How to fix a leaking dual fllush toilet

I felt betrayed when our new Rona dual flush water efficient toilet started to leak after only 10 months. Every time we flushed it, water poured out from behind the toilet lid, but it didn't leak any other time. These new efficient toilets don't have a flapper, which is so easy to replace. Did the whole guts of the toilet need replacing? Where was the receipt? ARGH! With no time, we turned off the water supply and quit using the toilet, pretending that the problem did not exist.

When I finally found a few minutes to Google the problem, it was looking like I'd blown a gasket - literally! With no big plans on a Friday night, we drained the tank and took it off the bowl. Within an instant, we could see the problem. Check out that gasket and you too can see why the toilet was leaking between the tank and bowl.

We ran over to our local Home Hardware, but they didn't have the correct gasket, so a long drive in rush hour traffic to Rona and $3.49 later, we had a new gasket, and now we have a functioning toilet on the 2nd floor again. Hooray. Life is beautiful. Again.

How we did it:

1. Close the water shut-off to the toilet. Remove the supply hose to the tank. Be ready to catch any water that spills out of the hose.
   
2. Flush the toilet and then bail water from the tank using a small cup. Soak up the remaining water with a sponge.
3. Remove the two bolts that hold the tank to the bowl, lift it off and set it aside.
4. Inspect the gasket. If it looks like the one above, take it to the hardware store and find a replacement.
5. Place the new gasket over the hole at the bottom of the tank, rather than putting it over the hole on the bowl. (I think that's where we ran into trouble about 10 months ago.) Carefully set the tank on the bowl, without disturbing the gasket.
   
6. Tighten the two bolts and attach the water hose. Turn on the water supply and look for leaks. If you're a religious person, you may want to pray at this point, but I've never found it to be as effective as using the power of observation and a good screw driver.
7. Enjoy your newly repaired toilet. You deserve it!
   

Now it is "really" done

This weekend, I witnessed that a comment on a blog can inspire action, and that posting a photo on a blog can inspire even more action.

I was so pleased with my new light fixture yesterday that I posted a photo of the complete bathroom. With the photo on my computer I could see how stark and institutional the walls looked. Not impressed. This inspired me to open the package of wall tattoos that I've had resting on the back of the toilet for about 4 months.

After several hours with scissors and tape, I managed to arrange them on the wall in a pleasing pattern. I got the OK from my domestic companion, and then I peeled off the backing and rubbed the decals onto the wall with the assistance of my HBC rewards card (the most use I've ever got out of the thing). I'm quite pleased with the results and just hope that they stay on the wall. I hope that the humidity won't peel them off. Time will tell.

This post is full of hope and inspiration. Sounds like an Obama speech to me.

If you're interested in wall tattoos, check out the art supply store @ 130 Spadina Ave. They have a good selection.

The bathroom is done!

Technically the bathroom has been done since February, after we installed the toilet and sink. But, I could not declare the project fully complete because we were unable to find a suitable light fixture to go over the vanity mirror. That hole with wires sticking out screamed "incomplete". It also made a bad photo.

Last night I received a comment from another renovating blogger who asked how the bathroom had turned out, and I really didn't have a good answer. That gave me the momentum to get this thing done.

After a quick glance at the big box stores, we returned to Living Lighting on King Street, determined to buy a particular light that we were considering six months ago, but then came home with this little number instead. I was so excited, I installed it immediately, and I cannot believe how much light it gives off. I was previously standing in shadows by the mirror, but now I can see all my grey hair and some new wrinkles. Yet despite that, I love the new light! Why did we wait so long for this? Nobody should have to live like that. Nobody.

Pip at 416FixerUpper, thank you for motivating me to get this thing complete!

Now that I'm looking at this photo, I see that it is time to get some art up in there. I bought some wall tattoos a long time ago. Maybe tomorrow they will be ON the wall.

Seven Years Bad Luck?

