured above. That whole little corner down by the floor is nasty. Thankfully, there is a sizable piece of cement backer board down in the basement. John is going to cut out the moldy parts and replace it. This is by no means our final renovation of this room... I have a vision. That vision includes completely gutting that corner, so this fix is fine for now. :D
I finished removing the paper as best I could today (we bought a concentrate of the same spray remover to make more - I went through two more bottles today!). We still need to wash the walls to remove as much remaining glue as we can, then basically skim coat the whole thing -- and I'm anal retentive, so I am sure I'll do every inch of the room. LOL! Then we can prime it, and paint it. We have leftover paint from the bedroom, so we're going to use that. It's the basic color in my "vision" for that room, anyway. LOL! We'll probably get it primed this week, but then we're going away for the holiday, so we'll have to paint when we get back.
All I know is, our deadline is whatever weekend John's parents come to visit near the end of July - either the 24th or the 31st, because we'll need to have both full baths functioning with two extra people in the house!
After I get this done, though, I'll have the confidence to tackle the OTHER fugly-wallpapered half bath/laundry room... with the roses from HELL!
*homer scream*
Last week, John and I both noticed a strange noise in the one wall of the small "master" bathroom off our bedroom. The one we use every day. It's hard to describe the noise... sort of a very quiet, crunchy sound. Almost like small bubbles popping. My first thought was termites, but you can't hear them, apparently. My next thought was bees, but nothing was coming in and out of the house on the other side.
Not knowing what else to do, we rented a "See Snake" from Home Depot... a camera on a small flexible arm to shove in holes and see what's going on in there. The next step was to find a way to look in the wall... and after many other trials, we decided the only thing we really could do was drill a big hole in the wall (we needed like 3/4" diameter just to get the camera through). Besides, we can just remove the wallpaper, patch the hole, and paint, right? Piece of cake! Not. LOL!
As it turns out, nothing at all was in there. We think it's water, actually, which is no less troubling. But we have some ideas to try to remedy it... step one is to empty the gutter! Then I think we can put some caulk in the gutter itself, to keep it from leaking in that spot, and running down the side of the house. We also got some spray foam to stick in any visible holes on the side of the house (it's where the brick is, not siding).
So, now we have a hole in the wall... may as well spend Sunday stripping down wallpaper. What else is there to do? Other than, you know, the other small projects we'd already planned (one of those got done, too, so not a total loss, and now my kitchen sink drains better LOL).
The bathroom looks like it was last renovated in 1992... dark trim, dark green faux marble countertop, tiny corner shower, and the infamous fugly alien paisley pattern wallpaper on a khaki background,. I don't mind the trim, but the room needs a serious update. It's pretty busy for such a small room.
Note: we put the hole in the wall about two feet above the towel rack pictured.
John picked up some tools (wallpaper remover, scoring tool, scraper), and we got to work. Sort of. The first bottle of wallpaper remover not only ran out quickly, it was also a crappy gel (DIF Gel) that didn't work well at all. He went back and got two more bottles of a different product (WP CHOMP) that worked MUCH better. We soon realized that parts of the wall were not sized or primed, and getting the paper off was a complete BITCH. I hate wallpaper anyway.. now I LOATHE it. Think of Madeline Kahn in Clue "Flames... shooting from the side of my face..." Die wallpaper, DIE!
We got as far as we could until the TWO new bottles of spray ran out. We got pretty far, but the parts of the wall that were not sized/primed are a MESS. Gouged to shit. We also found mold and mildew in the bottom corner of the wall - that little weird spot between the shower and the wall pictured above. That whole little corner down by the floor is nasty. Thankfully, there is a sizable piece of cement backer board down in the basement. John is going to cut out the moldy parts and replace it. This is by no means our final renovation of this room... I have a vision. That vision includes completely gutting that corner, so this fix is fine for now. :D
I finished removing the paper as best I could today (we bought a concentrate of the same spray remover to make more - I went through two more bottles today!). We still need to wash the walls to remove as much remaining glue as we can, then basically skim coat the whole thing -- and I'm anal retentive, so I am sure I'll do every inch of the room. LOL! Then we can prime it, and paint it. We have leftover paint from the bedroom, so we're going to use that. It's the basic color in my "vision" for that room, anyway. LOL! We'll probably get it primed this week, but then we're going away for the holiday, so we'll have to paint when we get back.
All I know is, our deadline is whatever weekend John's parents come to visit near the end of July - either the 24th or the 31st, because we'll need to have both full baths functioning with two extra people in the house!
After I get this done, though, I'll have the confidence to tackle the OTHER fugly-wallpapered half bath/laundry room... with the roses from HELL!
*homer scream*