# New Bathroom Renovation



## TRN_Diesel (Feb 24, 2009)

Well I decided to build a bathroom next to the new theater room in the basement last fall. It was a bit of a hassle to run up stairs after having a few cold beers while watching a game of hockey so I thought why not put in a new bathroom.

I mean how much work could it be? .... little did I know it was a lot of work but in the end I am very happy I took the time and did this project right.

I needed to first convert the old bedroom into the bathroom. This basically meant stripping the interior walls out and starting from scratch.

I then used masking tape and traced out the rough idea on where I wanted the sink and jacuzzi tub and shower and toilette. I found this to be very useful because you can not always tell on a scale drawing how things will look or flow.

The plumbing had to be installed and at first I thought I could just tap onto the existing 1/2" copper pipe and run 1/2" pex but then I decided not to because of the flow requirement my tub would have and the shower and sink. The last thing I wanted was to have no water pressure left over to have a shower if the dishwasher was running so my first step was to install 3/4" PEX tubing. 

I originally had 1/2" copper coming into the Hot Water heater so I decided to rip it out and run 3/4" copper directly into the hot water tank so the flow out equals the flow in. ( you can't have a water heater being fed by 1/2" and then attach 3/4" on the out feed side).

This enable me now to run a new 3/4" line down to the bathroom and I installed 3/4" ball valves on both hot/cold lines. This will make it easier to isolate the entire bathroom in the future if the need arises. I always clearly marked all the valves for anyone to clearly identify the valves and what they control. (Note: OCD does ave its benefits for people who buy my renovated houses  )

I had to bust up the concrete floor to install drains for the tub, sink, shower and toilette. When I started to do this I thought hell might as well move my MAIN STACK closer to the wall to make room for additional storage along the wall. This caused some concern at first because the pipe had to be cut very close to the wall and if I cracked the pipe underneath the wall I was screwed so I managed to get this done with not to much hassle. I converted the drain form the sink from 1 1/2" ABS pipe to 2" because I wanted to tie in the bathroom tub and the kitchen drain into it and wanted to ensure I had a big enough pipe and this also saved room on the stack when tyeing into it because now I only had one connection to it versus the three. By doing this I was able to keep the connections up high toward the ceiling and made for additional room for storage. 

The 2" drain ran directly in front of a basement window. This window was old made of Aluminum and leaked like a sieve. In the winter time it was very drafty and cost me a few dollars in heat going out so I decided to take it out and frame in the opening with 2x6 studs and insulate it. The other reason I decided to frame in the opening is I plan on putting in a demand hot water heater in the future and I require it to be vented directly to the outside so this will allow me to vent it via the opening. I figure it is easier to drill through 3/4" plywood then 6" of solid concrete.

Once I had the layout of the bathroom complete I started to frame up the walls. The shower was made for a MAN it is 48" x 40" and is 100% water proof. I went the extra mile and used Hardi Backer board first on the Walls first and then used silicone to seal ail the joints. After sealing the joints I used a membrane called "Kerdi" to ensure no water would ever get into the walls. You see I wanted a steam room but when I priced out the steam generator it was $1800.00 and the the wiring needed to be #8 guage - 3 wire for 220 volts plus a special GFCI breaker. SO forget that idea because for me it was $2000 on steam or $2000 gets me the money to build new kitchen cabinets.

I decided to run tile from the floor onto the walls in the shower and boy am I glad I did. I did use a more expensive thin set though to attach the tiles to the ceiling because the last thing I wanted was to have some of the tiles falling on my head while I was taking a shower. To finish the threshold I bought a piece of man made marble for $50 to finish off the step. I also decided to put in a light inside the shower and it really does make A difference to have a shower well lit.

Cabinet

For the cabinet I decided to make a custom cabinet out of Birch plywood and used a dark stain on it. I did run into a problem as you can see on the photos with part of the plywood being darker than another area. I have learned since then how to deal with this problem and will share with you all now. If you notice a separation in the plywood and the grain is noticeable darker you can use Bleach to lighten the darker area. I want to thank Charles Neal for this tip because like he says, " if you can't finish you can't build". I made the cabinet 24" deep rather than the standard 19" because I wanted to mount my sink above the cabinet to allow for more storage underneath the sink. This also allowed me to put in a cheater vent for the drain which was a problem for me and this remedied my problem on properly venting the sink drain. I also wanted to build a bank of drawers. I decided to build the two pieces separate because I find it rather difficult to lug a 250 lbs cabinet down the stairs by myself

Now I am 6'2" and upstairs I have an old 5' tub and it is shallow. You can only imagine the scene I make if I try to soak in a tub made for a midget  So I wanted to have a nice tub 6' long and over 40" deep and 36" wide to soak in. This took up a lot of room but it was well worth it. I also wanted to make sure the tub would keep the water hot for an extended period of time. I could not find a tub that is CSA approved for Canada with a built-in water heater. I knew if I sat the tub on the concrete floor the cold would suck the heat out of the water so I came up with the idea of using insulating foam on the floor first prior to setting the tub in place. Now this works well but it does present some unforeseen problems.... like trying to remove the tub if it leaks . Luck would have it that I had one jet that did leak and I had to go into my brand new theater room to remove the drywall and do a patch job on the leaking jet. so my advise to people is to TEST THE TUB FIRST WITH WATER IN IT PRIOR TO SETTING IT INTO PLACE! Don't make the same mistake I did.