Ontario's 2nd annual Family Day was used to get our "family" bathroom done. After grouting the tiles on Sunday, we were ready to install the sink, then toilet. This took some time, but was pretty successful. We did have to call the plumber to ask how to remove the cap on the toilet (water closet) flange. We thought that it would just pull out, but instead we had to smash it out with a hammer and screw driver. In all my reading on how to install a toilet, I never read anything about that. Thankfully our plumber is never far from his cell phone and quickly lead us in the right direction. After an 11th hour trip to Candian Tire (on a holiday) to buy longer w.c. bolts, then stacking up two flange extenders, the dual flush water efficient toilet was easily installed.

Time for the finishing touches. We were finally ready to install our fancy mirrored medicine cabinet. When following along with the instructions, ready to put hinges on the door, we discovered a devastating crack on the inside corner (lower right corner in the photo). ARGH! Does this mean 7 years bad luck if we didn't break the mirror? It has been in the box since we bought it, nestled in its protective styrofoam corners, so I don't know how we could have broken it. But the downside is that we bought it a few months ago, waiting for this moment. We've contacted the distributor and are waiting to see if they'll replace the door. Otherwise, this could be an expensive setback. Fingers crossed that this will be resolved soon, and we can declare this bathroom done!

Is that the finish line I see, or is it just another mirage?

Oh, we are so close to finishing this lengthy renovation. There are only a few things standing in the way of a fully fuctional four piece bathroom on our 2nd floor. But the long list of "little" things are taking forever and I feel like we'll never be done!

I made a huge mistake last week. I told RoboMike (a.k.a. the Tile Fairy) that I didn't need his help finishing up the tile and trim. I figured that he didn't need to drive 73km on his day off when I have a hammer of my own. So off we went to our local Home Hardware and picked out some trim. But in one day, all that I accomplished was some priming of trim, installing a lockset on the pocket door, and hanging the pocket door. I also did tons of analyzing/worrying about how the trim should be installed, referring to my latest library book. For somebody with experience, I'm sure this is a very easy job. My father tells me that my late Uncle Wally, a carpenter by trade, could trim a whole house in one day. I can't even do a tiny bathroom in one day. 

Anyway, I didn't fully regret my decision until the next day at my niece's birthday party when RoboMike continuously teased me about "firing" him. If I'd known that he has such a deep desire to escape life with my sister for a day in exchange for some thankless hard labour at my house, I wouldn't have stolen his dream. So now I felt bad for not getting the work done myself, and for taking this joy away from a man who doesn't like to relax.

But I digress. I decided to turn up the heat and get this job done myself. So for one week, I have been leaving work promptly at 5 p.m. and changing into my work clothes and getting right to it. I nailed the baseboard trim, put up the door jams for the pocket door, and filled the countersunk holes. The next night, I put the trim around the door and window. It is important to point out that I only have a cheap plastic mitre box with handsaw that somebody leant us 2 years ago, so that slowed me down a bit. I also used the mitre box with our cheap hacksaw to cut the metal tile trim for the sink backsplash. Dan came to admire my work at 9 p.m. after his French class, and I suggested that we tile the backsplash. He didn't really agree, but next thing I knew, he was mixing up the thinset with a stick and I was slapping the tiles up (and then franticly putting tile spacers in to keep them from sliding together). The area is only 27" x 10", so how long will that take, right? Well, as it turns out, it takes a bit more time than I thought, but much less thinset. (Oops. We've got about an extra 4 litres here just hardening in a bucket.) But, the bottom line is that the tiles are up and the trim is now painted, and we are ready to move onto the next task in this fun renovation.

If I squint hard, I can see the finish line on the horizon.  (Or, is that my tired eyes blurring the glass mosaic tile into a checkered flag?) When I drive down Toronto's Lakeshore boulevard, I always flashback to those last few kilometers of the first half marathon that I ran. I can remember the exact point on the road when I had that thought: "what the hell am I doing here". Every step after that became increasingly difficult. But as I turned away from the lake and ran towards the CN Tower, I could hear the people cheering at the finish line, and I just pretended that they were all cheering for me. And those last 500m were the best, because then I was done! I have only ran past that spot one other time, when I reapeated the half marathon the following year, and I had the exact same reaction. So, while I hope that this is my last bathroom renovation, I have a bad feeling that in a few months, I'll forget the pain that I'm feeling right now and get myself into this mess again. But hopefully only one more time.

