Full Bathroom Reno Day 11: How to Waterproof Shower and Clean Up Old Tile

Day 11! Wow, we've come a long way. From taking down the shower doors, shower surround, sheetrock, and the step, to removing the old huge jacuzzi tub, to beginning plumbing and replacing rotten studs, to fixing the drain clog and placing the new tub, to more plumbing, securing the tub, and starting to install cement board, to installing the remainder of the cement board and waterproofing the seams, to removing caked on thinset and caulking. Whew!

While Jake started taping the tub one more time to prep for waterproofing, I started to work on the tile floor. I don't think I have mentioned this yet, but where we removed the step, it left two large raised lines of gunk. I believe it was a combination of thinset, grout, and some sort of glue.

It's hard to tell in the photos, but the line of thinset/grout residue was raised as much as a centimeter off the tile. We would have to remove both of these completely to try to salvage this tile. As you may remember, we had to save the tile from the step to try to use on the floor where the step used to be, to repair/finish the tile floor to the tub.

I wasn't sure if we would be able to salvage the tile or not, so I just started trying things to remove the two lines. I used a metal putty knife on the glue residue line, carefully lifting it up from the tile. For the thinset/grout line, I used a flathead screwdriver like a chisel and a hammer.

 Yes, I'm in monkey pajama pants and using a pink hammer. I wanted to wear something I wouldn't mind ruining, hence the circa 2001 pjs. (Thanks Mom! I still love them!) And I adore my pink hammer. It's small, easy to hold and use for my smaller hands, and it's pink. Jake's dad gave me a pink toolset for Christmas a couple of years ago, and I love it and use it all the time.

Sidebar aside, the thinset/grout residue surprisingly came up pretty easily with this method. After I chipped it all up, I ran the metal putty knife gently over the area to catch any tiny pieces I might have missed. Here's a photo of half of the glue residue removed and all of the thinset/grout residue removed:

And here it is after a quick and incomplete scrubbing with a green scrub sponge and Lysol:

Finally, here it is with all residue removed:

All of the tiles, including this one still need a good cleaning, but thankfully, we were able to do this with all tiles, so they can all be salvaged but one. One tile had a hole drilled in it, so we will need to replace that one, but all in all- this is great news!

Meanwhile, Jake was taping, and Charlie was seeing what the fuss was all about.

 

He was hoping for a treat!

Jake taped a layer around the tub and ceiling, then I went back and taped a plastic drop cloth over the tub and tile floor. We opened up the tub of waterproofing sealant, and were pretty surprised at what we found when we opened it. It was blue!

I stirred it up, then Jake started rolling it on.

 

He rolled it on first, then did the corners with a small paintbrush.

 

 

It's important to protect everything, of course!

 

 

 

The blue paint turns a dark green when dry, as you can see. Per the package instructions, we let it dry longer than the 30-50 minute recommendation, and when it was all dark green. You may notice, where we have the waterproofing tape is a different color, but that's just because it's on top of a different material. Then, we did a second coat.

 

 

You may notice a white line around the top or bottom, but that's just where the caulk and sealer meet. Now, the shower and tub are completely waterproofed. Next step, tile!



Full Bathroom Reno Day 10: How to Caulk Seams by Bathtub

Day 10 was a pretty light day for the bathroom. It was Memorial Day, so there were plenty of other things going on, but I did manage to get a little work done. After caulking, the next step is to apply the next waterproofing layer, so I was all set to do that. However, when I checked my caulking work from the day before, there were some gaps.

Caulk can tend to shrink after it dries, so it's important to check and make sure it's still 100% covered. These pictures are extreme close ups to show detail, but in reality these are small pinholes. But, this is an important step in waterproofing, so I went back over with the caulk gun again to fill these gaps.

It's hard to tell in these photos, but here are some side by sides of the same places that have been repaired.

Like I said, it was a light day so this is all that was done. It took a very short time- maybe 30 minutes- and it was done. Tomorrow- more waterproofing!

A Tale of Four Showerheads

As you know, the showerhead/faucet hardware was the trigger to the timing of this entire renovation. It was dripping into the shower, it would no longer allow hot water to come out, and little did we know, it was also leaking into the wall.

 

 

When we originally created a plan for the bathroom, Jake wanted to go with nickel hardware. I was happy either way, with nickel or oil rubbed bronze, so I set out for a nickel showerhead. I did a bunch of research on showerheads available at Lowes and Home Depot, and I went to see them in store. We ended up with this one:

 



I loved the huge (7 inch!) rain showerhead and the sleek design. I also liked that it had the option of a matching faucet and other hardware, such as towel bars, etc.

However, when I was looking through my secret pinboard of all my faves, I kept being drawn to one (sink) faucet in particular. I showed it to Jake, and he loved it too. I've had that sink faucet pinned for over 2 years on my "Dream House Bathroom" pinboard. He said if I loved it that much, I should get it. Such a sweet man. So, that set me out to see if it had a matching showerhead, and sure enough they did. It wasn't available in any stores close to me, so I ordered it off Amazon, and returned the first one I bought.

