More construction around the house

[Rsquared]

This is a long one boys.......so strap yourself in.

So....I've got to the point that I've had to start shredding my $hithouse at the ol ranch. I've found some water damage, and I'm constantly amazed that everyday that I climb into the shower, I don't wind up in the basement. Yeah, the sub-floor is completely fuked. Now keep in mind, that my bathroom is all completely modern...........circa 1961. All original equipment. So what's not to like? It's vintage (a classic) no less. So anyway, I've ordered the new fixtures (FUK me on the price!) and I'm waiting cause it's a 4 to 6 week lead time. Fine. I've gotta shred the old place anyway. So I figure that I'll take my time and come up with a good design for the new $hit, and start tearing out the old $hit while I wait. Mainly cause my new idea/design is gonna be a little (a little I said) out of the ordinary for some plain white trash residential stuff.

 

Now my plan is to replace the tub with a full length shower. Last time I checked, I'm an adult and I don't take baths (no insult to my brethren here that may do).

http://www.homedepot.com/p/KOHLER-Salient-30-in-x-60-in-Single-Threshold-Shower-Receptor-in-Cashmere-K-9054-K4/205747630?keyword=K-9054-K4

So I'm planning on wrapping some sheet-style flooring material around the walls. A look and design that some wouldn't think of. I plan on wrapping the shower area, for a soft-style wall look, plus using it for the floor so it matches.

This is the stuff that I'm thinking of. But I haven't made the final decision.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/G-Floor-10-ft-x-24-ft-Coin-Commercial-Grade-Slate-Grey-Garage-Floor-Cover-and-Protector-GF75CN1024SG/203450706?keyword=GF75CN1024SG

Now, the point to all of this, is the attachment method. And I was thinking of trying to cheat something at the corners (the radius)....yes I wanna round it off. I'm planning on using 1/4" plywood for the walls. You have to use contact cement to set the vinyl sheet in place (and it doesn't like gypsum/sheetrock). And I was thinking of just tacking (just at the edges of the radius) the sheet vinyl down. But that would leave a little void in the radius. No big deal huh? This leads me to a thought. Well let me tell you..........................................................................

 

That story led to this one. I decided to take my hand at building a motorized pocket-door a while back. Yes, yes.......some of you are gonna hit me with "you're a Trek nerd" building motherfucker (see pic 5 of my desk). And yes, that was my original basis of design. And no.....I wasn't going for the swoosh/swoosh pneumatic sound that you heard on TV. But an actual, functional motorized pocket door. So...building it from modern day controls (keep in mind that I do commercial controls for a living) and material, it was built using a plywood (furniture grade) laminate with "relay-logic" controls (Shepp will understand that). I built it to 1/2 scale as a prototype to test my ideas. I came up with the design. I would have an "open" button, a "close" button (for when hold was pressed), and a "hold" position. The hold position would open it, and leave it open until the close button was pressed. Sounds simple enough right? I even built in proximity sensors so if you were in the doorway (like an elevator), the door would stay open.

 

Well, this is where the moral of the story comes around (keep with me now....I said this was a long one). As I said, I was building this thing using relay-logic. So if you pressed one of the buttons....the associated relay would "fire". Now....using a 12 volt DC motor, my "relay-logic" wiring was reversing the polarity to the door motor to drive it open or closed. Once again, Shepp can probably appreciate this at this point. I, at not time, thought that I would have to deal with both (or all) relays firing at once. After all.......why would anybody push more than one button at a time? Right?

 

Well......................NO!. I no sooner (literally) finished putting the last screw into place on this half size prototype. When a buddy of mine walked in the door. Now keep in mind, I've known this guy (dumbass) since I was a teenager. We grew up together. It's been about 35 years or so now. He walks in.......says Hi.......and proceeds to hit the open and close button at the same time (saying what does this do.........even though I labeled them Open/Close/Hold). The same time. THE SAME FUCKING TIME! I'm not kidding. It was that fast.            FUK!!!!!!!!!!    I've since replaced the relay logic with a control board that I can program (for obvious reasons).

 

So.....I circle back to thinking about "cheating" and just tacking the wall material just at the radius of the inner corners. And this tells me that I have to put some kind of wood blocking behind it. Otherwise.....somebody will eventually poke their finger through it. Not wondering what may be behind it.........just because they're human......and STUPID!. People do the dumbest $hit....and with no reason.

