Improper plumbing & trying to remodel bathroom/laundry

[zannej]

Yes, it's a Stowsen enamel repair kit. It's pretty nice, but I need to see if any of the other colors match better. If not, I'm ok with the color difference. Just need to get it smoother and feather the edges.

I'm planning to keep it clean. I've been keeping my toilet clean. It's easier when my brother doesn't use it as much. Cleaned mom's toilet not too long ago and just last night I had to tighten the bolts for the seat. I have the bolts with the rubber bungs that don't come loose on mine. Need to install something like that on hers.

I lack the mental fortitude to deal with tile. I'd have to mix thinset again and then try to get it spread and then try to get the tiles on right and I suck at getting things on straight. It would be a complete mess. And then there's the grout. I really really hate grout. Actually, its not tile itself I hate but the grout. I had a bathroom with grout before and it was a nightmare to keep clean. A flat surround is much easier to clean. Plus I just like the look better & its easier to install. I am thinking of getting one of those shampoo and soap dispensers that suction cup or stick to the wall with adhesive tape so I won't need to add a tension rod caddyy.

I do plan to put a small tension rod over the back wall & put a few hooks on it to hold bath brushes. I got some rope to put on the back scrubber thingies. I got a nice one and brought it over to my friend's house and he liked it so much he sort of ninjad it. So I got another and my brother used it. I now have one for my mother, myself, & my brother. Might have one for a guest too-- I forgot how many of them I bought on clearance. LOL.
This is what I got (I got gray and the blue-ish green). The handle is silicone so its comfortable to grip and doesn't slip out of my hand.

 

[zannej]

I got a dremel tool and took the bumpy stuff down and tried different colors from the kit. Mixed the light ceramic and dark ceramic to get close to the right color. It is still a bit bumpy so I need to sand it down, but it looks better, IMO.

I'm hoping once I get it cleaned up better it will blend in more.

Found out the corner grab bar shelf won't fit. Too much of a curve on the surround's side panel wrap around. I'll find a use for it elsewhere.

Fortunately, the nonslip bath mat I got for the tub eliminates a lot of the slipping & sliding.

 

[zannej]

I cleaned the repair up & used the polishing attachment that came with the kit. Shank was too thin so it kept sliding out of my dremel tool but I bought a new kit with thicker shanks to try for buffing. It's not perfect, but it looks better.

A damn sight nicer than the big black scrape.

I organized some stuff. Primed the corner trim. Need to paint it, but am waiting to hear from my friend on when he can come out. I may just go down and paint it anyway in a few minutes.

I took a picture of the pvc boards after priming but not after painting. They are still white though.

 

[zannej]

Friend was available so we got the surround glued up. Used all 5 tubes of loctite tile & tub adhesive. Friend finished off the 4th one and said "Crap, that's the last one" and I said "No, got one more!" and handed it to him.

Unfortunately, with the adhesive it was able to stick to the wall a lot closer than it could in dry fits so the trim sticks out a bit more than it should. I'll have to find a way to cover it up. Its too thick to cover with just caulk.

Stuff takes12 hours before caulking and 24 to fully cure.

 

[Ron Van]

Looks nice, Z! You’re going to have a bathtub soon! I thought I might have my shower built before you finished your tub but since I haven’t hardly started yet, I think you will win!

 

[zannej]

Thanks, Ron. I'm waiting for the 12 hours to pass after applying the adhesive to start trying to do some cleanup on it. I will probably get my friend's help for cauilking. I've decided to get some flat decorative trim to cover where I messed up with the L-bead stuff. I will only need that trim on the sides though so hopefully it won't look too strange.

I only had a small hammer for the roofing nails and my friend was not happy with it. LOL. The adhesive I used seems to be working well at least. I hope it holds up once it cures. Still need to get the PVC trim ripped and notched to fit on the sides. We'll have to cut some of the L-bead trim off to let the PVC board sit against the wall-- sort of notch around the flat trim. Caulk will cover the seaams. I'm going to make a cardboard template for the stuff that needs to be notched. It will be a pain to cut it and I will have to do some touch-up paint afterward, but hopefully it will look good.
My crappy sketch of the trim plan.

The miter will not be 45° because I will have to cut the side board shorter, so, we'll have to figure out the proper angle to make them meet up correctly.