Welcome to Command Central

I write to you from the warm travertine floor of my new bathroom. I have to sit here to enjoy the heat and admire control central. Today I wired up the floor heating to see if it would work. It is pessimistic to think that it wouldn't, but all the warnings in the package and the fact that the only friend I know who had floor heating installed found that it didn't work after the tile was finished. Hers had to be removed and replaced.

Last week, we chose to call in a pro to finish the floors. I was hoping to find somebody to do both the tiles in the bathroom and the hardwood in the hallway & back room. We had two contractors who were willing to do both jobs, but neither had a wet saw, so had to rent one, and neither had experience working with the traditional strip oak flooring currently in our home. The third contractor did tile only, and were not fazed by the travertine nor the NuHeat floor heating mat. They were my favorite already, but I had to wait for the quotes. In the end, they had the bathroom, but we had to find somebody else to do the hardwood.
We agreed on a price Thursday and they came the next day to do the scratch coat. This consisted of metal mesh covered with shiny mortar and took less than an hour. The following day, they came to do the drypack and level the floor. This is when they imbeded the floor heating mat. This needed to dry for a few days, but they were back on Tuesday to lay the tile. Wednesday they returned to grout. A finished floor in less than a week. Incredible!

But, then came the waiting. Three days and we could seal the tile. On the appointed day, I painted the walls, and then did one coat of tile sealer. A second coat of sealer today, and "light traffic" is permitted 4 hours later.

We wanted to install the baseboard trim before putting in the toilet, but sadly the paint can says we need to wait TWO WEEKS before gluing on trim. So, more waiting. (Please note: I was intending to glue and nail the trim, but have since been adviced to only nail after committing my intentions to print. Thanks to my readers!)

Feast your eyes on this beautiful sight! Tiled floor, a mirror in the vanity cutout, and our sink/vanity in place. Now, just imagine the luxury of the 31C floor temperature contrasted against the -22C temperature outside (with the windchill factor). My command central has a backlight overhead light switch, a timer for the exhaust fan, and a programmable termostat for the floor heat. And best part -- it works.

The waiting is the hardest part

Tom Petty may have beat me to this phrase, but honestly, the waiting can be the hardest part. Months in the making, we thought that after the grout went in, that we'd be showering at home in a matter of days. But, the grout sealer bottle said to let the grout cure for 10 days before sealing. Everybody in my network thought that seemed like a long time, but when you've gone to this much effort, what is a few more days? Or 10?

So, we waited. And worked on figuring out how to get the floors finished. My part time tiler/brother-in-law refused to work with the travertine we'd selected and the floor heating mat. Who could blame him? I thought about doing it ourselves, but after checking out the large wet saw at the rental department of Home Hardware which rents for $78/day, I thought twice. I had visions of us trying to cut the 12" x 24" tiles on our front porch in the -24C weather with all our neighbours watching (and laughing). So, at the end of the year, I decided to call in a few pros and speed up this outrageously long bathroom reno. Right now we're waiting for quotes from our three selected contractors, recommended by our friends Max and Tino at Home Hardware.

Yesterday my tiler/brother-in-law called to say that he was coming to caulk the tub area. I wanted to do it myself, but like the grout, he said no way! Who am I to argue. Again, after the months of work to get to this point, I'm happy to have him do it. So last night, Dan and I poured out some toxic grout sealer and applied it with some sponge brushes to all the grout lines. Twice.

Mike has just finished caulking and in 24 hours, we can use our shower and tub. Hooray. This is a huge victory worth celebrating. And since I didn't do much of the work for this part of the reno, waiting really was the hardest part. But now, showering at home will be my reward!

