Master Bath Remodel: Demolition

The month of March is going to be an intense one for me. In addition to my normal life of school and work, I’m helping my wife in her final few weeks of pregnancy and I intend to remodel the master bathroom.

Sketch of the planned master bath remodel.

Why am I remodeling the master bathroom? Essentially, it needs repair. The bathroom is at the point where the costs of repairing it are high enough that it just makes sense. I haven’t crunched any serious numbers - I’m mostly a DIY type person, so labor is cheap - but the drywall needs replaced (too much moisture damage and mold), the floor molding is falling off at places, the sink and vanity are not fixed, and there are no GFCI outlets. Not to mention that the style is horribly out of date. The room still has wallpaper! Thankfully, there is no carpet - but I’ll still replace the flooring.

An example of some water damage.

There are two major upgrades to the master bath I intend on doing. The first is replacing the normal, round toilet with an elongated toilet. The second is to switch from a half-shower to a full bath.

The toilet won’t be much of an issue. Going from a half-shower to a full bath will be a little trickier. The room is wide enough, thankfully, but I will need to relocate the shower head. That’s easy enough, although it’s copper piping, meaning I’ll have to do some soldering. What’s going to be tricky is moving a floor register, and possibly the shower drain, as well. The house is on a concrete slab, and as best as I can tell, there’s no crawl space or other under-house access.

Floor HVAC register.

I’ve already begun demolition on the master bath. That’s always the fun and easy part. It’s also the point of no return!

This bathroom remodel is definitely going to be worth it!