Ltooz
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Bathrooms Remodeling Main Page
Shower Valve Replacement
While trying to fix the leak of the kids bathroom, I broke the valve since it's too old and rusty. I was in shocked, didn't know what to do since I've never had to replace a shower valve before. I didn't have the new valves and I couldn't turn on the water. After taking a deep breath and relax a little, I found a way to block the water, silicon, 8mm bolts and C-clamps while deciding on which brand and valve to get (which took about 1 week). The Moen with presure balancing valve to prevent "Shower Shocks" (when a toilet is flushed or washing machine is on).
After the silicon is cured, we could remove the C-clamps and have a better view on how big of the area we want to cut away. The goal is to make it big enough to access, cut and join these copper pipes to the new valve and a new cement board for the new tiles. Get out the masonry blade and the angle grinder, cut the grout and hammered away, make sure we covered the tub with cloth or towel so we don't get any junk to the drain.
In order to replace with a new valve, we need to remove the old with welded pipe. The original pipes are 1/2", we held the new valve to the old to estimate how long the extension should be and how much we need to cut off the old pipes. Tools we need are the welded kit, thickest 1/2 pipe, hack saw, copper joints w/o stop (so we can slide it totally through one side), 1/2" threaded to 1/2" female pipe connectors, 4 1/2", 5" (1/2") galvanized pipes for the lower spout. We needed 3x 2" copper pipe extension welded to 3 copper connectors for the new shower valve.
Follow the instruction to the T, SAND the copper edges, brushed generously flux around the pipes and the inside the connector, carefully turn on the torch to blue flame, get the solder ready and fire the connection for a few minutes, hold the flux at the joint and the heat amazingly melted the solder and the flux sucked it in all around the pipe. We didn't even have to move the solder around. It was a great experience for me. AMAZING!!! Like they said, the first one is the hardest, the other 2 were a piece of cake.
Slide the copper joint w/o stop to the old pipes, SAND the old and new pipe edges, apply flux generously around both new and old pipes to be connected. Set the copper joint to be as center as possible between the new and old pipes. Make sure the position of the new valve is centered through out the TOP, BOTTOM, RIGHT, LEFT, FRONT, BACK (as close to the old valve position as possible). We had to do it 3 times to get it right, the threaded connector must have lots of Teflon tape around the thread and tighten them all the way if not after we welded the connection, the valve leaked at the threaded connector. The second time we tried to weld the connector to the valve body, and it's not hot enough to melt the solder to the threaded connector. We didn't want to heat it too much since the warning on the new valve "excessive heat may cause valve malfunction".Use foil to protect the wood from open flames.
Finally, the moment of truth... installed the shower head, the down spout, go outside of the house, turn on the main water valve, run up stairs and hope you don't hear water running or squirting anywhere because you're doing this by yourself while your wife and the kids are at the beach. NO LEAKS, what a relief, turn on the faucet, change shower, NO LEAKS top or bottom. Turn on/off a few times. It's totally done!!!!
Next, the cement board and tiles will be a walk in the park....
We're planning to change the tub and the tiles later, the original wall was NOT cemented board. We just use a piece of dry wall for now.
Cut all the tiles for the valve & the spout. Lay them out first then start to use silicon for the edges and mastic for the tiles and lay away.
Moen Shower kit = $142 @ Lowes
Extension galvanized pipes (2x5") & copper pipe & join pipe, teflon tape =$20.
Plumber welded kit = $20.00
Black 4" tiles = .38 x 15 (3 for spares)
Hacksaw/tilecutter/grinder/sand paper/pliers/screw drivers/silicon/mortar/reciprocal saw/chisel/ from other jobs.
August 24, 2008
Kids Bathroom
The last bathroom is the kids bathroom. Dual sinks.
The works
Buff the granite before finalizing.
Buff again.
Total cost:
- Granite = $50.
- Sinks(2)= $150.
- Faucets = $180.
- Mirrors = $120.
- Hardware = $50.
August 28,08
Cheers,
The works
Buff the granite before finalizing.
Buff again.