 

Sorry for the long winded story fella's.....but I figured that you could appreciate it.

 

 

Edited September 13, 2015 by Rsquared

[slugger43]

Just did one of those myself last year.  poop-canned the tub, reframed, put in a 36 x 48 shower.  I sprung for the entire four-piece shower, and I'm glad I did.

I do residential property management to enable my gun parts buying, so I do lots of this stuff.  And, since it's rentals, it needs to be fool-proof.  (Goddammit, stop the maniacal laughing, I can't concentrate!)  I have used various plastics, heat-bent formica, and nothing seals stuff up like a cast four-piece setup.  Everything screws to the wall, the joints overlap, voila, no leaks, no holes, no water problems.  A decent caulk around the edges, and you're in.  There is a tall lip on the base that I screwed to the studs with a shallow-head stainless screws, then the wrap-around back goes on (more screws) then the two sides lock to the back piece, and you screw in the front edges.  Drywall covers up the screws, of course.

Super easy to clean.  Since we went down to 4", I had to re-frame that end of the bathroom, but ain't no hill for a climber.  I've never found a setup with any kind of covering that stays glued to the damn walls.  Expansion and contraction eventually breaks it loose someplace.  Then comes the fuking water problems.  Us property management types only want enough water in our houses to make icecubes to go in the whiskeyandwhatever.

Good luck with your project.  New bathrooms generally make you mucho popular with the lady folks.

You gotta post  pix!  Wish I had taken "in progress" pix of mine.

[slugger43]

Oh, and by the  way, helluva nice looking desk!

[Rsquared]

I hear ya slugger. Trust me. Since I'm custom building this, I'm hoping I can get her sealed. If not, I'll rip out the walls and try again. But I think I have a plan. I'll keep everybody here informed. I'm not too proud to admit if an idea didn't work. Hell.......I laugh at myself almost as much as I do the Gen Pop.

[Rsquared]

And well......since you said.......................................................

More pics of the desk under construction. She's still changing. Plus..........some overhead lights that I built. All LED's by the way. Everything is constantly in a state of flux around my place.

[DNP]

There isn't a gun in a few of those pictures. That's just not like you....you feelin ok?

 

we are about to take on our bathroom as well. I'm a little affraid to open it up. Maybe we'll just slap a quick fix on it and leave the mystery for the next owner....

[mrmackc]

Sorry Guy but your shower plan is bad, like not good, been there done that. The 1/4 inch plywood isn't enough and the flooring crap will leak at the seams. Do s. ome more looking for the shower enclosures.

[wetncold]

Had to do mine several years ago. The original shower pan was lead. That was the problem. Replaced it with a plastic pan. And use marine grade plywood. It will give you a couple of extra years before you have to do it all again.

[unforgiven]

I would suggest cement board for bath area.You can use the right tape and skim coat over with proper cement.Ceramic tile is what I have done in the past.Going to redo master bath soon.Thier is a new membrane to use under tile and over cement board to prevent leaks and control expansion and contraction.Just my 2 mags.

[Sisco]

Have tried that membrane, it works well, if a bit pricey. But the real Question, R to the Second power, is how are you going to incorporate this project into your next mission write up?

Edited September 13, 2015 by Sisco

[sketch]

Just asked my tile guy what he uses:

(There are a couple  types,  Wedi pan and panels using sicaflex and schulter system. ) this is fail safe! But thats all i can offer! Carry on R2?

[sketch]

I can do concrete!

[slugger43]

I can do concrete!

Ya gonna pop open the roof, or pump that stuff in through a window?  Will the weight of the new concrete shower tip the house over?  Nice looking pumper truck! Yuk! Yuk!

[sketch]

Haha your left shoe is off! Must be the new system on the pics?

[392heminut]

SONOFABITCH! The mutherfukker that built my house did your bathroom! I swear my bathroom floor had the exact same tile with at least 1" of concrete under it, just like the pic you posted. I rented an electric jackhammer to get that schit broke up! The tub looks like it was from the same manufacturer as mine too, same sick pink and the same accent lines on the sides!

