The fixer upper has a few bathroom issues that are in need of improving. It was adequate and functional when we purchased the house but there is a a to do list in need of attention. In the time of COVID-19, we are having to wait for some items for Airstream projects to arrive. With arrival time set for after the holidays, we had decided to kick off the bathroom project which will take more time then money. We should be able to do this fairly affordably.
We have an older home and expected it to have that older home smell. That said in the bathroom and bedroom that shared the wall with the plumbing I could smell something dank, wet and musty. Andrew could only occasionally smelled it.
This vanity looks dated but is serviceable. What you don’t see is that most of the storage space under the sink is unusable because a previous owner used huge amounts of spray foam around the plumbing holes. I have a curved belly shower surround and glass sliding doors that are not curved. The doors aren’t supported by the edge of the tub all the way across and function poorly. Also, the seams of the sliding door leak onto the floor even with snail trails of silicone caulk everywhere.The large tiles bite. They were not attached correctly and have some wobbles that pinch the fleshy parts of feet if you are unlucky enough to shift your weight while on the seam of the tile. The tile wall trim is suspiciously installed too with a really think silicone smear all across the top edge. You can see the edge of the strange bathroom closet obscured by the bathroom door. The previous owners had mildew covered, untreated wood shelves inside. It had this really dank smell all the time. Lola was often investigating the dank corners snuffling around. Her favorite place to hang out was under the down blowing wall heating duct. That is some really big tile being used for trim. I wonder what it is hiding. Demo has begun.I was hoping not to damage the wall but it turns out there was no wall behind this trim. No wall behind the tile, no footer holding up the 2×4’s in the wall and a mysterious hole were found in just this corner of the bathroom. I am getting nervous about what else we might find.Floating 2×4 and more spray foamI had some chalk paint kicking around and I combined the cans to make enough volume to paint the vanity. I opted for the chalk paint because I already owned it and wanted to use it up and it is so forgiving.The tile board under the tile reeked of wet stinky mildew . This is where the mysterious dank oder was coming from. I actually wasn’t able to participate in the removal of the tile and tile board as I started coughing and my face, gums, tongue, nose and mouth starting itching, leaking or swelling.The straight doors leaking doors are being removed from the curved tub base. The gutted closetA new surface to lay tile is just about installed and the first coat of paint on the vanity is done.Testing out how the tile is going to feel on bare feet
Airstream_Wheeler 