Thanks again to Mike for all his amazing work. The shower looks amazing! I can't wait to have my victory bath tomorrow.

Grouty New Year

A special visitor came to the house today to grout the tiles. I wanted to do it myself, but he insisted that he do it. As you cannot win an argument with Mike, I stayed out of his way, and worked away on my computer, listening to the whir of the 1/2" drill mixing up the grout. Dan carried up pails of fresh water and Mike sponged it down. I grabbed this photo just to document that Mike was generous enough to spend the last day of the year working on our bathroom. I need to do one more sponging of the tiles before heading off to a festive New Year's dinner.

The yukon white subway tiles with mocha glass mosaic accent are glistening in a field of snow white grout. It is good to end the year on a high note. It sets a positive tone for the year ahead.

The tile fairy

When I was at work today, the tile fairy came to visit, and did a mighty fine job on the tub surround. Thanks Mike!

I have to say that choosing the tile is mighty stressful. It exceeds the indecision and worry of choosing the kitchen counter top. I have a hard time seeing how the tile will look in the finished space. I love glass mosaic tile, but thought that it would be too much for the whole tub surround. So we decided to go with the basic subway tile - clean and classic. But just last night, we ran over to see Tino at Home Hardware, and to see some glass mosaic tiles. I was thinking of the Aqua (blue) mix, whereas Dan was thinking of the Seaglass (green) mix, but we both agreed that the Coco mix would be prefect to tie in the Espresso vanity (that is currently in our dining room) and the Travertine stone floor (which is currently in our spare bedroom). The tile fairy has a bit more work to do, but soon we may be showering in our own home again. Maybe before the year is out. Maybe. But the YMCA is open 365 days of the year, so a shower is always close to home, just like Home Hardware!

With this tile (in)decision settled, next up is the paint colour. Fun times. Where is Peter Fallico and his design team, when we really need them?

Help is close to home

Everybody is talking about the 100 mile diet and shopping local, but the parking lot at the big box store is always full. And why? You can rarely find anybody to help you and delivery is a whopping $75. But, if you shop local, these happy men in red shirts are always there to help. They are full of knowledge, always friendly, and they speak Portuguese!

We have purchased the majority of our bathroom fixtures, tiles, lumber, drywall, etc. from our local Home Hardware: Downtown Lumber on Ossignton Ave. (across the street from the trendy and delicious, Foxley). They are the largest supplier of tile & stone in downtown Toronto, and their prices are as good or better than all the other places we've been. They have free parking in the back (2 or 3 spaces), delivery is only $25, and I can ride my bike over there in minutes, plus they give you Aeorplan points! It sure beats a Saturday in traffic to get up to the Junction. Maybe one day we'll convert this costly renovation into a trip.

I love old hardware stores, where the shelves go up to the ceiling with stock, and they have those long sticks to get stuff down. Not the best place for browsing, but honestly, they have it all if you're not afraid to ask. Plus, they can always have great advice. Call Max and Tino, the bathroom and kitchen specialists. When I call, they recognize my voice now, which is a bit embarassing. But if I had a kid, I'd ask them to be the god fathers because they are that good.

Thanks guys. It is nice to have help so close to home.

(Some) Drywall is up!

Wow. I thought that the framing looked good, but now that all the vapor barrier is up and some of the drywall boards are up -- it is looking like a real room (actually, two rooms)! Yesterday we had a hired gun come to hang drywall with us. Dave is a skilled and experienced drywaller/handyman, but he is also a talented singer/songwriter in the Toronto band, The Warped 45s.

Dan woke up in the night with chills and sweats -- not good. So I got up at 7 a.m. to pull all the insulation out of the ceiling - again - because I put in too much. I replaced it with an adequate air space and started with the vapor barrier. The 22 sheets of 4' x 8' drywall arrived around 8:30 a.m. And Dave arrived right on time at 10 a.m. With Dan out of commission, it was just the two of us, and we finished up the vapor barrier and then started hanging sheets on the ceiling. My friend Chris very kindly offered to come and help out, standing in for Dan. It was great to have an extra pair of hands for the ceiling.