 

Don't use plywood for the walls if you don't want to be tearing the walls out to redo them in a few years! No matter what sealer you use, the water will still get to the plywood. Rene was right about using cement board brother, that's the best way to go for the underlayment on the walls. I built a walk-in shower and did the PVC liner. The liner goes up 12" on the wall with the corners folded over so there are no seams to leak. The cement board then went on over that with no screws into the wall studs lower than 10". We then poured and graded a cement floor for the stall. I then coated the floor and walls up 12" with a product made by Mapei called Aqua Defense that was recommended by a buddy of mine that does this stuff for a living. You can use thinset right over it to do your tiling. If you don't do anything else, at least coat the bottom 12" of whatever you use for the walls under your tile or whatever with the Aqua Defense.

[shepp]

3rd cement board

 

 

and your pocket door sounds like these roll seal doors Walmart uses open/close then there's an electric eye system in the jam and a timer everytime the beam is broken the timer in the controller resets to the set time 30-90 sec

[jtallen83]

Hemi has it right, I've done a few and this is the best system to use, never got a call-back, there still happy 15 years latter. The names can change but that is the system or method to use!

I always hated taking out those old tile systems with the thick, hard ass concrete....no room to really swing the sledge!

[392heminut]

Electric jackhammer brother!

[Rsquared]

Appreciate the input guys. This idea is in a constant "design" state of flux.

 

Right off the bat, I was already planning on using a thicker material on the walls for rigidity. And then use something thinner on top of that. The only reason I was going with the thin plywood backing (Luan style that's furniture grade) was for a good adhesion surface. I can't use drywall (gypsum based) backing for the adhesive for the sheet material. First, keep in mind that it's made for floor use (garage floor at that). That's for the durability factor. So it won't adhere to gypsum type material. That also takes out cement board, since it's a gypsum based material. Second, it'll all be one piece that I lay into the shower alcove area. Therefore, no seams to leak. I'm planning on laying in some cove-type of moulding in the corners to form the radius of the inside corners. Making a "softer" look for the corners that the sheet material will lay into. Now there's always edges to anything, so I'm still working out the idea for proper sealing at the bottom edges. Not so worried about the top since it'll be at ceiling height.

 

The sub floor will be all marine grade plywood as it is. I had already planned on that.

 

More to follow as I progress. This is gonna go slow. One reason is because the fixtures are a long lead time. So they're still about 5 weeks out. Plus....I figure that I'll gear up for this to do over my Christmas vacation. So I've got time to test and finalize my ideas. I just figured to get ahead of the game by getting the of flooring out of there. Plus...living alone....I ain't got an old lady to bitch to me about having no floor in there right now. On another note. I already built a small mock-up (last weekend) alcove to test my idea of using the sheet material as a wall covering. It worked out fairly well. But we'll see as time goes on. If you haven't figured it out yet. I HATE doing tile work. Especially the grouting process. Thus....the sheet flooring as a wall covering. Plus......it's different.

[shepp]

Man that's a long time with out a shower you're gonna stink lol

[Rsquared]

No smartass. I've got a Band-Aid on the current leak. So no more damage is being done currently. I plan on ripping the tub out, replacing the sub-floor, and then installing the new shower pan over a day or two period. Now then? Yeah...I'll stink for a day. I'll be ready to give you a big ol bear hug (pants down of course).

[shepp]

I thought maybe rob was gonna come give you sponge baths

[392heminut]

I plan on ripping the tub out, replacing the sub-floor, and then installing the new shower pan over a day or two period.

Bwaaahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!! You been watching too much DIY Network brother! I thought I would have my bathroom done in four weeks and that turned into four months! And that was with all the stuff I thought I would need stacked out in the garage.That was working on it almost every fukkin day! The best advice I can give you is have a contingency plan because that job WILL turn out longer than you planned.

[shepp]

Bwaaahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!! You been watching too much DIY Network brother! I thought I would have my bathroom done in four weeks and that turned into four months! And that was with all the stuff I thought I would need stacked out in the garage.That was working on it almost every fukkin day! The best advice I can give you is have a contingency plan because that job WILL turn out longer than you planned.

always say plumbing projects consist of three trips to the hardwear store minimum, more often then not it holds true 

[jtallen83]

20 years ago I replaced my bathroom from the floor joists up in 26 hours. It helped that I worked for a plumber during down times and had his van parked on site with everything that would be needed, and four good friends that worked in shifts around the clock. The greenboard still needed finished off but the wife was able to get ready for work when she needed. It was my only bathroom so it had to happen! With proper planning and hard work anything is possible........I did swear I'd never try it again though......