DIY Bathroom Repair: Step-by-step Instructions For Overhauling A Bathroom

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

Bathroom renovation and how much does it cost to do it yourself

Hello dear friends

Continuing the series of articles on the overhaul of an apartment, today, I want to highlight one of the issues - this is a do-it-yourself bathroom renovation. This article is a kind of introduction to a series of articles on bathroom renovation, where you should start and what not to forget about. After all, a correctly drawn up order of actions, thought out to the smallest detail, is like a battle plan! And the outcome of the battle depends on how correct it will be, in our case, a quality repair.

I approached this issue from the position - I will do everything myself, with my own hands so that later there will never be problems, and if they did arise, they could be easily solved.

Content

• 1 Drawing up an action plan
• 2 Step-by-step instructions for bathroom renovation
• 3 Estimated costs

We draw up an action plan

The first thing to start with is to draw up a detailed plan of your actions. Roughly estimate what work needs to be done in the bathroom and what you want to see in the end result. When renovating my bathroom, I drew the room on a scale, drew it, also schematically on a scale, where I will have a bathroom, sink, washing machine, toilet (with a combined bathroom with a bathroom). Planned the location of lamps, mirrors and various accessories.

Before carrying out this process, it is desirable to "feed on information". Nowadays everything is developing very rapidly, new finishing materials, technologies and various beautiful design solutions appear. It will not be superfluous to go shopping. Already at this stage, approximately determine the objects that will be located in the bathroom, their types, sizes.

Browse the Internet for various bathroom design projects, solutions for the location, arrangement of objects, read various articles. After all, the points of supply of water, sewage, electricity and much more will depend on what kind of bath you choose in shape (and now they are of all different types) or a toilet.

Step-by-step instructions for bathroom renovation

The plan has been drawn up, we pass to the implementation of our plans.

1. We start by taking out all unnecessary old items

I had almost everything that was not suitable for further use: the cast-iron bathtub, after many years of washing, lost its enamel to the metal itself, the sink was split, water was pouring from the toilet everywhere, just not in the place where it should have been. I took out everything in the trash, except for metal items. I advertised them in Avito and sold them for scrap. The money is not big, but nice. And the removal of the bathroom in a hundred kilograms was made by children of a strong physique. By the way, I did the same with massive cast-iron sewer pipes.

2. We dismantle everything that is old, does not hold well and interferes with the implementation of our plan

We arm ourselves with a puncher - we knock down the old tile from the walls and floor. The first sign that it is necessary to remove the old tile from the floor is the characteristic crunch and grinding that gets trapped in sand between the tiles when you step on it. This suggests that the tile has come off the base and is held only by the neighboring ones.

When the tiles on the wall are tapped, a booming sound is heard, talking about the voids under it. Cracks, mesh on the glaze of the tile. All these signs give a clear signal for the mandatory removal of tiles.

We disassemble and take out the old cast iron sewerage system. For me it was generally absurdly done. At the entrance there was a huge branch on 4 sides with a diameter of 120 mm, which occupied an already small space of the room. Huge diameter pipes ran through the entire room.

Removing the old suspended ceiling (I had it). I am generally against false ceilings in wet rooms. Darkness, dampness and stagnant air under them provide a very favorable environment for the growth of fungi. And in the bathroom just such conditions prevail.

We dismantle the door together with the door frame. Old doors will just look awkward with a new renovation.

We dismantle the old water distribution system. Maybe you have it somehow humanly done. I won't write much about my wiring. For fun, just look at the photo below, how it was. This is a "new version", to the right and left of the bathtub you can see the old Soviet-era metal pipes (cut off).

3. The battlefield is cleared, the dirtiest work is done, we begin to create

Let's start the creative process with the types of work that will be hidden from view after completion:

- in accordance with our plan, we mark the places for the outlet of cold and hot water for supplying the bath, toilet, sink, washing machine. We plan and mark the location of the pipelines. According to this markup, we cut the strobe in order to subsequently hide all our water distribution and install the water supply system.

At the same time, it is possible to replace the inlet shut-off valves with modern ball valves, install water meters and inlet filters. By the way, it is not worth saving on input taps. Buy not the cheapest, good manufacturer, because their replacement is difficult, as it is associated with the disconnection of risers, and therefore will be expensive.