I learned a lot from Dave. He seemed to think that I knew more about drywalling than I really do, but since I'm good at faking it, it seemed to work out. We finished most of the ceiling and all the tub surround. At the 12 hour mark, I called it quits.

This morning I woke up with blisters on my drilling hand but a desire to keep going. Dan recovered from his 24 hour flu and together we attacked the most challenging board first. This one had six cutouts in it, plus the cutout for the recessed medicine cabinet. Dave and that DVD I borrowed from the library taught me how to properly measure and cut holes. The finished product is far superior to the work we did in the kitchen two years ago! Check out the tight fit on those receptacles and plumbing supplies. Woo hoo!

The boards in the bathroom are almost done and then we'll finish off the new office. Hopefully Dave will have some free time to do the taping and mudding, although his schedule is pretty full with music gigs and other jobs. We just may be tiling before December!!! Imagine that.

Let there be light!

For two weeks we have been at the electrical stage of the reno. We already pulled the wires in preparation, set them in the correct rooms, and planned the electrical layout. We need six receptacles (one GFCI), one recessed shower light, three overhead lights, one over mirror light, one exhaust fan, one TV/internet cable jack, one telephone jack and several switches to control it all. (We ran the wire for the floor heating, but we won't be installing that for some time.) I've refreshed my electrical knowledge with some books from the library, but the biggest challenge has been figuring out how to use a vapour barrier with recessed lights in a flat ceiling -- mixed messages!

For some reason, I thought that we could do all this in one Sunday. But now, as I write the list of work in prose form, it does seem like a lot. On a schematic, it seemed more straight forward.

Two weeks ago, I was thrilled when I installed a GFCI receptical which would protect all the other fixtures in the bathroom. The highlight of last weekend was getting showered with ashphault soot when pulling cables for the overhead lights and switches. It seems that when the roofers replaced the flat roof 3 years ago, the ashphault sifted through the roof boards and has been sitting on the insulation all this time. When we shifted anything in the ceiling, soot rained down on us. I was wearing safety glasses and a mask, but my face still got pretty dirty (see photo). Although I cheered up when I was able to wire the overhead fixtures.

But, there is never enough time! I still didn't get the new bedroom wired until today. We sealed the plumbing stack and window sill, and replaced 95% of the ceiling insulation. Tomorrow we hope to get the vapour barrier up and everything ready for drywall.

We were prepared to call in a pro for the drywalling, but he called today to say that he's too busy to do our job. If you know anybody, let me know. Otherwise, we're gonna try it ourselves next weekend. Wish us luck--we're going to need it!!!

A good plumber may be easy to find!

I found my plumber Paul at a night course that I took at Central Tech two years ago. It was a great intro to the world of plumbing, and inspired me to renovate our kitchen by moving the sink and adding a dishwasher. So when we decided to reno the bathroom, I gave Paul a call again. After spending hours in a classroom with him, he is really somebody I trust.

We removed all our bathroom fixtures on October 5, so we have been without a shower for 17 days, but the YMCA is close by, as are many kind friends with hot showers, so we've been getting by. But today was a huge step forward in "Project Bathroom": we have running water in the tub again! We can staple up some plastic and shower at home again. Exciting.

Many thanks to our plumber, Paul McErlain (left), and his trusty apprentice. Many of you have asked for Paul's contact details and here they are: 416-854-9846 and mackmechanical.ca.

Keeping up with Robomike

I know that my brother-in-law Mike thinks that I'm crazy. We are exact opposites in many ways. He hates city life, can't understand why we paid so much for such a small house, and is baffled that I would consider a month in China a vacation. But, when I asked him to "help" me replace the subfloor and put up some framing in our old bathroom, he didn't hesitate. I would like to learn how to frame a wall myself, so I wanted to be involved. I have written about Mike before: he's a man of few words but many skills. He arrived at our house on Tuesday morning, just after Dan left for his first day on his new job. I decided to use a few of my vacation days for my reno-vacation, if only to buy the supplies at the store and help carry stuff in and out of the house. I grew up on a farm and I don't have any brothers, so I was raised to pitch in on any job. Nobody in my house was too small, too young or too female to help out.

