Bixa's better bathroom

[bixaorellana]

Reporting here on a work in progress.

I have long hated the bathroom in my house because it was poorly designed and poorly executed. It's fairly common here to find bathroom and kitchen fittings made out of concrete block, possibly the worst possible choice for those endeavors. Case in point is my kitchen, one feature of which is a pointless island sticking out of one wall which is made from more concrete than the slab beneath the Eiffel Tower. It's covered with poorly seated and poorly placed tiles with random hollow spaces beneath them. This means you can easily crack one by simply setting down a coffee cup, for instance. Also, those tiles fall off any vertical spaces from time to time.

Those of you who live in fully developed countries should know that this bathroom I hate so much & this kitchen I criticize are actually quite nice compared to what is generally available around here, although from looking at real estate ads I note that the standard kitchen with nice wooden cabinets etc. is becoming more common.

The bathroom vanity was made by the same thug or team of thugs and is idiotic and hateful. For one thing, it ends too close to the toilet, meaning that it's impossible to effectively clean around the toilet, which sports a nice brown stain apparently from an extended period of unnoticed dripping. The vanity is also too deep, with the sink placed too far back. To add to the inconvenience, there is no kick space beneath it because the blithering jerk who built it made a raised area of concrete for the floor of the vanity.

The bathroom itself is a narrow corridor which had a door that opened in. That door was accessed by a mystery step-up area. Some time back I had the door removed and the step-up area enclosed, effectively making the bathroom slightly bigger & getting rid of the space-gobbling door.

But I continued to seethe with hatred over the very ugly and worn out bathroom. There is nothing to be done about the toilet except in emergency, because at some point the tile was changed and whatever nitwit did that built up the cement and tile around the base of the toilet.

Day before yesterday I got a shockingly high estimate from some masons who would deliver a final product very little different from the current crappy vanity. I told my landlord about it & he said he'd get a friend of his to come look at it. That mason came yesterday afternoon & gave a much, much, much lower estimate for completely removing the present vanity, making the area around it presentable, and installing a new vanity. Furthermore, my immensely kind landlord drove me all over hell and back to find a nice replacement vanity.

So the mason and his assistant arrived this morning as promised, not only on time but bringing me tamales. Does it get any better than this?

At this point they've completed the destructive part of the process and are busy filling in and smoothing all the rough parts. Time for pictures.

This photo is really from later in the process, but since I neglected to take a "before" picture of the entry alcove, I'm adding it here ~


Before pictures of the bathroom. These are phone pictures, which is I guess what caused the wiggly lines ~








Space beneath vanity. That wooden plate for the cabinet doors is completely eaten by polilla, a wood-eating moth larva ~


See how the vanity is practically on top of the toilet. If my shoulders were a little wider, I couldn't sit on the damned thing ~


Even the poor old mirror is worn out. It sports non-working light fixtures ~


The upstairs hall leading to the bathroom entry alcove there on the left. Those bags are all full of the broken concrete & tiles & stuff ~


The mason's helper is filling in where the vanity was removed ~


~ More to come, as I believe they're almost at the point of mounting the vanity ~

[cheerypeabrain]

Ooh exciting...can't wait to see the finished project

[bixaorellana]

Thanks ~ me too! I say that with some trepidation. They assure me it's going to look nice, but I'm aware it's just doing the best possible without tearing out everything & with what there is to work with.

[onlyMark]

In principle what we have in our house in Spain is similar to your old vanity thing. But I am thinking ours have been done quite a lot better - mainly because we didn't have a cupboard underneath and it was left open. But ours are concrete/brick construction as well.
I'm looking forward to see how this turns out, I'm sure it will look good, but I suspect you'll have the pleasant task clearing up concrete dust for the foreseeable future. Downstairs as well.
Once one of ours rooms were done we worked on the principle of having to clean it every day for at least a week to catch everything.
That was something I never looked forward to.

One other thing is I hope when you have new with old, you don't start looking at the old thinking that needs changing now as well. For me it's a bit like painting a couple of walls in a room and not knowing where to stop unless it all ends up getting done.
One thing I've found that does help with that when you have tiles is to get a good grout cleaner and it brightens it up no end.