The next thing I went to buy was my sinks and sink faucets. Again, they weren't available in any stores close to me, but they were available in a store about an hour or so away. I actually was already going somewhat that way for my niece's tadpole t-ball game (so cute!), so I planned to go after. Jake went with me to the game, but had another commitment on his side of the family, so my sweet parents took me from the game and Jake and I parted ways. When we got to the store, we picked up the sinks and headed over to look at the sink faucets. Unfortunately, when I held up the sink faucet to my sink, it just looked awful. The colors did not go, and it straight up looked bad. So, I purchased the oil rubbed bronze sink faucets, and had to return my nickel showerhead to Amazon. I ordered my oil rubbed bronze showerhead, and breathed a sigh of relief to finally be done with it.

I should mention that we were planning to change our tub + shower into a shower only, which is why none of these have tub faucets. However, Jake and I kept discussing it, and we really felt it would be better for resale value and the safer choice to go ahead and install a tub. So, back again went the third showerhead to Amazon to be returned, and the fourth and final showerhead was ordered.

I should mention, that while I was ordering the final showerhead, I realized there were two bronze options, Tuscan bronze and rustic bronze. (You can see the different in the photos.) Well, our sink faucets were rustic bronze, and I had ordered Tuscan bronze, so, I would have had to exchange it anyway. Lesson learned- don't get too excited to pay attention!

Whew. So here we are, four showerheads later, but happy as clams about our final choice. Isn't she a beauty? If all goes well, she should be up and installed and stylin' within a week or so!

Full Bathroom Reno Day 9: How to Remove Dried Thinset and Caulk Shower and Tub

When we last left off, we had just applied the waterproof band with thinset. It needed 24 hours to dry, so we didn't do any work on the next day since we finished this task around midnight. Another two days passed due to outside personal commitments, so I started back up work 3 full days later. Jake was at the deer lease (hunt, remember?) so I flew solo for day 9.

I needed a clear space, because the next step was caulking the seam around the top of the cement board to the ceiling, and the seam around the bottom of the cement board to the tub. I started by removing the furniture blanket and blue tape, and found a grizzly surprise. Some of the thinset had glued the blue tape to the tub. In some areas, some of the thinset even slipped under the tape and blanket, directly adhering to the tub. The bathtub we chose is enameled steel, which had many pros, but the one major con is that it scratches very easily. In fact, we even had to return the first tub, because there were preexisting scratches on it that we found after I had brought it home. When I went to exchange it, another tub at the store had scratches on it. So, that tells you something about how easily it scratches- it took three tubs to get it right.

I tried peeling the blue tape up, but it only worked where there wasn't much thinset. In the corners, the thinset dripped and pooled causing an almost concrete like solid. I worked very carefully and patiently (not my best virtue!) with a plastic putty knife on the right corner first. After about 30 minutes, it came up, tub unscathed, thank goodness.

The left corner was much, much worse. When Jake was applying the thinset to the walls, I noticed this corner kept pulling up. I kept putting new blue tape over it, and unfortunately it resulted in a horrible mess of layers: tape, thinset, tape, thinset, tape, thinset.

I worked very carefully and slowly on this corner as well, chipping away a little at a time.

After about 3 hours and slow, steady work, this corner was cleared as well, with no scratches. Lesson learned: be sure to tape and cover all parts of the tub perfectly, and pull up the protective coverings as soon as you're done. If you're worried about drips, tape down a new protective covering, and pull up once dry. The mistake we made was letting it sit and harden.

Once that mess was cleared, I taped the top and bottom seams with two lines of blue tape, covering the tub with a plastic sheet. The two lines created a barrier and guideline for me, so I wouldn't get too much caulk on either side. Also, once I pulled up the tape, it would leave a clean line of caulk.

 

I put the waterproof silicone caulk meant for bathrooms in the caulk gun, and went to work.

I applied the caulk in short sections, and went back and smoothed it out. The best way to smooth it is to have a small bowl of water ready and rags or paper towels. I wet my finger, then ran it over the caulk to smooth it. Be sure to have plenty of rags or towels- it can be a messy process!

Meanwhile, Tex was peeking in to see what was going on.

 

I repeated the caulking all along the two seams, sealing my surround. One tip I learned while doing this is that it's best to work in small sections, and pull up the tape as you go. The caulk I used was fast drying (within 30 minutes) so if the tape stayed on too long it could end up pulling off some of the caulk.

This was my first time caulking, so it took me quite a while- about 3 hours. Normally, it should take about 45 minutes to an hour, if you're quicker. But, all in all, I was very glad to learn this skill because there are so many places that are caulked in a home, and they tend to yellow over time. Now, I can easily re-caulk any areas I please! This caulk is shower ready in 30 minutes, if it is 3/16" thickness or less. Since some areas were thicker than that, I went ahead and let it dry overnight, just to be safe. One step closer to a new shower!