When Mike arrived, I showed him the scene. He looked around, shook his head and said: "you've got a lot of work to do here". But, he got to work taking measurements and we were off to Downtown Lumber for our first of many trips. As we were struggling to get a 4' x 8' sheet of 3/4" plywood up the winding stairs in our narrow house, I'm sure he was shaking his head again, although I couldn't see him through the plywood. I had to take the oil paintings that his 11 year old daughter painted for me off the wall, so that we could swing that sheet, tilt it, and get it up the stairs. Thank god the ceilings are 10' high in here!

We only had two days to replace the floor, frame some walls and install the bathtub, because we both had to go to work on Thursday. He was determined to get it done so that we could have the plumber in again on Saturday allowing us to start bathing at home again. I appreciate his determined work ethic and agreed that I would not talk too much, nor try to hug him. For all of our differences, I think that we got along well. But keeping up with Robomike was tough! He didn't eat all day, he barely drank any water, didn't pause at all, nor did he complain. I did my best to keep up, but after three days of hauling junk out of this bathroom, I was starting to wear out at 3 p.m. But, I keep dragging my butt until 9 p.m., although I did take several breaks.

By the end of the 2nd day, we had two walls and two doorways framed. We are renovating our oversized bathroom back to its original bathroom with small bedroom. When Dan returned from work, he helped Mike carry the new bathtub upstairs, and finally the rooms are taking shape. The drills are moving forward now. But, as Mike said, there's still lots of work to do! (And lots to write about.) Mike ate a tiny bit of food, drank a thimble full of water, filled his truck with the rubble from our front porch and drove off into the night. Who was that masked robot? He looked like Mike, but he didn't seem human.

Once again, thank you Mike. These words seem insufficient, but I am truly grateful for your dedication to your work and your family. And I promise that I will never try to hug you.

Pulling Cable

We spent our long weekend hauling crap out of the room that was once a bathroom. It has been two weeks, and yet the power drill is still running in reverse. When will we be putting it in forward and actually building a bathroom, not demolishing one?

We spent Friday night at the holy trinity for home renovators: Home Hardware, Rona and Home Depot. I bought myself an electrician's fishing tape - hooray. I've always wanted one. And today, I needed it, as we fed the four different gauges of wire thru the bulkhead down to the basement and to the panel. (We didn't connect it. We'll get an electrician to do that part.)

Thinking ahead, I want our new bedroom/office to be wired with coaxial cable and phone, plus we are putting a laundry rough-in as well, in the event that we move the laundry upstairs for our golden years. So this required pulling two electrical cables: a 14/2 for the washing machine and 10/3 30A cable for the dryer. That flipping 10/3 cable (the orange stuff) is heavy and expensive! Plus, the future dryer location is as far from the electrical panel that you can get with our tiny house, so we needed a lot of it. This was what I had listed as our easy job for the weekend. Relatively clean and quiet work, yet it still took us a few hours. But, I got to use my new fishing tape, and it worked like a charm.

The harder job was tearing up the remainder of the 3/4" plywood subfloor. It was a loud and dirty job, which I'm sure was even less pleasant for our neighbours. Just pepper the roar of the power saw with some colourful cursing when the head of one of the several screws popped off. The quote of the weekend came from Dan when he said: "drywall comes down a lot faster than it goes up".

After two weeks of toiling in this zone, I'm sure that Dan is happy to be starting his new job tomorrow. He's off the hook for a few day. My super brother-in-law is swooping in tomorrow to save us from this hole that we are in. Super Mike to the rescue!