[lagatta]

I've seen lots of toilets here in Montréal which were installed in equally strange positions. I have only slightly more wiggle room. If only I could get rid of the bath and only have the shower, which would take up far less space. I always shower; don't bathe.

[bixaorellana]

Thanks, Mark. I know what you mean and I am a nit-picker. The toilet is a beast, but I don't want to put up with tearing up everything to replace it. What I would like to do is to find some high quality sheet vinyl flooring and cover the entry alcove & bathroom up to the shower stall. It doesn't appear to exist here, though. The grout cleaner is a good idea & should freshen up the dumpy little room somewhat.

The dust thing has already been pretty awful, though not as bad as I feared. I did go get face masks for the two guys, which they gratefully donned. It would be nice if they though about masks for future jobs. My dogs' noses are dry and gray instead of shiny wet black. And my hair, which I'd washed last night, is like stiff straw. So yeah, dust.

LaGatta, dinky as my bathroom is, the shower is fairly spacious -- I could fit a bathtub in that space, ha ha.
When I griped about eccentric construction here, I was aware that people in antique buildings all over the world also have to contend with poorly thought-out and downright loony retrofits.

[bixaorellana]

Well, it's 9:45 pm & I think they're finishing up. The vanity looks better than I dared hope.
Here are some pictures to string everyone along until I can show the finished product.

Working on the carved out portions where the ugly old vanity was ~


The new vanity & its mirror quietly waiting in the living room until needed ~


Some unboxing action ~

[bjd]

This reminds me of work we had to do in our current house after we bought it. The most urgent was the kitchen but the bathrooms also needed work. One is basically done, the other is still waiting. You do wonder why tradesmen do such stupid things -- do they ever give advice or do they always follow what people ask for?

The bathroom that my husband has redone is less than 5 sq m. Somebody had built a tiled wall in front of the sink and vanity, so that's all you could see when you opened the door. And since the lady who lived here liked to relax in the bath while looking out the window, the tub had been installed backwards, with the taps in the middle of the room rather than against the wall. Which of course meant that you couldn't use it as a shower. In any case, the window is not clear glass and there was a huge camellia bush outside, so she wouldn't have seen anything anyway.

So, yes, Bixa -- I'm sure anything will be better than what you had before. I don't know that your grouting looks so awful. If it's just a bit dark, a toothbrush and some bleach will help. Looking forward to seeing the final pictures. Nice too that your landlord was willing and found some guys to do it for you.

[lagatta]

I like the tiles in your living room; they look as if they'd be easy to keep clean.

[kerouac2]

Well, if I survived my kitchen replacement, Bixa can certainly survive this. And it certainly helps to have a downstairs toilet, I'm sure.

[htmb]

I hope you’ll be very pleased with the results, Bixa.

Construction workers can sometimes drive me crazy. It’s like they either don’t think something all the way through, or they just don’t care. The guys working at my place have been just as nice as can be, but I’ve often wondered what they were thinking! Why not try to protect surfaces and prevent mess before it happens? It would have been so easy to throw a drape/tarp/something over your toilet to protect it from damage and debris, for instance, but I see in your photos that wasn’t done. Same here.

When I returned from my trip I found the bamboo floor in my bedroom had been ripped up and plaster removed from the walls. Filthy, dusty jobs! Did my guys try to protect the surrounding areas, my furniture, books, etc? No! It was much more convenient for them to leave the bedroom entry wide open while they worked, allowing dust to coat everything from my upstairs landing, down the carpeted stairs and across my living room. I’m sure they weren’t pleased to have me back, because I insisted they add a plastic sheet to act as a barrier at the bedroom entrance if they insisted on leaving the door off it’s hinges.

[casimira]

I just know you are thrilled with this Bixa!!!! YAY!

[cheerypeabrain]

The excitement builds....

[mich64]

Looking forward to the reveal!

[bixaorellana]

Gosh, Bjd ~ to think that someone paid a skilled craftsman to mess up an innocent bathroom the way yours was messed up. Thanks for the encouragement -- further news below.