- we do the same with the wiring for the sewer system. If the sewer riser allows, it is also necessary to drown all pipes as much as possible. It is much more difficult to do this, since a pipe with a diameter of 100 mm is suitable for the toilet, but it is necessary. It is better to spend a certain amount of time on this than to watch and stumble through the sewer pipes for years.

- we cut a groove in the wall and bring electrical wires to the lamps and to the outlet near the mirror (the lamps look original to the right and left of the mirror).

A separate wire (preferably from a separate machine in the switch cabinet) is connected to power the washing machine. If you plan to install a jacuzzi, you must also bring a separate wire to it, and do not forget about grounding. All electrical wiring, sockets, switches must be waterproof. If you plan to leave the lamp in the place where it was, it is advisable to check the wiring to it. As a result of prolonged use, the wire can be broken and damaged after the bathroom is tiled. It will be a shame to hit the tiles again.

- we install a new door. If the bathroom is small, it is advisable to open the door to the outside so as not to take up space.

4. We decorate the ceiling, floor and walls

- we are doing the ceiling. Depending on your preferences, you can either simply level it and paint it with paint for ceilings (a budget option), or, embodying some design solution, make it something extraordinary, for example, mirrored or multi-level with built-in lamps. This is already according to your taste. I decided to make my ceiling according to the budget option - beautiful and practical, if leaks from neighbors - rolled up again with white paint - everything is fixed, beautiful.

- we prepare the floor and walls for laying tiles, if the difference in heights on the floor is large, it is necessary to first level the surface using a self -leveling floor, or in another way. Since there is a high probability of water leakage in the bath room, it is recommended to make waterproofing. We also align the walls - if there are bumps, we knock them down. The better this work is done, the easier it will be to lay the tiles, respectively, less glue itself will be required.

In my case, the floor and walls were acceptable except for the corners. There were influxes along the entire perimeter, which had to be shot down. For a better connection of the tile with the wall surface, it was necessary to go through the wall with concrete contact, since the walls were painted with oil paint.

- we choose a tile for our premises. We decide on the color scheme, tile size, and its location. If a tile pattern is used in the design of the room, we plan its location.

- we lay the tiles on the floor and wall tiles. This is the most difficult stage in the whole process. I will tell you how to lay floor and wall tiles with high quality in the following articles. In short, on my floor, I made the floor around the perimeter of the room a little higher than the entire main area. It is not visible at all, but if water is spilled, all the water is collected to the center, and does not ooze out to the neighbors.

5. Install the bath, sink, toilet and accessories

When installing the bathroom, make sure that it is horizontal. In modern bathtubs, this is achieved by adjusting the length of the legs, screwing in or out the adjusting bolts. If the side of the bath is closed or tiled with ceramic tiles, it is imperative to leave the inspection hatch. Its size must be selected so that it is convenient to maintain the water drain system.

We install a toilet, sink, washing machine. We connect all items to the water supply and sewerage systems. We attach a mirror, various hooks, towel holders to the intended place, connect the lamps, put the sockets and switches in place.

Estimated costs

Below, in the table, I will give an approximate calculation for the overhaul of a bathroom with my own hands, combined with a bathroom measuring 1.35 by 2.5 meters, provided that you do the work yourself. Materials are taken at the cost of the budget option. If you use expensive plumbing, the price of imported tiles will certainly change.

Naming of expenditures

500-00

2000-00

1000-00

320-00

2100-00

250-00

130-00

2800-00

7050-00

1500-00

8700-00

600-00

4790-00

3850-00

480-00

2300-00

2700-00

41070-00

Wiring

Hot and cold water accessories

Sewerage

Concrete contact

Finnish interroom door

Door handle

Door latch

Floor tiles

Wall tiles

Tile adhesive

Cast iron bath

Bath delivery

Sink

Toilet bowl

Plumbing lead

Mirror

Accessories

TOTAL:

In the following articles, we will take a closer look at each of the types of work involved in bathroom renovation. I promise to write a separate post on how to make a “white swan” from a bathroom measuring 1.35 by 2.5 m in appearance resembling an “ugly duckling” and manage to conveniently place a bathtub, toilet bowl, sink and washing machine there.