Bathroom Renovations

One more post before getting back to the fun stuff.... Several months ago, we had a leaky toilet upstairs. We tried to fix this small problem ourselves. Then, about a month ago, I was in L and D's bedroom, trying to fight my way through the mess, when I noticed their bookcases had water damage at the bottom. Bewildered, I started pulling books from the shelves (some of which had mildew growing on them), and took the bookcases out. Mildew all over the back of them. Mildew in the carpet. Nasty mildew smell.

The source of the water is a puzzlement to me. Did it come in through the window? Nothing on the ceiling or walls indicates a water leak. But then, when Ben came home, he cut out the moldy piece of carpet, and broke into the drywall and it was all mush. The studs had black mold growing on them. I wondered to myself if this nasty mold was the source of D's cough that has nagged him for months.

So, the short of it is this: The toilet was leaking for months and months. They had to tear up the floor in the bathroom upstairs, and the sub-floor had so much mold and mildew in it that they had to remove a big section of it around where the toilet had been, and even underneath the tub. Which meant the tile surrounding the tub had to go, and the tub had to be removed, as well as the vanity (which has a lot or water damage and needs to be replaced). The toilet leaked between the wall that separates the bedroom and bathroom downstairs, which meant the flooring in the basement bathroom also had to be removed...which means the toilet and vanity in there had be removed as well. And the carpet in the boys' room.

We are down to one bathroom for 7 people. And it is the master bathroom. We are learning to live around each other and be patient for the toilet and shower. L and D have their beds in the basement family room, which is always a continual mess anyway. Everyone keeps asking when we will have use of the bathrooms again. Who knows. The insurance company isn't very happy with us, and we are waiting on approval for all that needs to be done.

This is the bathroom where the leak started. You can see the newer sub-floor section. All that was cut away while they cleaned the framing and tried to get everything to dry out. It took 7 days of heat, fans, and dehumidifiers to get the framing completely dry.

Where the bathtub was taken out.

The boy's room. There is a void between the walls (of about a foot). The toilet is directly above this void.

Basement bathroom

The vanity in this bathroom is still ok. Somehow, the laminate floor in this bathroom showed no signs of top of water damage. I don't know why the people who finished the basement put laminate flooring in a bathroom, but we will be changing that to tile.