Bathroom remodel

[JOHNNIE36]

A few weeks back I posted that we were in the process of remodeling our master bathroom. DW has hated the garden tub since we bought the house. Never use the tub and it was hard to get in and out just to clean that area. She thought it would open the area to make it appear larger and a walk in shower would be better and easier to use in years to come.
We decided to bite the bullet. Called in a designer who wanted $1000 just to do the layout. Thought I'd save that money and do the design ourselves. Attaching some photos from start to finish.

[Ally]

Very nice! We did a similar remodel about 4 years ago and really enjoy it. Great job!

[Htown Harry]

Looks great, Johnnie!

I have a similar layout and I have been thinking of something like this. The tub only gets used to give the dog a bath.

My only difference will be that the shower and the tub are aligned along a flat wall.

A few questions:

I suppose a walk-in like this doesn't use a conventional pre-cut shower pan. What did you use?

The shower head moved. I'm guessing you routed pipes around under the window to a spot on the narrow wall opposite from the original location. Any special issues in dealing with an exterior wall?

The small white rectangles on the new half-wall - cutouts for mounting a towel rack?

The Don Quixote tile mosaic looks great. I'm especially impressed if the mosaic is inlaid into the field tiles. Who's the creative one in your family?

[Aiming_4_55]

Very nice work Johnnie!

Did you do the work yourself or contract it out?

What was the budget for that?

I saw some clearance tiles at Home Depot this weekend when I picked up some charcoal for some bbq'g and thought that could be a nice winter project.

[utrecht]

What are those 2 with rectangle things inside the shower? Electrical recepticals?

[TromboneAl]

Quote:

...a walk in shower would be better and easier to use in years to come.

With the old shower, did you have to climb over the glass?

And good luck getting that image out of your heads.

[Buckeye]

Very nice! Did you put in fancy showerheads...multiple nozzles, etc?

[JOHNNIE36]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Htown Harry Looks great, Johnnie! I have a similar layout and I have been thinking of something like this. The tub only gets used to give the dog a bath. My only difference will be that the shower and the tub are aligned along a flat wall. A few questions: I suppose a walk-in like this doesn't use a conventional pre-cut shower pan. What did you use? The shower head moved. I'm guessing you routed pipes around under the window to a spot on the narrow wall opposite from the original location. Any special issues in dealing with an exterior wall? The small white rectangles on the new half-wall - cutouts for mounting a towel rack? The Don Quixote tile mosaic looks great. I'm especially impressed if the mosaic is inlaid into the field tiles. Who's the creative one in your family?

Thanks! The shower floor took a little work. There was a shower pan in the old shower that was removed and then the carpenters had to chisel out a lot of concrete to accept the larger area floor area and slope to the drain. The shower floor was constructed by the tile setter. He actually chiseled out more concrete at the entrance and then poured thinset (I think) about 3" think and shaped it to the new floor slope down to the drain. After it cured, they installed a think rubber bladder (from Home Depot) and took it up the side walls about 16". Then the Durarock went back in over the bladder. More thinset on top of the bladder (about 2") and that provided the finished floor shape.

Moving the shower head and mixing valve to the opposite wall was pretty
simple. The carpenters also did the plumbing. They just mounted 1 x 3
furing strips on the exterior and cut them out to provide access for the 1/2" pipes.

The white rectangles visible in the wall are for the towel bar. Knew we couldn't use it as a towel bar due to location but intended it for washcloths and possibly a shower mat. The mat is not necessary because of the texture of the floor tile.

The mosaic on the outer wall was my wife's idea. She's the decorator and she spied this mosaic at the tile dealer. It's designed to go at the bottom of swimming pools but she had another use for this. The tile setter is very good. We knew this as he tiled out entire house and uses very tight grout lines. He had never done a mosaic on a wall but said he knew just how to go about it. On the outer wall, he started with this section. He laid the tile out on the garage floor and placed the mosaic on top, got it centered and then traced around and inside the design. His tile cutter is very good also. I'd guess at about 40-50 small tile pieces had to be set in and around the mosaic. Took him the better part of a day to do this one section of wall. I think it came out great. He said he even impressed himself. When the entire job was finished, he charged me an extra $250 to do this mosaic and I tipped him another $50.

All of the work was contracted. I saved on the design and layout and the carpenters did all the plumbing and wiring (we added a couple outlets by the cabinet) and added the fan. They had a lot of demo and hauling also.
Carpenter including material $3400
Tile setter $1500
Tile including mosaic $1350
Fan, shower head and $ 450
mixer valve
Tempered design glass $ 645

Total project $7345

[Katsmeow]

That is really nice.

On the house we are building (still working on plans) we are going to have a 7 x 5 shower with a 3 ft wide opening but no door and barrier free (i.e. no lip going into shower).

On your shower do you get any water in the bathroom? How far away is the shower head from the door opening? (Things we are still trying to finalize on our shower). Also on the last picture what is the what with the glass on the left just past the vanity?