 

[zannej]

I'm thinking of going down to the workshop and priming some of the trim. If my calculations are correct the side trim needs to be cut to about 79.5" high (from floor to trim is ~16", surround is 58", & PVC board is 5.5"). That should leave a very small expansion gap between the trim & the floor.

Once that is done I need to brace the wall panel (just in case) and drill pilot holes from the closet side. I'll then put up some tape to protect the finish and drill. Should be done before its time to go for my pickup at Samsclub.

I still need to make my templates for the cuts. IIRC, the corner trim will need to be ~94.5" high. I don't think any of my cardboard is long enough to cover the whole length/height but I can tape stuff together. Painting first. Well, nature break then painting, then bracing, then drilling.

 

[zannej]

The large drill bit and hole saw would not fit on my Matrix drill. Just a tad too large. 3/8" is supposed to fit in mine but it didn't. So, I went down to the workshop and rummaged around until I found this bad boy:

I learned I couldn't put my hand over the vents to stabilize (I have to use 2 hands when drilling bc my wrists/hands are weak) bc it shot out sparks. I pressed on the back and pushed through. Since the plywood was already cut out where tub spout goes it went through like a hot knife through butter. The hole saw went through the fiberglass and cementboard with a little effort but then stopped at the plywood. I had to take plyers and pry the cutoffs out of the hole saw and then worked on the plywood. It stalled out a couple of times but I finally got it through.


I've noticed that dirt really clings to the repair spot so I'm going to have to clean it up, buff it, and put some turtle wax on it.

 

[zannej]

I'll post more details later because I'm exhausted. Got some of the trim pieces up. Didn't even need to cut the corner piece like I'd expected. I also didn't need to rip the straight piece. Instead I used a 16" cut off piece that I will rip to ~3/4" and will fill in the gap.

Friend accidentally cut a trim piece too short but I can use a scrap cutoff from another board to fill in the gap.
Left corner:

Right corner


Corner trim on wall (the wall bowed as it got higher so we had to tape the trim to it so it would stay tight to the wall)


Center


Tub sput rough-in is in and shower trim is on loosely. I forgot that we need to drill holes to secure it better and will need to get the showerhead secured first. That will come on a different day sometime this week I hope. Friend has been very busy and is exhausted.

This is where he miscalculated and cut the board a little too short.

He'd initially cut the opposite board 1/8" too long so the cutoff from that fits in the gap.

 

[ekrig]

It is very nicely coming together

 

[zannej]

Thanks, ekrig. Its sooo close to being done.
I'm going to do what I can on my own and then get help from my friend on things I know I can't manage.
This morning I was playing around with the wooden slats and paint stirring sticks to see what I needed to shim the side trim pieces. The paint stirring stick is fine as it is. The slat will need to be cut. It will fill a gap, keep stuff lined up properly, and give the caulk something to grab when I fill in. I'm trying to remember where I put the caulk condoms so if I open a new tube it won't go bad while waiting to use more of it.

 

[zannej]

My miter saw couldn't reach far enough to rip the 16" trim piece and I gave up on that. Decided to go with cove molding instead. It has some awkward transitions but I don't care. Miter saw was off a hair on its settings so everything it cut (before I realized it and set it to 0) was slightly crooked. I cut the base molding to size to fit at the bottom of the tub and it looks nice. I'll need some caulk and such for some gaps, but otherwise, I am satisfied with the overall look. The left side needs some work. I scabbed together some pieces of wooden slat cut to 5/8" deep and stuck them in a gap. I stapled up some shims. Staple gun will only go 1/2" deep but trim is 5/8" so I'll need the longer brad nails.
The adhesive doesn't grab right away so it gives room for stuff to move around. It's supposed to grab in 30seconds but it doesn't. I'm going to get my nail gun out just in case and then use adhesive to glue stuff up. If it doesn't hold where I want it to I'll see if I can figure out how to use the brad nailer.


Worst case I can break out the table saw and try to cut a trim piece to fit in that corner.
Shims to hold the trim closer to level with the surround.