Total cost:
- Granite = $50.
- Sinks(2)= $150.
- Faucets = $180.
- Mirrors = $120.
- Hardware = $50.
August 28,08
Cheers,
HALF BATH
Medicine Cabinet
Granite & wood support: since the slab is small and with lot of cutting and drilling, the stone needs support under for not breaking off between its natural joints, we need to cut a 1/2" plywood plate to put under the stone. We went to a nice granite supplier and get a broken piece for free, all we need was 22" x 29" for the vanity.
Get everything ready for painting, new toilet and the painters are ready.
When painting is done, sink and top are ready for installation.
Set up for high performance toilet Jacuzzi Era (elongated) 800MaP ADA, short 9" water line is replaced with 12"
Set up the mirror and utility bar (jars of mints, floss, antacids...) for guests.
All good to go, it did come out better than we thought. A few paint touch up and re-stain the cabinet and we're ready for B. second birthday's party.
Total costs:
-Granite = 0
-Decolav 1402 CWH sink = $75.
-Faucet = $48.
-Mirror = $40.
-Utility bar & jars = $40.
-Toilet = $163.
-Misc = $20.
Working together and finished a project = Priceless.
Cheers,
August 3rd,08
MASTER BATH
The faucets are leaking and the vanities look old, it's time to give them new faces since we do spend lots of time in the bathroom. We want to replace the Formica with granite top and rectangular sinks. We can buy pre-fab ones for very good price, but the stones we want they don't make. We have to get a slab, cut them ourselves to accommodate the rectangular sinks or have them customized for about an arm or a leg
. We want to keep our body intact
so we decide to do it ourselves. Old Master
To the wife's new designs
Granite Imperial Gold & Decolav 1402 bone color sinks
Cabinet will be re-stained to Bombay Mahogany Gloss (trial version)
Since I've never done any of these things before, I asked for a few broken granite pieces from the stone house and try to cut, drill, polish first to see how it goes. We officially started the work on 6/7/08. The granite slab comes with round bullnose which doesn't go well with rectangular sinks, we want to cut it. The thickness is more than what dry tile cutter can handle, therefore we have to use the 7" circular saw which has lower RPM and less cutting power. We got a 7" segmented diamond dry blade for this job.
It does take longer to cut since we do it every carefully and the circular saw is only rated less than 5000 RPM. Although it's a dry blade, we still spray water to cool it down.
Bullnose Cutting
For the final cut, the cut out strip must be held by someone to have the straight final cut, if not, it will tear the corner.
Now we need to polish the edges. There are a set of 50,100,200,400,800,1500, buffer dry grit, I didn't get the 3000. Since I don't have the variable speed grinder, I bought a buffer and sander from Harbor Tool for $28 which has max of 3000 rpm.
Bullnose Polishing
Use the 50,100,200 to get out all the cut marks and grooves, after 400 & 800, you can see the granite color showing, it's great after 1500 grit, run smoothly from left to right twice for each pad and they will come out very nice and shiny with the buff pad. I got the black buff, it did leave black dust on to the color, I had to order the white buff pad to finish the job.
Next is to cut the hole for the sink. We used 3/4 diamond drill bit to cut the 4 corners of the sink according to the sink template.Since we have to grind and buff the edges, we would cut inside the template lines about 1/8"-1/4". Make sure the hole is centered and fit the vanity with faucets correctly. We checked and checked about 2-3 times with all the measurements.
I made a template for the 3/4" drill bit by drilling a 3/4" hole in one of the practiced granite, you can use wood because it's easier to cut. This template will make sure the drill bit doesn't wander (slip) around when we start drilling on the surface of the granite. Align the template right over the drawn hole, clamp it down and start drilling without any scuffed marks.
When 4 holes are done, we can use the dry tile saw to cut the sides of the sink. The trick is to lift the blade all the way up, align the blade with the drawn line at one corner (leave room for the blade to come down), turn on the blade and slowly and carefully lower the blade to touch the surface and cut the granite at the line. When the blade goes down far enough to cut through the thickness of the slab, lock the blade and start cutting it along the line. Start the same procedure for all 4 sides. Make sure don't over cut pass the drilled circles. When all sides were done, we decided not to have the round corners, then we can cut the corners with the sharp angles.