[JOHNNIE36]

Buckeye, I had big ideas about fancy shower heads, jets, etc. and it just wouldn't work out. We went with a Delta shower head about 10" in diameter and it has a separate removable shower head in the center on a stainless steel flexible hose. I wanted that in order to spray down the area after showering. It wasn't very expensive and it works great. DW loves it. For our shower area, it's perfect.

[JOHNNIE36]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TromboneAl With the old shower, did you have to climb over the glass? And good luck getting that image out of your heads.

TboneAl, I've got a hard time getting that image out of my mind! In reality, the old shower with the glass door was really a safety hazzard. You had to step up and over the sill which was about 8" high and about foot wide. All cultured marble and very sliippery. That was a step-in type opposed to the walk-in type. The first carpenter that quoted the job made a suggestion to make the entrance wider and make it wheelchair accessible. May help us in the future and would be a good selling point.
Need a 36" opening to meet new standards. I saved the stainless steel hand rails from the old shower and will consider remounting them in the future.

[Free To Canoe]

Beautiful. I especially like the tile heron artwork.
Funny in that we were thinking of going in the opposite direction in that we have an upstairs and downstairs tub but no tub of any kind. Sometimes it is nice to heat up ones bones, especially in the winter.

[JOHNNIE36]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katsmeow That is really nice. On the house we are building (still working on plans) we are going to have a 7 x 5 shower with a 3 ft wide opening but no door and barrier free (i.e. no lip going into shower). On your shower do you get any water in the bathroom? How far away is the shower head from the door opening? (Things we are still trying to finalize on our shower). Also on the last picture what is the what with the glass on the left just past the vanity?

We get no water in the bathroom from the shower. That was the main reason for moving the shower head to the opposite wall. You would want the shower head spraying in the opposite direction of the shower entrance. Our shower has no door or lip. It goes right from floor tile to the shower floor tile. I was going to put in a transition strip and the tile setter talked us out of it. No humps or bumps going into the shower. The shower starts it's slope to the drain right at the entrance. The outside wall is 80" high. That's 62" wall and 18" glass on top of it. The wall height was increased to allow for the blue heron mosaic.

The glass you see at the left of the vanity is a cabinet for towels, etc. They are leaded glass panels that came from an old theater in Tampa. We had it made by a cabinet maker who constructed the doors to accommodate the glass panels. DW had it made as a display case and now it's been converted.

[W2R]

Spectacular! A shower like that must be heavenly. The price doesn't seem very high either, considering all that was done. All in all, a tremendous success.

[JOHNNIE36]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Free To Canoe Beautiful. I especially like the tile heron artwork. Funny in that we were thinking of going in the opposite direction in that we have an upstairs and downstairs tub but no tub of any kind. Sometimes it is nice to heat up ones bones, especially in the winter.

I took it to mean that you have two showers and no tub in the house at all. Our guest bath is a tub/shower combo. We use the tub in the laundry for the dogs. My daughter has the garden tub and only uses it for the dogs. She has six. A German Shepard, American Bulldog and four Chihuahua's. She and my SIL do them on the same day, one at a time, on an assembly line system. I'd like to see that some time.

[JOHNNIE36]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Spectacular! A shower like that must be heavenly. The price doesn't seem very high either, considering all that was done. All in all, a tremendous success.

Thanks W2R. I remember you saying you were thinking about doing some kind of remodel in your bathroom. You know, I could have lived with what we had, but I am smart enough to pick my battles. This is not one I wanted to fight. I heard about this since we moved in, but as long as you can take a shower without having to fight too many things, it was good enough for me. Not! DW will only put up with something so long and then it's got to happen. We reached that point.

[eytonxav]

The job looks terrific, and I really like your choice of tile & art work. You seem to have gotton a good buy and pulled off a high end remodel for reasonable $s.

I have one of those unused tubs as well, and if we were not going to downsize next year, I'd probably do exactly like you did.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JOHNNIE36 Thanks W2R. I remember you saying you were thinking about doing some kind of remodel in your bathroom. You know, I could have lived with what we had, but I am smart enough to pick my battles. This is not one I wanted to fight. I heard about this since we moved in, but as long as you can take a shower without having to fight too many things, it was good enough for me. Not! DW will only put up with something so long and then it's got to happen. We reached that point.

Yes, I want a bigger shower, but I don't think I have room to do that. At least, I haven't figured out a way yet although I am still thinking.

I would love a huge shower with no "lip" like yours. Good choice, especially for old age if you are still living there. I think you will grow to love it as much as she does.

[calmloki]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Htown Harry Looks great, Johnnie! .... The Don Quixote tile mosaic looks great. I'm especially impressed if the mosaic is inlaid into the field tiles. Who's the creative one in your family?

Does look great!

Hey HTown - what's it say about our eyes that I saw Don Quixote as well, complete with barber's bowl helmet? Looking closer, now that I know it's a heron, I do see the heron and rushes...

[JOHNNIE36]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calmloki Does look great! Hey HTown - what's it say about our eyes that I saw Don Quixote as well, complete with barber's bowl helmet? Looking closer, now that I know it's a heron, I do see the heron and rushes...

That's funny! Wait till I tell DW that "nobody saw it as a blue heron. they all thought it was Don Quixote".