Renovation is not a dinner party

Chairman Mao famously said: Revolution is not a dinner party. Well last night during a candle-lit dinner party on upper Montrose, I proposed that we should make t-shirts of Chairman Mao holding a reciprocating saw with the tagline: Renovation is not a dinner party. Of course, we thought this was brilliant, but how many t-shirt wearing, renovating sinophiles are there, other than me, of course?

Well, cottage industry aside, it was time to get the floor out today. I was supposed to be off at the end of the week, but asked my kind boss this morning if I could switch with today so that I could help Dan (somebody has to remove the wiring), and my kind boss said yes! So I was free to make dozens of trips up and down the stairs with heavy loads of rubble to the almost full Rhino Bag decorating our front lawn.

After a few pilot drills, we realized that the two layers of subfloor were both 5/8" thick. Many of the screws would not come out or were hidden by tile grout. We had torn out our kitchen floor with relative ease just two years ago, so as always, I underestimated how difficult this would be. I guess that if I thought it would be hard, I wouldn't take it on. It's like some women with childbirth: they know it is going to be difficult, but they do it anyway. I guess the new bathroom is like my baby. I just hope that it doesn't take 9 months!

After several passes with the circular saw, and many hours later, we had an opening 16" across and about 24" long. It allowed us to see the ceiling below and the bulkhead in the kitchen, where all the plumbing passes. After about 30 minutes of gawking at the damage and admiring how strong and sturdy the existing floor is, we thought that we should leave it at that and let the plumber tell us if he needed more floor removed. It was time to walk up the street for a shower and to vote at the advance polls. I may be a sinophile, but I also enjoy the benefits of democracy, so it was my honour to exercise my civic duty.

I think that Chairman Mao would have been proud of my three days of hard labour. It has certainly reformed my thoughts about civil society, but I had the luxury of a hot shower at the end of the day, after a short march north, so it wasn't really that much of a revolution -- just the start of a long renovation.

Bathroom renovation begins

Dan starts a new job after Thanksgiving and had a miraculous two weeks off. I thought that we should celebrate with either a trip to New York, or by renovating our over-sized and hideous bathroom. For better or worse, we have chosen the more expensive but more permanent option: the bathroom. New York will always be there, right?

A few years ago we made a temporary fix by removing the wallpaper and giving it a neutral coat of white paint, but we just couldn't get beyond that pink tub and toilet, the waste of space and the fact that the shower dribbled like a water pick. The whole room was disappointing. This is our time for revenge.

Our main bathroom is possibly the largest room in our tiny house. It is the same size as our kitchen and main floor 2 piece bathroom. It was originally a tiny bedroom and a tiny bathroom. Alas, we are going to undo that modification and return it to it's original configuration, but hopefully it will be much nicer.

We started last week by removing the closet and cupboards. Dan began chipping away at the ceramic floor tiles on Wednesday and Thursday, and finally finished this hideous task by Saturday. We bought a Rhino Bag from Home Hardware and put it on our front yard and started to fill it with debris. Any usable pieces were re-gifted to strangers on Craigslist. (Will somebody really want that giant pink bathtub?) Things were looking pretty bare on Saturday night when we used the pink shower for the final time. A little bit more water pressure would have helped my aching muscles, but why would it change now? People and bathrooms do not change.

With this giant task complete, all we had to do on Sunday was remove the fixtures and then tear up the subfloor. We got an early start, but like most things, I underestimated how time consuming these tasks would be. I spent about 30 minutes laying under the toilet as rusty water dripped on my head, trying to loosen the tank bolt. Finally we decided to leave the damn tank on, and Dan carried the whole thing out and placed it proudly on our front porch. A few hours later, we brought the sink/vanity outside as well. I checked my email and somebody had responded to my craigslist posting and wanted all three pieces. Hooray. We had to have the tub out by 6 p.m. because that was when they were coming. This led to the video at the top of the posting, where Dan smashed the hell out of the tiles while I cowered by the windows, and pieces of shattered tile flew through the air. (We both had our safety glasses on.) I got into the action as well. I took my turn with the hammer, and pulled down quite a few pieces of cement board covered in tiles, but we just didn't get any photos of this.