I had extra Kerdi membrane left over and decided to use the Hardi backer board on top of the 2x6 studs to provide a water proof and stable base for the tile.

I made an access panel for the tub on the wall which is accessible by the entrance leading into the theater room. I installed a switch to control the power to the tub which was required by code. As stated in other post I used a GFI receptacle to feed power to the tub which provided the protection in areas with water and saved me a lot of money by not purchasing a special GFCI breaker. All I did was wire the out feed from the GFI to the tub and voilà it is GFI protected. The electrical inspector smiled at me and said it was a wise investment. 

Lighting

For lighting I decided to install four boxes to control pot lighting. Two pot lights over the tub are controlled by one dimmer switch. The remaining lights over the sink and rest of the bathroom are controlled by the other dimmer. I installed a heat lamp directly over the sink so when you get out of the shower you use the timer to heat up the space so you don't get a chill when you step out of the shower. The timer also ensures the heat lamp does not get left on by mistake and will keep me from getting dizzy as I watch the electrical meter spin out of control or better yet watch my house burn down.
I also ran an exhaust fan directly to the outside and spent the extra money to get the higher efficiency fan with a very quiet motor.

Floor

I ran into a problem when I did the tile on the floor. I thought I could just add a little more thinset to the floor to allow for the uneven floor. If you recall I had to bust out the floor to install the new drains. I tried to match the height of the new floor to the old floor but it was not perfect.

To fix the problem I used a product called Easy pour and it is a concrete mixture you just pour out and it fills in the floor and levels it off. After i did that I used a belt sander to put the finishing touches and then tiled the floor.

Ceiling

I decided to run with a suspended ceiling and used special tiles made for bathroom applications. I will be honest and say I hate doing ceilings by myself, it is not my cup of tea but I did manage to get it done.

Door

I made my own door jamb out of 3/4" MDF and machine the hinges. I found a really nice template from Vermont America for $25 to do the routing. All you need is a router and a guide bushing and a 1/2? straight bit. Just remember to measure twice and cut once. 

Trim

Made my own trim and plinth blocks using the MDF. I took a large piece of MDF and routed one end of the board and then but them into 3" wide pieces to make the plinth blocks. It took two passes with the router to get the profile I wanted and it looks great.


This project took me about 6 months to do and it was very rewarding. The key to any projects is not what you know its what you don't know and how you deal with problems as they arise. 

I have included the links to the products I have used if that is OK with the Moderator. By no means do I get anything from the manufacturer I just really liked how the products performed for me.

Note:

The Hardi backer board is a silica product so you have to make sure you use respiratory protection if you cut it with a blade. They do sell special blades for you to cut this stuff but I used an old blade instead.

Links:

Hardi Backer Board AKA Cement board http://www.jameshardie.com/homeowner/backerboard.shtml

Schulter Membrane "Kerdi"
http://www.schluter.com/8_1_kerdi.aspx


Vermont America
http://www.vermontamerican.com/Products/productdetail.html?CID=151

I have more pictures to add and will so later on.


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## xplorx4 (Dec 1, 2008)

I am turning part of my basement into my shop so I relate with some of you adventure. My plumbing was already in the floor for the bath that will go in as planned way back when we built the house. Yep I relate real good.


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## TRN_Diesel (Feb 24, 2009)

Are you planning on having a utility sink in your shop to clean up paint brushes and so forth? Have you though of making a small room for Spray Booth?


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## TRN_Diesel (Feb 24, 2009)

TRN_Diesel said:


> Well I decided to build a bathroom next to the new theater room in the basement last fall. It was a bit of a hassle to run up stairs after having a few cold beers while watching a game of hockey so I thought why not put in a new bathroom.
> 
> I mean how much work could it be? .... little did I know it was a lot of work but in the end I am very happy I took the time and did this project right.
> 
> ...


Here are some more pictures I have added to the project


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## TRN_Diesel (Feb 24, 2009)

Ok I figured out to add files without quoting myself man what an idiot I am but here they are.


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## David Cameron (Feb 2, 2021)

I love to go to steam rooms and saunas.


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## mgmine (Jan 16, 2012)

Great project. I went through a similar project last year redoing a complete house built in the 60's. The worst part was the electrical. Not because of the work but because of the code. On the first inspection, I had to replace all the receptacles because they weren't tamper-proof, Then the cost of lumber just about sent me into shock. Almost $8 dollars for a 2x4! What! they were about $2 dollars a few months before I started. All in all it's worth the effort. This year it's an addition. I'm too old for this but I like doing it.


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