I have posted about this bathroom before and now I have done something about it and I'll show you what and how to do it!
This is what the bathroom looked like when we moved in.
Original cabinet and toilet.
Base paint the only paint on the walls.
Peeling linoleum floors.
I will show you how we gutted and rebuilt our bathroom including tiling the floor step by step with instructions!
So here is day one of what turned into one awesome bathroom!
Step one I sold the old toilet and cabinet/sink/faucet on Craigslist. Not for much but I got paid, they got a cheap cabinet to redo or use in a shop and they hauled it away! BTW when you pull out the sink and toilet you will want to stuff the drains with something or it will reek.
Next step: pull up the quarter round and base board then the floors!
I used a hammer, chisel, right angled crow bar and a flat head screw driver. My goal, and it was achieved, was to be able to reuse the materials. I found it easiest to work from a corner then go out towards the middle of the baseboard/quarter round. I used a chisel or flat headed screw driver to get the piece away from the wall enough to get the crow bar in and gently and slowly made my way down the piece. DO NOT pull hard. If you do then the piece you are working on will snap, especially with quarter round. It is a slow process but since I don't have the tools to be able and make my own new set of trim it saved me TONS!
Pulled off the cover to the electrical light socket. I left the base for now because I knew this process would take more than one day.
One thing you always have to check for in any room, when water is involved, is water damage. This looked bad but we had it looked at and our "guy" said that it was just stained but no damage to the wood.
Next step I cleared off the base boards as much as possible. I actually vacuumed after I swept. It is really important to have no debris on the floor for this next step: putting your Durrock down. (You may have to get a toilet extender flange)
Before you put your Durrock down you need to measure the room. Every divot and corner. I drew a not to scale picture of the room and marked what each little part was next to where it was depicted on the crewed drawing. The hardest part about this is actually the toilet hole but if you have a string it isn't too bad. Measure away from the wall to the plastic toilet ring flange (the white plastic part surrounding the actual hole) and from the other side of the flange to the other wall. This gap in distance gives you the diameter and half it and you get the radius/the length you should make your string. (ex: if the full length of the room is 15 ft and on one side of the flange is 18in and the other side of the flange is 13ft you can know that the diameter is 6in and the radius is 3in) Tie a string around a marker measure out the radius length and add a bit more room (rather over cut then under, believe me!) and cut it off. Measure off the distance from the wall to the flange then add the radius length to that and you know where to hold down the string! Draw a circle!
Now to cutting. All you need is a box cutter. Mark your areas score them and break it off (remember during the process of moving your Durrock around that if you bend it, even a little bit, and it gets any sort of not perfectly straight look about it you can't use it). With the circle cut: OVER cut. In this case bigger is almost always better ;P
Now lay your pieces out and screw them down with these bad boys. I put one in about every 15 inches.
Let them sit over night and then screw them down as far as possible. If one won't go down remove it and screw in a new one.
Next step use all purpose wall puddy over the screws to make the areas flat again and puddy in any holes or gaps you might have.
Next use all purpose puddy tape between the different pieces on the seems. They sell durrock tape but you can use just regular wall tape as well, works just as well. Put down a bit of the puddy lay the tape and then more puddy try and get it as level as possible.
After this long busy day enjoy some rest before you get back to work tomorrow!
