As your house gets older you bathrooms may need to be repaired more frequently than other parts of the house. For Brownstones and Old Town Houses we usually recommend repairing bathrooms instead of renovating them, but in case of extensive damage (water leaks, increased moisture, etc.) complete renovation may be a better option. Bathroom projects may be more difficult to perform comparing to other room projects due to lack of enough space for placing tools and equipment and also lack of air circulation. Along other services, we offer you complete renovation of your bathroom, or, if you are DIY type of person you can perform the steps described below by yourself.

Before starting the renovation project, for safety reasons, first of all you need to turn off electricity for the bathroom from the electrical panel and cut off water supply to shower and toilet. Only after that you should remove bathroom fixtures, toilet, sink, cabinets, and shower.

As you cleared the room and there is nothing on your way, you can start carefully demolishing the ceiling, walls and floor. It can be done by sawzall or simply by hammer, but do it gently so you don’t damage piping and wiring behind the surface. There will be a lot of garbage during this process – pieces of drywall, old insulation and tiles – so make sure you have enough contractor garbage bags to remove the waste.

 

Once you reached bare beams you can change old electric wires and water pipes. If you decide to move sink, shower or toilet you will need to redirect water pipes and for that you’ll need to make some additional holes or cuts to the existing framing. It is very important after making these cuts to reinforce the beams by installing support pieces so the framing does not lose its strength and structure.

After piping and wiring is complete you can install new insulation in walls, ceiling and floor. On the wall framing also is recommended to place plastic film on top of the insulation as an additional protection form moisture.

Once the insulation is in place, it’s time to install new drywall on the ceiling and walls. For tiled areas use cement boards called “wonderboard” and for the rest of the area you can use green or purple moisture resistant drywall. On the floor you need to install 2 layers of plywood in perpendicular directions to each other; or you can install one layer of plywood and one layer of “wonder board” or “wonder board lite”.

Next and most important is to build a shower base. First, you need to form a shower base structure with 2×4 pieces screwed through layers of plywood directly to the floor beams. On top of the plywood section that is inside of the shower base, install a metal wire mash and then apply first coat of cement mix. After the cement layer hardens, waterproof the base with shower pan liner as it is shown on the picture.

Then apply final coat of cement on top of pan liner. Once cement is dry cover the shower curb with wonderboard and tile the floor and rest of the base of the shower. Keep in mind that at the beginning you need to adjust the shower drain properly so that the drain is flush with the floor tile.

After the shower base is complete, you can tile the rest of the bathroom floor in similar manner – install metal wire mash against the plywood and apply coat of cement mix. After the cement hardens, lay down the floor tiles. Once the floor is done, you can tile the walls.

The ceiling and parts of the walls that are not getting tiled – likely with green or purple drywall – need to be spackled and prepped for painting. For walls and especially for ceiling, to be moisture resistant, it is very important to use special primer for bathrooms (we recommend Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 White Water-Based Interior/Exterior Primer and Sealer) and Eggshell finish paint (we recommend eggshell paints by Benjamin Moore).

Once you are done with painting part finish up with installing shower cabin, vanity and cabinets, appliances, new fixtures and features.