Blog posts have been fewer since we have been so busy with the bathroom, but once we find the time to write a post, we have plenty to say!
In this post, we begin by showing you the newly installed drywall in the master closet. After putting up the acoustic barrier, we were able to put up the drywall. It is not "mudded" or taped yet in these photos, just merely screwed in place. It was a LOT of work getting this far. Anyone who has done drywall knows that there is a lot of measuring and cutting and screwing it into the wall! The driver that we are using for the screws runs out of battery and we have to stop and let the battery re-charge. Luckily a few years back, Kristina bought Jared a kick butt driver and it charges in no time at all. Makita makes good stuff!
These photos are after another visit from the plumber. He installed the shower valve and some of the plumbing for the shower head and the handheld shower wand. The first picture is from behind the shower valve and then the next is a "frontal" view. The last one is a shot of where the rain shower head will be installed (eventually).
Here is the site foreman, keeping her eye on all of the activities going on around the house. She is not a fan of the plastic everywhere, but it is definitely needed to keep all of the mess to a minimum (if that is even possible).
The dining room has become the staging area for all of the material. Many of the materials have to be in a warm environment or things won't "stick" -- you really want the tile to stick to the floor when you install it. That being said, we had to move out all of the furniture in the dining room and make it a staging area for the tile guys. The dining room is near the garage (where they do the cutting) and it is warm. Indy doesn't like them taking so much of her dining room up though -- she LOVES to watch people and things out in the cul de sac!
After the plumber came, we could finish up the installation around the shower and finish up the drywall in the water closet. Since it shares a wall with the shower, we had to get the plumbing run first before we could close things up.
Here's a photo of our new water closet. It got shifted into the master closet a little bit since we extended the shower, but it is going to be much better than what we had.
This is where the vanity will be installed eventually. The drywall couldn't be closed up completely yet because the tile guys will need to still connect the heating element for the heated floors to the switches and wiring we ran for it.
And the foreman has developed a bad habit of getting on the bed during this whole remodel. She knows this isn't allowed, but she likes to watch what is going on and honestly there isn't a lot of room anywhere else for her to watch. She is going to have a sad realization when this ends and she is not allowed on the bed anymore. Spoiled little dog!
It is subtle, but this is a shot of the shower with the curb built up (where the glass will reside) and Kristina's ledge that she requested. We put one of these ledges in our shower that we did in Arizona and it was GREAT! The tile guys never heard of it and thought it was a great idea. Kristina doesn't want cubbies -- those are more difficult to keep clean and you are limited by their size when it comes to putting stuff in them. This way, you pitch the ledge so the water runs off and doesn't collect and then you can put your soap, bottles, etc... on it with no worries! And it makes a great place to put your leg when you are shaving them (according to Kristina).
In this shot, the tile guys did some prep work on the base of the shower -- you can see it has been shaped and leveled a bit; they also installed some Ditra-like flooring for the heated floors.
If you look closely you can see the heating element run in the floor.
The next steps were to put in the self-leveling concrete, the shower membrane, and the moisture resistance board around the shower enclosure. There is also a close-up of the "leveled" floor.
After all of that set, floor tile installation could begin along with shower tile installation.
Progress has seemed slow, but the tile guys are doing a great job. They seem to pay attention to all of the details and get everything just right. We have been pleased with our tile selection; everything is coming together just like we had planned.
Since the wiring had been run for the floors, Jared could zip up that section of the wall with drywall. You will also see the floor heater in some of the pictures keeping everything warm and happy!
This is a good shot because you see the shower pan pebbles, the sides of the shower, and the floor tile all in one shot.
The water closet looks good. All of the tiles have been cut and the baseboards were completed with more tile.
Here is the shower pan, we have always wanted the pebbles at the bottom of the shower. Now that we live in the Pacific Northwest, we figured it was the perfect time!
Stay tuned for more updates...the tile guys should grout and finish up next week and then work is back in our court again!