LaGatta, those tiles are a mixed blessing. I like that they're white, which adds a sense of light in the house. But they're badly scuffed in many places and the white means any drop of moisture finds some dirt to mix with to make a spot. All of that would be okay, but for god knows what reason they were also installed on my very shallow porch, meaning any rain or mist that blows in makes it dangerously slippery.

Ha Kerouac -- that toilet needed fixing, too, which I got done just a few days before this upstairs project. The workmen were here from 8:30 in the morning until almost 11 pm. so yes the downstairs toilet was a godsend.

Geeeez, Htmb ~ don't get me started! It's not only the mess, but what's the deal with people creating mess that's in their own way? You can see in one of the pictures that a bag of rubble is stationed right in front of the door. Why? I have to say that the mason and his helper are the nicest people imaginable, which didn't stop me from wanting to charge up the stairs like a banshee the 97th time they let the big metal level clang to the floor. Guys! Can't you lean it against the wall? Must you persist in believing it's going to stand up by itself?

Actually, Casimira, yes ~ thrilled to bits, although as I told Bjd, there will be more developments.

Cheery and Mich, thank you for cheering me on!

Mar 8, 2020 21:01:37 GMT onlyMark said:

I hope when you have new with old, you don't start looking at the old thinking that needs changing now as well.

So ......... in further news, Mark was entirely right. Once the sleek new vanity was in and the old wooden molding & stuff was out, the jerry-rigged bits of floor and the maroon toilet just looked like doo-doo. Also, there is a hairline crack in the toilet tank which got sealed with minerals in the water, but not before dripping for what was apparently a very long time and leaving a diamond-hard diarrhea colored stain on the floor. Thus, I've decided that part two will be a shiny new (not maroon) toilet with a water-saving tank and that vinyl flooring will be installed atop the current patched and mismatched floor.

Today was difficult in some tedious ways not worth going into, but I'll get some pictures tomorrow to keep the narrative moving.

[kerouac2]

Well, the toilet doesn't match the sink anymore and that is heresy in a bathroom.

[bjd]

Good idea about vinyl flooring. We wondered for ages what to do with the beige, shiny tiles in the bathroom that we redid. Of course, the beige matched the peach-coloured walls and the occasional tile with a bird on it. Finally, we covered them with large, black, matte vinyl tiles and it looks a million times better. Just make sure the grouting in the floor tiles doesn't stick up so that they vinyl will lie flat.

[onlyMark]

I've found that if I need to renovate part of a room in the back of my mind is always this thing about the old bit that's left standing out more.
Even if I do the whole thing, including painting the door, I'm always wary of painting the outside of the door where it shows in the hallway otherwise the whole thing starts again and the hallway gets done as well.

[kerouac2]

I still have tiles in the bathroom, but in the WC I have the same linoleum as in the kitchen. I like it very much.

[patricklondon]

I keep thinking it's about time I had me bathroom re-done, it's looking very tired. But I alternate between decision paralysis and sheer dread of the upheaval. Plus, every time I start to get my mind around it, every bright idea turns out to have its drawbacks, and it's back to square one. And it's not helped by all the upheaval in retail, and showrooms closing down - I want to see, touch and measure things up before I decide anything.



My blog | My photos | My video clips | My Librivox recordings
"too literate to be spam"

[bixaorellana]

Thanks for the positive feedback on vinyl flooring, Bjd & Kerouac. A friend of mine covered a battered old floor with vinyl tiles about 15 years ago & they're holding up well. Yes, in some places you can see little depressions from the grouted areas beneath the vinyl tiles, but the overall impression is just fine & would be plenty good enough for me. There is no way I would deal with more dust-causing destruction in that room.

Re: the old part standing out more in contrast with the new. Yes, Mark -- all too true!

Patrick, have you been going around to the showrooms to get an idea of what you like? I looked at stuff in online catalogues, stuff often advertised as wood which turned out to be poorly made, sharp-edged garbage done from pressboard when I saw it in person. When I found the vanity I wound up buying I was already at the point of despair. It was a floor model, so I got a little discount, plus the way it was mounted in the showroom alerted me to the height I wanted it hung in my bathroom. Such items tend to be "shortened down" where I live. I'm thinking maybe you could pounce on some good deals in a closing down showroom.

