Bathroom Re-Do......Day 1

On top of running a quilt shop, driving Miss A. all around town, and various other commitments and activities, we are remodeling a bathroom. Not just a bathroom....the only bathroom downstairs!

A little backstory. Our house was built in 1900. I'm sure it's been "updated" by various owners throughout the years. But, the last "update" was probably a little bit tackier than all the rest. Here's a "before" picture.

It's hard to get perspective because this is a pass-through bathroom. It's very small and there are doors to the left and the right of where I was standing to take this photo. The tub and the sink are cast iron, and are probably fairly close to original. The toilet was "new" (as in , piece of crap) and the linoleum on the floor was just horrible. Due to rust-out leaks, the sink and tub have had the water cut off to them for quite some time. It's really been no big deal for Miss A. to shower upstairs. But when the running toilet couldn't be repaired, we became desperate! We have not had a working toilet downstairs for over a month now.

Luckily, a friend of ours at church remodels homes and specializes in those in the historic district where we live. We talked to Brad and he could fit us in within 2 weeks! The excavation began yesterday.

First, he removed all the fixtures. The sink and toilet are now in my backyard and the tub made it as far as my laundry room. I can't get to my washer and dryer. I am amazed that one man got that monstrosity as far as he did by himself. But it's got to go outside! I have clothes to wash!

Then he ripped out all of the old flooring. We knew that we had a leak around the toilet, and we suspected that this was not the first one. We were right. I asked Brad what he found under the lino and he found particle board over the original tongue-and-groove flooring. Of course, since the original was never repaired properly, it could not be saved. Most of yesterday was spent replacing rotted joists.

This is the wall where the tub was. I find the layers on the wall fascinating! I can see some sort of wallboard or paper that simulates tile closest to the floor. I couldn't get close enough to it to inspect properly...seeing how there was no floor to walk on. Above that is a green something. And above that is what I think was the original layer - it's a wall paper with cheesecloth/fabric backing. Here's the closeup...thank you, zoom lens. I'm no expert, but to me, this looks a few decades more modern than 1900. More like 1920's. I guess it's possible that the bathroom was added later, but by the structure of the house, I don't really think so. But I think it's kind of cool, anyway. If you look on the right side of the photo below, you can see the mauve calico wallpaper that had been painted over. They didn't even try to paint behind the toilet and the sink.

Of course, Inspector Merle had to check it all out. We've pulled off the skirting to the house so that the plumber can access the pipes under the house. They are the original cast iron and need to be replaced. It probably didn't take long for this smart cat to figure out that he could get back outside by dropping down to the ground and strolling out from under the house. The dumb one, (that would be Sophie), I'm not so sure she would make that connection.

We made it through the night with a couple of 1x12's as the walkway from the hall to the bedrooms. Nobody fell off. And, thankfully, the weather is still warm.

Wonder what I'll find when I get home this afternoon? I'll let you know...