Another Simple DIY Project

Rob and I swore that we would be doing no major projects around the house this year.  The family project took a lot out of us and we needed a break.  We recently got a new garage door and that was supposed to be our biggest thing this year- and that's not bad because someone else did ALL the work.  Well, we made it halfway through the year and now we have a big project again.  About two weeks ago we thought we would build a pergola over part of our backyard patio.  After working on that for a while, we decided our half-bath needed attention more than the backyard did.  Despite trying to spruce it up, it has never been an area I have been totally happy with.  Here it is at its best.



Not so bad, I know (be glad you can't smell it though).  Rex is restricted to using the half-bath only and let's just say it was not so fresh in there.  The toilet is original (pretty sure on that) and needed to be replaced anyhow.  We thought there were some flooring issues too that would have to be addressed in the immediate toilet vicinity but still we were not anticipating too much work to be done in there.  We had extra floor tiles and picked up a new toilet at Lowe's and began our project this past Sunday.  As Rob began to peel up the vinyl floor tiles we installed 3.5 years ago, we realized we had a MAJOR problem.  I am trying to be delicate here but I can't find any other way to put it- all the times my darling boy had missed the toilet, the pee went in between those tiles and soaked into the flooring below.  This wasn't a total surprise because I couldn't ever get rid of the pee smell and I suspected that is what was going on.  I just didn't think it would be so bad.  There was only option left.  Get rid of all of it.

So here's what the bathroom looks like today.

The washer and dryer have been removed and put on craigslist since we don't use them anyhow.  The toilet and sink cabinet were both demo'ed and removed.  We probably still have more flooring to remove and we are currently in a debate over what to do about the shelves and cabinets still on the wall.  I say take it all out and start fresh but Rob is worried about all the wall patching he will have to do.  I understand, but I still think they need to go.  We have our floor tile picked out and a sink too.  After a lot of shopping around and discussion, we have decided to go with a pedestal sink in there for easier clean-up.  Same reason for going with tile on the floor now.  And most likely there will be tile on the wall too.  I told Rob, "I want impermeable surfaces in here so this doesn't ever happen again."  I still have another boy to potty-train!  I did however convince Rob we don't need to install a floor drain in the middle of the room so the whole place could just be hosed down.  Funny, but not necessary.

Let's discuss smell neutralization for a moment though.  It was horrible in there and we were worried everything down to, and including, the subfloor was going to have to go.  We sprayed everything down with a white vinegar/water solution then used some ZorbX and the smell is totally gone now, less than 48 hours later.  I don't know what in the heck they use in the ZorbX but that stuff is a miracle in a bottle.  If you have a smelly place and need some help with it, get some of this stuff at Lowe's.

So much for no major projects this year.  This is really just going to be phase 1 of the bathroom overhaul. In a few years we will move the sink over where the washer and dryer used to be (right next to the door) and have a shower in there too.  But that requires a plumber and a lot more work and money that we are not up for right now.  And we don't really need the shower in there at this point anyhow.  Looks like I will have a lot to blog about for home projects again now!