Bathroom remodel . . . the saga continues

There are things that most of the HGTV type shows about remodeling never really touch on in their 40 to 60 minute shows.  Most of these shows (my wife watches, I don’t) seem to nicely wrap things up in the quick one episode.  What they forget to tell everyone is the little things that creep into daily life that slows down the process of getting things done.

I have been involved in remodeling projects for many years now and things hardly progress in a nice linear flow on most projects, large or small.  There are the little disagreements between the parties on things like color, maybe how something should be torn out or what additional damage was discovered once the area was opened up.  In some residential projects between husband and wife it is that understanding, sometimes unspoken . . . for that plea to call in a professional to come in and complete the job. 

These shows seem to wrap up everything in one quick segment.  Lost on the cutting room floor are the many details and problems dealt with to get to a completed project.  There is one show that shows the mishaps in a fairly realistic manner called Renovation Realities. 

I found a couple more pictures of the master bathroom before things started and also will include a few more demo pictures showing the extent of what I am doing.

Old Shower Tile showing bench

Old Shower with contrasting tiles

My first bathroom progressed quickly but the second one started like gang busters (literally) with everyone picking up a hammer or chisel busting up tiles and sheetrock. 

Taylor on one of her good days helping demo shower

Deb removing tile & sheetrock

After my wife had the insulation out (a nasty job but one she enjoyed as she learned what goes into these projects).

One of the problems encountered during the demolition was finding the haphazard way things were built back in the early days of Alaska’s settlement.  As you can see from this picture after we had gotten to the bare wall on the outside of the house that things were just slapped together with whatever was available at the time.  The framing is not “normal” in that the studs normally run the full vertical length but these were made with scrap pieces and the outside original siding looks like things left over from a fire pit with burn marks on some of the pieces.  The house has additional new siding over the original but you can see it was not built by a craftsman carpenter at the time.  This is another example of that frontier spirit that built Alaska with whatever was available.

Walls stripped bare and shows “old time Alaska” building methods.

Having some fun now with major part of the room torn apart, next is tearing out the wall for the pocket door and making a big “hole” in my bedroom wall.

Ice