The last room to undergo renovation - the bathroom!

Even before we moved to Nipigon in 2009 I had begun the long process of renovating the house Janice had grown up in by making it more energy efficient and updating things such as floors and cabinetry. As of January of this year pretty much all of the main floor has been redone except for the bathroom. As Janice planned to be away for a couple of weeks visiting friends and family out west I figured this would be a great time to tackle this last project!

Prior to beginning the demolition we settled on replacing the bathtub with a walk-in shower. Since neither of us like taking baths but prefer showering and as we get older gaining access to a shower is a lot easier. So I bought a shower pan, glass doors, waterproofing supplies and plumbing supplies. In addition we ordered a custom vanity cabinet with a one piece counter top.

So beginning mid May Jordan and I began work by first removing the old fixtures then stripping the walls to the studs so that everything that needed to be replaced was, including the vent stack up to above the highest drain and replacing the insulation in the outer wall.

First, here is how it started out looking:

Removing the old tub was quite the chore as it was made out f cast iron so was very heavy! We got it out and then after placing a rug underneath dragged it to the front door and down the ramp.

As Janice asked me to save as many of the old plastic tiles as possible and salvage as much of the old vanity as I could the job started out being more time consuming than a regular demolition. Based on the experience with the kitchen I had learned that when the house was built expanded metal lath had been used in all the corners. So rather than ripping them out and pulling down the plaster on both sides of each and every corner I bought a brand new oscillating tool with metal cutting blades. I did not want to damage the ceiling and this made that aspect much easier to accomplish.

Once stripped to the studs the work began for the actual rebuild beginning with adding screws to each and every sub-floor plank to reduce squeaking. We replaced all of the copper water lines with PEX, replaced all of the copper drain lines with ABS, and in the case of the shower resized the drain line to 2". The outside wall was insulated with fibreglass bat insulation and 3/4" foam board since the studs are a full 4" deep. We installed the shower pan on top of a mortar base, after using self-leveling cement to provide a flat foundation. Then I installed Kerdi Board around the full shower niche to prevent any future moisture problems.

The rest of the walls were covered with mould resistant gypsum board then painted. I then tiled the shower using large tiles that Janice had selected.

Then it was time to install the new vanity and top. This is where I discovered an error on behalf of the shop we had ordered the cabinet. It was too deep! In fact it had the same depth as the top which would have resulted in no overlap and left no tolerance for fitting the top to the wall. In the end I got a partial refund and came up with a fix; as the vanity had full panel backs I just cut them out which reduced the depth by almost 3/4 of an inch. A positive fallout was that this now made installing so much easier in that I didn't have to worry about getting holes cut in the right locations for the drain and water supplies. In addition to the vanity we also got two new wall cabinets to go either side of the new mirror. We also bought new elegant LED lights to go on either side of the mirror.

Other than a bit of a screw-up in my tile job in one corner (a little bit of a stagger between two columns of tiles) it turned out really nice. Both Janice and I are very pleased in the final product!

This was the very first wall tiling job I had ever tackled! While not 100% it turned out not too bad. Next time, if there is a next time, I now know what to watch out for! Even so, finally the main floor is done! The only major project I have for the house now is to replace the roof with steel but that can wait until next year! Time now to enjoy the summer!

Our "Bunkie"!

As indicated in my previous post, while I haven't posted much of late it is not that I have been idle and the adventures continue!

Last year (2016) Jordan and I completed the first major project out at the camp we have at Firehill Lake. Actually it was two projects but the venue was the same!

As we enjoy guests and like sharing our "wilderness experience" with all who come to visit (hint hint if you ever find your way to our neck of the woods) I decided what was needed was a sleep camp or "bunky" as they are sometimes regionally known. In simple terms just a simple accommodation building for guests who wish to spend the night, especially since our camp is not very large.

In practicing how to use the sawmill that I bought through my company a few years back I had accumulated enough lumber to build a basic structure. A single room building 16' square and utilising wherever possible recycled materials left over from our house renovation, such as a door and windows.

Work began by leveling out an area close to the main camp but still out of the way. Then holes were dug into the clay, down about 5' and round cement forms put in place, backfilled and then filled with cement. This is where I made the one goof of the whole project; I set the forms 8 feet on centre when in fact it should have been 7'7" (I used 10" diameter tubes and should have measured from outside edge in). As a result I had to use two sets of 6'x6' square timbers to bring the outside edges in for the floor, each with tapered ends so that the bottom is fully supported by the posts but the area supported by the top of the beams measures 16' by 16'.

In the long term I want the sleep camp to be insulated so it can be made comfortable come winter time use. In addition I did not want critters having easy access to the under floor insulation. So the floor was built as two panels: 8' by 16' using 2" by 8" boards. Once framed and squared they were covered with thin plywood to both reinforce but more importantly seal the bottom side. The panels were then flipped over, shifted into place and then attached to one another. Then the cavity was filled with fibreglass insulation, covered with heavy plastic vapour barrier and then covered with 5/8" tongue and groove sub-floor.

With the floor now done the next task was to build the walls, this time using 2' by 6" lumber from my stock pile. Once they were squared they were covered with plywood and then lifted up into place and then secured. With all four walls up and a top plate installed engineered roof trusses were put in place followed by a plywood roof deck (while chip board is cheaper it is less structurally sound nor can it stand up to weather like plywood).

As described in a previous post my siblings and I had redone the roof of the house our mother lives in several years back using steel panels. That was a great learning experience in that while the steel panels are about 30% more expensive than high quality shingles installation time is far less and the panels will literally last a lifetime. So I got enough steel roofing panels to do the roof of the bunkie as well as replace the roofing of the main camp and the large storage building, both of which the asphalt shingles were very close to end of life. Replacing the roofing on the camp and the storage building was the second project by the way!

Once the roofing was done then we put up soffit and facia, installed the windows and the door plus flashing around the door and all windows. Jordan then applied a solid wood stain to the outside wood surfaces. We then built steps to gain access, installed some basic furniture and then were ready for our first guests, Peter and Karen Gobeil!