Here is our wonderful 1895 Dutch Colonial home in Ypsilanti,Michigan. This has been our home since July 1994. This blog shows the process of replumbing the entire house and remodeling the second floor bathroom.
Here is the lovely pink bathroom- demolition just underway.
The problems began when the shower would leak through the walls and floor into the kitchen below. Several attempts to fix the leak were fruitless. So one Saturday when I had had enough I grabbed my sledge hammer and Sawzall and went to work.
The plans for remodeling developed bit by bit. The original plans were to just repaint the walls and install a clawfoot tub we had picked up for $60.00 at a flea market. After a thorough examination of the plumbing-(all galvanized and cast iron) It was decided that a gutting of the entire house's plumbing system was in order. I am not a plumber but my son-in-law-Greg and I played plumbers on this project.
After systematically mapping out the entire plumbing system from the water meter onwards-we determined what types of connectors we'd need. We were able to replumb the entire house in one weekend!
The next weekend I pulled all the dead galvanized and cast iron line out and took them to the salvage yard.
After the new lines were all run it was time to demo the walls and the ceiling. What a mess that job was plaster really is heavy to remove-But with a great deal of help from son-O'Neill it was removed...
While all the walls were bare and the floor was open- we ran a new electrical line from the panel in the basement to the bathroom so the room had it's own circuit.
O'Neill helped me with the subfloor. Then I framed and installed a new window-
Over the summer my SIL Marcy and BIL Mark came for a visit from California. They insisted on spending a their brief time with us helping on the project- Marcy sanded and painted the old clawfoot tub.
Mark helped with more wiring, drywall and trim work.
The next day Greg came over too and the three of us got the ceiling drywalled-
After their trip to the UP Marcy and Mark stopped back here and spent a final afternoon helping out before leaving for California.
Marcy started some painting over the tub area and Mark helped me hang some crown molding.
It was a great Blessing to have their help and company!
I finished up wall treatments and painting the then sons Spencer and O'Neill helped tile the floor. We started with Ditra underlayment-
The Ditra and mortar set overnight. Sunday afternoon O'Neill, Spencer and I layed down the tile.
