Floor Tile
Accent Tile
Shower Niche
Vanity Mirror
Vanity (Installed)

I’m a bit behind on writing updates on our bathroom remodel; so here’s a mix of photos from last week and today. Additionally, there have been a few changes from our original design vision:

  • Due to a bit of a miscommunication issue, we’re not getting the river-rock flooring for shower floor. A little sad about that as I really like the look, but then again I’ve no idea if I’d actually like it under foot. Plus, not having it installed reduced the shower install cost a fair chunk.
  • We originally talked about having some cobalt blue tile as accents along the wall in the bathroom. After talking with our contractor about our tile choices and the installation, we changed our mind to go with a more neutral accent tile (see picture below). We did pick out a very different tile for the back of our shower niche.
  • The floor tile (yes, it’s tile not wood!) is not quite what we’d originally picked out but our contractor was able to give us a discount on it as he had some left over from another project. I’m not going to lie; when I pulled one of the tiles out of the box to look it over, I was pretty skeptical. Seeing it now, I love it.
  • The first three pictures are all from last Friday and really only show the beginning of the tiling work. I didn’t go in the bathroom today and take better pictures of things as the contractor spent most of the day grouting and I didn’t want risk mucking anything up. I believe all of the tile is installed now, with maybe a little work to finish up here and there.
  • The mirror is installed, though it looks like the protective film is still in place and I don’t think the power is run to it yet. The frosted square running around the mirror actually covers up LED lighting which should help me see what I’m doing when I’m working to make myself beautiful for Michelle. 😉
  • For any of our friends or family who’ve used this bathroom before the slightly darker/greyish portion of the wall to the right of the mirror is actually the new cabinet door to the big storage area that’s always been there. It’s a much cleaner look for the room, plus we’ve now got an outlet in that cabinet for later adding additional lighting if/when we choose to do so. We should also be able to store our electric toothbrush in there getting it off our counter. You can also see our new vanity properly installed and what looks to be the thermostat for our heated floor sitting in a box on the vanity’s shelf.
  • From what I understand, the contractor and/or one of his subcontractors will be here pretty much every day this week to try finishing things up. Assuming all the fates align and the electrician & plumber can be out here yet this week; then we’ve got a shot at having a mostly completed bathroom by Friday. *squee* And I say mostly completed bathroom as I think we plan on painting the long wall ourselves, but will probably wait for warmer whether to let us open the windows to air out any fumes.
Shower Light, Photo courtesy of Michelle
Vanity
Vanity Area
Shower

Back on the 10th, the electricians came out. They mostly were running a new power cable for the heated floor, but they also installed a light over the shower. Today, our contractor came back out and…

  • Dropped off our new vanity. Note: there’s also a sliding door for the vanity that’s not been installed in the picture above.
  • Added a shiplap wall behind where the vanity will go. Greatly simplifying the eventual  mirror/vanity installation.
  • Laid the heating element for the new floor, put up the new greenboard around the shower, and applied multiple coats of waterproofing.

 

This week saw the installation of a new shower pan and some rough plumbing work completed. Next week, the electrician is scheduled to come out to start working on one of our most anticipated upgrades, a heated floor. 😀

For want of a sink that does not leak, we called the plumber.

For want of turning off the water, the plumber found the shutoff valve did leak.

For want of fixing the shutoff valve, the city was called.

For want of the city testing the external shutoff valve, they found it would not turn.

For want of a working external shutoff valve, the city did this…

Digger
Edge of the Pit
Depths of the Pit

To make a short story longer:

  • Over the holiday weekend, I noticed a dripping sound in our master bathroom, but could not locate a source and want setting any sign of water.
  • On Christmas, I noticed a small amount of water behind our toilet, but didn’t see any signs of where it was coming from. All the places I thought to check were dry, so I feared it was a leak inside the wall.
  • We scheduled an appointment with our plumber for the next day, and I worked from home to let them in.
  • Before they got here, I cleared everything I could out of the bathroom and discovered the leak was actually I’ve of the supply valves under the sink.
  • The plumber arrived and have me two quotes.
    1. One to fix it on the cheap.
    2. One to fix it right.
  • As I could have done the on the cheap fix myself (and likely had the same problem later down the road); I chose the later option.
  • I then took the plumber down to our basement to show him the shutoff valve for the house.
  • He quickly pointed out that valve also had a slow leak and needed to be replaced.
  • As valve is the main shutoff to the entire house; so to replace it we need to shut the water off outside. Unfortunately (?) in our town, that external shutoff valve is owned by the city.
  • The city is contacted and they say they won’t just schedule a time to come out to turn it off; they require a test of the valve first.
  • They came out today but were unable to turn the water off from their valve.
  • Fortunately (?) as they own that valve, we don’t have to pay to have it replaced.
  • Unfortunately, to tear out that valve they had to tear out the fresh concrete we had put down earlier this year to fix up our driveway.
  • Fortunately they will replace that as part of the job for fixing the valve.

Hence, my coming home to the pictures above. From what Michelle tells me, the city will be back tomorrow to finish fixing the external shutoff valve. Then we have to wait until next week to get the repairs done inside the house.

Ain’t home ownership just grand? *sigh*