Back To The Storage Room (And Two Costly Lessons I’ve Learned From Past Room Remodels)

In the event you’re new round right here, right here’s a fast recap to get you on top of things. That is the toilet I’m engaged on. It was once our foremost visitor lavatory, however then I did some transforming and turned our three-bedroom home right into a one-bedroom home with all three unique bedrooms subsumed into one giant master suite suite. That left this unique visitor lavatory inside our bed room suite, which is a really awkward structure, to say the least. So I’m turning this lavatory right into a much-needed storage room.

The left wall that had the self-importance and bathroom within the lavatory could have cupboards that look one thing like this…

And the alternative wall that now has the tub could have cupboards that look one thing like this…

Anyway, it has shocked me a bit to seek out that tearing out this lavatory, which was the second room rework that I tackled after we purchased this home, hasn’t been troublesome for me in any respect. I type of anticipated to really feel some type of disappointment at tearing out all of my laborious work, however it’s been a decade since I did this lavatory, so I really feel nothing however pleasure concerning the future storage room.

The primary factor I acquired achieved yesterday was tearing out this cupboards/shelf space that was simply inside the toilet door to the correct.

All of that’s gone now.

I used to be grateful that I used to be capable of get all of that out with minimal harm to the drywall. I’m actually making an attempt my finest to get this demolition achieved with out having to begin from scratch on all the drywall.

However that brings me to the primary of the 2 huge (and expensive) classes I’ve realized over my years of doing room remodels. Primary…

Building adhesive will not be wanted on trim!

In my early years of DIYing and transforming rooms, I used development adhesive very liberally. Any time I added a chunk of trim to the wall, I’d use development adhesive earlier than nailing the trim to the wall. I used it on each single piece.

I finished doing this just a few years again once I realized that it’s simply not wanted. Once you set up trim, you typically observe the set up with caulking across the trim and the priming and portray the trim. The nails, caulk, primer, and paint are lots to carry that trim in place. Building adhesive is nearly at all times overkill. However I used to apply it to every thing.

Not solely is it an unneeded added price to the mission, but when and if you resolve to take away the trim, that development adhesive is nothing however a nightmare and it’ll destroy the drywall as you attempt to pull that trim off of the wall.

With out the development adhesive, all of this wainscoting may have been pulled off of the partitions with very minimal harm to the partitions. I merely would have needed to rating the caulked lined with a utility knife, pull the trim off of the partitions, do a little bit of sanding, after which the partitions may have been painted (or textured and painted if wall texture is your factor). However due to that development adhesive, I’m left with a a lot greater job.

The identical goes for mirror mastic. I’m not saying that mirror mastic isn’t wanted in some conditions. It was undoubtedly wanted on this mirror with this design that didn’t permit for mirror clips that screw into the wall. However only a dollop of mirror mastic in every nook is sufficient. I can virtually assure you that I put mirror mastic on your entire again of this mirror, which is able to make it a nightmare to take away and can in all probability depart me with utterly destroyed drywall as soon as it’s off.

I’ve realized quite a bit in my years of DIYing, and certainly one of my foremost classes is that this sort of overkill will at all times come again to chew you. It’s simply not wanted, and it provides further expense to a mission.

And lesson quantity two…

All the time set up flooring first (and buy further to maintain readily available)

I do know this isn’t at all times potential, however I positive want I had put in the flooring first, all the best way below the tub, after which put in the tub on prime of the flooring.

Once you don’t set up flooring first and also you don’t take all of it the best way throughout the room, wall to wall, however as an alternative, you place the flooring round fastened gadgets within the room (like vanities, bathtubs, kitchen cupboards, and many others.), it’s going to at all times trigger issues should you resolve to rework and rearrange a room.

I’ll be left with this large space that doesn’t have flooring, so now I’ve to resolve what to do with this ground. Since I can’t discover tile to match this decade-old tile, do I fill in with tile that’s “shut sufficient”? Do I redo your entire ground? I may have saved myself an enormous headache and additional price had I not solely put the tile in first, wall to wall, earlier than putting in the bathtub and different fixtures. However I’ve additionally realized that it’s at all times a good suggestion to buy a few further containers of tile to have readily available for this actual purpose.

However sadly, I’m left with no tile below the bathtub, and no further containers of tile. So now I’ve to determine what I’m going to do about this flooring. I may have saved myself money and time had I spent the additional bit of cash again then and tiled the entire ground and bought a few further containers of tile to maintain readily available. However that’s the DIY life, proper? We stay and be taught from our errors.