Drill holes for Faucets 1 3/8" diameter with diamond drill bit. Also use a template for this one by drilling a hole in one of a practiced piece just like the sink's 4 corners.
When we're tired of working outside, we go inside and work on re-staining the vanity wood.
1st thin coat
2nd coat
It's time to remove the big mirrors before we cut all the backsplashes off the Formica support (because the backsplash actually support the big mirror). It's heavy, we have to do it with gloves, move it down to the floor, cut it in halves before we can feel safely moving them down stairs and out.
My wife decided not to have the medicine cabinet any more and she plans to put up some art decor instead, I have to remove the cabinet, fill the hole with a piece of dry wall, spray it with textured plaster and get it ready for paint. We make sure the thickness of the drywall fit the old one and 1/2" was it. Cut, grind, nailed, taped, sanded and it came out pretty good. The tape actually make the joint look smooth, make sure you have the tape, they sell the big roll and we only used 4 strips.
Removed the old light fixtures and the big mirror, cut out the holes for the sinks and get ready for wall painting. The Formica generated so much white dust when being cut by the saw. We had to close the closets and put a cover in the entrance and still most our clothes were covered. If we used the plywood as the base, it would be better for hole cutting and cleaner.
Putting up the lights fixtures and sinks supporters
The hole for the sinks nuts is 5/16th, we used the drill to drill straight through, knocked the nut in slowly, tight and straight. They supposed to come with threaded studs, but instead, they came with the cylindrical nuts which worked out well also.
Cut the hole, aligned, centered, cut, aligned, centered and put the top in to trial and error until we get it perfect.
Prepare the glue for cement board to place marble tiles
The model of the company
The old plumbing don't fit the new sinks drain, we have to cut the pipe and connect the new settings
The Decolav rims are thick (1.5"), to cut the holes to clear the rims for the faucets, the nozzle will not go in far enough into the sink. Instead of milling the sink rims themselves, we raised the mounting up with a marble piece which add some accents to the sink which came out great. BTW, we glued the marble piece to the granite surface with liquid nails.
Place the marble tiles, backsplashes and mirrors and voila
Replace the ivory switch with a new black dimmer switch, black outlets and put back all cabinet drawers and we have a nice bathroom.
Well, it took 4 weekends and total of
Granite = $350.00 FGY in Union City, CA (Kitty saleslady) Nice & easy to deal with.
Marble = $60.00
Faucets = $ 300.00 (Lowes) Oil Rubbed Bronze Peerless Windemere model
Sinks = $ 140.00 from http://www.fixtureuniverse.com/products/view.aspx?family=209429 (very good price and prompt delivery). There are many sites that quoted lower prices but with shipping charge is more. This website gave the best deal and services.
Mirrors = $120.00 (TJmax Home goods in Mercado center)
Plumbing = $60.00
Lights = $140.00 (Lowes)
Switch = $30.00 (Lowes)
Tools:
Tile cutter (4"@11,000RPM) = $40.00 Harborfreight
Sander/Polisher = $29.00 Harborfreightusa
Bombay Mahogany = $10.00
Jasco Paint remover = $7.00
Polishing dry pads/blades/holes cutters = $120.00 from McGillsWarehouse.com It's a mistake to get 1.1mm pads, too thin, wear out fast and shipping charge is high therefore, I didn't save any money and actually cost me more to order more pads. The $2 4" segmented diamond blade is good and the ok diamond core 1 3/8" drill bit
Polishing pads = $60.00 from www.toolocity.com pads are 2.2mm thick and last longer with lower shipping charge and the package price is great. If the stone is light color, make sure you get the white buffer instead of black because the black does leave black dust on your stone.
Misc blades = $30.00
Misc parts = $100.00
COMPLETE THE JOB WITH WIFE & KIDS "WOW" = PRICELESS
CHEERS,
7/6/08