Anyway, on to some more pictures which will easily explain why I want to keep going with this project.

This is the "alcove" I talked about earlier in the thread. It started life as a pointless small step-up space from whence you turned right into the bathroom.
In the 2nd picture in the OP you can see the wood frame showing where the original door was. The damned door opened inward to the narrow little bathroom. I thought about having it reversed to open outward, but that would have been equally annoying. Thus, very shortly before Htmb & Kerouac were to arrive back in 2016, I had the door taken down and a shower stall type enclosure made around the little step-up space. It's not elegant, but it did make for more usable space. When you get to the top of the stairs in my house there is a bedroom door immediately to the right and to the left there is a fairly wide hall leading to the bathroom & other rooms. This is shown in picture #9 in the OP, but here it is without rubble ~

Stepping up into the alcove ~


You can see that at some point in the history of the house the bathroom tile was changed & awkwardly married to the original big white tiles ~


My gorgeous new vanity is marred by the ugly white drainage thingy under it. I am having that changed to a sleek, classic U-joint ~


Here you can see I've put down a rug to cover the ugliness and give a somewhat more cohesive look until the new floor is put in ~


The rug flipped back so you can goggle at the full unacceptable current floor situation ~

[htmb]

Nice! The clear vanity really makes the room look wider and more airy. Are you doing the carpet and toilet replacement ASAP?

[bixaorellana]

Yes ~ as soon as possible! Talked to the mason/plumber/electrician/vinyl floor installer today & will see him this evening or tomorrow morning to get an estimate, although I'm sure it will be reasonable. This lovely guy is a friend of my landlord & is willing to do jobs like this on weekends. The landlord has already volunteered to take me around to get the toilet & the tiles, probably on Thursday, so maybe everything will be complete by Saturday or Sunday.

[htmb]

That’s great! You’ll have a whole new, sleek bathroom.

[bixaorellana]

Thanks, Htmb ~ fingers crossed!

[onlyMark]

It certainly does open up the space quite a lot.
Even comes with an unintentional toilet roll holder. Can't be bad.

[bjd]

Yes -- it looks a lot nicer and will be even more so once you cover that floor. I'm not surprised your landlord is being helpful -- you are paying and his property is becoming more valuable.

[kerouac2]

You are going to have to keep wiping the new vanity constantly to keep it spotless. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but it may put you in a frenzy every time somebody comes to visit.

Mar 11, 2020 0:45:34 GMT bixaorellana said:

A friend of mine covered a battered old floor with vinyl tiles about 15 years ago & they're holding up well.

In both the kitchen and the WC, the original floor was made of terra cotta tomettes (hexagonal tiles), and over the past couple of years, the imprint has shown up on the linoleum. But that actually makes it look better.

[bixaorellana]

Mar 11, 2020 7:17:54 GMT onlyMark said:

Even comes with an unintentional toilet roll holder.

You noticed that, huh? I need to loosen the screws & give the toilet paper side more of the tube, but it's a godsend. Note where the original roll holder is -- squished between the toilet & the shower stall. It's not only uncomfortable to access, but means that the toilet seat is twisted each time someone reaches for the paper. Because of that, I was keeping the paper atop the vanity and yes, did once knock a full roll off into the toilet.

Mar 11, 2020 7:22:35 GMT bjd said:

I'm not surprised your landlord is being helpful -- you are paying and his property is becoming more valuable.

Well, of course there is that, but I consider my landlords as friends & we often do things together just because we want to.

Mar 11, 2020 16:22:23 GMT kerouac2 said:

You are going to have to keep wiping the new vanity constantly to keep it spotless.

You've seen my version of housekeeping, so anything that trains me in a constant-upkeep direction can only be a good thing, right?

Mar 11, 2020 16:22:23 GMT kerouac2 said:

... over the past couple of years, the imprint [of the underlying tiles] has shown up on the linoleum. But that actually makes it look better.

I don't know if the imprint would actually enhance the look, but I doubt it would look bad either.

[cheerypeabrain]

Lovely. Looks heaps better, I really like the crystal clear unit. I agree it will be better when the water draining pipe thing is changed. Fabulous daaaahling.