I have shims at the top and scabbed on a piece to fill the gap

 

[zannej]

No pics, but I decided I didn't like the look of the stacked wood slats-- too slim. So I measured the gap (about 1/4") and took a scrap piece of the 5.5" trim. I measured out 1/4" on it and marked. I then cut some 1/4" strips. I meant to only cut 3 but ended up cutting 5 because one was too thin and another was too thick. I then shaved the tops & bottoms off because there was a slightly rounded bit. I stacked them together and measured to cut one down to make it be 16". Turns out it was already exactly 16". I stacked them together on a strip of painter's tape, bent the tape at the seams to use adhesive, pushed them all together tightly and with the front face as even as possible. I let it set for a bit, positioned the left side trim and taped it up. Marked the bottom of the L-bead on the side of the trim. Used adhesive to glue the 16" frankenstein piece on to the side at the mark. Stapled them on after they sat for a bit, and did a test fit. Looks good. I will have to wipe some of the adhesive away later, but I find it comes off easily even hours after being applied (I had to remove some from the wall after the corner trim went up and it came off easily). I will use paintable caulk in the seam and do some touch up paint over it.

I was going to put my table saw together (or at least try) but I'm still exhausted.

The drill bit for the showerhead fell on the floor after I bumped something and stuff fell. It was still in packaging. I cut the bottom of the packaging and partially removed it so the shank was exposed. I put it in the corded drill. With the packaging on it prevents the bit from cutting/piercing anything if the drill falls over or something.

I suppose I could take the same scrap piece I used for the 1/4" pieces and make 1/2" pieces that I can put together but I'd really rather use a scrap I already cut to 16" and rip it. Waiting to hear back from my friend on when he's available next.

 

[havasu]

Remember, less wood, less future rot, especially near wet areas.

 

[zannej]

My mouse spazzed and closed the tab which deleted what I had typed up. Then the page froze up and I had to reload and had to start again).
Any wood will be covered up so water won't get to it. I'm using some PVC scrap as well.
I scabbed some PVC together for this corner (I need to get a pic after I took the tape off)

There is still a gap that I will address with some sort of filler strip (maybe L-bead tear-away scrap) or cove molding or quarter round. I'll figure something out.
The center panel was made taller than the wrap arounds of the side panels, which left a gap between the top of the wrap arounds and the L-bead trim-- with visible "mud". (Did I mention I drilled the hole for the shower arm?)


Subtle difference but I caulked and put in scrap tear-away strips over the gaps.

I cleaned off adhesive with mineral spirits-- there was a sticker that wouldn't fully come off and some residue from tape that came on the panels when they were packaged.
I'll be using cove molding in the corners of both the PVC boards and the walls. Those two pieces of cove molding that I cut to 16" will fit on the upper wall part with just a little trimming. I've got more cove molding for the pvc board corners.

I'm thinking of using pvc lattice strips ripped to size to fit over the top of the boards to cover gaps between the boards and the wall because they had to be shimmed out to be straight up and down instead of tipping back.

Editing because I forgot to mention that I scraped the "mud" off of the exposed parts of the L-bead trim.

 

[havasu]

You need a longer shower arm. That one looks unusual.

 

[zannej]

It's 6" long but the wall is too thick. Got 1/2" plywood and 5/8" trim plus at least 1/4" or more worth of shims. So over 2" of wall. I might need to get an 8" shower arm.
I may flip it around so the longer part goes through the wall and see if that works. If the handheld won't stay on its magnetic dock then I'll resort to the 8" arm. Hoping to not have to do that though.

 

[zannej]

I added another scrap piece of PVC to the side of the board to help fill in the gap a bit more and then I used construction adhesive to scab on some tear-away strip. The strip had some thinset residue on it but I scraped it off with my thumbnail. The small gap at the bottom will be hidden by the baseboard.

Also, closer shots of where I covered the gap over the side panel wrap around. I still need to fill in a bit more caulk to fill stuff in.

 

[havasu]

Blue tape directly below seam. Blue tape directly above seam. Fill crack with color match caulking. Use flat blade to scrape caulk level, after spraying windex as a lubricant. Wipe away excess, then pull the tape off.

 

[zannej]

That is actually what I was thinking of doing- minus the windex. I hadn't thought of windex to make it easier to smooth though. I've heard using dish soap can prevent it from sticking to places.
I need to figure out if I even have windex somewhere. LOL. Do I spray the lubricant on the blade or on the surface I want to level?
There are some putty spreaders around somewhere. Possibly in my bathroom. Possibly in a tool bag. I'll have to look in the morning.
I'm still going with cove molding in the corners to make the joints look less ugly.

Thanks!