Remodeling

Our inspector seemed to have missed the broken shower door hinge when we bought our house. Since the day we moved in our shower door wouldn't open or close right. I got stuck in the shower one day and ended up getting a dozen cuts on my hand when the metal on the door handle cut me trying to open it.

I tried to get the hinge fixed but it couldn't be fixed. I needed a whole new door which would cost me about $1,500. I also had tiles popping up because the dummy that tiled the floor didn't do it correctly and used metal lathe instead of hardy backer board. I was talking to my dad and decided if I need a new door and a new floor I might as well do everything at once. I had to wait until my dad could find time to do this so we had to shower downstairs or in the kids bathroom for a few months while we waited to remodel. This $1,500 shower door would end up costing me over $6,000 after our entire remodel was complete.

I'm a picky person and I know what I want. I didn't just want subway tile, I wanted glass subway tile. I was considering Honolulu Blue but we went with the Frosted Blue instead. I think my guest bathroom is going to end up being Honolulu Blue.

A couple days before Dean was born the work was started. My dad ripped out the shower, the tub, the wall, etc. After Dean was born he had to go back to California for a week and then he gave me a couple days notice before coming back. I finished ripping out most of the floor before he got back and he was able to get my shower, my closet, and half of my bathroom done on his next trip. A couple weeks later I had the shower door done but I still couldn't use the shower.

About a month later my dad came out again for Zach's birthday party and he spent the week finishing the bathroom, bedroom, etc. My dad put in an access panel for the tub and did some work underneath it to get it ready for my plumber friend. Finally everything was complete except hooking up the tub. 

I went several months without a fully functional bathroom but it was worth it. My dad does some amazing work. I went from having a standard pre-fab bath/shower with ugly tile floor and carpet that always looked dirty to having a bathroom that shines. In the end I'm glad the shower hinge was broke because it pushed me to upgrade my bathroom, and, well, just look at it. I think my dad has before pictures so I might update this post later. 

Throughout the project Zach wanted to be part of it. He would grab his tool box and come in and try to shadow my dad. At one point he picked up all the cardboard separators from the tiles and he started tiling his own floor with them. During the first trip he seemed very upset and told me Grandpa is making a mess in the bathroom. One day I Zach was up there helping my dad and I heard him randomly say "I love you Grandpa". I think he's over Grandpa making a mess now.

Prior to this I had a pre-fab shower with a 3 foot wall connected to a soaking tub.

 My floor had a hump in it so my dad had to spend a couple hours sanding it down. We spent the entire afternoon putting in hardy backer.

My dad's second trip out he got the closet done and put back together. A big difference having nice light tile in there instead of dingy carpet.

I did planks in my bedroom. I didn't know what a pain they are to keep level. The job took longer due to the fact that they are hard to keep level and my dad is a perfectionist.

All done

 My new free standing tub.

 The only thing missing here is the detachable wand. I forgot to put it on before taking a picture.

And of course the kids got a box that they played with for a long time. I cut holes in it and we played whack a mole. After posting a picture of this box on Facebook some of the moms from Adri's school were posting that they'll take the box for a school event. Funny because I never offered it up and here they are demanding my wife surrender her box. My dad and I wanted to leave some really funny remarks but Natalie wouldn't let us. They are lucky the box came in another box because otherwise I would have told them to get lost. My kids love boxes and no one is gonna demand I surrender a free toy. This box survived two months before I finally threw it out.