23 February, 2010

Bathroom Progress...Not So Much

I feel a little guilty calling this post bathroom "progress." Mostly, we're still in the tear-it-apart and figure how it originally went together phase.

Step one, pull out the ugly old cabinet.


The ugly old cabinet with a weird flexible plastic drain pipe that continually clogged with all the hair it trapped. Seriously, what a hack job.

Turns out, the sink's not as old as we thought. The date of manufacture label indicated it was made in 1996. The back, however, was rotted at the bottom. As it butted up to within half an inch of the tub, it was impossible to clean up any water that splashed back there from the shower. As careful as we'd try to be, some managed to get back there.

(The sink has now been sitting in the middle of our kitchen for the last two weeks, where it has become a favorite hideout and perch for the kittens. We really need to get that down to the alley for trash pickup.)


Step two, cut a hole in the wall and stare at the components for a few days, as you mull over the best way to proceed. The plaster all had to come down anyway. There was black mold growing on the wall, and the lathe behind was rotted -- all from water getting trapped back there.

That's about where we're at currently. We've assembled all the supplies (we think) we need in order to replace these pipes and get the new sink installed.

So, I guess that will be this week's step. For now, the kitchen sink is doing double duty as a wash basin.

2 comments:

JoJo said...

I just took the lazy way out. Hired the subcontractor to come in and demo and build while I was out of town. You are far more ambitious than I am.

Joanne said...

There are days I certainly wish we could do that; but we're still stuck with the condo and Mom's house, so we end up doing a lot of labor ourselves to save money.

Hope your cold's gotten better.