A pink fiberglass bathtub that measures 70.5"x35" is not that heavy, but it is very awkward. We called our good friend Matthew in a panic to see if he could help get it down the stairs, but luckily for him, he was on Highway 407 at the time, and with the new owners coming soon, we had to do it ourselves. Surprisingly, it only took us a few minutes to negotiate it down the steep stairs and over the hand railing, to the front porch, where we leaned it against my bike.

Now it was time to cap the copper pipes so that we could turn the water back on. There are now showers in our house now, but we do enjoy the simple pleasures like washing our hands, or a cool glass of water. Renovators cannot live on beer alone, can they? I pulled out my "plumbing shoe box" of tools and accessories from the course that I took back in 2005 at Central Tech. With an aluminum cookie sheet as a shield, I fired up the torch and managed two good solders on my first try. I was as pleased as Dan when he finished the floor tiles.

Alas, we had run out of time for the day and the floor would have to be done by Dan the next day. So off we went to dinner & showers on Upper Montrose, a civilized way to end a busy renovating weekend. It's not quite New York, but still very nice.

Bathroom Envy

I never thought that I'd have bathroom envy, but here I am, coveting my neighbour's powder room!

Maybe you had to see the 'before' shot to truly appreciate this remarkable transformation, but this cloud white dream has absolutely no affiliation with it's former self. Talk about extreme makeover. And, just like on TV, they did it in record time. The demolition began on a Saturday and the transformation was revealed at a huge house party only 6 days later. The work was completed by two savvy men who were also juggling full time jobs at the time. How the hell did they pull this off? "No sleep", was one comment that I heard.

I was called in on day 2, when the shutoff valve was not really shutting off the water. Having completed a 9 week plumbing course at Central Tech, I am the most logical person to call in this situation. I got out my propane torch and plumbing supplies and rode off on my bike, to see if I could help. I cut the pipe and tried to solder a cap on it, so Matthew could tile the floor without water dripping onto it. But, it kept leaking. Just a slow drip leak, so we tied a rag around it and he carried on. The plumber came a few days later to install the new toilet and sink, and he informed us that you can't get the copper hot enough if there is any water in the plumbing system. We did turn off the water and drain the pipes in the basement, but our fatal error was not draining all the water upstairs too. Lesson learned, if I am ever brave enough to do more plumbing!

My favorite part of this story was that Matthew rented a paint sprayer so that he could cover the spray foam insulation and the ceiling joists. Major overkill for a room that is only 4' by 3'. I was told that a gallon of paint was sprayed in a matter of minutes. The whole room was raining white. Imagine that.

Just as a reminder, the homeowners have placed a framed photo of the former bathroom just outside the door, so you can really appreciate the transformation. Maybe they'll send me a copy to post here!

Pink on pink on pink -- in the bathroom too?

Believe it or not, this is our main bathroom. It is a large bathroom, for such a small house. The original bathroom was about 1/3 the size, but the previous owner combined it with the small bedroom at the back of the house and moved the toilet to sit in front of the large window. And then he filled it with pink fixtures and tiles, and topped it off with pink & white striped wall paper with a pink floral border. All new and all very well installed. But the same 80's cabinets like we have in the kitchen. It is bright & airy, and very very pink!

Foolishly, I thought that it would be easy to make modifications to this room. With such a big space, there is plenty of potential. Although, the more I research bathrooms, the more I realize how expensive they are to remodel. The window opens onto a flat roof over the kitchen/sunroom. It would make a great deck. Too bad that I don't believe in lottery tickets, because I have no idea where the money for that project will come from.

There is definitely a strong colour scheme at work here. Unfortunately, the burgundy mini-blinds are open in these photos, so you don't get the full effect.

Once we get a few more murals down, hopefully we'll find the energy & creativity to de-pink this room. All suggestions are welcome. But for now, we'll just use it as extra storage for the furniture of the room that we are painting at the moment.




P.S. And why not top it off with a wooden toilet seat?